Arcade Show Part 2: What I thought was cool

The next few days of the arcade show were spent like this, sell raffle tickets, play games, eat, sell raffle tickets. The first day wasn’t that bad, but by the second day we had run through two whole rolls of raffle tickets, and were still going strong. People were buying 100 tickets at a time.

The blue tickets were for our special raffle, and we went through the normal raffle tickets so fast, we had to take a blue roll. I suspect we sold more than enough to pay for all of the prizes, and much of our time at the event with just the raffle.

Wrather than tell you the story of what it was like to constantly be selling raffle tickets, I figured a game review would be fun. Don’t get me wrong, there will be an article on the raffle, just not a long one.

Museum

Crusaders

This is a circuit game. Where you point your gun will complete a circuit in the box below the gun. This activates a small air blower on the board. You are trying to line up balls in various rows to get more points. Somehow, I could never score that much.

There was discussion about how much fun this game was, and how easily it could be remade without as many wires. A quick arduino job, and some air pressure systems is all that is needed to make a game just like it. Otherwise, the game is next to impossible to find, and even harder to fix.

The owner made sure to point out how he fixed the damage on the game. For example the marquee on the top was painted over so it matched the design. He made sure to match up colors as best he could. My best compliment is that I didn’t realize there was damage until he pointed it out.

It is a fun game, and would be great to build as a hobby.

Booze Barometer

This game was popular in bars during the 50’s. The nickel is the conductor for the game. This is why we had a nickel dispenser sitting right next to it.

The game is super simple. You are trying to get the handle around the obstacle course, without touching the wires. If you touch them, it buzzes, and turns off. Then you check how pickled you are on the little display.

It’s pretty easy to maintain. All you need is a battery, and some nickels. Depending on how well the battery is doing, will change how forgiving the game is. The only way I finished was because of a bad battery.

Car Ride

Sitting right next to the Booze Barometer is the car ride. They were invented to keep a child happy, while parents enjoy a meal, or shopping. Because of its age, one token can go a long way with this device.

There was a guy at set up who was able to tell where the machine had been, who had owned it, and how old it was based on the coin box inside. Infact, he said if the old placard was still there, he would know if his own kids played on it.

The coin machine took whatever was the size of a quarter, so we had tokens ready to go.

The age, and weight of the machine makes it difficult to maintain. You won’t find replacement parts, unless you have them made. It is not a light machine, and needs work to be moved around.

Sea Raider

A periscope game from the 60’s. Where you are pointing completes a circuit. You are trying to hit the moving targets. There are sound effects, and a cool little light show with the game. Also, since it is before videogames, those are real items moving around the board.

The style of game was classic for its period and had many versions. Since the game is Electrical Mechanical, it weighs a lot. You do not want this game to topple down on you.

The joy of planning out an attack, and where the bomb needs to be is seen in all sorts of videogames. Think of Space Invaders where you plan out that last shot, figuring out where the invader will be, not where he is. This is the strategy of the game.

There is a small cheat to it, you can see the game above the periscope, and after some practice know where you are pointing. This means a bit of relief for us tall guys who get a bit cramped leaning over to look through the periscope.

Bounty

Perhaps my favorite game in the museum. It was made sometime in the 30’s and by my guess older than most of my grandparents. Mein Opa was born before Pinball was a thing, so it is most of my grandparents. The goal is to get the ball down the correct numerals. There are no flippers, so it is entirely shaking and tilting the machine.

This game is so old that it looked sort of like a mad scientist’s monster on the insides. There is a gear that looks more like a saw blade.

The owner made sure to add the texts, and other info to make everything authentic. I don’t think I ever actually scored in the game. It was just fun to try to score, and watch the ball move.

Because of the age of the machine, things like proper legs, and constant support are a must. There is also a need to know how the machine works, since there are no computers in the machine at all. You don’t turn it on, you allow the balls to be played.

One of my favorite strategies was to fire as many balls as I could, just to watch them fall. I could do that since there was no electronic loader. You pushed a knob, and the ball was ready to play. It is a really fun game, even if you can’t score.

Football

I could not figure this game out at all when I first played it. I think the balls got stuck somehow. Later on, figuring it out wasn’t that hard.

Each button represents a team. So if Blue has the ball, red pitches, and blue hits. The point of the game is to make a touch down within a certain amount of turns. The entire game is set on a timer. Whoever gets the most points wins.

It’s a batting game from the 40’s, and a lot of fun with a friend. Batting games came around the same time as pinball machines. They only emphasize one flipper. It took over a decade to figure out that the two should be combined, and then even longer to get the flippers set right.

The entire idea is to aim, and hit the right target for a big score. We had a new machine from the 70’s in the kid zone. There were kids on both machines all the time. Batting machines are heavy, and for every added part to the machine they gain even more weight. You can still play and enjoy them like crazy though.

Golf

I didn’t get a good picture of this machine. It was somewhat like a batting machine, only the ball was placed, not thrown. You moved a dial to aim the golfer in the direction you wanted. There were various holes with numbers next to them. Also, there were buttons that let you hit a soft, normal, or hard swing. Long shots needed hard, and short shots needed soft.

The biggest problem with a machine like this is the finicky insides. You have to line everything up perfectly, and sometimes, the dial just wouldn’t do that. It would release or something, which meant the shot would be slightly off no matter what. Another problem was that after every hit, the golfer would move. Every shot had to be reaimed, and carefully placed.

If you get this machine, making sure the controls work will be a lot of work. Either they do, or you get stuck on the fifth hole. The only time I made it past that hole, the cover glass was gone, so I could pick up the ball and move it to the hole.

This really is a fun game, but the maintenance and controls have got to be annoying.

Color Balls

There is no real way to get a good picture of this machine. You can play it from all four sides. In fact, when I got bored, i tried. The machine turns on, and then a spinner starts throwing colored balls. They move around at random, and you are trying to collect the right balls for the right hole. A score guide tells you how much each color is for each hole. So yellow might be 100, and red would be 75, and blue 50. If you got a blue, you pressed the button for the hole, and threw out the unwanted ball. It was half luck and half skill, but entirely fun.

This machine was from the 50’s, and has a small card on it that says “This is not for Gambling”. During the 30’s and 40’s arcade machines were mostly in places that only adults would go into. You would find a pinball machine next to a roulette table. Gambling got to be such a problem that some games were illegal. Pinball was considered illegal in New York since ‘42.

Because of this, and the baby boom, arcade owners and distributors emphasized family fun. They would promise the machines were not for gambling, and encourage parents to bring their kids. The arcade of the 60’s was created from the desires to get away from the gambling stigma.

Color Balls -or is it Multiball?- is something that could be used for gambling, or just fun. Whenever I helped out at the kid zone, a game of color balls was played. Kids loved the strategy, the moving colors, and the shere fun of it. Parents would get caught up just as much.

Zeke’s Peak

This is a bit of a cheat, since the picture is from Comic Con. The same machine showed up at the arcade show, and was just as fun as the last time. The goal is to get the ball into the right hole. The holes are numbered, and you slowly go up those numbers. Trying to get the one at the top is difficult. I have only gotten to the third.

Technically speaking, this is not a machine like the others. It has a computer inside that controls the mechanical parts. The other machines require wires, switches, and gears to move. This one calculates everything, and what needs to be done.

It was on the edge of the museum and kid zone. I placed it there to let people realize that EM machines are still around, they just have computers inside. We don’t rename pinball machines because they went from wires to a computer, so why EM?

Kid Zone

Spider Stomp

Next to Zeke’s Peak is Spider Stomp. That was the hardest to assemble machine. The keys led to other keys, and we had to place the stomp pad correctly to get the cords connected. Also, it makes a lot of sounds after activation.

The goal is to stomp on the buttons that are lit up. Some of the lights weren’t working right, so it was a difficult game. I still had fun playing it though. It was like a dancing machine on a non dance idea.

It was next to Zeke’s Peak as a way to show how EM machines continue to grow, and change. This particular game was made during the 90’s. It continues to wow players to this day.

Maintaining such a machine has some hard parts to it, but it would not be as hard as the older wired games. You need to change out a bulb, connect some wires, and make sure the pad is placed well. After that its a pretty simple set up, and easy to work with. Just figure out a way to mute it when not playing.

Frantic Fred

The pin machine in between is easy to set up, and cheap. It is great as a starter game. Also, trying to take it out of, or put it back into its box properly is a real pain. Other than that, I don’t have much of a review.

While we were wheeling Frantic Fred out, someone said she wanted the machine. The entire design around it is just cool. A small log cabin with a steering wheel, and a screen. It feels like a play set.

The game is simple to play. You control Fred, and try to get him to eat the apples, and not be hit by anvils. It is a quick game, and easy to figure out, but would take a while to perfect.

The animations for the game work perfectly. It really feels like I am watching a cartoon, not a game. Although simple, they work so naturally, and fluidly it is surprising to admit this game was for kids.

The easiest to set up, and maintain, Frantic Fred is fun all around.

Mini Arcades

We had a few short games to play. The first was set on the table, and pretty dang light. It was designed for an office, not an arcade, so no coin slot exists. I had a lot of fun with it though. It’s a great starter arcade game.

There was also a full multicade with a small cabinet. It was tall enough a toddler could play it easily. There were a lot of options to work with, and it got pretty complex. The machine was easy to set up, and quick to play. For the right price, you can become jealous of your 4 year old.

Size wise the machines are nothing to their bigger brothers. The insides are pretty much the same, so you can play them whenever you want.

Shrek Pinball

I am not big into pinball machines. I enjoy them, but there are very few I would ever want. The exception is Shrek. This game was awesome. We had a Shrek competition for kids, and I got to be the judge. It was so amazing.

Donkey has his own machine within the game. His toy shakes as he talks. There are jokes said just for that game.

The main game has all sorts of targets, and special tricks that is a ton of fun just to watch someone play. The kids owned me completely at it. I think at best I could maybe get a million. There were kids getting 20-30 million.

It takes some extra work to maintain the Shrek machine. There are a lot of extras on it that mean making sure they work. Also, this adds to the weight a bit. Pin machines tend to take more work than Arcade machines to set up, and maintain, and Shrek has more work to it.

Even though I don’t really get into pinball machines like some of the other fans, I totally want a Shrek machine. They run about $6,000, but the sounds and gameplay are amazing.

Designer Pin

I wish I had taken a picture of this. It is an empty pinball board. You have working flippers, and a device that places the ball into the launcher section. You can play it for as long as you want. The other parts are wooden blocks, small rings, and a skylander toy with magnets on the bottom. You place the boards and toys, and see what happens when you launch the ball.

Because you can move most of the parts around, it becomes more of a game of trying to make a cool experience. I placed the toy in a manner so that it wouldn’t get hit. Others had it as the target of the game. Watching others figure things out, and then trying something yourself is a lot of fun.

I would never buy such a machine, but it would be a lot of fun to make one. The set up is simple enough, and because there isn’t much to it, easy to maintain. Creating new parts, or adding toys with magnets adds a lot of flavor. If someone figured out a way to connect it by bluetooth to various parts you would have a really amazing experience. Heck, just imagining it is fun.

The Main Hall

Games I Want/Enjoyed

I am not about to write about every single game that was at the show. There was 392 games by the final tally, and that would take months to write about. I sort of want to, but there is no time. I can tell you about the games I enjoyed, or would like to play again though.

Driving Games

Hydro Thunder

Really, I want the entire list of driving games. All of them were fun to play, but I am trying to narrow it down a bit here.

Hydro Thunder is from 1997, and one of the top racing games made. Instead of controlling a car, you have a boat. Turning, hitting the throttle, and other mechanics are learned slowly.

Because of the screens, and mechanical parts, Hydro Thunder does need more maintenance than other games. In fact, one of the machines was out for much of the time. I enjoyed it anyway.

It’s a fun game, and even more fun in head to head races.

Re-Volt

The giant orange game was easy to spot. Players would be turned, and twisted to match the gameplay. So it really felt like you were driving. I have to admit, the game got hard quick.

It is a Mario Kart clone, with weapons, and looser turning. You drive an RC car around such places as a boat, or supermarket. There were multiple paths at times, and great opportunities to shoot at each other.

Because of the movement on the seat, there is a bit of maintenance to work on. Finding the machine for sale will also be a problem. The company that made it went under shortly after it was made. There is an entire Wiki dedicated to the game, and an open source project to maintain the program. In other words, if you enjoyed the game, you really enjoyed it.

That One Game!

I forgot its name, and it’s not an easy game to find online. Basically, you are racing a flying motorbike. You can shoot enemies, and are trying to take corners both up, down, left, and right.

Keeping in the right spot is really difficult. The seats feel perfect for playing. It was also easy to put together, and take apart. The machines work just fine. I would feel bad, but I know who owns it, so I will just ask him the next time I get the chance.

Crazy Taxi

I own this game for my computer, dreamcast, and just got it for the Xbox Original. It’s not a game you play for hours on end, but the minutes you get are tons of fun. With the driving controls, and foot pedal, it is even more fun.

There was always someone else playing. I nearly ejected a guy for constantly hitting start for another game. If there had been more than just me in line, I would have.

There are multiple versions of the game for arcades. It is one of the most popular racing games for Sega. That is really saying something. It maintains really well, and the parts are easily fixable. I don’t think the machine ever needed maintenance. This is pretty big since all the other racing games were down at least once.

Crazy Taxi is on my, “I really want that” list.

Star Wars

Pod Racer

The controls for Pod Racer are really original. Imagine battletanks at a much faster speed, and racing. There are two controls. Each one is over one jet engine. You turn left by pulling back on the left, and pushing the right. If you push both controllers forward you get a big pump of speed.

Unlike the movie, crashing into stuff will not result in a loss. You stop, but are otherwise still able to keep going. For those who think it needs to be more realistic to the movie, I think you are full of poodoo.

The graphics work great, and two player is a blast. It is a big game, so you need a lot of room to play it. Also, if you dress as a Storm Trooper, the game is even more fun.

Star Wars Trilogy Arcade

Although the other games were fun, the Trilogy Arcade was my other favorite. You get to clash swords with Vader, attack AT-ATs and anything else that was fun for the trilogy. The controls work great. At times it feels like an early Wii game.

The game was under maintenance once, and the cabinet is pretty big. It is still a lot of fun to play.

Black and White/ Raster

Avalanche

The point of the game is to catch all of the falling boulders. It is a very fast frenetic game. You twist a knob to control your baskets. They are just white lines stacked on top of each other. When a boulder hits the ground, you lose a basket.

There was a google engineer who really enjoyed this game. It looks easy enough to maintain, and doesn’t take up a lot of space.

Command Missile

I squealed when I saw this game. It is a hybrid. The videogame is being projected onto a clear screen. The background is an actually built background. It was one of the games that was trying to overcome the limits of videogames, and have the coolness of EM games.

Because of its age, maintenance is more knowing how it works, than anything else. It is a good solid game, with a simple enough controller. Making sure the backdrop is in working order, and replacing the bulb will be needed from time to time.

The goal of the game is to shoot down more targets than your opponent. It works like the submarine game, in that you aim for where the target will be. It is a fun little game.

Lunar Lander

This game is easy to learn, and difficult to master. You are trying to land a spacecraft onto the moon’s surface without crashing. Things like momentum, falling speed, and others are needed to keep in mind. Smaller, more difficult spots to land on get you more points.

The controls are simple enough, especially if you know Asteroids. Trying to keep the ship from going down too fast, or crash into something is really hard. You play it to figure it out.

Anti Aircraft

The controls of the game are a lot of fun. It was placed in the Kid Zone at first, but the owner grabbed it later.

The way to play the game is to grip one of the controls. Another person grabs the others, and you are trying to shoot down more aircraft than your opponent. There are buttons on the controls based on how high the cannon is aimed.

Its a pretty small cabinet, and fairly light as well. Maintenance should be pretty easy.

Just cool/Want

Joust Duel PinBall

I never got to play this one. There was always other people playing it. I don’t think there will ever be a machine like this again. This is too bad, because I figured out a similar game when I was still in college. A fun multiplayer game with friends using pinball is just cool.

Each persons board is slanted toward them. They can hit the ball to the opponent, or keep it for higher scores. Other than that, I don’t really know how to play it.

Since its such a rare game, finding the right parts, or answers will be difficult. It is a ton of fun though.

Star Trek

Just the cab itself is cool. You get to sit in the captains chair, and press buttons.

The goal of the game is to hunt down enemy ships. You control the ship through the buttons you have, and two views to see how it goes. The sensor array shows a top down view of the game, while the big screen shows what the ship is aimed directly at. Going between screens helps you hunt, and attack ships.

I died by Klingon Bird of Preys. Even when setting it up, I was sort of giggling.

I have no idea how to maintain it, but it never broke down at the show. It also worked pretty well, with standard buttons to press. A fun, Trekkie game.

Candy Cab

A Candy Cab is the American nickname for the lower placed arcade machine from Japan. You sit on a short stool, and have a screen that feels closer. It just pleases me aesthetically to have one.

The game itself Under Defeat was a lot of fun. It was a newer game so things were rendered, and not drawn. There were different angles to shoot from, and the variety of strategies was really strong.

To get a Candy is really hard. The closest one I know of is in Utah. That is two states away from me. I would have to buy it, and then move it back to Washington by driving, or shipping. This doesn’t cover the games I would want for a machine, or how to maintain it.

Maintenance is also an issue. Everything has to be imported, and it is a giant plastic shell, not a wooden one. Things a normal arcade can withstand will not be as easy for a Candy. Also, melting the cab is possible.

On the other hand, it is just plain awesome. There are enough ways to figure out how to get a multicade style for a Candy that it seems like a really good choice. Games like the Simpsons, Marvel vs Capcom, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Joust, Donkey Kong, and others could be played on one unit. I oggled the cabs a lot while at the show.

The Grid

The grid is a deathmatch arcade game. You play over the shoulder of your character, and hunt down the others. You can hook up multiple units and get a six player game going. It plays like one of the old DM games during the late 90’s. In fact, it is from 2000, so close enough.

The animations are surprising. Even in our modern era, most lip syncing is really bad for arcade games, and this one actually had it. The transition from level choice, intro by announced, and then being thrust into the game was smooth. The movements of players feels like an old school deathmatch game.

You control the player using the joystick, and the perspective with the ball. It sounds weird, but works really well. If you want to turn around quickly, you can. There is a lot of finesse you can add to your movements this way, and it really feels that way.

The machines are slightly finicky, and some of the parts are specialized. Getting six units into your living room will take some work. Just three take up the same amount of space as two Hydro Thunders.

The game was something I went back to often. It was a great combination of two game styles I loved. There was more to learn, and master with the game, yet I could jump in and feel like I knew what I was doing. I really enjoyed it, and recommend it to anyone.

Conclusion

There were a lot of games at the show. I don’t think I really covered enough. There was the hockey bat game, or the Pinball Hybrid game. We could go on and on for hours about every amazing game at the show.

In the end, I had a really good time, and felt like I learned a ton about the history and culture of gaming. It wasn’t during, but after when I look back on it. I am sort of surprised by all that I figured out.

The next article will be about how things were organized during the show. I will talk about the booths, the 501st, and even the Raffles after that. Finally, expect some info on what it was like to close shop, and get everything off the Tacoma Convention Center.

As for myself, I really need to figure out where I would put a Crazy Taxi machine, or a Candy Cab.