Tapper (video game)

Last updated
Tapper
TapperTitleScreen.png
Developer(s) Marvin Glass and Associates
Publisher(s)
Programmer(s) Steve Meyer
Elaine Ditton
Artist(s) Scott Morrison
Composer(s) Rick Hicaro
Platform(s) Arcade, Apple II, Atari 2600, Atari 8-bit, ColecoVision, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, MSX, Amstrad CPC, BBC Micro, IBM PC, Palm OS
Release
Genre(s) Action
Mode(s)1-2 players alternating turns
Arcade system Bally Midway MCR III

Tapper, also known as Root Beer Tapper, is an arcade video game developed by Marvin Glass and Associates and released in 1984 by Bally Midway. [1] [5] [6] Tapper puts the player in the shoes of a bartender who must serve eager, thirsty patrons (before their patience expires [7] ) while collecting empty mugs and tips. It was distributed in Japan by Sega in 1984.

Contents

Originally sponsored by Anheuser-Busch, the arcade version features a Budweiser motif. [8] It was intended to be sold to bars, with cabinets sporting a brass rail footrest and drink holders. Early machines had game controllers that were actual Budweiser beer tap handles, which were later replaced by smaller, plastic versions with the Budweiser logo on them. [9] The re-themed Root Beer Tapper followed in 1984, which was developed specifically for arcades because the original version was construed as advertising alcohol to minors.

Gameplay

The controls consist of a four-position joystick and a tap handle. The game screen features four bars, each with a keg at one end and a door at the other. Customers enter through the doors and slowly advance toward the kegs, demanding service. The player controls a bartender who must pour drinks and slide them down the bar for the customers to catch. Pushing the joystick up or down instantly moves the bartender to the keg at the next bar in the chosen direction, with the top and bottom of the screen wrapping around to one another, while pushing left or right causes him to run along the bar where he is stationed. When the tap handle is pulled down, the bartender instantly moves to the keg (if he is not already standing there) and fills a mug; releasing it causes him to slide the mug along the bar.

In Tapper, the player is a bartender serving drinks to customers. The Budweiser logo is on the far wall. TapperGameplay.png
In Tapper, the player is a bartender serving drinks to customers. The Budweiser logo is on the far wall.
Root Beer Tapper replaces the bartender with a soda jerk serving non-alcoholic root beer. RootBeerTapperGameplay.png
Root Beer Tapper replaces the bartender with a soda jerk serving non-alcoholic root beer.

Customers slide back toward the doors upon catching a full mug, and disappear through the doors if they are close enough. If not, they stop after a certain distance, consume the drink, and resume their advance while sliding the empty mug back toward the keg. Customers occasionally leave tips on the bar, which the player can pick up for bonus points. Collecting a tip causes a group of female dancers to appear for a few seconds, distracting a portion of the customers so that they will stop advancing. However, distracted customers cannot catch drinks, and any customers who are either drinking or being pushed back at the start of the dancers' show will never be distracted.

One life is lost when any of the following occurs:

Each screen is completed when the bar is completely emptied of customers. The bartender then pours/consumes a drink of his own with humorous results involving the empty mug, such as getting it stuck on his head or stubbing his toe when he tries to kick it. As the game progresses, the customers appear more frequently, move faster along the bar, and are pushed back shorter distances when they catch their drinks. In addition, the maximum number of customers per bar gradually increases until every bar can have up to four customers at a time.

The player proceeds through four levels, each with its own theme and appropriately dressed customers, and must complete a set number of screens to advance from one level to the next. The levels are:

An upright cabinet Tapper arcade cabinet - Bally Midway.jpg
An upright cabinet
  1. A western saloon with cowboys (2 screens)
  2. A sports bar with athletes (3 screens)
  3. A punk rock bar with punk rockers (4 screens)
  4. An outer-space bar with aliens (4 screens)

A bonus round is played after the end of each level, in which six cans of beer (or root beer) are placed on the bar. A masked figure shakes five of the cans, then pounds the bar to shuffle them. Choosing the one unshaken can awards bonus points, while choosing any other results in the bartender being sprayed in the face; in the latter case, the unshaken can flashes briefly to indicate its position.

After completing all four levels, the player returns to the start of the sequence and continues the game at a higher difficulty level. [10] [11]

Music

Music and sound effects for the arcade version of Tapper were created by Rick Hicaro of Marvin Glass & Associates. [12] He used a Synclavier II synthesizer running with custom software written by Richard Ditton. The system interfaced directly to the arcade game system so sounds were true to the capabilities of the hardware.

The game's score includes "Oh! Susanna" (composed by Stephen Foster), "Buffalo Gals" (traditional American folk song), the Budweiser theme, and "Can-Can" by Jacques Offenbach. The rest of the music was written by Rick Hicaro.

Ports

Atari 8-bit version Tapper (video game) Atari 8-bit PAL screenshot.png
Atari 8-bit version

Tapper [13] was ported to the Apple II, Atari 8-bit computers, Atari 5200, Atari 2600, BBC Micro, ColecoVision, Commodore 64, MSX, ZX Spectrum, IBM PC, and Amstrad CPC. Most of the home versions of Tapper featured the Mountain Dew logo, while the ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC versions had the Pepsi logo, but they retained the bartender character of the original arcade game instead of the soda jerk in Root Beer Tapper.

The ColecoVision version was released in 1984.

The Root Beer Tapper version also appears on the Midway Legacy Edition Arcade1Up cabinet.

A version for Commodore Amiga has been released in 2023. [14]

Reception

In Japan, Game Machine listed Tapper on their March 15, 1984 issue as being the most-successful table arcade unit of the month, tied with 10-Yard Fight and Vs. Tennis . [15]

Compute!'s Gazette called the Commodore 64 version of Tapper "one of the most addictive games we've seen lately ... not only fun to play, but also immensely challenging, graphically entertaining, and full of action". The magazine stated that "it's a very well-designed strategy game", and concluded that it was "near the top in entertainment value". [16] Sinclair User gave the game a SU Classic award.

Legacy

The art style is almost identical to a previous game called Domino Man , and the following game Timber . In fact, the main character in Timber is a rework of the main character in Tapper. The art is based on Mike Ferris, an artist who taught Scott Morrison art. [17]

Re-releases

Root Beer Tapper has been included in several compilations. It was in the Nintendo 64 version of Midway's Greatest Arcade Hits , Arcade's Greatest Hits: The Midway Collection 2 for the PlayStation, Midway Arcade Treasures for PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube, and Microsoft Windows, and Midway Arcade Origins for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

A reinterpretation of the game for mobile devices, Tapper World Tour , was released in 2011.

Clones

Novasoft published a clone in 1984 called Brew Master for the TRS-80 Color Computer. A slightly altered version of Tapper appears as the Milk Bar minigame in Barnyard (2006). A similar version is on the virtual pet website Neopets as one of the minigames for the Altador Cup event. [18]

A clone called Nuka Tapper is included in Fallout 76 as a minigame with Fallout -themed graphics. [19]

Tapper is one of the games included in Disney's 2012 film Wreck-It Ralph and its 2018 sequel Ralph Breaks the Internet with the bartender voiced by Maurice LaMarche. The version of the game featured in both the films is a combination of the Budweiser and rootbeer versions.

High score

Gregory Erway set the tournament world record on June 5, 2005 with a score of 3,162,125 (first 5 men of game). [20] [21] William Rosa set the marathon world record on February 16, 2019 with a score of 14,826,200. [22]

Related Research Articles

<i>Marble Madness</i> 1984 video game

Marble Madness is an arcade video game designed by Mark Cerny and published by Atari Games in 1984. It is a platform game in which the player must guide a marble through six courses, populated with obstacles and enemies, within a time limit. The player controls the marble by using a trackball. Marble Madness is known for using innovative game technologies: it was Atari's first to use the Atari System 1 hardware, the first to be programmed in the C programming language, and one of the first to use true stereo sound.

<i>Xenophobe</i> (video game) 1987 video game

Xenophobe is a video game developed by Bally Midway and released in arcades in 1987. Starbases, moons, ships, and space cities are infested with aliens, and the players have to kill the aliens before each is completely overrun. The screen is split into three horizontally-scrolling windows, one for each of up to three players, yet all players are in the same game world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beer tap</span> Device for controlling the flow of beer into a vessel

A beer tap is a valve, specifically a tap, for controlling the release of beer. While other kinds of tap may be called faucet, valve or spigot, the use of tap for beer is almost universal. The word was originally coined for the wooden valve in traditional barrels. Beer served from a tap is largely known as draught beer, though beer served from a cask is more commonly called cask ale, while beer from a keg may specifically be called keg beer. Beer taps can be also used to serve similar drinks like cider or long drinks.

<i>Klax</i> (video game) 1990 video game

Klax is a puzzle video game released in arcades in 1990 by Atari Games while Namco distributed the game in Japanese markets. It was designed and animated by Mark Stephen Pierce with the software engineering done by Dave Akers. The object is to catch colored blocks tumbling down a machine and arrange them in colored rows and patterns to make them disappear. Klax was originally published as a coin-op follow-up to Tetris, about which Atari Games was in a legal dispute at the time.

<i>Donkey Kong Jr.</i> 1982 video game

Donkey Kong Jr. is a 1982 arcade platform game that was released by Nintendo. It is the sequel to Donkey Kong, but with the roles reversed compared to its predecessor: Mario is now the villain and Donkey Kong Jr. is trying to save his kidnapped father. It first released in arcades and, over the course of the decade, was released for a variety of home platforms. The game's title is written out as Donkey Kong Junior in the North American arcade version and various conversions to non-Nintendo systems.

<i>Super Sprint</i> 1986 video game

Super Sprint is a racing video game released by Atari Games and Midway Games in 1986. Up to three players drive Formula One-like cars on a circuit that is viewed from above. The game is a successor to Gran Trak 10 and the Sprint series, which were black-and-white games from the 1970s. A sequel, Championship Sprint, was released later in the same year.

<i>Paperboy</i> (video game) 1985 video game

Paperboy is an arcade action game developed and published by Atari Games, and released in 1985. The player takes the role of a paperboy who delivers a fictional newspaper called The Daily Sun along a street on his bicycle. The arcade version of the game featured bike handlebars as the controller.

<i>Rampage</i> (1986 video game) 1986 video game

Rampage is a 1986 arcade video game by Bally Midway. Inspired by monster films, players control a trio of monsters: George, Lizzie, and Ralph, humans turned into creatures due to various experimental mishaps. The objective is to destroy cities and combat military forces while maintaining their health. The game is set across 128 days in cities across North America, with each cycle repeating five times. Gameplay includes destroying buildings, eating humans, and avoiding damage.

<i>Midway Arcade Treasures</i> 2003 video game

Midway Arcade Treasures is a video-game compilation of 24 arcade games, emulated from the original PCBs. The compilation was developed by Digital Eclipse and issued by Midway for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube, and Microsoft Windows. The game could not function on the Xbox 360's backwards compatibility feature, but did on PlayStation 3 and Wii.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Keg</span> Small barrel, commonly used for beer

A keg is a small cask.

<i>Space Rogue</i> 1989 science fiction video game

Space Rogue is a space flight simulation video game developed by Origin Systems and published by Origin Systems, Wave Brain, and Night Dive Studios. The game was released in 1989 for Apple II and Commodore 64; the series was later ported to DOS, Macintosh, Amiga, and Atari ST. The game was also released in the Japanese language for PC-9801, X68000, and FM Towns. The FM Towns version had its intro remade with slight animations and new illustrations, along with scrolling Japanese text, and exclusive CD quality background music. Taking place within the Far Arm of the Milky Way galaxy, Space Rogue's main story revolves around the player character's efforts to pursue a career and undertake long-range goals beyond his immediate mission.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kegerator</span> Refrigerator made to store and dispense kegs

Kegerator, a portmanteau of the words keg and refrigerator, is a refrigerator that has been designed or altered to store and dispense kegs.

<i>Bank Panic</i> 1984 video game

Bank Panic is an arcade shooter game developed by Sanritsu Denki and released by Sega in 1984. Bally-Midway manufactured the game in the US. The player assumes the part of an Old West sheriff who must protect a bank and its customers from masked robbers.

<i>Wizard of Wor</i> 1981 video game

Wizard of Wor is an arcade video game released in 1981 by Midway. Up to two players fight together in a series of monster-infested mazes, clearing each maze by shooting the creatures. The game was ported to the Atari 8-bit computers, Commodore 64, Atari 2600, and Atari 5200 and renamed to The Incredible Wizard for the Bally Astrocade. The original cartridge came with a cash prize offer to the first person to complete the game.

<i>Badlands</i> (1989 video game) 1989 arcade game

Badlands is a 1989 arcade video game published by Atari Games. It was ported by Domark under the Tengen label to the Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Commodore 64, and ZX Spectrum. The game is a re-themed version of Atari's previous racing games Super Sprint and Championship Sprint with the addition of vehicular combat. Badlands is set in the aftermath of a nuclear war and races around abandoned wastelands with many hazards. Three gun-equipped cars race around a track to win prizes.

<i>Xybots</i> 1987 video game

Xybots is a 1987 third-person shooter arcade game by Atari Games. In Xybots, up to two players control "Major Rock Hardy" and "Captain Ace Gunn", who must travel through a 3D maze and fight against a series of robots known as the Xybots whose mission is to destroy all mankind. The game features a split screen display showing the gameplay on the bottom half of the screen and information on player status and the current level on the top half. Designed by Ed Logg, it was originally conceived as a sequel to his previous title, Gauntlet. The game was well received, with reviewers lauding the game's various features, particularly the cooperative multiplayer aspect. Despite this, it was met with limited financial success, which has been attributed to its unique control scheme that involves rotating the joystick to turn the player character.

<i>Space Race</i> (video game) 1973 arcade game

Space Race is an arcade game developed by Atari, Inc. and released on July 16, 1973. It was the second game by the company, after Pong (1972), which marked the beginning of the commercial video game industry along with the Magnavox Odyssey. In the game, two players each control a rocket ship, with the goal of being the first to move their ship from the bottom of the screen to the top. Along the way are asteroids, which the players must avoid. Space Race was the first racing arcade video game and the first game with a goal of crossing the screen while avoiding obstacles.

<i>Timber</i> (video game) 1984 video game

Timber is an arcade game manufactured by Bally Midway in 1984. The goal is to amass points by chopping down trees, then logrolling in bonus rounds. Two players can compete simultaneously in the same play area. Timber was designed by Steve Meyer, who also designed Tapper, and both games have a similar audio/visual style.

<i>Gridrunner</i> 1982 video game

Gridrunner is a fixed shooter video game written by Jeff Minter and published by Llamasoft for the VIC-20 in 1982. It was ported to the Atari 8-bit computers, ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, Commodore PET and Dragon 32. Many remakes and sequels have followed, including versions for the Atari ST, Amiga, Pocket PC, Microsoft Windows, and iOS.

<i>Tapper World Tour</i> 2011 video game

Tapper World Tour is a reinterpretation of the 1983 Bally Midway arcade game Tapper for iOS. Players take the role of a bartender with the goal of serving drinks and collecting empty glasses and tips from a demanding group of patrons. The game was developed by Square One Studios and published by WB Games.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Manufacturers Equipment" (PDF). Cash Box . February 2, 1985. p. 42.
  2. "Video Game Flyers: Root Beer Tapper, Bally-Midway (Germany)". The Arcade Flyer Archive. Retrieved 1 June 2021.
  3. 1 2 "Tapper". Media Arts Database. Agency for Cultural Affairs . Retrieved 1 June 2021.
  4. Akagi, Masumi (October 13, 2006). アーケードTVゲームリスト国内•海外編(1971–2005) [Arcade TV Game List: Domestic • Overseas Edition (1971–2005)] (in Japanese). Japan: Amusement News Agency. pp. 124–5. ISBN   978-4990251215.
  5. USpatent 4643421,Steven M. Meyer, R. Scott Morrison, Howard J. Morrison,"Video game in which a host image repels ravenous images by serving filled vessels",issued 1987-02-17, assigned to Marvin Glass & Associates
  6. Mark J. Nelson (2015-08-04). "The 'Tapper' videogame patent" . Retrieved 2015-08-11.
  7. CLASSIC GAMES REVISITED - Tapper (Atari 2600) review at Univision [ dead link ]
  8. Undertow, CGR. "ROOT BEER TAPPER for Arcade Video Game Review".
  9. Rick Hicaro, former Marvin Glass & Associates employee; music composer/sound developer for Tapper
  10. Paxton, Bill (2019). A World Without Reality: Inside Marvin Glass's Toy Vault (First ed.). USA: Regent Publishing Services, China. pp. 462–474. ISBN   978-0-578-40526-1.
  11. Game entry at Giantbomb
  12. Paxton, Bill (2019). A World Without Reality: Inside Marvin Glass's Toy Vault (First ed.). USA: Regent Publishing Services, China. pp. 462–474. ISBN   978-0-578-40526-1.
  13. ClassicGaming.cc. "Tapper | Resources, Images and Material from the Classic Arcade Game". Tapper | Resources, Images and Material from the Classic Arcade Game. Retrieved 2020-09-13.
  14. amiga-news.de. "Arcade port: Amiga version of Tapper completed". Arcade port: Amiga version of Tapper completed. Retrieved 2023-05-29.
  15. "Game Machine's Best Hit Games 25 - テーブル型TVゲーム機 (Table Videos)" (PDF). Game Machine (in Japanese). No. 232. Amusement Press, Inc. 15 March 1984. p. 31.
  16. "Tapper". Compute!'s Gazette. January 1985. p. 113. Retrieved 6 July 2014.
  17. Retro Gamer magazine, issue 74. "The making of ... Tapper", page 67
  18. "Slushie Slinger | Game Guide | Jellyneo.net". www.jellyneo.net. Retrieved 2020-06-23.
  19. Dingman, Hayden (3 November 2018). "Fallout 76 B.E.T.A. impressions: Hell is other people". PCWorld. Retrieved 15 November 2018.
  20. "Twin Galaxies". www.twingalaxies.com.
  21. "Aurcade". www.aurcade.com.
  22. "Twin Galaxies". www.twingalaxies.com. Retrieved 2020-11-24.