Got a quickie for you today, thanks to an anonymous tipster that sent a couple of photos my way. I tip my hat to you, once again 😉
You likely know what the classic board game Twister is, so that doesn’t need any explanation, but you may be curious how an arcade adaptation might work. This isn’t the first classic board game turned arcade, Bay Tek’s Perfection is another that comes to mind.
Just note that location test games do not mean that this is the final product (or that the game will even be released, as games can always fail on test). This is one of those times where showing instead of telling works best:
As is shown “in action,” this is not necessarily a “video game,” although it does use screens for scoreboards and I guess one could stretch the definition of using lit visual elements as “video.” Still, it’s more of a straight redemption game, as you’ll be playing primarily for tickets/e-tickets. The premise of the gameplay is simple too – where you are touching on the gameboard, you need to place one of your feet. This supports up to 4 players at a time.
Here’s a shot of just the cabinet, although it was fairly dark so I did some touching up on it (to which it revealed a ton of wonderful jpg artifacts…how I wish JPG would be retired and just have PNG used). This is the Dallas Dave & Busters, which is also home to the tests for Men In Black (Sega), Densha De Go!! (Taito) and probably more. For those asking about the exA-Arcadia system seen at a Dave & Busters, that one is in Hollywood, FL (and is reportedly doing extremely well, better than Injustice). Anyways, to that cab shot:
When/if this will twist its way into arcades is anyone’s guess – their Zombie Breaker game still isn’t listed on the Adrenaline website, but if it tests well, then perhaps it will ship this summer or fall. From the sounds of it, most companies are seeing June as the time where things will be back to some level of normal, although in Utah, my arcade business is looking like it did in 2017, which is normal for me.
There are three other games from different companies on test out there, although I’ve been waiting for confirmation on some things before publishing. I may just have to talk about them soon anyways since both are getting a bit of discussion on Reddit/Discord/Twitter/Facebook, but not always with good info.
That aside, what do you think about the idea of Twister in arcades?
