4cade

Actually, Atari was still owned by Warner Bros. at the time and so that's probably why they used it/got it for free

Hey, I've been searching online but can't seem to find release dates for the games. I found one source with dates which I've linked below, but they list all games as October, 78 - the launch of the console. And I assume it's unlikely that they had their entire library of all 12 games available at launch - that would certainly be a notable, never-discussed, 'first' in gaming history if that were true. But I guess it's safe to assume they all came out within a year? Perhaps as the computer add-on was where they turned their focus? Or maybe a couple were released in early days of the Imagination Machine? https://gamesdb.launchbox-app.com/platforms/games/68

Agreed, @mr.bill - love the cab art and the glass art - normally not a fan of it covering up part of the screen, but it's perfect in this case

Yeah! When I was probably 7, I started going to the local arcade at the shopping center my mom worked at, probably 79 or 80, maybe earlier, but they had a few old EM games there and I freaking loved Killer Shark, it was actually kind of graphic/violent for me, but it's one of the first games I remember after cashing in a dollar of quarters, it being a primary one to check out and see if anyone is playing, and was one I played everytime I went. Like you, I also wasn't tall enough, the arcade had a few step stools, but sometimes they were all being used and one time I stupidly dropped a quarter without realizing there was no step stool; I told a stranger passing by what happened and he could have my free game and he offered to pick me up, holding me while I played. Yeah, that got awkward, but I look back and think "could have gone WORSE!" Ah, the 70s, it was a different time...

Do we know what year the programming cart was created? I followed the threads to those pics/scans ekeefe posted of the cart and instructions but couldn't find more info.

Ah, thx for the clarification. Werid!

Plus $5 shipping...

I am not sure I follow - why would games be harder to play on the consoles WITH the centering sticks?

@DanBoris - wow, that's a great video. To be honest, I wish I'd seen that video when I was making the documentary; I used some YT vids for visuals of Blip, but that video had a much better view of the inner workings! Yeah, it was some impressive old school engineering that went into Blip, probably the most advanced of the mechanical Pong games (up until the post 2000 projects like the Atari cocktail table)

Dude, Barrier was one vector game I never saw back in the golden age, and was quite surprised to discover it in recent years; I actually covered it briefly in a YT video on the late 70s LED games, because VectorBeam/Cinematronics basically ripped off the Mattel Football gameplay for their game Barrier! Exact same game play! Important Handheld Game History - The LEDs

Yeah, I was 5 in '77; while most of these games were previously unknown to me, I vividly remember Blip the Digital Game, that was such a hot toy. I hear you on kids not being impressed with EM toys, lol - our family got an Atari Super Pong dedicated console in '76, so I'm sure I'd have been perplexed by TV Tennis too. But, that DID come out in '74 before Pong was in a console, I bet it might have impressed some kids if they'd gotten it right away, but yeah once the LED games hit the scene in '77, kids were all about the tech games, not EM games.

While the recent Atari Pong cocktail table has been a bit of a hit, a lot of people don't realize there's a history of trying to convert the Pong video game into old school electro mechanical arcade games, console games, and even handhelds - and has game play precursors that trace back to the dawn of arcade games. Just one more aspect of how important Pong is to arcade and video game history!

Hey, @chopperthedog, I have a question - while this was the era of woodgrain, I saw a YouTube video about a dedicated Pong that actually was encased in REAL wood - anyone here know of a real wood console? I think the one in the video was Video Olympiad.

Very cool, mutterminder. Be sure to post some pics if you do this!

Hey, thanks Chopper! Glad to make your acquaintance. In truth, when it comes to dedicated pongs, I wish I could find a collector that had dozens, maybe a hundred, and just dive in and test each one, making a master list of which models had better or interesting controls & features. But since that's unlikely, I'm working on some other Pong material. Despite it being one of the most recognizable games in history, there's still a lot of un-mined material there about how Pong affected video game history. Right now I'm trying to finish up my doc on perhaps the strangest genre of Pong - the history of MECHANICAL Pong games!

Man, thank you so much! Really appreciate that

Chopper, nice hardware! I've been doing a lot of research on Pong lately for some documentary videos I'm working on, and you've got some prime examples there, glad you were able to tweak and clean and resolve the jitter issues. That Tandy - I got a theory that's a forerunner to the modern day Plug 'N Play, all the hardware is build into the controller!

I've been fascinated with the bizarre selection of controllers for the CDI, which I believe is a byproduct of Phillips licensing the CDI out to different manufacturers - but is there a comprehensive list of them (with pics, and hopefully info) anywhere on the net? I've been googling around and found plenty of lists of the CDI games, but only rando entries on the controllers.

Stern Pinball returned once again to Comic-Con, and had over two dozen pinball machines set up at various locations throughout the con, all set up on free play. There were Star Wars pinball machines in the Star Wars booth, at the Stern booth they had three machines of Black Knight: Sword of Rage, and outside the con they had the Stern Pinball Arcade, with two dozen of their recent machines set up! You can take a look here: https://youtu.be/A9s1z12ay7I

Hey, Blazer! Cool thread, I just started one this week asking the same thing but when I found your thread today, boom - went and ordered an NES power adapter and hopefully next week I'll be APF gaming!

Awesome, can I be #17?

Wow, holy crap. I had NO idea - I assumed it was just one of the USA games re-named to rip off the SW brand. But that is not only an entirely different game from any of the domestic games (am I right on this? Been a year or two since I was deep in Studio research), and actually kind of a pretty innovative type of game considering what I've seen from the other Studio games in USA.

you get the Euro Star Wars game? I've been dying to see some footage of how that plays