Atari
Pole Position

In 1982, Atari releases another award winning arcade classic!  This time, instead of Midway licensing this gem, Atari steps up to the plate and releases the top game of the year.  In fact, Midway really got their wires crossed this time!  When offered a choice between Mappy (remember the little mouse running around the house bouncing off of trampoline-type thingies to get to different floors?), and our topic of conversation, Pole Position from Namco, they chose Mappy, leaving Pole Position up for grabs!  As I mentioned, Pole Position went on to become game of the year that year.  We shouldn't feel too bad for Midway though, as they were still raking in the bucks for their license of all the Pac-Man series of games.  One thing was for sure.  Arcade racing would never be the same!  They'd come along way since Gran Trak 10 and

Oh, by the way, this was one of the first speaking games.  You couldn't always tell what the voice was saying, but one phrase was distinctly recognizable. It's on the banner behind the blimp below...

I've got the flyer for this one.

Here are the ROMs²

^{Pinouts and switch settings coming soon}

Here's a reasonable representation of what my machine looks like from the back...

  When I went to ship my Ms. Pac-Man machine to Chicago, I had it professionally crated at Cratex here in Calgary.  As usual, everyone was curious about my machines, how I find them, etc.  While I was talking to about 5 guys there, one says to the other, "We should show him that racing thing we have upstairs."  I asked what they were talking about and was told that they had some kind of "race car" thing in storage above there warehouse.  It used to work, but now when they plug it in they hear the fan come on but no sound our picture.  I asked if I could have a look at it, still not really having much of a clue as to what it was they were talking about.  Because they waited so long in the conversation to mention it, and they really didn't seem overly sure it qualified as what I was interested in, I really didn't think it was going to amount to much.  

Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised to find it was  a Pole Position!  At first glance,  it was dusty, had no glass in the back window and was surrounded by other big equipment.  The coin door was locked with no key and there was no way to have a look in the back of it.  I made them an offer and they said they'd talk to the owner and get back to me.  They had received it some years ago from a Chucky Cheese that had closed down.  They said they also had a bunch of kiddy ride stuff in storage in a semi trailer somewhere.

  I didn't here from them for two months (that was in late December 1999) and so decided to phone.  After some negotiations over the phone, I was told to come pick it up!  I got it at a reasonable price since it wasn't working.  I told them if it turned out to be a really easy fix, like a loose wire or something,  I'd give them a little more, especially if I sold it for a good profit.  I also warned them I may not want to sell it at all.  They were okay with that deal. 

After getting it out of the warehouse, I was surprised at the excellent shape that the cabinet was in.  I was still pretty apprehensive since they said it didn't work though.    Turns out the monitor was disconnected.  Every wire that went to the monitor, including the big suction cup thing on the tube was disconnected.  It took me awhile to find where they all reattached.  After getting them back on the way I thought they should go, I fired it up.  It worked...for about 5 minutes, then it started to smoke out the back.  The power supply was burning up!  After replacing some parts, I got it working again.  I guess it's a fine line between what is a difficult fix and what isn't.  I haven't returned to give them more money because I feel it was definitely a harder fix than a loose wire, especially since I had to replace parts.  I suppose if I ever sell it though, I'll kick some money Cratex's way.

(Note Atari's use of free advertising for other games!  In Pole Position II, they even got sponsors to post ads on the billboards!)