The development of video redemption games continues to deliver some interesting arcade games to our realm and we’ll be seeing more of these next week at the EAG Expo in London. ICE has just announced two of these titles, Robin Hood and Rok N’ Bloks. Where the software has been designed with ticket payouts in mind I’d say that it’s highly unlikely that we will see non-redemption versions of these games coming along but they are still worth mentioning.
The Robin Hood cabinet reminds me of the classic Exidy game Crossbow – the funny thing about this is that Robin Hood wasn’t known for running around with a crossbow but I imagine that a bow and arrow controller would be a little too cubersome to have on a cabinet. The game itself is a shooting gallery title with a medieval theme.
Rok N’ Bloks appears to be a 3D variation on the Stacker games. The game uses a unique controller that has the player tilting a base to catch blocks 
that fall from above, stacking and balancing the blocks while attempting to reach certain win zones. You drop three blocks and the game is over – it’s simplistic and makes use of physics, which of course is pretty popular to use in games right now. I may not be a huge fan of redemption games (I know, I’m practically alone on that among arcade operators) but I like seeing ideas like this Rok N’ Bloks game as it’s trying something a little different.
Stay tuned to Arcade Heroes next week for a complete look at the EAG Expo!
Both of these look awesome! Can the crossbow be picked up or is it in a fixed position like the silent scope gun?
It looks like it’s in a fixed position from that pic – although in thinking about it, some crossbow controllers that could be picked up and handled would be cool (although perhaps too breakable).
that rok n blocks game reminds me of that mina game on wario ware smooth moves for the wii where you hold the will mote in the palm of your hand and control an on screen board that you catch the falling blocks on and if some fall off you loose and the aim is to catch all the block and keep it still for a couple of seconds after blocks have stopped falling and you will