# Name this very old arcade game, please. **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [July 16, 2010, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-very-old-arcade-game-please/546971 "2010-07-16T23:07:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2010, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-very-old-arcade-game-please/546971/1 "2010-07-16T23:07:01Z")
I think it’s at 15 yrs old. I rarely played it myself, but both of my daughters loved it. So I mostly just watched. Anyway, the game character would jump upward from one floating disk to another with a sound like “poink” with each jump. You would move up in levels as in most games. One identifier is that if you missed a target, the character would fall way down, screaming all the way. It was a joystick game and the the movement of the stick was 45 deg off the normal. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2010, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-very-old-arcade-game-please/546971/2 "2010-07-16T23:27:55Z")
It’s [Q\*bert](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Q*bert). Once I stopped thinking about it, the name popped into my tired old brain. Weird game. I guess it still has fans though. I’ll see what my now grown girls think when I show it to them on my iPad. Thanks ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-very-old-arcade-game-please/546971/3 "2010-07-17T07:08:12Z")
Yeah that was Q’Bert. I loved that it had some sort of ‘kicker’ that would thump the bottom of the console when he ‘hit’. But man, after playing several levels my eyes would go nuts on looking at the 3D stuff and see it ‘wrong’. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-very-old-arcade-game-please/546971/4 "2010-07-17T16:55:38Z")
> [@Zebra](#): > > Yeah that was Q’Bert. I loved that it had some sort of ‘kicker’ that would thump the bottom of the console when he ‘hit’. > > But man, after playing several levels my eyes would go nuts on looking at the 3D stuff and see it ‘wrong’. Ha! I forgot about the thump. Hilarious, at least at first. My hids also liked the “cussing”, which they tried to figure out what was being said. Rumor was that it was real. I’m known for my “colorful” language, so they had plenty to compare. 😉 I downloaded the iTunes version to my iPad, so we’ll see if it brings back some memories. I also got Frogger for a buck. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-very-old-arcade-game-please/546971/5 "2010-07-17T17:13:25Z")
> [@mangeorge](#): > > …the game character would jump upward from one floating disk to another with a sound like “poink” with each jump. You would move up in levels as in most games. One identifier is that if you missed a target, the character would fall way down, screaming all the way. > It was a joystick game and the the movement of the stick was 45 deg off the normal. Interesting… that’s not how I would have described **Q\*Bert**. For me the distinguishing features of the game were the pyramid and the coiled snake that chased you around. I had no idea what you were talking about from your description. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-very-old-arcade-game-please/546971/6 "2010-07-17T17:26:11Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > Interesting… that’s not how I would have described **Q\*Bert**. For me the distinguishing features of the game were the pyramid and the coiled snake that chased you around. I had no idea what you were talking about from your description. That was a description from a very old memory. Sorry if I offended. I guess I mistook the floating disks for floating disks. 😛 Now go to your room till you learn to not nitpick old people. Where’s my tea? ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-very-old-arcade-game-please/546971/7 "2010-07-17T17:57:19Z")
> [@mangeorge](#): > > That was a description from a very old memory. Sorry if I offended. I guess I mistook the floating disks for floating disks. 😛 > Now go to your room till you learn to not nitpick old people. > Where’s my tea? Sorry I didn’t mean that to sound snarky. Leaded or unleaded? ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-very-old-arcade-game-please/546971/8 "2010-07-17T18:12:17Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > Sorry I didn’t mean that to sound snarky. > > Leaded or unleaded? I didn’t take it as such. My snark alert is set pretty high. Leaded. otherwise, why bother! ---
**Author:** ![Hoopy\_Frood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hoopy_frood/32/8452_2.png) [@Hoopy\_Frood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hoopy_Frood)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2010, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-very-old-arcade-game-please/546971/9 "2010-07-18T01:30:59Z")
> [@mangeorge](#): > > Rumor was that it was real. There’s a reason that it’s only a rumor. There was no actual cursing. IIRC, it was a separate sound algorithm that was designed to electronically generate random human-like phonetical sounds. And Q\*Bert was the first game to try something like that which made it pretty revolutionary at the time. ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2010, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-very-old-arcade-game-please/546971/10 "2010-07-18T02:29:31Z")
> [@mangeorge](#): > > I think it’s at 15 yrs old. Frigheningly enough, it’s nearly double that – Q\*Bert debuted in 1982. I’m now feeling rather old for a guy who moments ago five-starred a twelve-song set on Rock Band 2, hard level. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2010, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-very-old-arcade-game-please/546971/11 "2010-07-18T02:46:04Z")
> [@Hoopy\_Frood](#): > > There’s a reason that it’s only a rumor. There was no actual cursing. > > IIRC, it was a separate sound algorithm that was designed to electronically generate random human-like phonetical sounds. And Q\*Bert was the first game to try something like that which made it pretty revolutionary at the time. I should have told them all that. Burst their silly little 7-10 year old bubbles. 😉 Instead, I played along, offering a few guesses of my own. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2010, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-very-old-arcade-game-please/546971/12 "2010-07-19T03:52:30Z")
> [@Hal\_Briston](#): > > Frigheningly enough, it’s nearly double that – Q\*Bert debuted in 1982. > > I’m now feeling rather old for a guy who moments ago five-starred a twelve-song set on Rock Band 2, hard level. I thought he meant he played it at 15 years old. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2010, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-very-old-arcade-game-please/546971/13 "2010-07-19T14:54:29Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > I thought he meant he played it at 15 years old. My daughters were born long after I was 15. 😉