any early pictures of Andy Capp's tavern?

[ComputerSpaceFan]

So we've all heard the legend of Pong breaking down in Andy Capp's Tavern due to too many quarters wedged inside but are there any actual pictures of the machine in the bar? And I recall Nolan Bushnell saying Computer Space was also there, I have yet to see any photographic evidence.

 

Far be it for me to quote "pics of it didn't happen" but does anyone know of any?

[Retro Rogue]

Not sure what you're getting at, but you don't need pics to know it happened. Andy Capp's was one of a list of locations (which also included the Dutch Goose) on a coin route that Nolan and Ted operated under Syzygy Co.

 

Originally purchased from David Ralstin when they were all at Nutting, the route is what paid Nolan and Ted's income (besides the modest money they were getting from the Computer Space royalties) until PONG started to take off in late '72/early '73. (Al Alcorn and several other employees were paid with the money from the Bally contract). They had pinballs and Computer Spaces on their route (in fact a portion of the roller rink manufacturing plant started up in early '73 was dedicated to fixing some of these machines and we have pictures of Computer Spaces being worked on there), and then placed the PONG proto at the Andy Capp's location in August '72. They then built 12 full size PONG units: one to send to Bally, one to keep, and the other 10 to put out at other locations on the coin route. It was a process they continued to do for field testing new games in 1973 such as Space Race, PONG Doubles and Gotcha. Nolan and Ted even had their own Syzygy tokens made for the route (which we have on the cover of the book).

 

Ted took the coin route in October '73 as payment for Nolan's buyout of his half of the partnership, ran it for a time but then couldn't maintain it because of the way Nolan and one of his new management people structured it Ted had to pay Atari every month for all the machines on the route.

 

We have the entire story in our book, but it's not some big mystery as to whether the route existed and these locations were on the route.

 

Additionally, the "PONG breaking down" story is often told incorrectly. According to Al, they did not immediately get a call that it had broken down from too many quarters. The immediate call was about people that had come in to study the game, which turned out to be from future competitor Ramtek. The first call about something breaking down was about the spinners breaking down two weeks after the proto was placed there, and we he opened it up he also found the coin box was stuffed and overflowing.

[Saldo]

I think I saw some pics of the tavern with Pong in it on one of the video game documentries I saw. I don't remember which one it was, check on Netflix. Vague I know, but I'm pretty sure pictures exist of the place. If I happen to find out which one it was I'll post. It might be time to re-watch some of those documentries again!

[ComputerSpaceFan]

I believe you are referring to GameHeadz. If you fast forward to 3:12 in this video you'll see the bit. I believe they recreated Andy Capp's Tavern from the 70's. This looks too well staged to be "found footage"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QD098LVZI0

[Retro Rogue]

I believe you are referring to GameHeadz. If you fast forward to 3:12 in this video you'll see the bit. I believe they recreated Andy Capp's Tavern from the 70's. This looks too well staged to be "found footage"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QD098LVZI0

 

 

 

Yes, it's recreated. When it's saying "Andy Capps 1972" the name on the front of the building clearly says Rooster T Feathers (the business that's at the location now) and that's a modern pickup truck parked out front.

 

Also, the date is wrong. It was placed there in August not September.

[Jim Robison]

I too would like an original picture. I'm preparing a PowerPoint presentation and pictures are always better than word.