# Old "Mechanical" arcade games? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 7, 2004, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-mechanical-arcade-games/267959 "2004-10-07T01:30:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2004, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-mechanical-arcade-games/267959/21 "2004-10-07T22:05:09Z")
> [@gotpasswords](#): > > If you’re near San Francisco, stop by the [Musee Mechanique,](http://museemecanique.citysearch.com/) which is billed as one of the world’s largest collection of arcade machines. > > [This one](http://www.museemechanique.org/) is the official site for the Musee - beware! It opens with noise - that cackling is [Laffing Sal](http://www.museemechanique.org/3.html), one of the machines in the collection. I will second this. I consider the Musee Mechanique a must-see if you’re visiting San Francisco, or if you live here and have never been there. (I know, it’s in the Wharf - you can just take the F Market straight there and straight home ;)). Admission is free, but expect to drop ten bucks in quarters at least. ---
**Author:** ![vd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b19c9b/32.png) [@vd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vd)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2004, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-mechanical-arcade-games/267959/22 "2004-10-07T22:38:47Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > I remember playing a very odd one. > It was like one of those wooden marble labryinth games but it was very large. > The marble would race over a sculted landscape that looked kind of like the game board from LIFE with the streets and plastic ramps. It had a steering wheel to tilt the board left and right and a foot pedal to tilt it front and back. > The whole time there was this simulated car reving noise that would speed up the more the board was tilted. Bizarre. That sounds sort of like the thing I remembered, even if I only remembered the tilty table part of it. ---
**Author:** ![LeeshaJoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e8cbc/32.png) [@LeeshaJoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LeeshaJoy)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2004, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-mechanical-arcade-games/267959/23 "2004-10-07T23:10:31Z")
> [@N9IWP](#): > > It is not old, but is a mechanical archade game. > Mech pong: [\*\*\* PONGMECHANIK \*\*\*](http://www.cyberniklas.de/pongmechanik/indexen.html) > > Brian This is quite possibly the coolest thing ever. Thanks for the link. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2004, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-mechanical-arcade-games/267959/24 "2004-10-07T23:17:56Z")
> [@Garfield226](#): > > [http://marvin3m.com/baseball/shomrun.htm](http://marvin3m.com/baseball/shomrun.htm) > > I also played a version of this which allowed two players, and the pitcher could pitch either a fastball, a curveball, or a changeup. > > That page seems like a pretty good resource. They’ve also got the [driving games](http://marvin3m.com/arcade/index.htm#driving), [shooting games](http://marvin3m.com/arcade/index.htm#guns), and [other arcade games](http://marvin3m.com/arcade/index.htm#arcade) I seem to recall another version that had tiny runners on a track that ran around the bases whenever the ball was hit. Was there one like that? ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2004, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-mechanical-arcade-games/267959/25 "2004-10-08T02:13:03Z")
> [@NDP](#): > > I seem to recall another version that had tiny runners on a track that ran around the bases whenever the ball was hit. Was there one like that? I think that was the home version of electric football (you know where the metal table vibrated and made the players move in 11 seperate directions.) They actually made a baseball version of it. I would have never known of it had it not been in the Sears catalog. Yes, Sears once had a catalog. My guess is that electric baseball was even lamer than the football and failed quickly. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2004, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-mechanical-arcade-games/267959/26 "2004-10-08T02:32:44Z")
I used to love [this gunfight game.](http://marvin3m.com/arcade/gunfigh.htm) Especially because I could beat my older brother at it! ---
**Author:** ![Papermache\_Prince](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f05b48/32.png) [@Papermache\_Prince](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Papermache_Prince)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2004, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-mechanical-arcade-games/267959/27 "2004-10-08T03:23:09Z")
> [@NDP](#): > > I seem to recall another version that had tiny runners on a track that ran around the bases whenever the ball was hit. Was there one like that? Like the runners in this [photo](http://marvin3m.com/baseball/index.htm)? “The horizontal “running man” unit used in many post-WW2 pitch and bat baseball games. Small mechanical men run the bases as balls are hit on the playfield.” ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2004, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-mechanical-arcade-games/267959/28 "2004-10-08T06:13:33Z")
> [@Mr. Miskatonic](#): > > I think that was the home version of electric football (you know where the metal table vibrated and made the players move in 11 seperate directions.) They actually made a baseball version of it. I would have never known of it had it not been in the Sears catalog. Yes, Sears once had a catalog. > > My guess is that electric baseball was even lamer than the football and failed quickly. I actually had the electric baseball game when I was around 8 and your assessment of it is correct since I could never get it to work. However, that’s not it. > [@Papermache Prince Quote](#): > > Like the runners in this photo? “The horizontal “running man” unit used in many post-WW2 pitch and bat baseball games. Small mechanical men run the bases as balls are hit on the playfield.” I think that’s probably the game I was thinking of. If not, there are plenty of others in that site you linked that would fit the bill. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2004, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-mechanical-arcade-games/267959/29 "2004-10-08T13:11:16Z")
The roller skating rink ( :eek: ) that I used to frequent back in The Day (late 70’s thru mid 80’s) had two. In one game, you controlled little remote control bulldozers across a field of play. Throughout that field of play were thousands of teeny tiny plastic bearings, piled up in mounds and laying loose on the field. There was a hole in the center of the field, probably 1 1/2 inches in diameter, with a scale underneath it. The idea was to bulldoze as many bearings as possible into that hole. The scale recorded the weight of the bearings and that was your score. At the end of play you could hear the sound of a vacuum sucking up the beraings, and then they’d fall all over the filed of play to set up for the next game. Another game consisted of a wall, about five feet high and about 3 feet wide, with thick padding on each of the two sides. There was a man in a karate uniform painted on each side, and a series of lights at various places (knee, chin, solar plexis, etc.). The light would stay on for a second or so, and you would have to hit the target before the light went out. Sort of like an advanced version of whack-a-mole. In the two player version you and an opponent would square off on opposite sides of the wall and attack the wall at the same time. Ah, fun days. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![scotandrsn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a4c791/32.png) [@scotandrsn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scotandrsn)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2004, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-mechanical-arcade-games/267959/30 "2004-10-08T18:37:54Z")
> [@scotandrsn](#): > > we used to ski at a place in Maine that had a baseball game, and one that was a skeet shooter. they would be on rods, and if you hit one the lighting on the (transparent) image would change to show it shattered. I played it when I was really young because I thought you were shooting at alien flying saucers. Holy crap! I think [I found it!](http://marvin3m.com/arcade/skeetsh.htm) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-mechanical-arcade-games/267959.md?page=1)