An arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, typically installed in businesses such as restaurants, pubs, video arcades, and Family Entertainment Centers. A restaurant is a retail establishment that serves prepared Food to Customers. A video arcade (also known as an amusement arcade in the United Kingdom in Japan or as an "arcade" is a venue where people play arcade video games Most arcade games are redemption games, merchandisers, video games or pinball machines. Redemption games are typically arcade games of skill that reward the player proportionally to their score in the game A video game is a Game that involves interaction with a User interface to generate visual feedback on a video device. Pinball is a type of coin-operated Arcade game where a player attempts to score points by manipulating one or more Metal balls on a playfield inside a Glass

History

See also: Timeline of video arcade game history

The first popular "arcade games" were early amusement park midway games such as Shooting galleries, ball toss games, and the earliest coin-operated machines, such as those which claim to tell a person their fortune or played mechanical music. This article contains a timeline of notable events in the history of video arcade gaming 1971 - 1979;1971 The Galaxy Game, the earliest known coin-operated A midway at a Fair (commonly an American fair such as a county or state fair is the location where Amusement rides Entertainment and Fast BALL ( Biochemical Algorithms Library) is a C++ library containing common algorithms used in Biochemistry and Bioinformatics. The old midways of 1920s-era amusement parks (such as Coney Island in New York) provided the inspiration and atmosphere of later arcade games. Theme park is the generic term for a collection of rides and other Entertainment attractions assembled for the purpose of entertaining a large group Coney Island is a Peninsula, formerly an island in southernmost Brooklyn, New York City, USA with a Beach on the Atlantic Ocean New York ( is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous

In the 1930s, the earliest coin-operated pinball machines were made. Pinball is a type of coin-operated Arcade game where a player attempts to score points by manipulating one or more Metal balls on a playfield inside a Glass These early amusement devices were distinct from their later electronic cousins in that they were made of wood, did not have plungers or lit-up bonus surfaces on the playing field, and used mechanical instead of electronic scoring readouts. By around 1977, most pinball machines in production switched to using solid state electronics for both operation and scoring. Electronics refers to the flow of charge (moving Electrons through Nonmetal conductors (mainly Semiconductors, whereas electrical ^[1]

In 1971, students at Stanford University set up the Galaxy Game, a coin-operated version of the Spacewar computer game. Video games were introduced as a commercial entertainment medium in 1971, becoming the basis for an important entertainment industry in the late 1970s/early 1980s in the United The first generation of Video game consoles lasted from 1972 until 1977 In the history of computer and video games the second generation (sometimes referred to as the early 8 bit era) began in 1976 with the release of the Fairchild The North American video game crash of 1983 (sometimes known as the video game crash of 1984 because it was in that year that the full effects of the crash became apparent In the History of computer and video games, the third generation (the latter half of which is sometimes known as the 8 bit era) began in 1983 with the Japanese In the History of computer and video games, the fourth generation (more commonly referred to as the 16 bit era) began on October 30, 1987 The fifth-generation era (more commonly known as the 32 bit era and occasionally after the release of the Nintendo 64, the 64 bit era and more rarely The sixth-generation era (sometimes referred to as the 128-bit era; see "Number of bits" below refers to the computer and Video games In the History of video games, the seventh generation, which is also the current generation primarily focuses on the consoles released since by Nintendo, This article contains a timeline of notable events in the history of video arcade gaming 1971 - 1979;1971 The Galaxy Game, the earliest known coin-operated The Golden Age of Video Arcade Games was a peak era of video arcade game popularity innovation and earnings Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly known as Stanford University or simply Stanford, is a private Research university located in The Galaxy Game is the earliest known coin-operated computer or video game. Spacewar! is one of the earliest known digital Computer games Steve "Slug" Russell, Martin "Shag" Graetz and Wayne Wiitanen This is the earliest known instance of a coin-operated video game. Later in the same year, Nolan Bushnell created the first mass-manufactured such game, Computer Space, for Nutting Associates. Nolan K Bushnell (born February 5, 1943) is an American electrical Engineer and Entrepreneur who founded both Atari Inc Computer Space is a video Arcade game released in November 1971 by Nutting Associates. Nutting Associates was an early Arcade game manufacturer from Mountain View California, formed in 1968 by Bill Nutting.

In 1972, Atari was formed by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney. Atari is a corporate and brand name owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. Nolan K Bushnell (born February 5, 1943) is an American electrical Engineer and Entrepreneur who founded both Atari Inc Atari is a corporate and brand name owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. Atari essentially created the coin-operated video game industry with the game Pong, the smash hit electronic ping pong video game. The video game industry (formally referred to as Interactive entertainment) is the economic sector involved with the development, Marketing Pong is a first generation Video game released originally as a Coin -operated Arcade game by Atari Inc Pong proved to be popular, but imitators helped keep Atari from dominating the fledging coin-operated video game market. Video game arcades sprang up in shopping malls, and small "corner arcades" appeared in restaurants, grocery stores, bars and movie theaters all over the United States and other countries during the late 1970s and early 1980s. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Games such as Space Invaders (1978), Galaxian (1979), Pac-Man (1980), Battlezone (1980), and Donkey Kong (1981) were especially popular. is an arcade Video game designed by Tomohiro Nishikado, and released in 1978 Galaxian is a 1979 Fixed shooter Arcade game by Namco and released by Midway Mfg is an Arcade game developed by Namco and licensed for distribution is an Arcade game developed by Nintendo, and released in. It is an early example of the platform genre as the Gameplay focuses on maneuvering the main

During the late 70s and 80s, chains such as Chuck E Cheese, Ground Round, Dave and Busters, and Gatti's Pizza combined the traditional restaurant and/or bar environment with arcades. Chuck E Cheese's is a chain of family entertainment centers The concept centers around a basic sit-down Pizza restaurant complemented by Arcade games This article is about the restaurant chain You may be looking for Ground beef. Dave & Buster's (also called D and B's or D&B's is an American Restaurant and Entertainment business Gatti's Pizza is a Southeastern United States Pizza - Buffet chain ^[2]

By the late-1980s, the arcade video game craze was beginning to fade due to the reputation of arcades as being seedy, unsafe places as well as the advances in home video game console technology. Arcade video games experienced a resurgence with the advent of two-player fighting games such as Street Fighter II (1991) by Capcom, Mortal Kombat (1992) by Midway Games, Fatal Fury (1992), Killer Instinct (1994) by Rare, and King of Fighters (1994-2005) by SNK. is a 1991 competitive fighting game by Capcom. It is widely credited with launching the fighting game genre into the mainstream and extending the life of the worldwide arcade For the original NASA meaning see capsule communicator. is a leading Japanese International developer This article concerns the first entry of the fighting game series Midway Games ( (formerly Midway Manufacturing) is an American Video game publisher. is a Fighting game series developed by SNK for the Neo Geo system Killer Instinct is a Fighting game developed by Rare and published by Midway and Nintendo. The King of Fighters (ザ・キング・オブ・ファイターズ Za Kingu obu Faitāzu officially abbreviated KOF, is a series of Fighting games

However by 1996, home video game consoles and computers with 3D accelerator cards had reached technological parity with arcade equipment—arcade games had always been based on commodity technology, but their advantage over previous generations of home system was in their ability to customize and use the latest graphics and sound chips, much as PC games of today do. Declines in arcade sales volume meant that this approach was no longer cost-effective. Furthermore, by the late 1990s and early 2000s, networked gaming via console and computers across the Internet had also appeared^[3], replacing the venue of head to head competition and social atmosphere once provided solely by arcades^[4].

The arcades also lost their status as the forefront of new game releases. Given the choice between playing a game at an arcade three or four times (perhaps 15 minutes of play for a typical arcade game), and renting, at about the same price, the exact same game—for a video game console—the console was the clear winner. Fighting games were the most attractive feature for arcades, since they offered the prospect of face-to-face competition and tournaments, which correspondingly led players to practice more (and spend more money in the arcade), but they could not support the business all by themselves.

Recent 20th anniversary arcade machine, combining two or more classic video games.

To remain viable, arcades added other elements to compliment the video games such as redemption games, merchandisers, and food service. Redemption games are typically arcade games of skill that reward the player proportionally to their score in the game Referred to as "fun centers" or "family fun centers" ^[5], some of the longstanding chains such as Chuck E. Cheese and Gatti's Pizza ("GattiTowns")^[6] also changed to this format. Chuck E Cheese's is a chain of family entertainment centers The concept centers around a basic sit-down Pizza restaurant complemented by Arcade games Gatti's Pizza is a Southeastern United States Pizza - Buffet chain Many old video game arcades have long since closed, and classic coin-operated games have become largely the province of dedicated hobbyists.

Today's arcades have found a niche in games that use special controllers largely inaccessible to home users. An alternative interpretation (one which includes fighting games, which continue to thrive and require no special controller) is that the arcade game is now a more socially-oriented hangout, with games that focus on an individual's performance, rather than the game's content, as the primary form of novelty. A performance, in Performing arts, generally comprises an event in which one group of people (the performer or performers behave in a particular way for another group of people Examples of today's popular genres are rhythm games such as Dance Dance Revolution (1998) and DrumMania (1999), and rail shooters such as House of the Dead (1998) and Time Crisis. A music video game, also commonly known as a music game, is a Video game where the gameplay is meaningfully and often almost entirely oriented around the player's Dance Dance Revolution (abbreviated DDR) previously known as Dancing Stage in PAL territories until the announcement of DrumMania (alternately drummania, abbreviated DM) is a Music video game series produced by Konami Digital Entertainment A shoot-'em-up (also known as shmup) is a Video game genre of Shooter game in which the player controls a vehicle or character and fights large The House of the Dead is a first-person Light gun Arcade game released in 1996 by Sega. Time Crisis is a Video game initially available in arcades and later released for the PlayStation and Cell phones.

Technology

Virtually all modern arcade games (other than the very traditional midway-type games at county fairs) make extensive use of solid state electronics and integrated circuits. Electronics refers to the flow of charge (moving Electrons through Nonmetal conductors (mainly Semiconductors, whereas electrical Microchipsjpg|right|thumb|200px|Microchips ( EPROM memory with a transparent window showing the integrated circuit inside In the past coin-operated arcade video games generally used custom per-game hardware often with multiple CPUs, highly specialized sound and graphics chips and/or boards, and the latest in computer graphics display technology. Recent arcade game hardware is often based on modified video game console hardware or high end pc components. Sometimes, arcade games are controllable via more immersing and realistic means than either PC or console games, and feature specialized ambiance or control accessories, including fully enclosed dynamic cabinets with force feedback controls, dedicated lightguns, rear-projection displays, reproductions of car or plane cockpits and even motorcycle or horse-shaped controllers, or even highly dedicated controllers such as dancing mats and fishing rods. A personal computer ( PC) is any Computer whose original sales price size and capabilities make it useful for individuals and which is intended to be operated A light gun is a Pointing device for Computers and a control device for arcade and video games. A dance pad, also known as a dance mat or dance platform, is a flat electronic Game controller used for Input in dance games A fishing rod or a fishing pole is a Tool used to catch fish, usually in conjunction with the Sport of Angling, can also be used in These accessories are usually what set modern arcade games apart from PC or console games, as they are usually too bulky, expensive and specialized to be used with typical home PCs and consoles.

Arcade genre

Arcade games often have very short levels, simple and intuitive control schemes, and rapidly increasing difficulty. This is due to the environment of the Arcade, where the player is essentially renting the game for as long as their in-game avatar can stay alive (or until they run out of tokens).

Games on consoles or PCs can be referred to as an "arcade game" if it shares these qualities, or if it's a direct port of an arcade title. Many independent developers are now producing games in the arcade genre that are designed specifically for use on the Internet. The Internet is a global system of interconnected Computer networks These games are usually designed with Flash/Java/DHTML and run directly in web-browsers. Adobe Flash (previously called Shockwave Flash and Macromedia Flash) is a set of Multimedia software created by Macromedia and currently Dynamic HTML, or DHTML, is a collection of technologies used together to create interactive and animated Web sites by using a combination of a static Markup

Arcade racing games are those which have a simplified physics engine and do not require much learning time, in opposition to racing simulators. Many Board games can be said to be racing games such as Snakes and Ladders, Cribbage, or Formula Dé. A physics engine is a Computer program that simulates Newtonian physics models using variables such as Mass, Velocity, Friction and Sim ( simulated) racing is the collective term for Computer software (i Cars can turn sharply without losing speed or overdrifting, and the AI rivals are sometimes programmed so they are always near the player (rubberband effect). Rubberband AI (sometimes known as "catch-up" is a simple form of Artificial intelligence that is used in most racing and sports Video games in particular

Arcade flight games also use simplified physics and controls in comparison to flight simulators. Flight is the process by which an object achieves sustained movement either through the Air (or movement beyond Earth's atmosphere, in the case of A flight simulator is a system that tries to copy or simulate, the experience of flying an aircraft These are meant to have an easy learning curve, in order to preserve their action component. The term learning curve refers to the graphical relation between the amount of Learning and the time it takes to learn Increasing numbers of console flight arcade games, from Crimson Skies to Secret Weapons Over Normandy indicate the falling of manual-heavy flight sim popularity in favor of instant arcade flight action. Crimson Skies High Road to Revenge is a first-party video game title developed by FASA Studio (part of Microsoft Game Studios) for the Secret Weapons Over Normandy or (SWON is a World War II -based Flight simulation Video game released on November 18 ^[7]

Emulation

Main article: Console emulator#Legal issues

Emulators such as MAME, which can be run on modern computers and a number of other devices, aim to preserve the antiquated games of the past, but have been subject to controversy;

Locations

In addition to restaurants and video arcades, arcade games are also found in bowling alleys, college campuses, dormitories, laundromats, movie theatres, supermarkets, shopping malls, airports, truck stops, bar/pubs, hotels, and even bakeries. A console emulator is a program that allows a computer or modern console (cross-console emulation to emulate a Video game console. An emulator duplicates (provides an emulation of the functions of one System using a different system so that the second system behaves like (and appears to MAME is an Emulator application designed to recreate the Hardware of Arcade game systems in Software, with the intent of preserving gaming A video arcade (also known as an amusement arcade in the United Kingdom in Japan or as an "arcade" is a venue where people play arcade video games Bowling is a Game / Sport in which players attempt to score points by rolling a Bowling ball along a flat surface either into objects called pins College ( Latin collegium) is a term most often used today to denote an Educational Institution. Dormitory typically refers in the United States to residence halls which are sleeping quarters or entire buildings primarily providing sleeping and residential quarters for A self-service laundry is a facility where Clothes are washed and dried Cinemaaustraliajpg|thumb|A movie theater in Australia ]]A movie theater, movie theatre, picture theatre or cinema is a venue Customer divider barjpg|thumb|In supermarkets sellers periodically change prices for classes of goods in response to market conditions rather than negotiating the price of each good A shopping mall or shopping centre is a building or set of buildings that contain Retail units with interconnecting Walkways enabling visitors An airport is a location where Aircraft such as airplanes, Helicopters and blimps take off and land A truck stop is a commercial facility that provides fuel parking and usually food and other services to long-haul trucks A bar (also called a Pub or Tavern) is a business that serves drinks especially Alcoholic beverages such as beer liquor and mixed drinks for consumption A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging usually on a short-term basis This article refers to the cooking profession For other uses see Baker (disambiguation A baker is someone who primarily Bakes In short, arcade games are popular in places open to the public where people are likely to be waiting on something.

See also

• Arcade cabinet
• Arcade system board
• Claw vending machine
• Golden age of arcade games
• High score
• JAMMA
• Killer List of Videogames
• List of video arcade games
• List of gaming topics
• Neo-Geo

References

External links

• Arcade games at the Open Directory Project
• The Video Arcade Preservation Society