This has been an abnormally slow time for news lately and I would pad things up with interest articles – if I had the time. Fortunately, something worth discussing has been indirectly spotted on a location test so here we go!
Basketball games have been a staple of arcades since the 1990s when titles like Super Shot and Hoop Fever miniaturized the sport. When I used to sell arcade equipment, I was always amazed by the frequency that residential customers would request such games. Connect 4, for it’s part, has been around since 1974 and if you have a basic collection of such games at home, you likely have this one. A few enterprising people have even combined the concepts before, albeit not in a mass produced way:
The Connect 4 concept has been around in arcades for a few years through Wisconsin based game maker Bay Tek Games. It’s a redemption game that was released in Giant and more compact models. Now, Bay Tek appears to be making their own fusion concept of what you see in the video above, but not quite as large. Thanks to Jdevy for sending us this very indirect picture of the Connect 4 Basketball game that was seen to the side of some Super Shot Basketball games at an unknown Dave & Busters venue.
UPDATE: I had received a better photo of the image but the original photo taker demanded that it be removed. It showed that the game is much larger than I had thought; they certainly made this one to impress. The basketballs appear to be the same size as the ones sitting in the Super Shots next to it. This game is currently testing at a Chicago area D&B but not sure how long it has been there. It maintains the red/yellow color scheme; we’ll update with more info if we hear it.
This game is a one or two player game and the one player mode is against a computer player and the pieces slide down automatically like a traditional Connect 4 game. Reportedly, collections they are seeing are phenomenal with it outpacing other basketball games and even outclassing coin pushers. Sounds quite impressive!
(Newer image removed, indirect original image we were sent is below)
Despite not being the focus of the shot, we do learn: 1) It exists and what it is 2) It’s clearly being done by Bay Tek 3) it uses a lot of bright lighting 4) It’s not quite a large as what is seen in that homebrewed concept above. It seems to be about as wide as a couple of Super Shots and it certainly is taller, meaning that it still is a big game. Super Shots are one of the larger basketball machines an arcade can have out there.
It certainly would support 2 players although I am curious how it handles a single player game.
Because this is a test, the final concept could end up changing by the time it is released – if it is released. Every manufacturer tests games that never see the light of mass production. Bay Tek in particular has brought games to trade shows that were canned afterwards or tested on location and were never seen again. But, I’m glad we had something to talk about in-between Newsbytes posts for a change 😛
What do you think of the Connect 4 Basketball concept so far?
