Old arcade games

stuckupmyownera · Aug 28, 2008

Ok so you know those old-fashioned arcade machines where a load of coins lie on a flat surface and a bar at the back pushes them forward, and you have to drop new coins in at the right moment so the bar pushes them further and some coins drop off the front?
What's that called?

And on the same note, can anyone tell me what other games one might have found in an arcade around 1980?

Hope someone can help

SLThomas · Aug 28, 2008

pinball machines.

For the games: space invaders, Pac-Man was starting..., some rudimentary F1 racing games

oops: I don't think that you're talking about pinball machines in your first game. Sorry!

alleycat · Aug 28, 2008

Pong was still around in 1980. Pong was the very first video arcade game.

stuckupmyownera · Aug 28, 2008

Hmm, no, not pinball. I think they might be called coin dropdown games or something...

johnnysannie · Aug 28, 2008

stuckupmyownera said:
Ok so you know those old-fashioned arcade machines where a load of coins lie on a flat surface and a bar at the back pushes them forward, and you have to drop new coins in at the right moment so the bar pushes them further and some coins drop off the front?
What's that called?

And on the same note, can anyone tell me what other games one might have found in an arcade around 1980?

Hope someone can help

Pinball, skeetball, driving games (not as elaborate as now but where you put in coins and "drove", and mini-shooting gallery type machines.

The other machines are called "coin pushers".

alleycat · Aug 28, 2008

stuckupmyownera said:
Hmm, no, not pinball. I think they might be called coin dropdown games or something...

The were called either coin drop or coin drop redemption games.

I don't think they were ever that big in the US (pinball or pinball-like games were much more popular here); they might have been more popular in the UK.

Priene · Aug 28, 2008

alleycat said:
The were called either coin drop or coin drop redemption games.

I don't think they were ever that big in the US (pinball or pinball-like games were much more popular here); they might have been more popular in the UK.

Not might have been. They survive on British seafronts to this day.

Well, Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth, anyway. Can't vouch for anywhere further afield.

malberque@comcast.ne · Aug 28, 2008

I call them annoying.

stuckupmyownera · Aug 28, 2008

Priene said:
Not might have been. They survive on British seafronts to this day.

Well, Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth, anyway. Can't vouch for anywhere further afield.

Add Brighton, Isle of Wight... Can't imagine why...

Thanks everyone!

johnnysannie · Aug 28, 2008

alleycat said:
The were called either coin drop or coin drop redemption games.

I don't think they were ever that big in the US (pinball or pinball-like games were much more popular here); they might have been more popular in the UK.

Coin pushers - or coin drops if you prefer - are still popular in parts of the US, especially in the Southern states. I've seen quite a few, all in recent years.

auntybug · Aug 28, 2008

stuckupmyownera said:
And on the same note, can anyone tell me what other games one might have found in an arcade around 1980?

I'm pretty sure Space Invaders was early 80's IIRC...

Bmwhtly · Aug 28, 2008

stuckupmyownera said:
Ok so you know those old-fashioned arcade machines where a load of coins lie on a flat surface and a bar at the back pushes them forward, and you have to drop new coins in at the right moment so the bar pushes them further and some coins drop off the front?
What's that called?

Penny Falls machine.

waylander · Aug 28, 2008

I remember playing 'Asteroids' in the late 70s in pubs

Kitty Pryde · Aug 28, 2008

Wikipedia to your rescue!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_video_arcade_game_history
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arcade_game

stuckupmyownera · Aug 29, 2008

Penny Falls! That's what I was looking for - I knew it had a proper name.

Thanks again everyone.

And thanks for the wiki link, Kitty - I'd already searched wikipedia but hadn't found that timeline.

chevbrock · Aug 29, 2008

Was Galaga around at that time? Or did that come later?

Fingers · Aug 29, 2008

I ran an arcade in portland in 1978-79. We had ten foosball tables, and were only allowed three electronic games at a time. Pinball Wizard was a popular pinball game, there was a very early version of Star Trek, asteroids, several different types of driving games. Pac man, asteroids, grand prix, stunt bike, frogger were some of the more popular games at the time.

yer pal Brian

Tornadoboy · Aug 31, 2008

Here's a pretty extensive database of coin-op video games:

http://www.klov.com/

If you need to know anything about how they work and what's inside let me know, I rebuild them as a hobby.

stuckupmyownera · Aug 31, 2008

Ooooh, that's useful, Tornadoboy, thanks.

Perhaps you could answer another very trivial arcade-game anatomy question for me?

What would you call the little slot/pocket/receptacle where your winnings come out of a machine?

Dumb question, probably. So much for 'write what you know' - I've never even touched one of the things!

wolfgirl · Aug 31, 2008

this is sad but i live in portobello in scotland and we have an amusment arcade and im totally addicted to the coin drop games there are two pence once and ten pence ones and i just cant wak by with out playing them they are great i love them

WendyNYC · Aug 31, 2008

I remember playing Ms. Pac Man and Frogger around then. I would spend every cent of my allowance at the arcade.

ALG71 · Aug 31, 2008

stuckupmyownera said:
Dumb question, probably. So much for 'write what you know' - I've never even touched one of the things!

I read that a few years back when I first started writing. Then, I read something even better.

"Write what you can imagine. You can do research for everything you don't know."

Tornadoboy · Aug 31, 2008

stuckupmyownera said:
Ooooh, that's useful, Tornadoboy, thanks.

Perhaps you could answer another very trivial arcade-game anatomy question for me?

What would you call the little slot/pocket/receptacle where your winnings come out of a machine?

Dumb question, probably. So much for 'write what you know' - I've never even touched one of the things!

Not a dumb question, but I've got a dumb answer now that I've thought about it: I'm not sure. :Shrug:

Personally I'd probably refer to it as the winnings tray, bin or something like that, but I've only worked on video games and a few pinballs so I've never had the need to really know.

Although with that being said I'm trying currently to get my paws on a full sized casino video poker machine which has such a tray and even a bill exceptor. A neighbor sold it at a yard sale to a guy for a mere $50 (!!!!!!), it has been three months and the dumbass still hasn't picked it up! I'm going to offer him $75 so he can make an extra $25 and send the dipshit back his $50, still incredibly cheap!

Tornadoboy · Sep 21, 2008

Tornadoboy said:
Although with that being said I'm trying currently to get my paws on a full sized casino video poker machine which has such a tray and even a bill exceptor. A neighbor sold it at a yard sale to a guy for a mere $50 (!!!!!!), it has been three months and the dumbass still hasn't picked it up! I'm going to offer him $75 so he can make an extra $25 and send the dipshit back his $50, still incredibly cheap!

BWAHAHAHAHA! Four months later and the guy still hadn't picked it up, now I've got my greedy little paws on it for $50! Well more like $40, because there was about $10 worth of coins in it and I haven't even gotten the bill changer open! :snoopy:

I know, old thread and who cares, but I had to gloat to myself.

MadScientistMatt · Sep 21, 2008

johnnysannie said:
Coin pushers - or coin drops if you prefer - are still popular in parts of the US, especially in the Southern states. I've seen quite a few, all in recent years.

I've seen versions at Dave & Busters just a couple years ago that use game tokens instead of real coins. Ones loaded with coins would probably fall under gambling regulations.

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