This week, I thought it would be interesting to look at Atari Coin-Operated Division’s B2B marketing efforts in the early 80s. By ‘B2B’ I mean the way in which they marketed their coin operated activities to the other businesses they wanted to foster relationships with; namely operators and distributors of their arcade games. It was…
Tag: arcade history
Arcade Raid! Abandoned House: Vive la France!
Last weekend, I was fortunate enough to be a part of an extraordinary arcade rescue mission. This turned out to be a very memorable raid for both good and bad reasons. Nothing could have prepared us for what we found. In short, we received a message from an English woman about two weeks ago, who…
Atari Ireland: Tipperary’s Arcade Connection
Atari’s massive success in the late 70s presented many challenges, not least of which was one of logistics: How were they going to get arcade product shipped globally to meet the huge demand for its arcade games? Transporting bulky 300lb lumps of wood, glass and metal around the globe from a single operational base in…
Atari Star Wars: Arcade Cockpit Development
Ask any fan of Golden Age classic arcade machines what their fondest recollection of the era is, and it is likely that Atari’s seminal Star Wars game is going to be mentioned by most. Released in 1983, the game is indeed a true classic and is arguably one of the best uses of a licence…
GDI’s Slither: The $1.3 Million Arcade Crash & Burn
For all the wrong reasons, Slither holds its very own special place in classic arcade gaming history. Released by Game Domain International (GDI) in 1982, it could be politely argued that the game was inspired by Atari’s seminal Centipede title released two years previously. Slither came and went very quickly, and as you’ll read below, even…
The Atari Arcade Theatre Kiosk
Last year I wrote an article which looked at some of Atari’s early industrial design concept drawings. I was looking again at that piece last night, and one picture jumped out at me: It’s an intriguing idea and one that never really took off. This is what Atari called its ‘Theatre’ concept. Designed to maximise…
Classic Arcades: Early 80’s News Reports
When the “Golden Age” of classic video games hit the American mainstream, much of the country was somewhat bemused by this new phenomena. Adults didn’t know what had hit them, as millions of teenagers across the country spent many waking hours in dark arcades that had sprung up all over the USA. From laundromats to…
Kan Yabumoto: Mad Planets
This week saw the passing of Kan Yabumoto, creator of Gottlieb’s Mad Planets arcade video game. Very sad news indeed – Kan was well-respected and admired by all who knew him. As a game designer in the early eighties, he was one of the behind-the-scenes unsung heroes of the Golden Age of video gaming –…
A hole in the Atari Battlezone story
An interesting piece of arcade minutia to share this week. Atari’s upright Battlezone cabinet is an imposing beast. Standing at just over 6 feet tall, the machine towers over the player and most of its contemporaries. Although shared by Atari title Red Baron, the cabinet design is instantly recognizable by its sheer size and bright…
Sega Sundance Unearthed!
I touched on the subject of the rare Sundance arcade game previously here on Arcade Blogger, when an original cabinet built by the game’s creator, Cinematronics, was pulled from an abandoned building a few years back (you can read about that amazing tale here). Developed by Tim Skelly, Sundance is now a very rare arcade…
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