NEW AND IMPORTANT First!

To me, Space Invaders and Asteroids are the turning points.

1978 and earlier = Bronze
1980 and later = Golden

1979 is a crapshoot, depending on whether the game more closely resembles Bronze or Golden.

I'm sure there are debatable cases, but that's basically how I define it. (And I consider SI and Asteroids to be Golden, and the start of that age.)

Let the debate continue...
I'm just hoping this section becomes the go to place for any repair , Tec or restore questions on any black and white game.
questions about b/w games don't seem to get near the responses that the questions about regular games get in the other repair sections
I know there are lots of people on here who are very smart when it comes to the older b/w stuff
 
So did we decide that anything B+W is bronze age? Vector or raster?

In the Bronze Age pic thread, I saw a pic of an Asteroids Deluxe with a Monaco GP in the background. One could argue that the Monaco GP is more deserving of Bronze Age status than AD. It is pre-1980, has no CPU, however it does have a color monitor.

You're right. I left it out because its color. It should be included in my opinion.
 
the go to place for any repair , Tec...

Did anyone else read that as TEC monitor? Those things always need to be recapped. Don't even risk it.

I look at bronze age as 70s b/w raster games, but early color games (Color Gotcha, Wimbledon, Car Polo, maybe even Monte Carlo) fit closer than b/w vectors. That said, classifications always have their fuzzy outliers.
 
Did anyone else read that as TEC monitor? Those things always need to be recapped. Don't even risk it.

I look at bronze age as 70s b/w raster games, but early color games (Color Gotcha, Wimbledon, Car Polo, maybe even Monte Carlo) fit closer than b/w vectors. That said, classifications always have their fuzzy outliers.
I actually have a canyon bomber that has a tec monitor with a cracked neck board

I would love to fix it since I've got a working pcb
 
Well it looks like I now have two games that qualify.
Space Zap and I just bought a Monaco GP cockpit this week.
 

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How about early Cinematronics games, ie Space War, Star Castle etc? They are B/W vector and built with all TTL parts near the end or the era. Even though the TTL parts are creating a CPU of sorts. Thoughts?
 
How about early Cinematronics games, ie Space War, Star Castle etc? They are B/W vector and built with all TTL parts near the end or the era. Even though the TTL parts are creating a CPU of sorts. Thoughts?
No integrated CPU? And BW? Definitely representing.
Then they're in!
 
How about early Cinematronics games, ie Space War, Star Castle etc? They are B/W vector and built with all TTL parts near the end or the era. Even though the TTL parts are creating a CPU of sorts. Thoughts?


Personally I consider all vectors to be golden age, but as I mentioned above, that's arguably debatable.

For me it's more of an aesthetic thing. Bronze age is raster, with simple yet addictive gameplay. But I'm not going to have a cow if people want to have a more loose definition for the purposes of this forum.
 
I (and others) classify BRONZE as pre-'78. So ... I've never considered Asteroids, Star Castle, etc to be "bronze". Actually, I would not want them so classified. They're golden ... :) YMMV

Bronze age: 1971-1978
Golden age: 1979-1984
Silver age: 1985 - 1991 (SF II)
Crap age: 1992-present
 
So, which vectors are '77-'78 and perhaps considered "Bronze"? http://www.andysarcade.de/vec_all.html

Vectorbeam Barrier, Speed Freak, Star Hawk
Space War(s)

Interesting you have a hard cutoff for NOT including games.. ie pre '78, but not for INCLUDING them.. "perhaps" bronze. Are there other ADDITIONAL parameters in your opinion that would need to be met other than timeframe? Not dis-agreeing just curious.
 
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Interesting you have a hard cutoff for NOT including games.. ie pre '78, but not for INCLUDING them.. "perhaps" bronze. Are there other ADDITIONAL parameters in your opinion that would need to be met other than timeframe? Not dis-agreeing just curious.

Historic timelines are based on "time frames" and not "technology enhancement". Feel free to discuss ... LOL ... perhaps subjective. Still, I think it makes some sense, for ARCADE MACHINES, to base on the production years.

Compare to Antique Car era to Vintage Car era to Classic Car era etc etc ...

The Antique Car Era: 1893 - 1919
The Vintage Car Era: 1920 - 1945
The Classic Car Era: 1946 - 1972
The Muscle Car Era: 1964 - 1976 (note this overlaps since classification is slightly different)
The Modern Car Era: 1966 - present
 
Historic timelines are based on "time frames" and not "technology enhancement".[/B]
Not correct. See my other <LONG WINDED RANT> on that very topic. Better to say it is sometimes correct but often not.

If anything, I would say that's is an upside down way of classifying things that has unfortunately been coopted by collectors in a variety of hobbies. Your classic car example is a good example of that alternate method. (And I happen to agree with it mostly.) But they have developed their own terms with their own created definitions. In the present case, the proposed terms are (I assume) taken from...comics? Which had *major* events defining those transitions.

For me "Bronze Age" is too deeply associated with primitive tech and simple, (yet addictive) game play and not a particular YEAR of release. Actually....if you want that to be the hard and only definition, then the Golden Age didn't start until probably 1982-83 for me. Because I sometimes didn't see the typical video giants in my neck of the woods for a few years after their release if ever. Even so, there's too much overlap in types of game released in a given year to have a hard cut off.

That's why I think each game should be evaluated in somewhat of a vacuum...pros and cons discussed, etc, and then "admitted to the club". (Or not.) Because of the obvious overlaps. Release date should be discussed, technology, game play, art design, media coverage, pop culture, whether you like the smell of the joystick grease....WHATEVER criteria an individual deems important and wants to discuss.

Just like "Ages" overlap in years, I also think a game could belong to more than one "Age" regardless of vintage. Take Space Invaders for instance. For me, it clearly deserves a Bronze Age moniker. But it also is a reasonable candidate for that "major event" that I mentioned that signaled a period transition. It belongs firmly in the Golden Age as *THE* Grand Mac Daddy of Golden.

<GASP-SIGH>

With all of that said, I hereby proclaim myself the official Keeper of the Bronze Tablet membership roll. I will start another thread forth with.
 
Not correct. See my other <LONG WINDED RANT> on that very topic. Better to say it is sometimes correct but often not.

<snip>

Just like "Ages" overlap in years, I also think a game could belong to more than one "Age" regardless of vintage. Take Space Invaders for instance. For me, it clearly deserves a Bronze Age moniker. But it also is a reasonable candidate for that "major event" that I mentioned that signaled a period transition. It belongs firmly in the Golden Age as *THE* Grand Mac Daddy of Golden.

With all of that said, I hereby proclaim myself the official Keeper of the Bronze Tablet membership roll. I will start another thread forth with.


+1 to most of this (I think?)

Though I mildly disagree with giving SI a place in Bronze (but again, I'm open to debate, which is the fun of this whole topic, and btw we should keep it that way). But when asking myself to justify/defend that stance, I realized that when the game was *played* is also an important characteristic, in addition to when it was released.

I think for a lot of people, SI was still around in arcades in '81, and was grouped with later games like Pac Man and the later goldens, hence why we tend to think of it more that way.

But that leads to another question, which is, why was that? Could it be because it was electrically more robust, and tended to stick around longer (whereas other games that were released just prior to SI maybe were not?) Or, was it because SI was just a more popular game, and thus got more play, earned more, and therefore was maintained better/longer?

I was too young to know what actual arcades were like pre-79, so I can't speak to how they changed with the advent of the Golden Age games. But it is interesting that we tend to not see as many Bronze Age games in pics of Golden Age arcades (or is that not true?)

Anyway, just some thoughts that came to mind as I was pondering. I do enjoy the discussion/debate.
 
Which was the LAST B/W RASTER game which went into production? Anyone know? (NOTE: this date likely overlaps the introduction of the FIRST COLOR RASTER game ... which is?)
 
I had no idea but according to this guy - 1973 - COLOR GOTCHA is technically the first color raster game that didn't' rely on an overlay.

Fascinating. :)

"By pushing these breasts the two players could chase each other around the maze. As you might imagine, this is often reported as the first controversial video game in history, and eventually Atari was forced to revert to simple joysticks for the game."

flyer.jpg
 
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