History Of Arcade Games
The history of arcade games dates back to the era of shooting galleries and ball toss games that were built within an amusement park that also offered other types of recreational facilities like joy rides and fast food, all at the same junction during 1920s. The earliest arcade gaming installation was a mechanically run wooden pinball machine that came into existence in the early 1930s. Sega introduced the first ever electronic version of an arcade game called Periscope much later and is still going strong in merchandising arcade games.
It was these shooting galleries and tossing balls that opened the gateway for coin operated machines of 1930s. They were made of wood without any plungers or light bonus surfaces. Arcade games of 1930s had mechanical scoreboards. In 1966, a US based company Sega introduced the first ever electro-mechanical arcade game called Periscope. It was a game of submarine simulators and light gun shooters which used to simulate sinking ships from a submarine. It was a huge success in Japan and North America, where it costs a quarter for one game. Thereafter, an industry dedicated to games was born which engaged people to play without running around. A few years later, Sega released an electro-mechanical racing game with electronic sounds and dashboard with racing wheels on it, which uplifted the user experience. The electro-mechanical arcade games were gradually replaced by electronic video games during 1970s.
A group of students at Stanford University successfully created the world's first coin operated gaming machine. Atari, a gaming corporation revamped the video gaming industry with its all new ping pong game in 1972 and Atari became an ace in the gaming industry. There has been no looking back since and competitors hoarded the market by imitating the formula.Such games have historically had simple controls that gradually moved up to difficult levels so as to ensure that each player in the gaming parlour gets his turn to play.
Coin operated arcade games used customised hardware for each game, with multiple CPU in use whereas all modern arcade games extensively use integrated circuits. With time, home videos and computer games became household commodity and sales of arcade games declined for not being cost-effective any longer. This was during 1996 when 3D computer games replaced arcade ones. Renting video games and playing a new one every other day became popular. Consumers found it cheaper to get a video game on rent or exchange with friends at discounted price. Thus arcade games lost their monopoly with the advent of computer games and the internet boom.
Most old video game arcades are wiped out and those that still thrive had to add lucrative elements to complement the arcades. They have included food services and merchandisers and are called fun centers. The classic coin operated games have become subject to lobbyists. Present day arcades use games that make use of special controls and remain inaccessible to audience at home. The new arcade games are focussed at individual performance rather than the game's content.