THE ESSENCE
The following is from an article, "The
Fantasy Game Machine," by Ron White, San
Antonio Magazine, 7/77.
" If pinball is the oldest of the games
you'll find in a game room, its continued
popularity is attributable to its no-
nonsense seriousness. It's a game where
skill, timing and experience count most -
the mastery of man over machine,
proving to himself that a creature of wires
and lights and buzzers can't beat a human
being.
It's not the same with many of the
new machines. Skill and experience can
help someone ring up a higher score, but
winning is not the object of the game.
The object is to create a fantasy.
And fantasies they do create. For 25
cents and a few minutes of your time,
you can be Walter Mitty soaring through
clouds of heroism. You can become a
submarine commander, a flying ace, a
race car driver, a sheriff gunning down
bad guys, a spaceman fighting off
otherworld monsters by exploding their
space ships with a pulsar gun.
For the sales clerk, the young boy
with adventure in his mind, the middle-
aged man with adventure behind him,
game machines turn a drab existence into
a high-pitched, action-packed adventure.
A kid may ride a bicycle home, but for a
few moments he was driving a race car. A
man may go no higher than an elevator
ordinarily will take him, but for a while
he soared and dived at the controls of a
fighter plane.
The fantasies generated in game rooms
satisfy a secret urge. Perhaps the best we
could ask of these fantasy games is that
every head of a nation capable of starting
a war be required to spend an hour a day
playing them."
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T-SHIRTS
ATARI BUILDS
'EM BETTER
July 19, 1977
Atari, Inc.
P. 0 . Box 9027
Sunnyvale, Ca.lifornia. 94086
Dear Atari,
Just a note to let you know that you
do BUILD 'EM BETTER!
On July 14, 1977, one of our
employees was on his way to exchange
an Atari Space Race for an Atari
Anti-Aircraft. When a car passed a
truck, the car was in his lane and to
avoid a head-on collision at 55-60 mph
he took to the shoulder of the road. In
the process of correcting his vehicle,
the rope broke that was holding the
game on the truck. Off went the game,
down the road end-over-end for about
25 yards. As the cabinet is very ridged,
damage occured only to the corners.
The machine was brought back to the
shop, plugged in and it worked
perfectly. Some body putty and touch
up paint on the corners of the cabinet
and all is well once more.
Yours truly,
.
Fred Lange, President
Action A musement, Inc.
Klamath Falls, Oregon
Time 20QQTM T-Shirts will soon be
available. If you would like to order them
for a special promotion or give away,
they will be available through Atari
Distributors.
Publisher - Atari, Inc .
Editor - Carol Kantor
Art Director - Evelyn Lim
Atari, Inc.
1265 Borregas Avenue
P.O. Box 9027
Sunnyvale, California 94086
ATARI®
m
Innovative
leisure
A Warner Commun,ca11ons Company
Bulk Rate
U.S. Postage
PAID
Sunnyvale, Ca.
Permit 317