Tapper "Root Beer" - ColecoVision Quick Play, How Far Did I Get??

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RetroReplay83

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Published on February 16, 2023 8:41:06 PM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyvAiXSnJ7Y

Game:

Tapper (1983)

Duration: 20:36

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5

I played "Root Beer" Tapper on the ColecoVision to see how far I could get since it has been years since playing it. I was surprised I picked up on it so fast and got to level/screen 45... Did not miss any of the Bonus Rounds either.. I played it once before recording this to see how it played and this is the second play through, not bad! How far have you gotten??

A little about the game:

Tapper, also known as Root Beer Tapper, is a 1983 arcade game developed by Marvin Glass and Associates and released by Bally Midway. Tapper puts the player in the shoes of a bartender who must serve eager, thirsty patrons (before their patience expires while collecting empty mugs and tips. It was distributed in Japan by Sega in 1984.

Originally sponsored by Anheuser-Busch, the arcade version features a Budweiser motif. It was intended to be sold to bars, with cabinets sporting a brass rail footrest and drink holders. Early machines had game controllers that were actual Budweiser beer tap handles, which were later replaced by smaller, plastic versions with the Budweiser logo on them. The re-themed Root Beer Tapper followed in 1984, which was developed specifically for arcades because the original version was construed as advertising alcohol to minors.

The controls consist of a four-position joystick and a tap handle. The game screen features four bars, each with a keg at one end and a door at the other. Customers enter through the doors and slowly advance toward the kegs, demanding service. The player controls a bartender who must pour drinks and slide them down the bar for the customers to catch.

Customers slide back toward the doors upon catching a full mug, and disappear through the doors if they are close enough. If not, they stop after a certain distance, consume the drink, and resume their advance while sliding the empty mug back toward the keg. Customers occasionally leave tips on the bar, which the player can pick up for bonus points. Collecting a tip causes a group of female dancers to appear for a few seconds, distracting a portion of the customers so that they will stop advancing. However, distracted customers cannot catch drinks, and any customers who are either drinking or being pushed back at the start of the dancers' show will never be distracted.

One life is lost whenever any of the following occurs:

The player fails to catch an empty mug before it falls off the keg end of a bar and breaks
A full mug slides to the door end of a bar without being caught, where it falls and breaks
Any customer reaches the keg end of a bar, whereupon they grab the bartender and slide him across the bar out the door

The player proceeds through four levels, each with its own theme and appropriately dressed customers, and must complete a set number of screens to advance from one level to the next. The levels are:

A western saloon with cowboys (2 screens)
A sports bar with athletes (3 screens)
A punk rock bar with punk rockers (4 screens)
An outer-space bar with aliens (4 screens)

A bonus round is played after the end of each level, in which six cans of beer (or root beer) are placed on the bar. A masked figure shakes five of the cans, then pounds the bar to shuffle them. Choosing the one unshaken can awards bonus points, while choosing any other results in the bartender being sprayed in the face; in the latter case, the unshaken can flashes briefly to indicate its position.

Developer(s) Marvin Glass and Associates
Publisher(s)
NA/EU: Bally Midway
JP: Sega
Programmer(s) Steve Meyer
Elaine Ditton
Artist(s) Scott Morrison
Composer(s) Rick Hicaro
Platform(s) Arcade, Atari 2600, Atari 8-bit, ColecoVision, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, MSX, Amstrad CPC, BBC Micro, IBM PC, Palm OS
Release
NA: September 2, 1983
EU: Late 1983
JP: March 1984
Genre(s) Action
Mode(s) Single-player, multiplayer
Arcade system - Bally Midway MCR III