Breakout, the Video Game by Atari, Inc. [Sunnyvale, CA, USA]
DESCRIPTION
Type of the machine : Video Game
Breakout © 1976 Atari.
Breakout sets up with 8 rows of bricks, each 2 rows are different color. Players get 3 balls to try to knock down as many bricks as possible by ricocheting the ball against the wall off of a video sledge hammer. 1 Point is scored for each brick knocked out in the yellow row, 3 for each in the green, 5 for each orange, 7 for each red. To add to the challenge, the hammer decreases to 1/2 size after the red row is broken through. Ball speed increases after 4 hits, increased again after 12, to highest speed in the orange and red rows.
Breakout © 1976 Atari.
Breakout sets up with 8 rows of bricks, each 2 rows are different color. Players get 3 balls to try to knock down as many bricks as possible by ricocheting the ball against the wall off of a video sledge hammer. 1 Point is scored for each brick knocked out in the yellow row, 3 for each in the green, 5 for each orange, 7 for each red. To add to the challenge, the hammer decreases to 1/2 size after the red row is broken through. Ball speed increases after 4 hits, increased again after 12, to highest speed in the orange and red rows.
TECHNICAL
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TRIVIA
Released in April 1976.
Bushnell put out the word at Atari that he would pay anyone who could design the game and reduce the number of ICs that it used, $100 per IC removed from the design. Steve Jobs, at the time a low-paid technician at Atari, accepted the challenge. He originally attempted to work on the design himself, but soon found himself in way over his head. He then brought in his friend Steve Wozniak, who liked to hang out at Atari and playtest the new games as they rolled off the assembly lines.
Woz and Jobs stayed up for four days working on the design. Woz would work on the game at night, take a small catnap, go to work at his day job at Hewlett-Packard, and then return home at night to resume work on the design. In the end, Woz reduced the design down to 42 ICs, and both he and Jobs contracted mono from staying up for four days straight working on it. Jobs received a $5,000 bonus and told Woz it was only $700 and gave Steve Wozniak his '50%'... $350.
Years later this truth would come out and it would add to the already increasing friction between the two which eventually lead to Steve Wozniak quitting Apple. Meanwhile at Atari, the Breakout design was ingenious, however no one could figure it out so production could not begin. Al Alcorn says about Woz's design, "It was remarkable... a tour de force. It was so minimized, though, that nobody else could build it. Nobody could understand what Woz did but Woz. It was this brilliant piece of engineering, but it was just unproduceable. So the game sat around and languished in the lab".
In the end, Alcorn assigned another engineer to redesign the game so that it was more easily replicated. The final game had about 100 ICs.
Approximately 11,000 units were produced. There was an upright dedicated cabinet with sideart of the word 'Breakout' in red letters, being smashed in by a ball. There was also a unique looking round cocktail version, the cocktail is easier to find today because people rarely did conversions on cocktail tables.
Zachary Hample of New York holds the official record for this game with 896 points on June 25, 2002.
Bushnell put out the word at Atari that he would pay anyone who could design the game and reduce the number of ICs that it used, $100 per IC removed from the design. Steve Jobs, at the time a low-paid technician at Atari, accepted the challenge. He originally attempted to work on the design himself, but soon found himself in way over his head. He then brought in his friend Steve Wozniak, who liked to hang out at Atari and playtest the new games as they rolled off the assembly lines.
Woz and Jobs stayed up for four days working on the design. Woz would work on the game at night, take a small catnap, go to work at his day job at Hewlett-Packard, and then return home at night to resume work on the design. In the end, Woz reduced the design down to 42 ICs, and both he and Jobs contracted mono from staying up for four days straight working on it. Jobs received a $5,000 bonus and told Woz it was only $700 and gave Steve Wozniak his '50%'... $350.
Years later this truth would come out and it would add to the already increasing friction between the two which eventually lead to Steve Wozniak quitting Apple. Meanwhile at Atari, the Breakout design was ingenious, however no one could figure it out so production could not begin. Al Alcorn says about Woz's design, "It was remarkable... a tour de force. It was so minimized, though, that nobody else could build it. Nobody could understand what Woz did but Woz. It was this brilliant piece of engineering, but it was just unproduceable. So the game sat around and languished in the lab".
In the end, Alcorn assigned another engineer to redesign the game so that it was more easily replicated. The final game had about 100 ICs.
Approximately 11,000 units were produced. There was an upright dedicated cabinet with sideart of the word 'Breakout' in red letters, being smashed in by a ball. There was also a unique looking round cocktail version, the cocktail is easier to find today because people rarely did conversions on cocktail tables.
Zachary Hample of New York holds the official record for this game with 896 points on June 25, 2002.
SERIES
1. Breakout (1976)
2. Breakout Deluxe (1976)
3. Super Breakout (1978)
4. Breakout 2000 (1997, Atari Jaguar)
2. Breakout Deluxe (1976)
3. Super Breakout (1978)
4. Breakout 2000 (1997, Atari Jaguar)
STAFF
Designed by : Nolan Bushnell
Original hardware engineering by : Steve Wozniak, Steve Jobs
Final engineering by : ???
Original hardware engineering by : Steve Wozniak, Steve Jobs
Final engineering by : ???
PORTS
Consoles :
Atari 2600 (1978)
Sega Master System (1992, "Arcade Smash Hits")
Sony PlayStation (2000) : features new 3-D graphics and multiple missions.
Sony PlayStation 2 (2004, "Atari Anthology") : appears only in Atari 2600 form.
Microsoft XBOX (2004, "Atari Anthology") : appears only in Atari 2600 form.
Nintendo Game Boy Advance (2005, "Centipede / Breakout / Warlords")
Nintendo DS (2005, "Retro Atari Classics")Computers :
PC [Booter] (1983, "Brick Breaker", a part of the "Friendlyware PC Arcade" suite)
PC [MS Windows, CD-ROM] (2000) : features new 3-D graphics and multiple missions.
Apple Macintosh (2001) : features new 3-D graphics and multiple missions.
PC [MS Windows, CD-ROM] (2003, "Atari - 80 Classic Games in One!") : appears only in Atari 2600 form.
Others :
Atari 10 in 1 TV Game (2002 - Jakk's Pacific)
Atari Paddle TV Game (2004 - Jakk's Pacific)
Atari Flashback Classic Game Console (2005)
The modernized 3-D remake of the game released for PC CD-ROM, Sony PlayStation, and Apple Macintosh follows this storyline :
A world not so dissimilar to ours has some very strange inhabitants--tall, fun, flexible, strong-willed and quite unlike anything we know.
Bouncer [the hero] lives happily with his girlfriend Daisy on a beautiful desert island. He has many friends--some are other paddles like him, and others are balls, a paddle's natural companion. All was comfortable and quiet until Batnix [the villain] entered the scene. On seeing Daisy he vowed to have her at all costs.
One day, while Bouncer was swimming far out to sea to rescue a ball, Batnix and his evil henchmen kidnapped the beautiful Daisy. On Bouncer's return to the island they zapped him from behind and imprisoned him in a dark and dank prison. Knowing of Bouncer's strong and loyal friends, Batnix ensured that they couldn't mount a rescue by scattering them in prisons across the world.
In his smelly and wet cell, Bouncer is chained to a ball, his punishment since his latest failed escape attempt. His only consolation is a picture of Daisy pinned to the wall.
But then, as the noise of the guards grows distant, things start to happen. The steel ball gives a quick sideways glance, leaps into the air and smashes the chains. Freed from his chains, Bouncer gives his friend the ball a mighty whack, demolishing the cell walls and launching the latest dash for freedom.
Will Bouncer succeed? Can he rescue all of his friends? Ultimately, can he save Daisy and defeat Batnix once and for all?
It's up to you!
SOURCES
The First Quarter- A 25 Year History of Video Games by Steven L. Kent
The Doteaters Website, http://www.emuunlim.com/doteaters/play2sta1.htm
Steve Wozniak's page, http://www.woz.org
The Doteaters Website, http://www.emuunlim.com/doteaters/play2sta1.htm
Steve Wozniak's page, http://www.woz.org
LAST EDITION
November 21, 2008