Jan04GameRoom

We reviewed the arcade games at the November IAAPA show in Orlando, Fla., and were pleasantly surprised at the number of new games from many of the manufacturers.

Innovative Concepts (ICE) had a very impressive booth with five new games: Frantic Fruit, Dunk N’ Alien, Mighty Mini, Thrill Rider, and Line Drive. Frantic Fruit (made by Crompton and distributed by ICE) is a two-player skill redemption game. Players roll a token onto a moving playfield and try to land on different fruit to win tickets. Mighty Mini is a crane with a dinosaur head for a claw that manually opens and closes its jaw. Players try to control the jaw and win prizes. Line Drive is a baseball-themed vending game. Thrill Rider, a motion simulator, offers a riding choice of four coasters. We were most impressed with Dunk N’ Alien, a new and unique redemption alley roller, which is set up like a dunking tank. Players roll a ball down the alley and try to hit a moving target. Hitting the target causes the alien to drop into what appears to be a tank of water. The alien taunts players, saying things such as, “don’t give up your day job; go ahead, make my day; give it up, it will never happen again, na na na na.” When the alien is dunked, it says, “Nice shot; I have to find a better job.”

Bay-Tek had three new games: Red Zone, Sky Master, and Spin Doctor. Red Zone is a prize vending machine that relies on a plunger that shoots the ball onto the playfield alley. If the ball lands in the designated red zone three times or more in a row, players win a prize. Sky Master is a two-player redemption game that forces players to shoot toward three holes while timing the rolls to miss a spinning propeller. Spin Doctor is a two-player redemption game with a progressive bonus header and two stools included with the game.

Betson Enterprises had stand-up and sit-down versions of a street racing game called Flywheelers, which is made by French company Avranches. Betson plans to test it in the New Jersey area before it proceeds with manufacturing.

Benchmark had a couple of games that were similar to their older games, but with many improvements. For example, Bubba’s Excavation Company is a redemption game that is similar to the game Dozer, but it has more new features. Big Rig Truckin’ has new features like a bonus slot that the coin can go through.

O.K. Manufacturing came out with Putt Fore Prizes, which has a golf theme. A ball plunger and a flipper hit a ball onto the golf course and try to get it into the higher-valued holes. This game comes in a ticket- and a prize-dispensing version. They also came out with a new version of the Skittle Ball game, which dispenses tickets instead of prizes.

Sammy had a driving game called Chicago 1929. The game comes in sit-down or stand-up versions. Players can choose from three cars as they ram through their enemies. It has six stages with three levels of difficulty.

Namco made a redemption game called Flamin’ Finger, which has a maze on a touch screen for navigation toward a jackpot before a timer ends the round. Sega had a skateboard game called Ollie King, which is different than its older skateboard game, Top Skater. In Top Skater, players get points by doing tricks, but in Ollie King players try to win a race. Tsunami made a new game, Ex-Zeus, that goes in its TsuMo simulator cabinet. Players can choose to be one of three robots that try to defeat the alien attackers. Global VR brightened up the graphics and made some changes to the handling of the Need For Speed racing game. It will not have the tournament or save game features until kits are released at a later date.

Skee-Ball made a new alley bowler, Base Hits, which is a baseball-themed redemption game. Players get nine balls and each ball represents nine innings. The balls are rolled up the alley toward many holes with different values, including home run, single, double, triple, walk, and foul ball.