Arcade Machines
Arcade machines are commonly known as the large units, around the height of the average adult, that
boast a display with a bezel to protect the screen. The units can be made out of wood, plastic, or metal and
have brightly coloured artwork to attract players in public places such as pubs, seaside locations, hotels,
and other areas with high foot traffic for usual entertainment locations. They are coin-operated with slots
for money to be inserted to start playing, ending when the player loses and has to pay to play again;
making arcade machines a common investment to make profit and amusement for customers.
Before computer generated arcade games, Skee Ball was a popular arcade
game that was invented in 1909, and first sold skee-ball alleys in 1914 that
were 34 feet long, in 1928 they were shortened to 14 feet to gain a larger
audience. In 1931, Baffle Ball – an early version of Pinball was the first coin-
operated machine and was considered gambling, so it was banned by most
states. Pinball machines were first created in 1933 without the flippers at the
bottom, and was considered a game of chance. The modern version with
flippers to keep the ball in game was made in 1947, so that the game was considered to Skee Ball
involve skill and make it family friendly. The game was still banned in many places including New York as it
was still considered gambling.
The first arcade game was called Galaxy Game – ‘an expanded version of 1962
Spacewar’, released in September 1971, and installed at Stanford University. It
cost 10 cents to play one game or 25 cents to play 3 games. It featured 2 joysticks
on each unit, a blue fibre-glass casing, vector display, and a 16-bit PDP-11
minicomputer in one of the units that was capable of displaying 4 screens at a time
but only 2 were installed. It cost $20,000 to build.
The Galaxy Game Unit
However, it failed to be commercially available so the first commercial
arcade game was in November of the same year – Computer Space by Nolan Bushnell and
Ted Dabney, but was not as successful as they hoped it to be. They found Syzygy
Engineering and Nutting Associates were the manufacturers for their game. The creators
decided to make their own custom computer for the machine as computers were too
expensive to use. The controls were left, and right rotational buttons, with
2 other buttons to fire and thrust. It’s a controversial fact whether Galaxy
Game or Computer Space were the first arcade game as Computer space
released a prototype a month before Galaxy Game released, they are also
both made by the inspiration of Spacewar.
Computer Space Graphics
Computer Space’s Unit
Pong was released a year later, which became the first commercially successful arcade machine, selling
over 35,000 units and replacing most pinball machines while inspiring other companies to develop video
games. Pong was developed by Atari, which incorporated Syzygy engineering. In 1975, a game called Gun
Fight was the first machine to use a microprocessor, and 1978 saw Space Invaders’ release which was also
the start of the ‘Golden age’ for arcade gaming. Atari followed up with Asteroids in 1979, selling over
70,000 units. The most successful arcade game – Pacman was released in 1980, selling 350,000 arcade
machines and drawing in over 2 billion dollars, becoming a cultural phenomenon for all audiences.
, 1980 was also the year Atari made Tempest the first arcade game to use high-
resolution colour vector graphics. Donkey Kong was one of the first games in
history to have some sort of storyline and featured multiple levels, with many
more hit games being released.
The end of the Golden age of arcades was around 1982, where the arcade game
industry fell from $12 billion in 1982 to $100 million in 1985 due to the rising
Atari Tempest was brightly popularity of home gaming consoles by Nintendo and Sega. The chance to play
coloured with a 3D perspective. more advanced games in the comfort of your home that differed from the
repetitiveness of arcade games saw many arcades close down.
From then on, there were very little releases but as technology had gotten so
advanced – the arcade machines and their possibilities were highly upgraded
and brought a considerable amount of income to the industry. In 1991 Capcom
released Street Fighter was very successful, however in 1997 MAME (Multiple
Arcade Machine Emulators) were created, this allowed hundreds of vintage
games to be played on a single unit or home computer, saving modern arcades a
lot of money but leaving the classic machines to be dumped or become collector’s
items.
A common racing game simulation.
Meanwhile, the release of Dance Dance revolution in 1999, introduced interactive and
simulation machines to arcade for the new millennial. In the 2000s, arcade machines
included steering wheels, gun props, instrument props, and rideable bikes. The 2005
Mario Kart Arcade used built in cameras that took a photo of the user before a race so
fellow competitors could identify their vehicle. Lastly, in 2013 arcade gaming met 4D
experiences – starting with a horror shooter called Dark Escape 4D. Inside the large
units, the game immerses the player with surround sound, 3D glasses, dynamic
vibrations/movement, heart rate monitors, and blast of air, 4D experiences have also
included purely visual experiences with a cinema screen, seats with belts, and very
Dark Escape 4D Game dynamic movement in accordance with the visuals.
In conclusion, the limitations of the first arcade machines in the 1970s were that they were too costly to make as
components from computers were used and companies couldn’t keep the cost down, making them even more
expensive for companies to buy. They were also very repetivitive because of the limited controls of joysticks and few
buttons, and they were obviously too big and pricey for households to own so they were limited to a market for
leisure/entertainment locations. Their lack of portability, dynamic gameplay, and graphics was their downfall to the
success of home consoles (aswell as mobile gaming) that were rapidly advancing.
The attract mode that arcade games use when not being operated is used to attact people to play the game, by
showing the game being played by itself, listing highscores or showing cutscenes made arcades colourful, musical,
and simply enjoyable places to be. On the downside, static graphics would often cause screen burn-in on certain
displays such as cathode ray tube displays which is when the image is burnt into the screen to form a permanent
shadow, ruining the display and requiring a screen replacement. A positive is that arcade games are seen to be social
games as people would go out to go to arcades instead of stay at home, they are also a great, simple diversion when
out in public (especially for families), and classic games make many feel nostalgic.
,Game Consoles
Release Price (Equivalent): $560
Generation 1 Discontinued: 1975
1972 – Magnavox Odyssey Units sold: 350,000
Media: no media
The Magnavox Odyssey, known as the brown box, was the first
ever commercial video game console, it was only capable of CPU: no processor
display 3 square dots on the screen in black and white, with no Memory: no memory
sound. The dots would be used with overlays on a TV screen to Controller input: Box with 2 knobs and button
create visuals for simple games such as ‘Tennis for two’ to be Multiplayer services: Featured 2 controllers
played. The dots would be moved by the 2 controllers which had Best-selling game: Unknown
2 knobs on each side and a button to control the dots. At its Predecessor: N/A
release, it cost $560 and sold 350, 000 units. The console lacked Successor: Magnavox Odyssey 2
most components of a computer and cards that had pin outs to
change settings. The console went on to have many variations with
technological advances, the Magnavox 2 released in 1978 (Gen 2
console) was a big upgrade as it used ROM cartridges, joystick controllers, and had game backgrounds, foregrounds
and sound, which sold 2 million units.
The first Magnavox Odyssey The Odyssey’s Game Cards TV overlays for the Odyssey
Release Price (Equivalent): $435
1975 – Atari Pong
Initially built as an arcade machine for testing, and developed into Discontinued: 1975
home versions for its singular game – pong, a simple simulation of table Units sold: 150,000
tennis. The console had no controller but just 2 wheels on the actual Media: Built in chip
console to move the platforms to hit the ball. The console had no CPU: Included in built-in chip
memory, or input media like the odyssey but instead a custom built-in Memory: no memory
chip that held the game. Controller input: 2 wheels on the console to turn
Multiplayer services: 2 player game or against
computer
Best-selling game: N/A
Predecessor: N/A
Successor: Atari 2600
Atari’s first console – Atari Pong Atari’s singular game
, Release Price (Equivalent): $777
Generation 2 Discontinued: January 1992
1977 – Atari 2600 Units sold: 30 million
The first console to popularize the use of ROM cartridges to hold the Media: ROM Cartridge
video-game’s code, and hardware that uses micro-processor; allowing CPU: 8-bit MOS 6507 1.19 MHz
more visually complex games including, E.T the Extra Terrestrial, Pac- Memory: 128 bytes RAM
Man, Breakout, and Combat. The console came with 2 joystick Controller input: Multiple controller options:
controllers with a button and conjoined paddle controllers that had a Joystick with button, Trak-ball, with a wheel and
wheel and trigger buttons. It was the first console to do many things trigger for driving games.
such as have a micro-procressor, RAM, have input storage, and sell Multiplayer services: Twin controllers and Game
millions of units. As the first console to allow third-party games, Line for downloading games
programmers had difficulty creating games for cartridges with such Best-selling game: Pacman
small memory. The console was black plastic with a wooden front Predecessor: Atari Pong
panel, gaining the nickname ‘woody’ and the console to start the Successor: Atari 5200
demise of the golden age for arcades. It also had a dial-up service to be
able to download games over the telephone line with an installed modem and empty cartridge in their console. It’s
successor – the Atari 5200 in 1982 was not very successful with only 1 million units sold, with not much of an
upgrade but made to replace the 2600.
The Atari 2600 Atari 2600 – Best seller: Pacman
1982 – Coleco Vision
Coleco’s second and final console was the Vision that was
made to compete with the Atari 2600 which dominate the
Release Price (Equivalent): $777
second generation of console and had came out 5 years
Discontinued: January 1992
before the Vision. Coleco’s console used ROM cartridges, with
Units sold: 30 million
a Zilog Z80 CPU, being the newest console of the time and
Media: ROM Cartridge
having improved graphics and performance to the 2600. It
CPU: Zilog Z80A 3.58 MHz
sold over 2 million units with a bundled game of Donkey
Kong. Memory: 1KB RAM
Controller input: Multiple controller options: Wheel
and number pad, steering wheel, and more.
Best-selling game: Donkey Kong
Predecessor: Telestar
Successor: N/A
Coleco Vision Donkey Kong
