NBA Jam’s ‘Boomshakalaka’ voice actor says he was paid just $800 despite the game earning $1 billion

Some catchphrases and quips have transcended video games into everyday lingo, and one of these lines is “Boomshakalaka” from NBA Jam, the basketball arcade game that came out in 1993. The voice behind the iconic line, Tim Kitzrow, recently revealed that he received only $800 as an announcer.

NBA Jam, however, went on to generate a revenue exceeding $1 billion across arcade cabinets and consoles. Tim Kitzrow sat down with The Escapist in an interview. Kitzrow, now 64 years old, reflected on NBA Jam, stating, “When the game came out, and I found out it made a billion dollars, that’s when I realised I’d made like $800 and chance maybe something like that. I thought, ‘Well, I’m probably being underpaid. I might want to raise my rate.’”

Kitzrow began his video game voice-acting career in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, lending his voice to titles such as The Twilight Zone, Gilligan’s Island, Judge Dredd, and Popeye. However, the voiceover gigs didn’t pay that much.

He explained, “You might only do two, three four hours total on a pinball game. You’re making a few hundred bucks at best. You’re not going to make a living on that.” His quick-witted quips and deliveries ultimately landed him the role as the play-by-play announcer for Midway’s NBA Jam. NBA Jam was released in arcades in 1993, sold over 20000 units, and generated $2 billion in lifetime earnings. Later, the game received console ports for the Super Nintendo and the Sega Genesis.

Kitzrow, on the other hand, made $50 an hour, clocked about 15 hours across several sessions, and considered it like any freelance gig. He said:

It was $50 an hour. Same as the pinball. I’d go in and do a couple of sessions, maybe 15 hours total, and that was it. I wasn’t smart enough, savvy enough to know the business to go, ‘gee, these games make a lot of money, maybe I should make more than $50 an hour. I didn’t have an agent at the time.

With no royalties or backend deals, the prospect of a big paycheck escaped him. However, he didn't harbor any bitterness. He also discussed the origin of the iconic Boomshakalaka line.

A colleague, John Carlton, was humming the chorus “boomshakalaka” from the 1969 Sly and the Family Stone song “I Want to Take You Higher” and convinced Kitzrow to weave the phrase into his basketball banter. Kitzrow explained:

Now, me being a basketball guy. I watched every game on TV with Marv Albert. I’d never heard anyone say ‘boomshakalaka.’ I’m just trying to get the reference like ‘What the hell are you talking about? This is not a basketball term.’ He goes ‘Just say boomshakalaka like that.’ So I go ‘boomshakalaka?’ And that’s kind of it.”

We basically turned a nonsense phrase into one of the most memorable lines in games.