Atari Cabs and boards

[Phils Arcade]

Doing a bit of research into Atari at the moment.

With the amount of games Atari churned out over the years, especially in the early years, did they always produce a new cab for every game, or was there a number that was board only to be swapped into other machines?

Thanks.

 

[Alpha1]

Some were kits only.

Edit: Some were dedicated and also kits.
Alpha12021-08-23 09:16:43

 

[Bods]

Have crystal castles conversion manual and it says what cabs to use to convert

 

[Phils Arcade]

Good to know.

Is there anyway to find out which had cabs and which were boards only? Or is it a matter of working through the manuals.

 

[Alpha1]

Good to know.

Is there anyway to find out which had cabs and which were boards only? Or is it a matter of working through the manuals.

Most of us seasoned collectors will be able to tell you if you have a list of Atari games you want the answer for.

 

[Bods]

Peter Pack Rat was Kit only for System 1, was it 500 or 5000 kits sold?

There is plenty info on Atari stuff though

 

[aeroflott]

Many Atari cabinets were bespoke for that particular game - especially uprights.

There were some generic cab styles that Atari used to house different games. Cabarets are a good example of this. Take a look at cabaret pictures of:

Missile Command, Asteroids.

Battlezone, Asteroids Deluxe.

Centipede, Tempest, Dig Dug.

Most of the 80s raster cocktail tables used the same shell too.

Then you had System 1/System 2 which housed various games.

Then as mentioned above, there were some conversion kits (Cloak and Dagger for example).

I think the unique design of most of their cabinets is part of what makes Atari cabinets so distinctive and collectable.

aeroflott2021-08-23 09:53:24

 

[Bods]

I agree with that. It's not so good if you have one cab that has 10 different games in it, doesn't make it so dedicated to me

Was it Pit Fighter type cab that was also used in Skull & Crossbones, does look different with the big marquee or sign on top, probably others odd game in them too

Cabaret ones work more for that without Side Art and if they have nice detailed monitor bezel like Battlezone they look good

 

[Phils Arcade]

A lot of arcades had as many machines as you could fit into a place. You rarely got to see the side art of the cabs, and when you did, it was usually when they were fixing the one beside it.

I'm just starting to work on an Apple iPad app to catalogue arcade machines, parts, circuits, manuals, schematics, etc...

The idea being you can select a company, say Atari, and the cab or board in question, Centipede. From here you can view the history of the cab or other general information, the board layouts. On selecting a board tapping on an I.C. will show you an overlay of that chip with pinouts and whereabout on the board it connects to. Also hints and tips on troubleshooting the boards, or alternative chips if one tends to be faulty.

I'm also looking at a testing kit that attaches to the board, or ZIF socket testing, similar to the some other projects on here, but again processed directly through the app.

It's a long project and I'm only getting started, but hopefully show the slow progress on here once I've got something to show.

 

[tb lilley]

Few of the cab shapes used by Atari. You can see some duplicates used along the way:

 

[Phils Arcade]

WOW!

It's amazing that by just seeing the silhouettes, I was able to instantly recognise a few of those cabs, lol.

These cab shapes are really good. Did you do these yourself, or are they online somewhere? Great reference to see if boards are in the original cab to the untrained eye, i.e. mine

 

[yorkshire_spam]

Sky Raider/Destroyer all pretty similar, but not sure they were 100% the same physical shape.
Similar to Asteroids Deluxe, but not the same I don't think.

yorkshire_spam2021-08-23 16:12:23

 

[Phils Arcade]

Sky Raider/Destroyer all pretty similar, but not sure they were 100% the same physical shape.
Similar to Asteroids Deluxe, but not the same I don't think.

That was totally clear, I think, maybe so that's a no or yes

 

[Bods]

Sky Raider/Destroyer all pretty similar, but not sure they were 100% the same physical shape.
Similar to Asteroids Deluxe, but not the same I don't think.

Probably like Gyruss then, Similar to Millipede, time Pilot Euro but not exactly

That's also some in same Cab, Time Pilot, Millipede, Popeye

Bods2021-08-23 16:50:34

 

[ExZX]

Peter Pack Rat was Kit only for System 1, was it 500 or 5000 kits sold?

There is plenty info on Atari stuff though

160 machines and 538 kits for Peter Packrat from the US factory. Not sure about others produced.

I know there was one machine in the Mint arcade in Rhyl ( only place I ever saw PP) Not sure if it was destroyed when the place burnt down. Best arcade in Rhyl gone overnight