Atari Coin Connection

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OPERATOR OF THE '80s
Starship Video of Upland, CA
The technical know-how of four engineer-
ing and physics majors is evident in the
ingenious space-theme amusement center
in Upland, California. Messrs. Reynolds,
Joseph, Gross, and Hellinger, partners at
Starship Video, are all under 26 years of
age and brimming with new ideas on
how to run their game center.
"We realize that having a successful
amusement complex amid today's com-
petition means more than just tossing
some games into a game room. Our
central themes are constant innovation,
community involvement, and a safe,
clean environment" says Steve Joseph,
one of the principal owners.
Coming soon will be a star attraction
at the amusement center, a three-foot
robot-a welcome guest from the local
school, Cal-Tech, where both Gross and
Reynolds are assisting in the robot's
creation . A video camera disguised as an
"eye" sits on the head of the robot. Tire
treads allow the robot to climb up to a
video game where the "eye" sees the
screen of the game. This eye sends the
message back to a monitor which is hid-
den from view where an experienced
player manipulates the controls through
Bill Gross, co-owner of Starship Video,
works on Challenger 1, their soon to be
unveiled video-game-playing robot.
the robot. The robot will be able to
"play" any of the games at the center.
Starship Video also has a walking
change machine in the works. Before
putting in the carpet at the center, an
electrical wire was placed on the floor.
The machine will be set on a cart. with a
sensor on the bottom. The sensor tells
the machine where to move along the
wire, powered by a motor with a 12-volt
battery. The result will be a slow-moving
change machine circling the entire floor
once every hour. It will move at a slow
enough crawl that a player will be able to
make change for a game without even
leaving the machine he is playing on.
Bill Gross and Steve Joseph met when
they were designing speakers for dif-
ferent companies. They decided to pool
their talents, along with the other two
gentlemen, Lee Hellinger and Scott
Reynolds, in a new style arcade. The
sound system in Starship Video reflects
the background of the two partners. A
huge screen dominates the room with a
monitor covered with grille cloth attach-
ed to the ceiling, giving a futuristic high-
tech appearance to the arcade. Nine-foot
speakers flank the large screen. The
magnificent sound system is used for
rock music, and on Saturday nights,
Steve Joseph works as D.J. in the
change booth during dances.
The four partners wanted to have an
arcade where they could utilize their
video-game expertise. They have started
a video school, where every Saturday
morning the big screen is used as a
giant electronic blackboard. The "game
of the week" is televised on the screen,
and the top player on the game demon-
strates various playing strategies to en-
thusiastic students.
The Starship Club (membership is one
dollar) offers members two free tokens a
day for a 31-day period. Each member
gets a card a month that is punched
each time he gets his tokens. According
to Joseph, this is an extremely popular
club, and each card is almost entirely us-
ed up at the end of the month.
There is also a special free play for
ten minutes during an hour when there
are at least 75 people present in the ar-
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Starship Video's boarding airlock, a futur-
istic passageway to the "Recreation Deck!'
cade. "Flight attendants" wearing flight
crew t-shirts pass out free tokens. The
philosophy behind this is promoting the
games when they are going strong in-
stead of the usual promotion time when
there is a lul l.
Starship Video promises to be an inno-
vative and inspiring location.
TECHNICAL TIP
Tempest
Symptom: Some of the rims between
the tube rails are missing on some play-
f ields. For example, the first circular
playf ield is missing the top rim. Self-test
shows an E in the middle of the screen.
This indicates that the EAROM at loca-
tion C-3 on the Auxiliary PCB is defec-
tive. Replacing the EAROM does not cor-
rect the problem.
Solution: The problem lies outside the
Auxiliary PCB. Two probable causes ex-
ist. The interboard connector to J-19 on
the main PCB has shorted or has open
wires. Or the transceiver IC H-2 (74LS245
or AM8304B) on the main board has failed.
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Captain Starship greets newcomers to Starship Video's grand opening celebration, which
featured live broadcasts by KOLA and KGGI disc jockeys, refreshments and free prizes.
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