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sound plays at an increasing rate until the
Pursuer reaches the Pursued. Whenever the Pursued is caught, the Pursuer scores a point, the maze disappears for a brief moment, and the Pursuer is moved to a random position on the right side of the screen. There is no score for the Pursued, so determining who won is left to the players. The maze itself is continually changing, with two invisible lines half a screen apart scanning down the maze and overwriting maze elements. Above the maze is the Pursuer's score and the time elapsed in the game. Each game is for a set period of time. When time runs out, the game enters attract mode, where the score resets and the square and plus sign begin bouncing around the maze in a diagonal pattern as the maze continues to change. Each game costs a
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have bumps on them or anything, but the way they were the size of grapefruits next to each other, you got the impression of what they were supposed to be." Atari's second engineer, Don Lange, who assisted with the game, has also stated that the design was intentional on the part of Faraco, who fellow Atari designer Regan Chang has claimed "had some really far out ideas". According to rumor, Faraco got the idea from a joke that joysticks resembled
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212:. In the game, two players move through a maze, which continually changes over time. One player, the Pursuer, attempts to catch the other, the Pursued; if they do, a point is scored, and the players reset positions. The game emits an electronic beeping sound, which increases in pace as the Pursuer gets closer to the Pursued, and each game lasts a set amount of time.
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The cabinet for the game was designed by Atari's product designer, George Faraco. His design featured a joystick for each player, which was encased in a pink dome that the player would rest their hands on to control the joysticks, meant to resemble breasts. Faraco later acknowledged that "they didn't
237:. The cabinet was designed by George Faraco, initially with the joysticks encased in pink domes meant to represent breasts. Although this design inspired the advertising flyer on which it appears behind a man chasing a woman in a nightdress, it was changed to use regular joysticks soon after release.
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in which one player attempts to catch the other. The maze is composed of a repeating pattern of elements set in multiple columns on the screen. The "Pursuer" is represented by a square, while the "Pursued" is identified by a plus sign. As the
Pursuer gets closer to the Pursued, an electronic beeping
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were changed to standard ones shortly into the production run prior to the
October 11, 1973 release. The design did inspire the advertising flyer for the game, however, which features a man chasing a woman in a nightdress with the initial design of the cabinet behind them. The final cabinet stands
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machines: if part of the circuit that converted scores to images on the screens was broken, then parts of the numbers would be scattered across the screen. Alcorn thought that combining that defect intentionally with a motion circuit could create dynamically changing mazes. A prototype design was
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The game was not commercially successful; later sources have termed it as "arousing little more than controversy", though one source claims it sold 3,000 units. In addition to the main black-and-white game, limited runs were produced of a tinted color version and a true multi-color version of the
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230:, Atari's semi-independent research and development subsidiary. Development began in July 1973 as part of Atari's strategy to develop multiple types of games to separate themselves from their competitors, who they saw as focused primarily on creating
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was not widely produced, with between 20 and 100 machines released, but is believed to be the first color arcade game ever made, released over a month before
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Gameplay screenshot, showing the unique maze style of the game composed of scattered pieces of graphics elements. The score is at 0, while the timer is at 1.
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and showcased at the early
November 1973 Music Operators of America (MOA) Music & Amusement Machines Exposition were two additional versions of
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was not commercially successful; later sources have described it as receiving a "lukewarm reception" and "arousing little more than controversy".
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over 5 feet tall and weighs nearly 200 pounds. The breast-like controllers reappeared in yellow in prototype versions of the 1974
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was the first arcade maze video game, though non-commercial maze-based video games had been developed as early as the 1959
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Vintage Games: An
Insider Look at the History of Grand Theft Auto, Super Mario, and the Most Influential Games of All Time
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in time for a trade show later that year, though no such game was ever made. Instead, released at the same time as
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Game Sound: An
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arcade game, but were not used in production. Due to their acquisition of Atari's
Japanese division,
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was approximately the twentieth, with nearly all the other games released before and after
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and released in
October 1973. It was the fourth game by the company, after the 1972
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748:"What Was The Best-Selling U.S. Arcade Video Game Prior to Space Invaders?"
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In an August 3, 1973, memo to the Atari engineering department, co-founder
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laid out plans for the company to create a prototype 20-player version of
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s prominence as Atari's fourth game and their second game not related to
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This article is about the 1973 arcade game. For the 1995 video game, see
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668:(in Japanese) (1st ed.). Amusement News Agency. p. 51.
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game; the latter is believed to be the first color arcade game.
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rather than making new video games. After the release of
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with red, blue, and green colors. The color version of
643:. Vol. 1, no. 3. Pumpkin Press. p. 38.
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281:began in July 1973, as Atari's fourth game after
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891:Flanagan, Mary; Nissenbaum, Helen (2014-06-25).
449:was the fourth arcade video game ever produced,
376:distributed the game in Japan in November 1974.
194:, which marked the beginning of the commercial
789:"What Were the First Ten Coin-Op Video Games?"
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965:Loguidice, Bill; Barton, Matt (2012-08-21).
914:Goldberg, Marty; Vendel, Curt (2012-11-25).
811:"People Get Ready, There's a Train A-Coming"
994:Game Over: How Nintendo Conquered The World
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1517:Video games developed in the United States
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48:Flyer showing the original cabinet design
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316:. The design of the game was done by
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750:. The Golden Age Arcade Historian.
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662:Akagi, Masumi (13 October 2006).
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1497:Head-to-head arcade video games
893:Values at Play in Digital Games
821:from the original on 2015-12-22
809:Smith, Alexander (2014-07-10).
754:from the original on 2016-10-06
632:Bloom, Steve (December 1982).
264:
1:
868:Collins, Karen (2008-08-08).
509:. International Arcade Museum
472:
850:Videogames: In the Beginning
634:"From Cutoffs to Pinstripes"
457:through the end of the year
333:developed by Steve Mayer of
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1492:Discrete video arcade games
918:Atari Inc.: Business Is Fun
787:Smith, Keith (2014-05-17).
746:Smith, Keith (2012-08-30).
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1482:Arcade video games
948:Three Rivers Press
815:They Create Worlds
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324:and developer for
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980:978-1-136-13758-7
957:978-0-7615-3643-7
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906:978-0-262-32445-8
883:978-0-262-03378-7
860:978-0-9643848-1-1
853:. Rolenta Press.
489:Loguidice, Barton
467:Mouse in the Maze
182:arcade video game
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1315:Stunt Cycle
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1199:Doctor Pong
692:|work=
641:Video Games
571:, pp. 98–99
265:Development
168:Multiplayer
112:Platform(s)
100:Designer(s)
1502:Maze games
1471:Categories
1439:Basketball
1400:Fire Truck
1354:Starship 1
1234:Shark Jaws
1128:Space Race
825:2015-12-18
795:2016-10-08
758:2016-12-06
720:2016-10-11
716:. Ed Fries
513:2016-10-11
473:References
424:Ralph Baer
407:, a color
359:Space Race
326:Space Race
310:Space Race
290:Space Race
205:Space Race
1432:Asteroids
1407:Sky Diver
1393:Avalanche
1361:Super Bug
1340:Destroyer
1301:Quiz Show
971:CRC Press
897:MIT Press
874:MIT Press
776:pp. 31–32
710:Fries, Ed
694:ignored (
684:cite book
665:ナムコ Namco
649:0733-6780
405:Wimbledon
355:phalluses
254:maze game
1308:Sprint 2
1259:Breakout
1213:Indy 800
847:(2005).
819:Archived
752:Archived
622:, p. 117
598:, p. 151
583:, p. 246
507:"Gotcha"
491:, p. 182
461:clones.
369:Touch Me
245:Gameplay
153:Genre(s)
1347:Dominos
1227:Pursuit
1160:Rebound
1028:at the
837:Sources
736:, ch. 5
610:, ch. 7
550:Collins
539:. 1973.
411:clone.
259:quarter
164:Mode(s)
123:Release
22:Gotcha!
1294:Outlaw
1280:LeMans
1273:Indy 4
1206:Hi-way
1121:Gotcha
1065:1970s
1025:Gotcha
1005:
977:
954:
926:
903:
880:
857:
672:
647:
552:, p. 8
463:Gotcha
455:Gotcha
451:Gotcha
432:Gotcha
420:Gotcha
415:Legacy
401:Gotcha
397:Gotcha
393:Gotcha
389:Gotcha
385:Gotcha
363:Gotcha
346:Gotcha
314:Gotcha
306:clones
293:, and
279:Gotcha
250:Gotcha
235:clones
216:Gotcha
180:is an
177:Gotcha
117:Arcade
37:Gotcha
1153:Qwak!
1067:Atari
637:(PDF)
608:Sheff
537:Atari
435:'
374:Namco
186:Atari
90:Namco
80:Atari
60:Atari
1424:1979
1378:1978
1325:1977
1251:1976
1177:1975
1167:Tank
1138:1974
1113:1973
1103:Pong
1095:1972
1003:ISBN
975:ISBN
952:ISBN
924:ISBN
901:ISBN
878:ISBN
855:ISBN
772:Baer
734:Kent
696:help
670:ISBN
645:ISSN
459:Pong
447:Pong
443:Pong
439:Pong
409:Pong
330:Pong
322:Pong
303:Pong
299:Pong
284:Pong
232:Pong
224:Pong
208:and
191:Pong
158:Maze
1266:F-1
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