Museum of the Game ®

International Arcade Museum® — Killer List of Videogames®

Warlords

Description

The players use shields to defend their castle walls from the fireballs that ricochet around the playfield. Players can capture and catapult the fireballs at opposing castles. Fireballs destroy pieces of the castle walls they hit.

Warlords was produced by Atari in 1980.

Atari released 139 machines in our database under this trade name, starting in 1972. Atari was based in United States.

Other machines made by Atari during the time period Warlords was produced include: Atari Soccer, Hercules, Superman, Atari Baseball, Asteroids, Monte Carlo, Missile Command, Centipede, Asteroids Deluxe, and Battlezone

Specs

Name	Warlords
Developer	Atari (United States)
Year	1980
Type	Videogame
KLOV/MOG #	10405
Class	Wide Release
Genre	Shooter
Monitor	Orientation: Horizontal Type: Raster: Standard Resolution Color: Either Black and White or Color Upright: four color overlay, 22-inch Wells Gardner monitor, half-silvered mirror reflects a backdrop of castle walls and battlegrounds Cocktail: 14-inch color Sanyo monitor, no overlay
Conversion Class	unique
Game Specific	Warlords Pinout
Dipswitch Settings	Warlords Dipswitch Settings (user contributed)
# Simultaneous Players	4
# Maximum Players	4
Game Play	Either
Control Panel Layout	Multiple Player
Controls	Buttons: 1 - Power Stone Rotary: Analog
Sound	Amplified Mono (one channel)
Cabinet Styles	Upright/Standard Cocktail
PCB	Warlords PCB Image

Video Clips

Warlords by Atari

Rare WARLORDS Cocktail Table Arcade Game & Game Play!

Game Play

The objective of the game is to destroy the three other castles while protecting one's own castle with the moving shield. When the button is depressed, the shield can capture a fireball. Release the button and the fireball is catapulted at the opponents. The spinning fireballs released from a shield have more destructive force on a castle wall than a fireball simply deflected from another wall or the sides of the playfield. Fireballs cannot be held long since they slowly destroy the player's own castle walls adjacent to the fireball. Additional fireballs appear at predetermined intervals or when a castle is destroyed, whichever comes first. A maximum of four fireballs can simultaneously be in play.

The computer controls all the unpaid castles. In one- and two-player games, if a paid player has the surviving castle, the game continues with a new battle at a higher level. In the higher levels, computer opponents play more accurately and faster. Two-player games can be played jointly to maximize score/level or competitively.

Warlords KLOV/IAM 5 Point User Score: 3.61 (10 votes)

Fun Factor: 3.86

Overall Like	4.33
Fun (Social)	4.78
Fun (Solo)	3.33
Collector Desire	3.80

Technical Rating: 3.61

Gameplay	4.11
Graphics	3.11
Originality	4.11
Sound/Music	3.11

Personal Impressions and Technical Impressions each account for half of the total score. Within the Personal Impressions category, Like carries a little more weight than the other factors.

Images

Trivia

The original prototype had the name Castles Kings. There was only one prototype color upright ever produced by Atari.

Cabinet Information

The game was released in two versions: an upright with a black-and-white monitor for one- or two-player games and a cocktail with a color monitor for one- to four-player games.

On the black and white version: Bezel painted in 4 colors on the bottom and projects up onto a diagonal two way mirror. Behind the mirror is a cardboard landscape lit by blacklight. The result is the game appears to be 3D. The effect is striking.

Miscellaneous

VAPS Arcade/Coin-Op Warlords Census

There are 15,264 members of the Video Arcade Preservation Society / Vintage Arcade Preservation Society, 9,669 whom participate in our arcade census project of games owned, wanted, or for sale. Census data currently includes 166,973 machines (7,000 unique titles).

Very Common - There are 158 known instances of this machine owned by Warlords collectors who are active members. Of these, 146 of them are original dedicated machines. One is a conversion in which game circuit boards (and possibly cabinet graphics) have been placed in (and on) another game cabinet. 9 of them are only circuit boards which a collector could put into a generic case if desired.

For Sale - There are 10 active VAPS members with a Warlords machines for sale. There is one active VAPS member with an extra Warlords circuit board for sale.

Wanted - Very Popular - There are 38 active VAPS members currently looking for Warlords. There is one active VAPS member looking for a Warlords circuit board set.

This game ranks a 30 on a scale out of 100 (100 = most often seen, 1=least common) in popularity based on census ownership records.

This game ranks a 57 on a scale out of 100 (100 = most often seen, 1=least common) in popularity based on census want list records.

Rarity and Popularity independently are not necessarily indications of value. [More Information]

Flyers

Technical

The game uses a 6502 microprocessor and one Atari Pokey sound chip. The game board supports both BW and color output by toggling the cocktail pin.

Manuals

Warlords Sheet 1 Side A - Warlords Manual — **Warlords Sheet 1 Side A**
(1 page, 21.8 MB File)

Warlords Sheet 1 Side B - Warlords Manual — **Warlords Sheet 1 Side B**
(1 page, 18.9 MB File)

Warlords Sheet 2 Side A - Warlords Manual — **Warlords Sheet 2 Side A**
(1 page, 26.2 MB File)

Warlords Sheet 2 Side B - Warlords Manual — **Warlords Sheet 2 Side B**
(1 page, 19.2 MB File)

Wiring Diagram - Warlords Manual — **Wiring Diagram**
(2 pages, 164 kB File)

Operation, Maintenance and Service Manual - Warlords Manual — **Operation, Maintenance and Service Manual**
(53 pages, 4.6 MB File)

Foto-Finder® (Books)

The Encyclopedia of Arcade Video Games Kurtz (ISBN 0764319256) Page: 108; Color photo Price guide: No
Encyclopedia of Arcade Video Games Kurtz (ISBN 0764319256) Page: 108; Color photo

Additional References (logged in members often see more)

3D Model (External): cocktail (4e26fedcf431beb57a3f6e2972c8483e)
3D Model (External): Upright (900feb9962abe70a15000ab5e56184f5)

eBay Listings

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