Attract Mode: The Rise and Fall of Coin-Op Arcade Games

From their haunts in the shadowy corner of a bar front and center at a convenience store or reigning over a massive mall installation bursting with light sound and action arcade games have been thrilling and addicting quarter-bearers of all ages ever since Pong first lit up its paddles. Whether you wanted a few minutes quick-twitch exhilaration or the taste of three-initial immortality that came with topping the high score screen you could get it from the diverse range of space shooters dot-eating extravaganzas quirky beat-em-ups and more that have helped define pop culture for more than four decades.In Attract Mode: The Rise and Fall of Coin-Op Arcade Games author Jamie Lendino celebrates both the biggest blockbusters (Pac-Man Star Wars: The Arcade Game) and the forgotten gems (Phoenix Star Castle) of the Golden Age of coin-op gaming and pulls back the curtain on the personalities and the groundbreaking technologies that brought them to glitzy color-drenched life in the U.S. Japan and all over the world.Youll start your journey exploring the electromechanical attractions and pinball games of the early 20th century. Next youll meet the earliest innovators who used college computers and untested electronics to outline the possibilities of the emerging form and discover the surprising history behind the towering megahits from Nintendo Sega and others that still inform gaming today. Then youll witness the devastating crash that almost ended it all-and the rebirth no one expected.Whether you prefer the white-knuckle gameplay of Robotron: 2084 the barrel-jumping whimsy of Donkey Kong or the stunning graphics and animation of Dragons Lair Attract Mode will transport you back to the heyday of arcade games and let you relive-or experience for the first time-the unique magic that transformed entertainment forever.