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International Arcade Museum® — Killer List of Videogames®

Marble Madness

Description

Guide your marble through various courses to the goal. Obstacles include marble munchers, acid pools, an evil steelie marble, etc. The playing field includes a maze, ice patches, a funnel, catapult, etc.

Marble Madness was produced by Atari Games in 1984.

Atari Games released 89 machines in our database under this trade name, starting in 1984. Atari Games was based in United States.

Other machines made by Atari Games during the time period Marble Madness was produced include: Paperboy, Last Starfighter The, E.T., Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom, and Gauntlet

Specs

Name	Marble Madness
Developer	Atari Games (United States)
Year	1984
Type	Videogame
KLOV/MOG #	8618
Class	Wide Release
Genre	Labyrinth/Maze
Monitor	Orientation: Horizontal Type: Raster: Standard Resolution Color: Color 19-inch Electrohome G07
Conversion Class	Atari System I
# Simultaneous Players	2
# Maximum Players	2
Game Play	Either
Control Panel Layout	Multiple Player
Controls	Trackball: Optical
Sound	Unamplified Stereo (requires two-channel amp)
Cabinet Styles	Upright/Standard
Control Panel	Marble Madness Control Panel Image

Video Clips

Marble Madness shortplay by Ivan Paduano

Game Play

Steer your marble to the end of the course in the minimum amount of time. Watch out for other inhabitants that try to slow you down or bump you off - the marble munchers, the steelie, the vacuum, etc. You have an infinite number of lives, but getting killed loses you valuable time. On the "silly level" almost all of the rules are reversed. Some levels have alternate paths to the goal. If you run out of time before you complete a course, the game ends - but sometimes you will be "charmed" with extra time. Each level has its own stereo audio score.

Marble Madness KLOV/IAM 5 Point User Score: 3.91 (19 votes)

Fun Factor: 3.98

Overall Like	4.00
Fun (Social)	4.06
Fun (Solo)	3.78
Collector Desire	4.06

Technical Rating: 4.00

Gameplay	4.11
Graphics	4.06
Originality	4.37
Sound/Music	3.94

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.

Cheats, Tricks, Bugs, and Easter Eggs

Flipping the test switch (on the Audio/Regulator III board) while pressing either of the start buttons adds 99 seconds to the game play time for each flip of the test switch. Note: I've seen this crash the game on several occasions.

Images

Trivia

This was the first Atari System I game. A successor, Marble Madness 2: Marble Man was playtested but never released.

Cabinet Information

An upright cabinet, sometimes found with plain black sides and sometimes with the blue and silver striped "ATARI" side art.

Conversion

All of the Atari System I games should be convertable by changing the game cartridge (ROM board), control panel, and marquee. Road Blasters also requires a pedal. Note: I'm told that not all System I mainboards have the trackball decoder, used only on Marble Madness.

VAPS Arcade/Coin-Op Marble Madness 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 248 known instances of this machine owned by Marble Madness collectors who are active members. Of these, 198 of them are original dedicated machines. 22 of them are conversions in which game circuit boards (and possibly cabinet graphics) have been placed in (and on) another game cabinet. 27 of them are only circuit boards which a collector could put into a generic case if desired.

For Sale - There are 7 active VAPS members with a Marble Madness machines for sale. There is one active VAPS member with an extra Marble Madness circuit board for sale.

Wanted - Very Popular - There are 49 active VAPS members currently looking for Marble Madness. There is one active VAPS member looking for a Marble Madness circuit board set.

This game ranks a 59 on a scale out of 100 (100 = most often seen, 1=least common) in popularity based on census ownership records.

This game ranks a 72 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 main CPU is a 68010, with the sound and coin subsystem controlled by a 6502. A "slapstic" chip is used for copy protection. This game is emulated (as of 5/98) by MGE (internal beta) and MAME.

Fixes

1) Trackball rollers wear out, making control of your marble difficult and slow. Replacement rollers, bearings, etc. are available from Happ Controls (888-BUY-HAPP). 2) IC sockets of this age often make poor contact. If you get a ROM error on powerup or erratic operation, check for oxidation on both the sockets and the IC pins. FOR EXPERTS ONLY: you might want to replace the sockets with Augat or similar machine-pin versions for better contact.

Legacy

Marble Madness
Marble Madness 2 Marble Man

Manuals

Operator's Manual - Marble Madness Manual — **Operator's Manual**
(55 pages, 5 MB File)

Manual - Marble Madness Manual — **Manual**
(39 pages, 3.4 MB File)

Foto-Finder® (Books)

The Encyclopedia of Arcade Video Games Kurtz (ISBN 0764319256) Page: 183; Color photo Price guide: No
Arcade Fever Sellers (ISBN 0762409371) Page: 142; Color photo
Encyclopedia of Arcade Video Games Kurtz (ISBN 0764319256) Page: 183; Color photo

Additional References (logged in members often see more)

3D Model (External): Upright (2a69befc0dd22bead06e6be4f8954ac)

Arcade Map - Play This Game

Our members have reported that Marble Madness is playable at 1 locations:

Name	Location	State	Country	Details	Check-ins
Bartari	101 Adams Ave, Scranton	Pennsylvania	United States	Bar	0

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