Robotron: 2084

Williams, 1982, Eugene Jarvis & Larry DeMar. Purchased on 19 January 2002 at the San Jose SuperAuction. Working.

Consider, if you will, Robotron: 2083.

Monitor is a replacement and in very good condition. The CPO is clearly a replacement and is mounted badly. The cabinet is solid with damage at the bottom and several nasty scratches in the sideart; also, the top half of the backpanel is missing. I think the coin door lock appears original (a Wells Gardner lock) which is frankly kind of weird! The coin box lock has been replaced. I bought a coin box--since I got into pinball before I got into video games, I have a tendancy to store spare parts in coin boxes. Joysticks are the wrong length I think. The replacement joysticks I got on eBay are also the wrong length. Control panel moulding is missing; some light leakage.

Settings

• Original ROMs (with the shot-in-the-corner bug)
• Difficulty 10 (extremely conservative)
• Extra men at every 25,000 points
• Custom Message set to something silly
• Fancy Attract Mode (turning this off doesn't fix the shot-in-the-corner bug--I checked)

Information

• 1982 Eugene Jarvis interview (back when Robotron was new)
• Clay Cowgill's Williams Multigame

Files

• Robotron Manual

Repairs

While at auction the fire control was stuck up. A wire was crossing the connectors.

Someone covered the interlock switch with tape, apparently after losing the top back panel. I took the tape off and pulled the switch to the out position. (Well, first I took the tape off, realized I needed it and put it back, then had the game die. Then I read somewhere that those switches have an "all the way out" position and it's been there ever since.)

Cash box lock installed. Cash box bought on eBay. #44 bulbs under start buttons replaced. Bezel glass replaced with one of Darin Jacobs' reproductions. (I still have hope for the old one. I'm going to practice backglass restoration on it.)

Cash Box Collections

I've found two quarters in the game so far. I heard them rattling around when we brought the game in. I forgot to get them out when I first got the game home, but I found them when I dropped a third quarter in the coin slot with no cash in the game. It, like two before it, dropped into the cabinet below.

A Brief Testimonial

I love this game. By 1982 most companies had started trying to appeal to players with cute animations and music, elaborate death sequences, and speech. Not Williams, and not Eugene Jarvis. In 1982 they were using their two-year-old hardware platform and pushing it to its limit. They wasted no space with an elaborate Game Over sequence. Robotron just says, "GAME OVER", in a tiny little font. No cute Pole Position explosions when you die. Your character glows for about three seconds. You have just enough time to agree, "Yes, I think I see why I died", and then the game continues, pausing only long enough for you to look on in frustration. Robotron is the distilled essence of the video game: lots of shots, total freedom of movement and aiming, plentiful extra guys, quick levels, no precious game time wasted on entertainment when pure game play will do.