Insert Coins to Continue (1983) Quiz

Answer: Crystal Castles

"Crystal Castles" was designed by Scott Fuller, and was unique in that it was an arcade game with a definite ending (it didn't loop back to the beginning when you 'won' the game).

The game consisted of ten levels, with the first nine levels each having four castle mazes to navigate, then the tenth and final level having just one castle (for thirty-seven castles in total). Once you cleared a castle of gems, you could move on to the next one, but you had to avoid various monsters and try not to let any of them steal gems away from you, since collecting gems earned you the majority of your points.

Answer: Champion Baseball

"Champion Baseball" didn't fare quite as well when it was released in North America, despite the subject being 'America's pastime.' It was just bad timing, as the decline of the 'Golden Age of Arcade Video Games' had already begun.

As a player, you had the option to choose a team from Atlanta, Boston, California, Chicago, Cincinnati, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, Montreal, New York City, Pittsburg (that's how it was spelled), St. Louis, and Texas. One 'advanced' feature of the game was a split screen - the larger portion showing the field of play, with a smaller portion on the left side of the screen that showed a closeup of the pitcher and batter. The game would continue as long as you managed to stay ahead (or tied with) the computer, but would end immediately if the computer had the advantage at the end of the ninth inning or at the end of any extra inning.

Two sequel games were later produced: "Champion Baseball II" (later in 1983, allowing two players to compete with each other), and "Super Champion Baseball" (1989).

Answer: Dragon's Lair

As Dirk the Daring, your job was to rescue the Princess Daphne from a dragon (named Singe), who has secured her within the evil wizard Mordroc's castle. The game was designed by Rick Dyer and animated by Don Bluth, and released by Cinematronics.

While "Dragon's Lair" had amazing, Disney cartoon-quality graphics, that also came with limitations. The game was essentially a collection of animated video clips and as the player, you just had to make decisions in the moment - limited to 'up,' 'down,' 'left,' 'right,' or 'attack,' and then let the next video play that was the result.

Altogether, the game had 22 minutes of animated footage, including various death scenes that could occur, and if you were able to play the perfect game and make all the right decisions, it would take 12 minutes to play the whole game.

Answer: False

Despite the game title "Elevator Action", there are also escalators at various different floors in the building that you play on each level. There are, of course, elevators, and their placement changes as you descend the building, sometimes in the middle of the floor, sometimes at either or both ends of the floor.

If you don't remember the object of the game, you took on the role of Otto (Agent 17), a secret agent that ziplines down to the roof of a 30-storey building and must descend to the basement level, using elevators and escalators. Along the way you had to collect secret documents hidden behind red doors while also avoiding or killing enemy agents. Once you got to the bottom of the building, a car was waiting to whisk you away, and you started all over again with a new building/level.

Answer: Flip them over and kick them

Although originally just a spinoff, Nintendo's "Mario Bros." was the first in what would become the company's biggest-selling series of games with 'Mario Mario' as the primary character.

As mentioned, Mario and Luigi worked to clear New York's sewers of the different creatures... by jumping up at the floor beneath them and flipping them over. Then they would have about six seconds to kick them (off the screen). Shellcreepers (which would later become known as Koopas) looked like turtles and needed just one hit to flip them over. Sidesteppers looked like crabs, and needed two hits (the first hit just made them mad). Fighterflies only needed one hit, but they jumped around, and could only be hit when caught sitting on the floor. The slipices would only need to be hit from beneath to stop them from icing the floor, and didn't need the extra kick to vanquish. Lastly, there were also fireballs that appeared in later levels. The red ones you just had to avoid, but the blue fireballs rolled around and could be hit from beneath like the other enemies.

Answer: True

George Gomez, the designer of Bally-Midway's "Spy Hunter", came up with the idea for the game after listening to the "James Bond" theme, and it was developed with the intent of using that theme as the background music for the game, under the "James Bond" brand. Unfortunately, they couldn't get the license to do so. Thus, the game is very reminiscent of a "James Bond" car chase scene, with the armoured sports car and gimmick weapons. But instead of 007's theme in the background, you got the "Peter Gunn" theme, instead.

You started the game with just machine guns, but when the opportunity arose, you could get a limited upgrade (until you ran out) by entering a 'Weapons Van', with options of oil slicks, smoke screens, and surface-to-air missiles. Also, your car could (or would have to) transform into a speedboat when driven through a special boathouse that irregularly appeared along the endless route.

Answer: 110m hurdles

"Track & Field" was a popular game that encouraged fierce competition amongst friends. The controls consisted of two buttons to build up speed (one for each leg) that you had to tap alternately and evenly for maximum effect, plus a third 'action' button that would do complete a jump or throw, and could be held for a length of time to indicate your throwing or jumping angle (for certain events).

Answer: The rebel fleet's assault on the Death Star

Of course, only one of the presented options actually occurred in 1977's "Star Wars" (subtitled "A New Hope). The asteroid field was in "The Empire Strikes Back", the podrace was in "The Phantom Menace", and the lightsaber battle was in "Attack of the Clones."

In the Atari arcade game, you took on the role of Luke Skywalker flying his X-Wing as 'Red Five'. There were three phases to the game. In the first phase, you approached the Death Star and fought against TIE fighters on the way. In the second phase, you flew above the surface of the Death Star, on approach to the trench, facing artillery bunkers and laser turrets. In the final phase, you navigate the trench to fire on the exhaust port and destroy the Death Star.

Answer: Mappy

The name 'Mappy' is a not-so-subtle variant of the term 'mappo,' which is a slang term for a policeman in Japan. In the game, you (as Mappy the police mouse) needed to navigate the six-floor mansion filled with enemy cats. Both you and the cats could only move between floors by jumping down to a trampoline on the bottom floor and bouncing back up to the floor of your choice. You needed to gather all of the loot on a screen to finish the level.

Answer: Budweiser

Anheuser-Busch (est. 1852) is the brewing company that created the Budweiser brand in St. Louis in 1876. It became the first national beer brand in the United States, so it is fitting that it became the basis for the first beer-themed arcade video game.

In the game, you had four different bars to tend, with a keg at the end of each of them and patrons entering from the opposite end of the bar. You had to slide mugs of beer down the bars as the drinkers made their way towards you (forcing them to stop and drink their beer). You then had to catch the empty mugs slid back towards you. If you let a mug hit the floor, or if a patron reached the end of the bar, you lost a 'life.'

There were four different barroom themes as you completed each level. The first group of patrons were cowboys and the bar had a Western theme. Second came athletes in a sports bar. A punk rock bar was next, complete with punk rockers (naturally). Lastly, you tended a space bar with various different aliens as your patrons.

In 1984, after some criticism regarding the promotion of alcoholism to youths, the game was revamped to "Root Beer Tapper".