Posted on 10/17/2021 6:41:16 PM PDT by algore
I played a lot of Off Road, Defender, Battlezone, Astro Blaster, Galaga in the Golden age.
I know a few people who collect and refurb pinball machines, but I was never coordinated enough to play those so I have no favorite, but I appreciate the art and mechanism as I may a fine watch or automobile.
Asteroids and Missile Command also really sustained me. Defender was OK. Several of my friends were better at it than I.
Some of my friends played Galactica, but I didn’t, Years later, a transoceanic flight I was on had it.
Pac-Man and especially Ms. Pacman were for chicks only.
I have the ability to play video games until my back hurts and eyes are bloodshot red.
I have managed to not do this since the last Grand Theft Auto...
i was a kid, didn’t pay attention to who made the games :)
Vintage Skee ball.
And Fireball pinball.
ga’laga or gala’ga
never heard it pronounced...
i liked it, but spent more on missile command, and asteroids.
remember the dragon’s lair... dvd game...
i sucked at it but spent a ton.
LOL…I was your opposite. The ball often went where I didn’t want it to go.
I was a college student in 1970. 25¢ a play back then didn’t seem that much at the time, but I just checked and that is equivalent to $1.81 today! You wouldn’t catch me tossing $2 a play into a machine today!
Bally Dixieland. Got 2 when my fav bar closed. From the 60’s,rebuilt in the mid 70’s.
Dig Dug
Centipede
Asteroids
An Atari man to the core, I see.
Did you try Paperboy and Marble Madness?
Pac-Man was probably my favorite. I could play it a LONG time on a quarter. It usually took me less than a dollar to beat the High Score on ANY machine.
I was good at Mrs. Pac-Man too.... but, my memorized patterns couldn’t get ALL THE WAY through the game like I could in Pac-Man.
I also loved BreakOut. It was the first advancement from Pong. Basically, you played pong against a brick wall, and the bricks disappeared when the ball hit them. I could easily clear two walls... that was all there was. Then, I just played PONG against a blank wall until I tired.
Eventually, they came out with Super BreakOut, where the walls started advancing toward the player. Couldn’t play that one forever.
The one game that I played where, for some reason, I was always better than ANYONE, was a unique game called “AstroBlaster”. I basically memorized the pattern on this one too... after MANY, MANY games. It was a fun game.
When the very first games came out, there was one that I don’t recall the name? It was airplanes flying left or right across the screen, and low, medium and High levels. On either side, (left and right) there were buttons that fired missiles at them... at low, medium and high levels. It was a simple game. I worked nights at 7-11, and played this game a LOT! I memorized the patterns so well, I would fire the missiles BEFORE the planes appeared on the screen. There would just be a series of explosions on either side of the screen as the planes came, and were then blown up.
One morning, a Hostess pastry delivery man watched me play for a few minutes, at ~ 5 am.... He said, “You’ve played this before, haven’t you!”?
I replied, “Yea... just a FEW times”.
I loved TRON. Asteroids. Missile Command. But, I was never that great at them. I was also NOT good at Galaga. Not sure why? Good times!
Heh! Sounds like fun!
There was a Death Race machine in my local pizza place at the time. Game was considered too violent and was removed from most places. Back in the mid 80s I saw one in a arcade at a fair.
I loved Moon Patrol! That game was the bomb!
There were many others, but you get the idea.
Not much of a video gamer. Spy Hunter was the only I was anything close to mediocre at.
Death Race (1976)
Wasn’t that the game where you had to hit and run down zombies?
I have a friend that mastered that game and could play to the end. He spent hours on end at a 7/11. I can’t imagine what it cost to get to that level.
My game was Robotron and got to the point where I could pretty much play indefinitely on one quarter. It took a while to master but it was fun. I also played Gorf. (Space Avenger!)
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