ATARI Coin-Op/Arcade
Systems
1970 - 1974
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on images for full sized view
1970
In
the beginning there was Computer Space. This was Nolan Bushnell's
version of the popular computer game Spacewar. He worked on it all through
1970 in his daughter's bedroom and then licensed it to Bill Nutting Associates
under the Syzygy Engineering title. Says Nutting: "We blew the coin-op
industry's mind." The company only built 1,500 of them.
Nutting wanted to do another game and approached Nolan, he agreed to license
another game to them. Nutting wanted to own the game, however
Nolan had the technology and wanted to retain control of it, Nolan and
Nutting tried to come to terms on a deal, but in the end Nolan and fellow
partner Ted Dabney went off and decided that instead of licensing their
technology to other companies to manufacture they would design and sell
games on their own, Syzygy Engineering/Atari Inc. was born.
On June 27, 1972 Atari, Inc was officially registered and in a few months
their first product became the "Pong heard around the world" as the sound
of a digital ball made of light would bounce off the walls of its digital
playfield and into history as the game that started the big bang explosion
of Video Arcade Entertainment.
Nov. 29, 1972
Atari Pong would be a smash hit and Nolan knew it. Nolan being
the superb salesman that he is, convinced Midway that Nutting didn't want
it, and told Nutting that Midway didn't want it either, so Bushnell took
the $500 in royalties he'd made off of Computer Space and set Al Alcorn
to work on designing a simple game of TV tennis. He and partner
Ted Dabney started Atari. Needless to say, Pong was a monster and
before it could be patented, every company copied it, including Allied
Leisure where Gene Lipkin was working at the time. "Nolan would roll
over fresh if he hears this," says Lipkin, "but our Paddle Battle was a
better game." Even Nutting Associates got into the Pong game
with their own version called Space Pong. Pong would
see many different cabinet versions from cocktail tables to dog houses
to even Pong's in wooden barrels! Unfortunately Pong attracted
so much attention, a certain company by the name of Magnavox took notice
and for good reason, months earlier they demonstrated a home TV video game
called Odyssey and Atari's new Pong game was strikingly similar, too much
so. So after a little checking by Magnavox lawyers, sure enough,
on the Magnavox guest book for the demonstration was the signature of none
other then Nolan Bushnell himself. Magnavox sued Atari,
Bushnell & Atari agreed to a license under the Sanders/Magnavox patents
for which Atari paid a fixed sum as a paid-up license in June of 1976 for
domestic games. In later years Atari paid much more for foreign rights.
All in all, the settlement was certainly in Atari's favor due to its huge
success with Pong and its many variations and flavors.
1973
Space
Race.... from the originators of Pong. Space Race, Atari's
second coin-op video game was a high tech outer space version of a drag
strip. You raced as one player against the clock or two players
could go head to head racing through space, avoiding meteors and asteroids
to get the best time. Atari's new sales flyers were now
in vivid color and with attractive models as well.
(History Note:
The owners/operators manuals in the Space Race cabinets were actually Atari
Pong manuals and have the name PONG scribbled out and Space Race hand written
over the top of the scribbled out Pong name)
Rebound from Atari.
Taking the concept of Pong to an entirely new "angle" so to speak.
Rebound was Atari's video game version of Volleyball.
The game required two players to compete head to head in this game and
with enough practice, players could learn to angle the ball and beat their
opponent. Although a black & white game, it came
in a rather uniquely designed cabinet with colorful graphics on the sides.
Oct. 11,
1973
The original video maze game, Gotcha was Atari's fourth effort (Space Race
was the second, Pong Doubles the third). This photo was reproduced
from the original brochure. They just don't make 'em like they used
to. The controller is a not what you think, its not a Trakball,
nope that wouldn't happen until Atari Football a few years later.
The controller on this game was a joystick with a domed top to it.
Mar. 4, 1974
After Super
Pong came Quadrapong. What's interesting is that this was essentially
the same game as Elimination, which was created by Kee Games, Joe Keenan's
company. Bushnell and Keenan decided that the best way to reach the
most distributors was to design and manufacture similar games but under
different names. The first experiment of this sort was Rebound (Atari)
and Spike (Kee). The key distinction between the two was a "spike"
button Spike had. According to Steve Bristow, the designer, "If you
timed it right you could do a real killer spike. "
JUNE 11, 1974
Touch
Me followed Grand Track 10 Formula K, Atari's first driving games, and
World Cup Football into the arcades. Most people probably know
Touch Me as Simon. Atari also came out with a hand-held Touch Me.
The last batch of Pong games came next: Pin-Pong, which was video pinball,
and the inimitable Doctor Pong (aka,
Puppy Pong). That's right, folks. Someone
at Atari had the bright idea to put Pong in a cabinet shaped like Snoopy's
doghouse. Steve Bristow explains.- "The idea was to put it in
a doctor's waiting room and set it on freeplay. We put it out, but doctors
didn't want to pay for it. I understand Schulz wasn't crazy
about it either. "
Nov. 4, 1974
Tank
was the next true milestone in Atari's history. Who invented it,
however, is a matter of opinion. Some credit Lyle Rains, who was
the engineering v.p. in coin-op until only recently in 1982, but Steve
Bristow says it was he who came up with the concept. (For you VCS
fans, Tank is Combat CX-2601.) "I was working on it when I hired
Lyle," he recalls, "Then I gave it to him and he finished it. A lot
of the implementation was his, but the original idea was mine." Both
agree that Tank carried Atari through 1975.
Atari
was always catching flak from the Pinball industry that video games would
never surpass Pinball games in sales or game play. Atari's
answer to them: PinPong, a pinball version of Pong. Later on
Atari would introduce a newer version of Pin-Pong known as Video Pinball
into the arcades, Video Pinball entered the home market as a stand alone
console and also as a cartridge for the Atari 2600 VCS.
Gran
Trak 10, Atari's 1974 venture into the world of video racing games.
Featuring excellent sound effects sound as the racing sound of your engine,
squeal of the tires and realistic grash sound. For added realism
it included a real steering wheel, shift lever and pedals.
Gran Trak 10 gave an over head look down at the course that your car had
to race through. A monster of a game in a monster of a cabinet
which weighed a whopping 400lbs. !
Qwak!
A unique and innovative game from Atari in 1974. Players fire
at flying on-screen ducks using a rifle with a light gun attached to the
end. Your shots would appear on the screen as you fired, ducks
would "veer" away from missed shots. If a duck was shot it
would fall into the marsh to be retrieved by your on-screen digital dog.
The coin-op incoporated a unique alarm system that if the gun was stolen
or tampered with the game would emit a loud buzzing sound.
In
the beginning there was Computer Space. This was Nolan Bushnell's
version of the popular computer game Spacewar. He worked on it all through
1970 in his daughter's bedroom and then licensed it to Bill Nutting Associates
under the Syzygy Engineering title. Says Nutting: "We blew the coin-op
industry's mind." The company only built 1,500 of them.
Nutting wanted to do another game and approached Nolan, he agreed to license
another game to them. Nutting wanted to own the game, however
Nolan had the technology and wanted to retain control of it, Nolan and
Nutting tried to come to terms on a deal, but in the end Nolan and fellow
partner Ted Dabney went off and decided that instead of licensing their
technology to other companies to manufacture they would design and sell
games on their own, Syzygy Engineering/Atari Inc. was born.
On June 27, 1972 Atari, Inc was officially registered and in a few months
their first product became the "Pong heard around the world" as the sound
of a digital ball made of light would bounce off the walls of its digital
playfield and into history as the game that started the big bang explosion
of Video Arcade Entertainment.
Touch
Me followed Grand Track 10 Formula K, Atari's first driving games, and
World Cup Football into the arcades. Most people probably know
Touch Me as Simon. Atari also came out with a hand-held Touch Me.
The last batch of Pong games came next: Pin-Pong, which was video pinball,
and the inimitable Doctor Pong (
Tank
was the next true milestone in Atari's history. Who invented it,
however, is a matter of opinion. Some credit Lyle Rains, who was
the engineering v.p. in coin-op until only recently in 1982, but Steve
Bristow says it was he who came up with the concept. (For you VCS
fans, Tank is Combat CX-2601.) "I was working on it when I hired
Lyle," he recalls, "Then I gave it to him and he finished it. A lot
of the implementation was his, but the original idea was mine." Both
agree that Tank carried Atari through 1975.
