The 1st arcade game you ever saw (or remember)?

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I recall seeing (and playing) a mechanical driving game in the shopping
centre at Rockdale (Sydney, Australia) when I was *very* young - over 30
years ago! It looked like a matchbox car on a stick and the road was painted
on a rolling drum, IIRC. Not sure if/how it actually detected if you ran off
the road.

[I've only realised typing this email that I now work a few hundred metres
up the road from the site of that original shopping centre - and walk down
there occasionally at lunchtime to visit the (now completely rebuilt)
shopping centre. I wonder if I've sat in the food court and eaten lunch at
the very same spot I played that driving game so long ago? "You are entering
- The Twilight Zone!" ;)]

As for strictly *video* games, there was a Pong machine at the local Police
Boys Youth Club (also Rockdale) which I used to play once a week after gym
class. I can recall running out of class as soon as it had finished to
collect a 20c coin from my father to play the game.

I'm pretty sure my next game was Space Invaders, then Galaxian, though I
can't recall exactly where I first saw them. I do remember playing both at
the local Putt-Putt Golf centre over the bridge in Taren Pt. I also recall
successfully using the igniter out of a school heater (wasn't mine - I
swear!) to get free credits on the cocktail SI there.

Hey - there's an idea! Need to add a keystroke to the MAME UI to emulate an
igniter next to the coin mech! Perhaps have the keystroke add a credit
every, say, 1 in 4 presses on average! :)

[Funny to think all these years later I still play those two games - on my
PC (MAME), TRS-80 Model 4P (yes, the arcade SI!), Dreamcast (MAME) and
NanoBoard (FPGA emulation)!]

Regards,

--
| Mark McDougall | "Electrical Engineers do it
| <http://members.iinet.net.au/~msmcdoug> | with less resistance!"
 
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* Mark McDougall wrote in alt.games.mame:
> I recall seeing (and playing) a mechanical driving game in the shopping
> centre at Rockdale (Sydney, Australia) when I was *very* young - over 30
> years ago! It looked like a matchbox car on a stick and the road was painted
> on a rolling drum, IIRC. Not sure if/how it actually detected if you ran off
> the road.

I rememeber quit a few of these types of games. One with a helicopter,
another with a bulldozer. I am sure you remember the baseball one.

> As for strictly *video* games, there was a Pong machine at the local Police
> Boys Youth Club (also Rockdale) which I used to play once a week after gym
> class. I can recall running out of class as soon as it had finished to
> collect a 20c coin from my father to play the game.

Certainly Pong, Gun Fight/Boot Hill, Night Driver and Breakout are the
big standouts.

--
David
Not that I have anything much against redundancy. But I said that already.
-- Larry Wall in <199702271735.JAA04048@wall.org>
 
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Mark McDougall wrote on 14. April 2005:
>
> I recall seeing (and playing) a mechanical driving game in the
> shopping centre at Rockdale (Sydney, Australia) when I was *very*
> young - over 30 years ago!

You must be very old. ;-)

But we might be the same age, I also seem to recall it, and it might be
30 years ago.

> It looked like a matchbox car on a stick
> and the road was painted on a rolling drum, IIRC. Not sure if/how it
> actually detected if you ran off the road.

At least it's no computer game emulated by MAME. The first game is Gun
Fight (1975). The "car stick on film" must be from the very early 70s,
may be 1973.

[...]

> As for strictly *video* games, there was a Pong machine at the local
> Police Boys Youth Club (also Rockdale) which I used to play once a
> week after gym class. I can recall running out of class as soon as it
> had finished to collect a 20c coin from my father to play the game.

Aah, that were times. Though I think I was too young for Pong in an
arcade (friends had it for the TV screen) I had this when Donkey Kong
came out in 1981. Rushed out of school and into the city, skipping meal
(told my mom before I had to go to the city to meet friends ;-) and had
some french fries instead, and then watched people playing Donkey Kong
for hours. I was 14 and did not spent too much money for video games back
then, prefered to watch others.

[...]
--
By(e) Andreas
U w4nt r0meZ? <http://www.lazarus.org.uk/>
Old school arcade classics at http://www.tombstones.org.uk/~ankman/
Linux without installation? http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/index-en.html
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Mark McDougall <msmcdoug@no.spam.iinet> wrote in a cheese induced coma
news:425ef5dd$0$26721$5a62ac22@per-qv1-newsreader-01.iinet.net.au:

> I recall seeing (and playing) a mechanical driving game in the
> shopping centre at Rockdale (Sydney, Australia) when I was *very*
> young - over 30 years ago! It looked like a matchbox car on a stick
> and the road was painted on a rolling drum, IIRC. Not sure if/how it
> actually detected if you ran off the road.
>
> [I've only realised typing this email that I now work a few hundred
> metres up the road from the site of that original shopping centre -
> and walk down there occasionally at lunchtime to visit the (now
> completely rebuilt) shopping centre. I wonder if I've sat in the food
> court and eaten lunch at the very same spot I played that driving game
> so long ago? "You are entering - The Twilight Zone!" ;)]
>
> As for strictly *video* games, there was a Pong machine at the local
> Police Boys Youth Club (also Rockdale) which I used to play once a
> week after gym class. I can recall running out of class as soon as it
> had finished to collect a 20c coin from my father to play the game.
>
> I'm pretty sure my next game was Space Invaders, then Galaxian, though
> I can't recall exactly where I first saw them. I do remember playing
> both at the local Putt-Putt Golf centre over the bridge in Taren Pt. I
> also recall successfully using the igniter out of a school heater
> (wasn't mine - I swear!) to get free credits on the cocktail SI there.
>
> Hey - there's an idea! Need to add a keystroke to the MAME UI to
> emulate an igniter next to the coin mech! Perhaps have the keystroke
> add a credit every, say, 1 in 4 presses on average! :)
>
> [Funny to think all these years later I still play those two games -
> on my PC (MAME), TRS-80 Model 4P (yes, the arcade SI!), Dreamcast
> (MAME) and NanoBoard (FPGA emulation)!]
>
> Regards,
>

Oh yes, I do remember those REALLY old games! The one you mentioned, the
one with the helicopter. I also remember the one that is kinda like the
one you mentioned except it appeared to be a car projected on a vertical
white disk that was always turning to the left, as if you were driving on
a perfect circle track. Other cars would come up at you and if you hit
one or ran off the road it switched to an image of you car broken in half
and in flames. I also remember the classic old baseball games that
actually launched steel balls out of a chute and you would press the
button and the little bat would hit the ball and if you hit it high
enough it was a home run, Those were great fun!

--
Bustin' Naughty Folks since 1983

See my custom built upright and cocktail cabinets at:
http://home.columbus.rr.com/supermappy/

Come to chat in #tombstones on preacher.foreverchat.net:6660-6667,7000

MAME: Forever Young!
 
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I *think* the first game I really recall seeing must have been Buggy
Challenge. I remember being very small, probably about 7 years old, and
going to the arcade with my parents. I was too small to play or even
reach the games, so I mostly just watched (and "helped") my Dad play.
For whatever reason, the only game I remember distinctly from that day
was a third-person off-road racing game with a dune buggy. Speed
Buggy/Buggy Boy is too recent (I was already deep into my own videogame
addiction and coveting an NES by 1986), and no other game I've seen is a
visual match.

-D.
 
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Mark McDougall wrote:
> I recall seeing (and playing) a mechanical driving game in the shopping
> centre at Rockdale (Sydney, Australia) when I was *very* young - over 30
> years ago! It looked like a matchbox car on a stick and the road was
> painted on a rolling drum, IIRC. Not sure if/how it actually detected if
> you ran off the road.
-----8<-----

The first one I remember begging my mom for change for was a mechanical
tank game in the early 70's. You moved it left and right to shoot down
planes that flew overhead. I can still have a rather grainy video
memory of it. <SIGH> Good times!

--
Thnik about it!
Dead_Dad
 
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looks like i'm one of the youngest one.

mine would be express raider. back in 1986.

brings back good old memories.
 
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Amedeo Storni wrote:
> "Mark McDougall" <msmcdoug@no.spam.iinet> wrote in message
> news:425ef5dd$0$26721$5a62ac22@per-qv1-newsreader-01.iinet.net.au...
> > I recall seeing (and playing) a mechanical driving game in the
shopping
> > centre at Rockdale (Sydney, Australia) when I was *very* young -
over 30
> > years ago! It looked like a matchbox car on a stick and the road
was
> painted
> > on a rolling drum, IIRC. Not sure if/how it actually detected if
you ran
> off
> > the road.
>
> I remember that game. Yes, it detected when an obstacle was hit, when
the
> car ran off the road, and even if the car didn't actually stop at the
STOP
> sign.
> The first videogame I saw was obviously Pong.
> Other mechanical games I remember in the arcades:
>
> - A metal ball had to follow a track without falling in the holes,
you
> control it with a steering wheel and pedals that inclinate the road
> - Two players, a ping-pong ball had to be pushed into the opponent's
goal
> with two jets of water
>
> I am probably older than you, and I remember that for a long time
> flippers/pinballs occupied over 90% of any arcade.
>
> AS
 
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Helicopter on a stick? Helicicle?

Take a look at this guys arcade chopper project

http://tinyurl.com/doe67



Amedeo Storni wrote:
> "Mark McDougall" <msmcdoug@no.spam.iinet> wrote in message
> news:425ef5dd$0$26721$5a62ac22@per-qv1-newsreader-01.iinet.net.au...
> > I recall seeing (and playing) a mechanical driving game in the
shopping
> > centre at Rockdale (Sydney, Australia) when I was *very* young -
over 30
> > years ago! It looked like a matchbox car on a stick and the road
was
> painted
> > on a rolling drum, IIRC. Not sure if/how it actually detected if
you ran
> off
> > the road.
>
> I remember that game. Yes, it detected when an obstacle was hit, when
the
> car ran off the road, and even if the car didn't actually stop at the
STOP
> sign.
> The first videogame I saw was obviously Pong.
> Other mechanical games I remember in the arcades:
>
> - A metal ball had to follow a track without falling in the holes,
you
> control it with a steering wheel and pedals that inclinate the road
> - Two players, a ping-pong ball had to be pushed into the opponent's
goal
> with two jets of water
>
> I am probably older than you, and I remember that for a long time
> flippers/pinballs occupied over 90% of any arcade.
>
> AS
 
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Super Mappy wrote:
> I also remember the classic old baseball games that
> actually launched steel balls out of a chute and you would press the
> button and the little bat would hit the ball and if you hit it high
> enough it was a home run, Those were great fun!

They still have several of those at Funspot in Laconia, NH. The last
time we were there, my girlfriend was absolutely enthralled with them...
which is funny, because she has little to no interest in real life baseball.

-D.
 
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SINNER played the following on an explodable self-inflating leather and
concrete saxophone
<snipped by the nostalgia police>
>
> Certainly Pong, Gun Fight/Boot Hill, Night Driver and Breakout are the
> big standouts.

Mine too. Pong and Boot Hill at the Sandy Lodge hotel in Newquay, Cornwall
in 1977. At seven years old they were the only thing I could kick my dad's
ass at :D
 
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On Fri, 15 Apr 2005 08:59:42 +1000, Mark McDougall
<msmcdoug@no.spam.iinet> wrote:

>I recall seeing (and playing) a mechanical driving game in the shopping
>centre at Rockdale (Sydney, Australia) when I was *very* young - over 30
>years ago! It looked like a matchbox car on a stick and the road was painted
>on a rolling drum, IIRC. Not sure if/how it actually detected if you ran off
>the road.
>
>[I've only realised typing this email that I now work a few hundred metres
>up the road from the site of that original shopping centre - and walk down
>there occasionally at lunchtime to visit the (now completely rebuilt)
>shopping centre. I wonder if I've sat in the food court and eaten lunch at
>the very same spot I played that driving game so long ago? "You are entering
>- The Twilight Zone!" ;)]
>
>As for strictly *video* games, there was a Pong machine at the local Police
>Boys Youth Club (also Rockdale) which I used to play once a week after gym
>class. I can recall running out of class as soon as it had finished to
>collect a 20c coin from my father to play the game.
>
>I'm pretty sure my next game was Space Invaders, then Galaxian, though I
>can't recall exactly where I first saw them. I do remember playing both at
>the local Putt-Putt Golf centre over the bridge in Taren Pt. I also recall
>successfully using the igniter out of a school heater (wasn't mine - I
>swear!) to get free credits on the cocktail SI there.
>
>Hey - there's an idea! Need to add a keystroke to the MAME UI to emulate an
>igniter next to the coin mech! Perhaps have the keystroke add a credit
>every, say, 1 in 4 presses on average! :)
>
>[Funny to think all these years later I still play those two games - on my
>PC (MAME), TRS-80 Model 4P (yes, the arcade SI!), Dreamcast (MAME) and
>NanoBoard (FPGA emulation)!]
>
>Regards,

I believe it was Space Race and it was 1975 or 1976?
 
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"Mark McDougall" <msmcdoug@no.spam.iinet> wrote in message
news:425ef5dd$0$26721$5a62ac22@per-qv1-newsreader-01.iinet.net.au...
> I recall seeing (and playing) a mechanical driving game in the shopping
> centre at Rockdale (Sydney, Australia) when I was *very* young - over 30
> years ago! It looked like a matchbox car on a stick and the road was
painted
> on a rolling drum, IIRC. Not sure if/how it actually detected if you ran
off
> the road.

I remember that game. Yes, it detected when an obstacle was hit, when the
car ran off the road, and even if the car didn't actually stop at the STOP
sign.
The first videogame I saw was obviously Pong.
Other mechanical games I remember in the arcades:

- A metal ball had to follow a track without falling in the holes, you
control it with a steering wheel and pedals that inclinate the road
- Two players, a ping-pong ball had to be pushed into the opponent's goal
with two jets of water

I am probably older than you, and I remember that for a long time
flippers/pinballs occupied over 90% of any arcade.

AS
 
G

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Archived from groups: alt.games.mame (More info?)

Before video games, I used to play pinball games in airports.

The first video game I ever saw was, of course, Pong. And I think I saw
it in the hallway of a shopping mall before I saw it in an airport.

I remember playing Qix shortly after that.

The first video game that I saw with "real characters" in it was
Burgertime. I remember that one in a pizza-and-burger joint somewhere in
the southern USA. Arkansas or Tennessee, maybe.
 
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Mark McDougall wrote:
> I recall seeing (and playing) a mechanical driving game in the
> shopping centre at Rockdale (Sydney, Australia) when I was *very*
> young - over 30 years ago! It looked like a matchbox car on a stick
> and the road was painted on a rolling drum, IIRC. Not sure if/how it
> actually detected if you ran off the road.
>
> [I've only realised typing this email that I now work a few hundred
> metres up the road from the site of that original shopping centre -
> and walk down there occasionally at lunchtime to visit the (now
> completely rebuilt) shopping centre. I wonder if I've sat in the food
> court and eaten lunch at the very same spot I played that driving
> game so long ago? "You are entering - The Twilight Zone!" ;)]
>
> As for strictly *video* games, there was a Pong machine at the local
> Police Boys Youth Club (also Rockdale) which I used to play once a
> week after gym class. I can recall running out of class as soon as it
> had finished to collect a 20c coin from my father to play the game.

First would have been Pong or something very similar at the Cricket club my
dad used to play at.
Then I think that got replaced with space invaders.
--
Alex

Hermes: "We can't afford that! Especially not Zoidberg!"
Zoidberg: "They took away my credit cards!"

www.drzoidberg.co.uk
www.sffh.co.uk
www.ebayfaq.co.uk
 
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In a parallel universe, Anti-Mark McDougall said exactly the opposite
of:

[snip]

The earliest games I remember seeing are Monster Bash and Time Pilot.
Both were side by side 'chez ti-marc' (a greasy spoon restaurant) near
where I used to live. I don't remember which of these I played first, but
I know I played more Time Pilot than Monster Bash, as I was better at it
and could get more from my quarter. My parents did'nt want me going 'chez
ti-marc' and since we had an Intellivision console at home, they didn't
want to give me money for arcades so I'd get money to play games by
returning beer bottles I'd find or by looking in the coin return slot in
pay phones. At bigger arcades there was always the trick of crashing a
machine■ and telling the attendant that you lost a quarter in it. But
you couldn't do that one too often... ;-) Once or twice I was lucky
enough to find a machine with an unlocked coin box (emptied by someone
before me I'd guess now) and to be able to just flick myself credits with
the switch. Ahhh... The good old days! :)

■ Some games had a switch (probably aftermarket modification) on top to
turn them on and off, and in some cases flicking the switch back and
forth rapidly made the machine start and crash. And in one case I
remember (I think it was with a Juno First) that the aforementioned trick
brought us to a menu where we were able to set the machine to free play.
--
"He imagined for a moment his itinerary connecting up all the dots in the
sky like a child's numbered dots puzzle. He hoped that from some vantage
point in the Universe it might be seen to spell a very, very rude word" -
D. N. Adams
 
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.... after inserting a credit, Dave Malaguti <no@spam.please> leaned
forward and saw...
>
>They still have several of those at Funspot in Laconia, NH.

*bing* - that rings a bell. Think that's the one that hosted the UK+USA
MAME gathering...
--
"That's the price that we all pay
Our valued destiny comes to nothing.
I can't tell you where we're going
- I guess there was just no way of knowing"
 
G

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LOL.... now this would be an awesome thread!

"What did *you* do to get a free game?"

--
"Sorry, I'm just... It's starting to hit me like a... um... um... two ton...
heavy thing."



"K.os" <K.os023@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:11np3d.5k.ln@ewigeblumenkraft.ankman.de...
> In a parallel universe, Anti-Mark McDougall said exactly the opposite
> of:
>
> [snip]
>
> The earliest games I remember seeing are Monster Bash and Time Pilot.
> Both were side by side 'chez ti-marc' (a greasy spoon restaurant) near
> where I used to live. I don't remember which of these I played first, but
> I know I played more Time Pilot than Monster Bash, as I was better at it
> and could get more from my quarter. My parents did'nt want me going 'chez
> ti-marc' and since we had an Intellivision console at home, they didn't
> want to give me money for arcades so I'd get money to play games by
> returning beer bottles I'd find or by looking in the coin return slot in
> pay phones. At bigger arcades there was always the trick of crashing a
> machine■ and telling the attendant that you lost a quarter in it. But
> you couldn't do that one too often... ;-) Once or twice I was lucky
> enough to find a machine with an unlocked coin box (emptied by someone
> before me I'd guess now) and to be able to just flick myself credits with
> the switch. Ahhh... The good old days! :)
>
> ■ Some games had a switch (probably aftermarket modification) on top to
> turn them on and off, and in some cases flicking the switch back and
> forth rapidly made the machine start and crash. And in one case I
> remember (I think it was with a Juno First) that the aforementioned trick
> brought us to a menu where we were able to set the machine to free play.
> --
> "He imagined for a moment his itinerary connecting up all the dots in the
> sky like a child's numbered dots puzzle. He hoped that from some vantage
> point in the Universe it might be seen to spell a very, very rude word" -
> D. N. Adams
>
 
G

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Archived from groups: alt.games.mame (More info?)

Pong and Boot Hill were the first that came to mind. However, I seem to
remember a very cheesy rocket shooter that I played long before those.

After putting in a quarter, a plethora of blue rocket ships would be
projected onto the "roof" of the cabinet traveling rear to front (apparently
a light would shine through a transparent conveyor). The player would
control a single white rocket with a single side to side joystick trying to
shoot the blue rockets. I think the player would actually see a mirror image
of the rocket (hell, I was too young to understand such advanced
technology). Occasionally, I would get lucky and hit one and a small (but
VERY loud) explosion would appear.

That's really all that I remember, but man would I get a kick out of seeing
one of those again!


--
"Sorry, I'm just... It's starting to hit me like a... um... um... two ton...
heavy thing."



"Mark McDougall" <msmcdoug@no.spam.iinet> wrote in message
news:425ef5dd$0$26721$5a62ac22@per-qv1-newsreader-01.iinet.net.au...
>I recall seeing (and playing) a mechanical driving game in the shopping
>centre at Rockdale (Sydney, Australia) when I was *very* young - over 30
>years ago! It looked like a matchbox car on a stick and the road was
>painted on a rolling drum, IIRC. Not sure if/how it actually detected if
>you ran off the road.
>
> [I've only realised typing this email that I now work a few hundred metres
> up the road from the site of that original shopping centre - and walk down
> there occasionally at lunchtime to visit the (now completely rebuilt)
> shopping centre. I wonder if I've sat in the food court and eaten lunch at
> the very same spot I played that driving game so long ago? "You are
> entering - The Twilight Zone!" ;)]
>
> As for strictly *video* games, there was a Pong machine at the local
> Police Boys Youth Club (also Rockdale) which I used to play once a week
> after gym class. I can recall running out of class as soon as it had
> finished to collect a 20c coin from my father to play the game.
>
> I'm pretty sure my next game was Space Invaders, then Galaxian, though I
> can't recall exactly where I first saw them. I do remember playing both at
> the local Putt-Putt Golf centre over the bridge in Taren Pt. I also recall
> successfully using the igniter out of a school heater (wasn't mine - I
> swear!) to get free credits on the cocktail SI there.
>
> Hey - there's an idea! Need to add a keystroke to the MAME UI to emulate
> an igniter next to the coin mech! Perhaps have the keystroke add a credit
> every, say, 1 in 4 presses on average! :)
>
> [Funny to think all these years later I still play those two games - on my
> PC (MAME), TRS-80 Model 4P (yes, the arcade SI!), Dreamcast (MAME) and
> NanoBoard (FPGA emulation)!]
>
> Regards,
>
> --
> | Mark McDougall | "Electrical Engineers do it
> | <http://members.iinet.net.au/~msmcdoug> | with less resistance!"
 
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