Subway Vigilante was inspired by a New York City subway shooting incident on December 22, 1984, in which Bernhard Goetz (b. 1947) shot four alleged muggers, paralyzing one of them. Goetz was acquitted of murder but found guilty of illegal firearms possession. Public sentiments toward the shooting tapped into anxieties surrounding New York City’s high crime rates, which had been rising since the late 1960s and had worsened with the city’s economic instability during the 1970s.

Designed by Paperback Games owner Mike Marine, its folded paper board features a map of the New York City subway, ringed by the game track. Players begin in Brooklyn with the goal of making it to the Bronx after many encounters with “punks.” Player pieces are pewter guns and tokens are pewter bullets. Sales slumped after Marine quickly sold an initial 40,000 copies, but renewed with Goetz’s trial in 1987.

For nearly a century, Surma Books & Music Co. was a cultural hub for New York City’s Ukrainian immigrant centered community in the East Village, also known as Little Ukraine. Until its closure in 2016, the store had been located at 11 East Seventh Street since 1943.

Myron Surmach Sr., its founder, arrived at Ellis Island from the Ukraine in 1910. He settled in New York City after working various odd jobs in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Joining a Czech gymnastics group prompted him to open his shop in 1918 to sell gym clothing and Ukrainian books. It evolved into a general store, selling phonographs and washing machines, but Surmach also offered services such as letter reading. The business grew to include ethnic music publishing during the 1920s and 1930s—perhaps a fitting occupation, since “surma” also refers to a Ukrainian woodwind instrument.

During the 1950s, the store’s offerings shifted toward the marketing of “folk” through craft items and publications. Surmach’s son, Myron Jr. (1932–2003), assumed the business and began carrying products such as ceramics, religious icons, embroidered shirts, and wooden objects made by the Hutsul highlanders.