Play Meter

Wide-body
pinball
An action -filled. wide -body play-
fi Id and dual action flippers highlight
on tact. Williams Electronics , Inc .'s
lal ' I olid state four-player flipp er
nlry and its first wide-body game ,
now in prod uction .
Contact's ou t r space ~raphics
and design accent the out-of-this-
world action crea ted by the numer-
oue; f ature
on th e expanded
pluyfi Id . Con tact has three separate
bonu s area for high-scoring play, a
moving target. a pop-up post located
b Iw ' n Ih bottom flippers and an
innova tiv two extra ball feature .
. " '" b Ii v Contact provides a
n wand thrilling experience for the
pinball player." states W illiams mar-
k ting manag r Ron Crou e. " The
xcii m nt of the dual action flippers
i like firing a double-shot gun with a
ingl
trigger. Numerous flipper
con trol options are created for the
player : push in th e button half way
and you activa te the bottom fl ippers.
all the way and you activate top and
bottom flipp ers .
'Th two extra ball possibility on
Ihe am ball is another exciting
W illiams crea tion ," Crou se says .
"With th memory features recalling
()ch player's playfield and extra ball
possibiliti s from ball-to -ball , high
cores will ring up constantly on
Co ntact 's digital displays."
Test fixture
A versatile test fixture capable of
testing quickly and easily all solid
state boards from any Williams
Electronics . Inc . product is now
available fro m W illiams' Chicago
factory .
Th e co mpact device tests all CPU ,
driver , master display , power supply ,
slave . and sound board s from
W illiams' growing line of solid state
games including World Cup , Hot
Tip . Lucky S euen, Topaz , the new
Contact and, when available , Disco
Pull the
ripcord
A new video gam e from Atari , Sky
Diuer . is based on the sport of
parachuting .
A s Ihe player's plane approaches
th target area. the player pushes the
" Jump" butt on . And while the
jumper freefall s. the target value
incr ases and the size o f the target
d cr a es for more challenge .
Wh en th e player finally pulls the
ripcord. the parachute opens (if we
could on ly b sure of that in reallifel ,
and the jump r fl oats safely to the
ground as the player gUides the
direction left or right to ward the
target . If th e ch ut e is not pulled in
tim . th e jumper will crash , and an
ambulance will take th e deceased
away . Each successful jump scores
th point value that appears on the
targ t.
Th game is for one or two players
and has many extras , including wind
dir ction which is indicated by a flag
near th e target. The wind direction
factor gives the player more variables
to con ider in timing the jump and
releasing the chute . As the score gets
high er . the planes fly lower over the
target to increase th e skill needed for
a successful jump .
A SKY DIVER spello ut feature is
included as an extra bonus objective
for players. A let1 er is lit each time the
jumper lands in the target area . And
when all th e letters o f SKY-DIVER
are lit. the target score is doubled .
Feuer.
Additi onally , the fixture features
an ind ustry first - a separate CPU
tester .
" This tester enables a distributor or
operator to conduct step -by-step
troubleshooting with ease ," explains
W illia m s marketing manager Ron
Crouse . " T o begin the testing
process, you simply plug th e 'prob-
lem ' board in to the machine and set
the control panel for the specific tests
desired . T est information is displayed
and allows you to pinpoint the
problem to a specific area . Lamps
located on the front panel indicate
failures . '
Crouse added that the fixture may
be set to remain on one specific test ,
rtIn through the entire testing cycle or
stop after a certain number of tests .
The separate CPU tester enables
an automatic check of the entire
microprocessor system as well as
tests on the address , data and control
lines . A CPU " dip switch" test also is
included on the fixture .
45
PLAY METER, August, 1978