B-b-b-Breakout!
Breakout March 18th, 2007I have a serious problem. It seems I can’t go more than 2 weeks without getting an arcade game. If someone invents a version of Methadone that works for arcade addiction, please send me a bottle.
Anyways…here is the latest addition:
I got a great deal on this along with some extra parts and 2 Coors Lights. 
The game works but there is an issue with the monitor blowing fuses. I don’t think I’ll be working on it anytime soon as I have too many other projects to work on. It’s now in the offshoot project arcade located in my garage. This is the type of arcade you are probably very familiar with, where every single game is non working. There was an arcade like this at the Holiday Inn Express we stayed at in North Conway. The only reason I think I can actually get this Breakout working is because I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night.
My wife is an enabler. Where most wives would try to ween their husdbands away from the seedy underbelly that is addiction, she just encourages it. I wasn’t hell bent on getting this one, but thought it was cool. I mentioned it to her and she had to have it, hence my trip today to pick this puppy up.
A little history behind this game…Released in 1976 by Atari when I was 3 years old, it was designed by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. Supposedly they took the money they made from this game and used it to start Apple Computer. If either Steve is reading this and that info is not correct, please feel free to comment. They are probably both fervent readers of our blog.
Loading ...
March 19th, 2007 at 12:49 pm
What a great find, and the artwork looks to be in great shape. It takes me back to my Atari 2600 days, I used to play the heck out of breakout on that thing. I actually still prefer it over arkanoid to this day.
I just picked up a new arcade game this weekend too (http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?letter=S&game_id=9429). I made a trade with a local guy for it (we converted his Virtua Fighter cabinet into a MAME cabinet).
It worked, but the steering had some problems (it wouldn’t pass the self test at startup and then didn’t seem to have the correct range it needed if you aborted the self test and just tried to play).
We opened up the steering assembly, and noticed it was missing a place screw in the pot (it has 2 screws, one that clamps down on the steering wheel shaft, and one that clamps down on the potentiometer so it will turn when you turn the steering wheel, it was missing the pot screw). We had a screw that matched the threads on hand, screwed it in, and it works great now.
I’ve moved it into the kitchen/arcade, but it’s really big. My wife actually told me that she thinks we should move the kitchen table into the garage and get a smaller table until we move (talk about enabling).
March 19th, 2007 at 12:56 pm
Thanks! Yeah, the art is in great shape. I was a big fan of Arkanoid, but never played this one. Can’t wait to get it going but it will probably be awhile.
Congrats on that game…it looks very cool. That’s great that it was a simple fix.
Your wife sounds cool…I would trade a big table for more game space too.
I’m sitting at the main obstacle in the way in my game room now, my desk. Unfortunately I need it to make a living. I may move it into my back cellar though so I can fit more games.
February 8th, 2008 at 5:20 pm
Is this still in the “To Do” section of your arcade games? I haven’t ever tried it, but cool artwork on the side for sure.
I don’t get it though, if the two Steve’s were employed at Atari, how could they reap individual profits from this game? Where did you read about Jobs and Wozniak being behind Breakout?
February 8th, 2008 at 5:34 pm
Hey Jeff,
Yeah, it’s still on my “to do” list. That list is pretty big. If you are familiar with Arkanoid, that was basically a rip off of Breakout. This was the first game that had bricks at the top and a ball to break them at the bottom.
I don’t remember where I heard that the two Steve’s worked at Atari, but I just found the same info on Steve Jobs’ Wikipedia page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Jobs
“In the autumn of 1974, Jobs returned to California and began attending meetings of the Homebrew Computer Club with Steve Wozniak.[15] He took a job as a technician at Atari, a manufacturer of popular video games…”
and then:
“He returned to his previous job at Atari and was given the task of creating a circuit board for the game Breakout. According to Atari Founder Nolan Bushnell, Atari had offered US$100 for each chip that was reduced in the machine. Jobs had little interest or knowledge in circuit board design and made a deal with Wozniak to split the bonus evenly between them if Wozniak could minimize the number of chips. Much to the amazement of Atari, Wozniak reduced the number of chips by 50, a design so tight that it was impossible to reproduce on an assembly line. At the time, Jobs told Wozniak that Atari had only given them US$700 (instead of the actual US$5000) and that Wozniak’s share was thus US$350.”
I thought I read/heard somewhere that they used the money they made off it to start Apple.
February 8th, 2008 at 5:36 pm
I just spotted some even better info on that here:
http://www.thedoteaters.com/p2_stage1.php
Scroll down about halfway to the section that starts with “Blockbuster”