Memories of arcade videogames

I remember the 1970s and early 1980s when the arcade games transformed from pinball machines to arcade videogames. This was before the IBM PC was started.

I ran across a site listing old videogames. I was never much of a videogame player, but there were a few games that interested me and my friends.

My favorite game was the original 4-player Gauntlet. It first appeared in 1985.

For months on end in 1985 my IBM co-workers (Tim, Erik, and Scott) and I played this game after a quick lunch at Little Ceasar's Pizza in the mall. I think we all gained a bit of weight during this time.

As I remember: Tim played the Warrior; Erik the Elf, and Scott was the Wizard.

Most of the time I played the Valkyrie character. Don't remember why... her combination of strength and speed? Else I was the low man on the totem pole when it came to choosing which character to play.

I found where one can buy this game for $1895. But I think this game is better played with friends, and it wouldn't be as much fun playing it alone.

Red Baron

Hey Mark! Remember this game? My college buddy loved to play Red Baron. He could never resist it. Knowing how Mark loved this game one would think he would have joined the air force and not the navy. Go figure!

On a simple screen you engage enemy biplanes in a WWI dogfight. Not all arcades carried it so whenever we passed by an arcade Mark insisted we check if they had it.

Surprisingly this game first appeared in 1980. From the simple graphics I thought it was an older game.

Joust

And lastly I remember Joust. This game first appeared in 1982.

You are a knight flying on an ostrich, battling buzzard-mounted enemies. You must defeat every enemy knight in a joust. You do not want to be knocked off into the boiling lava.

Joust is now available online. I haven't played it yet, so I can't tell you how the online version compares to the original arcade version.