Gran Trak 10
Gran Trak 10 | |
---|---|
Racing | |
Mode(s) | Single-player |
Gran Trak 10 is an
Atari founder Nolan Bushnell had originally planned to develop a driving video game inspired by Chicago Coin's arcade electro-mechanical game Speedway (1969) when he founded the company, but cancelled it in favor of a simpler game, Pong (1972). Atari eventually began development on a driving video game, Gran Trak 10, in late 1973. It was initially designed by Larry Emmons of Cyan, with the mechanical design handled by Eigen Systems, though after several design and production problems were uncovered during an initial small production run in March 1974 the design was overhauled by Allan Alcorn, the designer of Pong, with wider distribution beginning in May. The game's circuits include possibly the first instance of integrated circuit-based read-only memory (ROM), which thereafter became the standard for arcade games, replacing diode-stored graphics.
Gran Trak 10 was developed during a time of several internal changes at Atari; as a result communication problems led Atari to not accurately track the expense of manufacturing the game. It was initially sold to distributors for a net loss of US$100 per cabinet; although this flaw was fixed it contributed to a total loss of $500,000 for the company that fiscal year, placing Atari in financial difficulties. The game itself was successful, and led to several versions of the game being produced in 1974 by Atari and its subsidiary Kee Games, including a smaller cabinet version titled Trak 10 and a two-player version titled Gran Trak 20, as well as numerous later racing games. Gran Trak 10 was the first arcade car driving video game, though Atari had released the spaceship racing game Space Race in 1973, and a simple racing game, Wipeout, was included with the 1972 Magnavox Odyssey console.
Gameplay
Gran Trak 10 is a single-player
The time per game, though the counter always starts at 78, is by default 105 seconds and is adjustable by the game operator; changing the time adjusts both the speed of the counter and how long a player spends crashed after hitting a pylon. A switch on the internal circuit board can turn off crashes entirely, while another allows for two games to be played for a quarter rather than one. A placard on the front of the game gives suggested ratings for the score in a given game, from "License Revoked" for 10 or fewer points to "Real Pro" for greater than 40; the operator's manual suggests changing or removing this card if the time per game is adjusted.[2]
Development
In 1972,
Allan Alcorn, the designer of Pong, took a leave of absence from the company beginning in September 1973, and around the same time Steve Bristow, who had previously worked with the founders of Atari on the first arcade video game Computer Space, left to co-found Kee Games. This in turn left Lloyd Warman, new to the company, as the head of engineering for Atari during Gran Trak's development. Alcorn and Emmons have stated that they believed Warman was a good engineer but a poor project manager, which led to the Gran Trak project running behind schedule and having several design problems. This was exacerbated by a new short-lived Atari management team and product development structure, which led to several communication problems and cost overruns. When Atari began production in early 1974, it had difficulties getting enough circuits to build the cabinets from National Semiconductor, who cited a "hybrid" integrated circuit design by Emmons as non-standard, first refusing to sell them to Atari and then producing only small production runs.[7] According to Alcorn, the non-standard design was a tactic to prevent competitors from copying the design, as other manufacturers would be unable to produce it at all.[10]
A short run of Gran Trak systems was produced in March 1974 and revealed other design problems, such as the steering controls; in their prototype system, Eigen used a real car steering wheel and pedals, but the production run used different parts.[7][11] Alcorn returned to Cyan that month and redesigned the game to fix the flaws and use more standard parts; the copying protection scheme was changed to use a custom-designed integrated circuit that was named the same as a standard Texas Instruments integrated circuit.[7][12] Alcorn later stated in an interview that neither Warman nor Emmons understood the challenges in converting a prototype design to a product that could be manufactured.[10] The game entered production soon after, and Atari announced it was shipping a full production run in May 1974.[7][13] Although the design flaws were fixed, the communication problems during development led to one final problem with the game: Atari was unclear on the actual cost of producing the game. As a result, a single Gran Trak game ended up costing US$1,095 to manufacture, while Atari was selling them to distributors for only $995, losing $100 per sale. Atari soon corrected the problem, but ended the fiscal year with a large loss due in part to the financial failure of the game.[7]
Reception and legacy
Atari reported a loss of $500,000 for the 1974 fiscal year, roughly as much as the previous year's profits, with Gran Trak as one of the major causes. This led Atari into deep financial problems, leaving part of Gran Trak's legacy being "the game that nearly put Atari out of business".[7][11] In September 1974, Atari merged with its subsidiary Kee Games; Kee's final game Tank, released that November, was a commercial success, however, and is credited with buoying the finances of the newly merged Atari at a critical time for the company.[14] The Gran Trak 10 game itself, after its problems were resolved, was considered a success, and Atari released multiple versions of it: a clone version titled Formula K was released through Kee Games for different distributors around July 1974, and Atari produced a small cabinet version in late in the year titled Trak 10.[7] According to Ralph H. Baer, Formula K sold 6,000 units.[15] A two-player version titled Gran Trak 20 was released in August, along with its own clone version from Kee Games titled Twin Racer and its own small cabinet version, Trak 20.[7][16] Baer estimates that Gran Trak 20 sold 4,500 units.[15]
In March 1976, RePlay magazine published a survey of the top 20 arcade games in use, and listed Gran Trek 10 and 20 combined as the fifth highest-earning game in the prior year in the United States, below Tank, Wheels, Gun Fight and Indy 800.[17] In Japan, it was among the top ten highest-earning arcade video games of 1977, and among the year's top seven racing video games (topped by Taito's Speed Race DX).[18]
Atari produced numerous other racing arcade games in the same style as Gran Trak, including
References
- ^ a b Akagi, p. 51
- ^ a b Atari, pp. 1–2
- Imagine Media. November 1996. pp. 211–229.
- Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation. Smithsonian Institution. p. 33. Retrieved May 20, 2021.
- ^ Ramsey, p. 24
- Salon. Archived from the originalon March 7, 2008.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Goldberg, Vendel, pp. 246–250
- ISSN 1078-9693.
- ^ Bogost, Montfort, pp. 19–21
- ^ a b "Oral History of Allan (Al) Alcorn" (PDF). Computer History Museum. September 2012. p. 21. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved October 12, 2016.
- ^ News Corporation. Archived from the originalon June 23, 2014. Retrieved March 17, 2017.
- ^ a b "The Grandfather of Racing Games". USGamer. Gamer Network. July 24, 2015. Archived from the original on March 5, 2016. Retrieved March 17, 2017.
- ISSN 0008-7289.
- ^ Goldberg, Vendel, p. 131
- ^ a b Smith, Keith (August 30, 2012). "What Was The Best-Selling U.S. Arcade Video Game Prior to Space Invaders?". The Golden Age Arcade Historian. Archived from the original on October 6, 2016. Retrieved December 6, 2016.
- ^ "Gran Trak 20". International Arcade Museum. Archived from the original on June 15, 2017. Retrieved March 17, 2017.
- ISSN 1534-2328.
- ^ 結果ベスト3 [Best 3 Results] (PDF). Game Machine (in Japanese). No. 90. Amusement Press. February 15, 1978. pp. 2–3.
- ^ a b Smith, Keith (June 2, 2014). "The (Pre) History of Night Driver - Part 1: Nurburgring". The Golden Age Arcade Historian. Archived from the original on April 13, 2016. Retrieved March 7, 2017.
- from the original on October 21, 2016. Retrieved March 24, 2017.
- ^ "The History of Racing Games". IGN. Ziff Davis. 2015. Archived from the original on August 18, 2016. Retrieved March 17, 2017.
- ^ "Space Race". old-computers.com. Archived from the original on August 4, 2016. Retrieved October 8, 2016.
- ^ Smith, Alexander (November 16, 2015). "1TL200: A Magnavox Odyssey". They Create Worlds. Archived from the original on February 2, 2016. Retrieved April 25, 2016.
- ^ Smith, p. 194
Sources
- Gran Trak 10 Operating and Maintenance Manual (PDF). Atari. June 1974.
- Akagi, Masumi (October 13, 2006). アーケードTVゲームリスト国内•海外編(1971-2005) [Arcade TV Game List: Domestic • Overseas Edition (1971-2005)] (in Japanese). Amusement News Agency. ISBN 978-4-9902512-1-5.
- ISBN 978-0-262-01257-7.
- Goldberg, Marty; Vendel, Curt (November 25, 2012). Atari Inc.: Business Is Fun. Syzygy Press. ISBN 978-0-9855974-0-5.
- Ramsay, Morgan (January 30, 2012). Gamers at Work: Stories Behind the Games People Play. ISBN 978-1-4302-3352-7.
- Smith, Alexander (November 19, 2019). They Create Worlds: The Story of the People and Companies That Shaped the Video Game Industry, Vol. I: 1971-1982. ISBN 978-0-429-75261-2.
External links
- Gran Trak 10 at the Killer List of Videogames