A video showing Atari F1gameplay and the internal workings of this classic classic arcade game ("take a look at the playfield, extra extra clean, where else ya gonna find one?!" (inside joke here) Courtesy of billyseven.net
Firstly, as a game-besotted child, the "violently" fiery explosions of this game used to scare the tar out of me. I would watch with frightened fascination from a distance as people played this in the arcades of that time. Those flames were really scary to me! Now I'm older and wiser, but no less nostalgic, and much more bold. Seeing the amazing, complex mechanics of this game today is truly mind-boggling - we're spoiled with all-digital amusements, without realizing the sheer complexity and smooth operation of electro-mechanical games like Atari's F1. The spinning platter of the raceway, combined with the miniature car you control, and the oncoming cars...just like Bally's similar Road Runner, they are both wonderful, ultra-creative, seamless meshes of mechanics, optics, and electronics, the kind we'd never see attempted today. I really hope there will always be at least one functioning example of these relics. It's a part of arcade gaming history that's just as notable and important as any pinball table or purely electronic coin-op.
I jut got cold chills, I havnt seen that game in 40 years, I almost forgot what it looked like untill I saw that firey crash. I used to play this when I was 10 years old. My recollection of the game was quite spot on as to what I remembered it to look and sound like. Thanks for posting
Thanks for the vid, I was just rewatching Dawn of the Dead (which features this game in a scene) and always wondered if it was a real game, so I looked it up and found this vid. Very strange way to create racing images.
Terrific video! Id' always wanted to see one in action on the inside. This game was from such an interesting time in coin-ops... Raster video games were already around, but not capable of detailed color graphics... Electromechanicals filled in the gap with crazy dimensional backdrops, sculpted toys and innovative projection techniques (before raster and vector games took over in the 80s).
When you panned to the race strip I must have crapped my pants. Definitely wasn't expecting a 3-D model even though I knew it was a film projection. What an incredibly inventive toy!
Awesome, I love these EM arcade games! Thanks so much for showing the inner workings of it as well! I love how inventive the designers were back then, with the limited technology that was available at the time....truly amazing.:)
This was the FIRST arcade game I ever played! I'd always play it every time my parents would take my sibs and I to the arcade in the Mountaineer Mall (Morgantown, WV) back in the late '70s... :-)
Thanks for the vid - that's wicked cool. I never would've thought they'd have little cars on a rotating platter inside the machine. Must've been late in 1976 - as it makes it's debut in "Atari Coin Connection" 1977 January issue.
Oh snap, I remember when I was a kid, I'd stay over at my Memaw's house and play with a miniature version of this!! For reference, this was in the late 90s and early 2000s so tech had progressed further from this arcade cabinet... I had never even thought to imagine a much bigger (and older) version would've been played in arcades...
Is it me, or does it seem the bulb for the track is a little too high? I remember seeing this game, and it seems to have more of a "Cockpit" view, than overhead as seen here.
I believe this game to be correct, but I also do not have another one to compare it too. There were many projection games made over the years with some using visible model cars and a projected background (I.E. Super Shifter).
Watch starting around 55 seconds and you should be able to see a bright lamp above the racetrack which is attached to the same assembly that holds a plastic image, sort of a "cutout", of the front half of the car you control in the game (the players car is seen below the racetrack and only the front half of your F-1 car). As the video progresses to 1:08-ish, keep watch of the car that you control in the game. There are two wires coming off the rod that is supporting your car, these wires go up to small light sensitive sensors mounted on your car (they're two white circles located right behind the front tires on your car's plastic). Basically when one of the "opponent" cars is in between the lamp and your car's sensors, a crash sequence will be triggered. The same thing happens when you veer or drive off the road. As for the continuous crashing in this video... When it was filmed I had yet to thoroughly clean the track and tweak the calibration. It's VERY hard to pass cars in this condition but hopefully I'll get around to posting a better one someday. I'd love to drag this to out to the Midwest Gaming Classic someday, but I'll fear I would have to modify the seat first to prevent it becoming damaged. It's fairly thin molded fiberglass and not really fit for the fat and tall Americans of present day (myself included) ;)
