Atari Coin Connection

POSITIVE PUBLICITY
ATARI Exhibits
At NRA Show
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ATARI Co-Sponsors Race to
Benefit Children's Hospital
Early Sunday morning, May 2nd, thou-
sands of running enthusiasts gathered in
Danville, California to compete in the 5th
Annual "Devil Mountain Run;· the se-
cond largest certified 1 0-kilometer race
in Northern California. Atari participated
as a corporate sponsor of this event, the
proceeds of which were given to the
Children's Hospital Medical Center of
Northern California.
Devil Mountain Run is organized each
year by the Rowan Branch of the Chil-
dren's Hospital Auxiliaries. Jacquie Gra-
ham, a Rowan Branch member and co-
founder of Devil Mountain Run was very
pleased with the success of this year's
fund raiser.
"We had a tremendous turnout-over
8,000 runners and about 25,000 total at-
tendees," she stated. "It will take some
time before we know exactly how much
money was raised for the hospital, But
right now we're estimating $75,000 to
$80,000."
Over 20 Atari employees attended the
event, with representatives from all three
C:
divisions. In addition, life-size Pac Man*
and Ghost romped through the crowd
along with a specially created Centipede
character. Cyndy Spence, Merchandising
Coordinator for the Consumer Electron-
ics Division, sat on the judging panel for
Centipede Costume Contest organized as
part of the Devil Mountain Run. And Don
Osborne, Vice-President of Sales and
Marketing, presented Children's Hospital
with a Centipede TM game donated by the
Coin Games Division.
"It was an exciting day for everyone,"
Osborne later commented. "The entire
event was very well-organized, and we
enjoyed being a part of this worthwhile
fund raiser."
Next year's Devil Mountain Run should
be even more successful, according to
Mrs. Graham. She and the other Rowan
Branch members have already begun
planning for the 1983 race, which may be
chosen as an official site for national
record-setting by The Athletic Congress.
Kangaroo
continued
Atlanta. Dig Dug TM was named the fav-
orite among the beauty queens, who
commented on the cute characters and
unique game play. All the games were
well received, and the contestants were
pleased to have been given the chance
to play.
Mother must either knock out monkeys in
the column, or she can leap up several
platforms along the side of the column
and then punch out a monkey or two until
the cage and Baby are at the same level
she is. In the fourth round there is an ar-
rangement of long and short ladders that
Mother must climb to rescue Baby. If
Mother doesn't hit any monkeys or apples,
a big ape will steal Mother's gloves.
Kangaroo features a 6-position joystick
which the player can use to make Mother
Kangaroo hop right and left, jump or
duck, super leap to a higher platform, or
climp the ladders. The "Punch" button is
pressed every time Mother needs to
punch out a monkey or an apple core.
Kangaroo has a high score table that
displays the top ten scores and players'
initials, and is operator-selectable for
either 3 or 5 lives. The game has 4 differ-
ent bonus levels, including "No Bonus",
and 16 unique operator-selectable coin-
age options. ATARI is offering this great
new game in the standard upright cabinet
and also in the new "European" cabinet
especially designed for our European
clientele.
The ATARI Coin Games Sales and
Marketing group took to the road early in
June to introduce this fantastic new
game to some of our U.S. distributors.
Beginning on June 7th in San Francisco,
and continuing on to Dallas on June 9th
and New York City on June 10th, repre-
sentatives from ATARI demonstrated this
exciting new game at these special
luncheons.
"This is a fun new game, and we're
anxious to show it to everyone. The game
play makes it ideal for kids and for par-
ents, too. Kangaroo provides a healthy
challenge for the entire family," said Don
Osborne, V P. of Sales and Marketing for
ATARl 's Coin Games Division.
Dig Dug is engineered and designed by Namco. Ltd .
Manufactured under license by Atari. Inc.
Kangaroo is manufactured under license from Sun
Electronics Corporation.
• Pac-Man and characters are trademarks of Bally Midway
Mfg. Co. licensed by Namco-America. Inc.
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"This is what it's all about," said 49er star Randy Cross (rear, 2nd from left) who was in-
volved with Devil Mountain Run, as Don Osborne, V.P. of Sales and Marketing for ATARI,
presented Centipede game to Children's Hospital representatives Bill Drum (far left) and
Ann Tucker (far right). Looking on was Gregory Shields, leukemia patient and theme child
of the fundraising event, and his mother.
Miss USA Contestants
Compete on ATARI Games
While trying to relax in their hotel prior to
the final competition, the anxious Miss
USA contestants played Atari's latest vid-
eo games. Atari's Regional Sales
Manager, John Hill, coordinated with
Dee's Amusements of Gautier, Mississip-
pi to place five games in the women's
dormitory area of the Royal D'Iberville in
Restaurant managers, owners and cor-
porate executives from all over the world
gathered in Chicago recently for that in-
dustry's largest trade show. The National
Restaurant Association hosted its 63rd
Annual Restaurant, Hotel-Motel Show
May 22nd through May 26th, drawing
over 85,000 attendees and 1200 exhibi-
tors, including Atari.
Interest in coin video games is increas-
ing steadily within the restaurant industry,
and response to the Atari exhibit was tre-
mendous.
"Restaurateurs have become very
aware of the profit potential of coin video
games," stated Dick Needleman, Man-
ager, Special Markets and Operations.
"We wanted to be at the NRA show to
answer their questions and demonstrate
how games can fit into a variety of res-
tau rant locations."