Insert Coins to Continue (1978) Quiz

Answer: Space Invaders

"Space Invaders" was the original alien invasion shooter game that spawned multiple clones and variants on the theme. The game was simple, and fun to play. You had a fleet of aliens descending towards your base (on the moon) and you could move your laser cannon left or right and fire upwards at the aliens. You also had four 'base shelters' to hide behind, but those would eventually get destroyed and you had nothing but your skill to rely on to win.

The game would keep on going until one of two things happened: you lost all your lives (you started with three and earned new ones with every level cleared); or you let an alien reach the ground.

Answer: Football

"Atari Football" was not the first trackball controller game invented, but it is credited with popularizing it. The game was simple in its execution - choose a play (either offence or defense, depending on where you were at in the game), then roll your trackball to move the player holding the ball. The faster you rolled the trackball, the faster your player would move, in the direction you rolled it. Pushing the button would pass the ball (according to the plan you chose).

It was a physically exhausting game, if you had a competitive spirit.

Answer: Gee Bee

"Gee Bee" was kind of like a mix between "Breakout" and "Video Pinball". You had two left/right sliding paddles to keep your ball up (one at the bottom, one at mid-screen), but there were bumpers and rollover spots to light up and earn bonus points in addition to the blocks to break. Certainly an interesting hybrid.

Answer: Time attack

The original "Breakout" had just a single paddle to keep the ball bouncing and breaking blocks. The different modes offered by "Super Breakout" were:

1) Double - two paddles (one above the other) with two balls going.
2) Cavity - two paddles starting with one ball, two other balls hidden in the wall that can be played when they are freed.
3) Progressive - the wall of bricks advances (lowers) towards your paddle - speeds up as game progresses.

There was no 'time attack' mode, which is a time limit on play. This game could go on indefinitely, if you kept at least one ball going.

Answer: True

"Fire Truck" could be played in one- or two-player mode, but it was primarily designed for two players working together. Just like with the truck seen in the photo, two drivers were needed to steer the fire truck in the game. One had a seat while the second stood behind.

The seated driver operated the tractor portion with gas and brake controls, while the standing driver steered the tiller for the rear wheels, controlling the trailer's swing.

The objective was to get the truck as far as possible through traffic without crashing.

Answer: Rocks

In "Canyon Bomber", you dropped bombs on a canyon full of stacked rocks. The deeper rocks in the stacks were worth more points, as they were more difficult to hit as the distance from your launch point got further and further. You had no control of your flying (across the top of the screen)... just when to release bombs.

Answer: Catch them

Sometimes the premise behind a game makes all the difference. Originally, "Avalanche" was tested as a game with eggs and baskets called "Catch". It didn't test well, and the concept was altered to become an avalanche of rocks.

But the general game play was the same. You had a stack of six paddles (one for each row of rocks at the top) and you had to scroll left and right to catch the rocks as they fell. The rocks would get smaller and faster in subsequent rows, and your paddles would get smaller, too, while also losing a paddle every time a row of rocks was cleared.

Answer: Sky Raider

The object of "Sky Raider" was to hit as many targets as possible in the time you had to play. Targets included oil fields, electrical towers, bridges and enemy aircraft. And none of it shot back at you, so it was just a moving shooting gallery.

Unlike some other shooter games, you didn't get to see yourself on the screen. It was from the perspective of being in the cockpit, and you had to move your crosshairs around to hit your targets.

Answer: In "Orbit"

"Orbit" was a two-player game that had your spaceships orbiting a planet in opposite directions, and you would try and take each other out.

There were ten different levels of difficulty from which to choose at the start of the game, in addition to a number of options, most having to do with gravity settings. One handy option was space stations, where one could effect repairs to your ship if partially damaged in combat.

Answer: Atari

As the first video game version of the classic pinball machine, Atari did a good job with it. There was even a plunger to pull to 'launch' the ball, and the control panel was spring-loaded so players could 'nudge' the ball on the screen.

And while the graphics were black and white, they were mirrored to overlay the playfield on the upper portion of the console, complete with blinking LEDs at just the right spots. Genius, really.