Star Warrior

This game is very similar to the Galaga / Galaxian games except that the waves of ships do not arrange in formation on the screen. The game just has wave after wave of attacking ships. Some ships take several shots to destroy and the largest ships have shields. There are also exploding "bomb" drones which appear from time to time that drop and spray bombs across the screen. There is a shield weapon which allows the player to fly up screen and ram alien ships to destroy them, but the shield can only be used once per life.

The game play is very much like Galaga or Galaxian in that you have a ship which can go from side to side at the bottom of the screen. Ships attack in waves and rain bombs down on the player's ship. Alien ships may also make kamakazie runs at the player's ship to destroy it. Attacks and formations seem to be much more random. At each increasing level, larger ships require more shots to destroy.

This game also has bomb drone that drops down and explodes, sending bombs out in a 180 degree arc across the screen when it reaches the bottom, destroying the player's ship. Bombs are also released when the drone is destroyed. Destorying a drone does not guarantee survival of the player's ship, although survival chances greatly increase (and point value decreases) the higher the drone is on the screen when destroyed.

Each level starts with 50 ships. Like Galaga, some ships will not return after flying down the screen several times.

In addition to the usual missles that can be shot at the attackers, the player has an indestructable "shield" that can be used once per life to scroll up the screen and destroy any alien ships by ramming them.

The player's ship actually travels in an arch and elevates towards the sides of the screen. You can use this to allow alien ships and bombs to pass under your ship.

If a bomb drone is dropping close to the side of the screen, you can survive by being at the other side when it explodes.

This game was produced by a mortgage company with a dedicated game division!

The game is encased in a black cocktail table with panel veneer on the sides. It appears to be very similar to the early Atari cocktails, with their rectangular glass and control panels along both sides. The overlay says "Star Series" and "Potomac" on both control panels. The underglass stickers have the "Star Warrior" game title and indicate that the game was produced by Potomac Mortgage Company of Dallas Texas.

Most parts used in the game are off-the-shelf and can be found at any home or electronic supply store. The monitor and fan have standard electrical appliance plugs and plug into standard outlets! Given the extensive use of off-the-shelf parts (everything beyond PCB), this game appears to be part of a very limited run. Given the artwork on the control panels, it is more than likely that this company produced some other space-related arcade games.

The game does not have any DIP switches to set difficulty or to allow free play.

The volume control is directly on the PCB and is a white pot marked "VRL".

The soldering on the board containing the monitor adjustment buttons is weak and prone to breaking when making adjustments.