1980-1987 Connect the Dots with a Spin; Cabinet Arcade Game
Apr 12, 2023 22:03:20 GMT
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Post by Opossum on Apr 12, 2023 22:03:20 GMT
Hi! First off, this post is for my mother. She has been looking for this game since she first got to use a computer with internet access in 1997 and has not been able to find it. Secondly, I don't know if this is actually lost media or just stupidly obscure but it's so old it might just be lost media at this point. She said she has used every source she could in her years of searching (but she has given up in the past three years) and hasn't found anything. She has even got to forums and ask websites. Still nothing.
Now to the game. From what I understand from my mom's recollection. It was a cabinet arcade game from, as the title suggests, 1980 to 1987 but was probably made prior to those years (I think for sure because it sounds incredibly primitive). My mom said the game was like a connect the dots game where you made all sorts of geometric shapes but namely squares and triangles. The dot you used to connect was white but as you went over, or as she said, "ate them," they'll highlight and fill the shape to a red or green. Before the player to go to the next level they had to fill the screen. She also said that she thinks the player was a, "orange monkey, or a brown monkey, or some type of monkey," but she said to not trust her on that as she stated herself it could be what her small kid brain perceived since she thought the monkey was swinging onto the dots (she was born in 1976 and said she mostly played when she was seven to ten). While all of this happened little, "fuzz balls or aliens" chased the player from as soon as the game started, they were primary. All of this was on a black background. She said the colors were very dull, could mean the cabinet is very old. There were many levels and she said it got really fast after level five or so. What she said the screen looked like below
Now the cabinet itself. She said the cabinet was black with the name and primary colors (she doesn't remember well as it was so long ago). I made her also recall the buttons which she isn't sure if it was just a joystick or a joystick and a few buttons for one or two players. The menu screen was just the game playing, she said when she was younger and out of quarters, she'd pretend to play the game by following the menu.
Finally, the location. This is the most straightforward, it was in a local pizza place in southern Illinois. The pizza place had a few other games like Pac-Man, Dig Dug, Joust, Centipede, Burger Time and Kickman.
I'm not including the name of the local pizza place because if the old information is online I don't want the former owners to be harassed as the place has been close for years.
Some quotes from my mom and my texts;
From initial questioning-
" Between 1980-1987
Arcade game stand up, black
Connect the dots while bad guys(bugs aliens?) Chase you
Southern Illinois local pizza place
Got very fast after about 5 levels "
Round two questioning-
" The dots I think were one color white, and highlighted into red or green once you had eaten them
It was some sort of a monkey that was the thing that was you used
Enemies for primary colors
Black cabinet had its name primary colors on the outside probably with the enemies
Joystick maybe a couple buttons to pick one or two players "
After she read my first draft-
" The dots were white or color and as you made the line the line made a color once you made the shape of a triangle or a
square it filled in the color it didn't really eat the dot it just colored it with a line and as the line made the box triangle
whatever it filled in the color you had to fill in the whole screen before you go to the next screen "
I know it's not my place to make this post as this is my mother's mystery but I'd love for her to play this game again. It was her favorite growing up and she still plays video games so I think it'll be really special if we find it.
Thank you so much for reading!
Edit; I forgot the not list which is-
-Magic Monkey
-Minky Monkey
-Pac-Man
-Donkey Kong
-Asteroids
-Gauntlet
-Lock and Chase
-X-Rally
Now to the game. From what I understand from my mom's recollection. It was a cabinet arcade game from, as the title suggests, 1980 to 1987 but was probably made prior to those years (I think for sure because it sounds incredibly primitive). My mom said the game was like a connect the dots game where you made all sorts of geometric shapes but namely squares and triangles. The dot you used to connect was white but as you went over, or as she said, "ate them," they'll highlight and fill the shape to a red or green. Before the player to go to the next level they had to fill the screen. She also said that she thinks the player was a, "orange monkey, or a brown monkey, or some type of monkey," but she said to not trust her on that as she stated herself it could be what her small kid brain perceived since she thought the monkey was swinging onto the dots (she was born in 1976 and said she mostly played when she was seven to ten). While all of this happened little, "fuzz balls or aliens" chased the player from as soon as the game started, they were primary. All of this was on a black background. She said the colors were very dull, could mean the cabinet is very old. There were many levels and she said it got really fast after level five or so. What she said the screen looked like below
Finally, the location. This is the most straightforward, it was in a local pizza place in southern Illinois. The pizza place had a few other games like Pac-Man, Dig Dug, Joust, Centipede, Burger Time and Kickman.
I'm not including the name of the local pizza place because if the old information is online I don't want the former owners to be harassed as the place has been close for years.
Some quotes from my mom and my texts;
From initial questioning-
" Between 1980-1987
Arcade game stand up, black
Connect the dots while bad guys(bugs aliens?) Chase you
Southern Illinois local pizza place
Got very fast after about 5 levels "
Round two questioning-
" The dots I think were one color white, and highlighted into red or green once you had eaten them
It was some sort of a monkey that was the thing that was you used
Enemies for primary colors
Black cabinet had its name primary colors on the outside probably with the enemies
Joystick maybe a couple buttons to pick one or two players "
After she read my first draft-
" The dots were white or color and as you made the line the line made a color once you made the shape of a triangle or a
square it filled in the color it didn't really eat the dot it just colored it with a line and as the line made the box triangle
whatever it filled in the color you had to fill in the whole screen before you go to the next screen "
I know it's not my place to make this post as this is my mother's mystery but I'd love for her to play this game again. It was her favorite growing up and she still plays video games so I think it'll be really special if we find it.
Thank you so much for reading!
Edit; I forgot the not list which is-
-Magic Monkey
-Minky Monkey
-Pac-Man
-Donkey Kong
-Asteroids
-Gauntlet
-Lock and Chase
-X-Rally
