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Tank (video game)
Tank (video game)
Tank (video game)
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Tank
Promotional flyer showing the original cabinet
DeveloperKee Games
Publishers
DesignersSteve Bristow
Lyle Rains
PlatformArcade
Release
  • NA: November 1974
  • JP: September 1975[1]
GenresMaze
ModeMultiplayer

Tank is an arcade game developed by Kee Games, a subsidiary of Atari, and released in November 1974. It was one of the few original titles not based on an existing Atari property developed by Kee Games, which was founded to sell clones of Atari games to distributors as a fake competitor prior to the merger of the two companies. In the game, two players drive tanks through a maze viewed from above while attempting to shoot each other and avoid mines, represented by X marks, in a central minefield. Each player controls their tank with a pair of joysticks, moving them forwards and back to drive, reverse, and steer, and firing shells with a button to attempt to destroy the other tank. The destruction of a tank from a mine or shell earns the opposing player a point, and tanks reappear after being destroyed. The winner is the player with more points when time runs out, with each game typically one or two minutes long.

Tank was designed by Steve Bristow, who had previously worked with the founders of Atari on Computer Space, the first arcade video game, and was developed by Lyle Rains. It was created as part of Bristow's vision to move the company away from only producing copies of Atari's games into also developing original titles. The game's cabinet was designed by Peter Takaichi. In September 1974, during development, Atari merged with Kee. The game was commercially successful, selling over 10,000 units and buoying Atari's then-troubled finances. It led to a cocktail cabinet release of the game and to four sequels: Tank II (1974), Tank III (1975), Tank 8 (1976), and Ultra Tank (1978). A dedicated console version of Tank II was announced in 1977 but cancelled later that year; the joysticks for the game, however, became the standard joystick controllers for the Atari 2600 (1977). Variations on the game were included in the Atari 2600 game Combat, as well as in the Coleco Telstar game Telstar Combat!, both in 1977.

Gameplay

[edit]

Tank is a two-player maze game in which the players, each controlling a tank, attempt to shoot each other. The maze is a set of blocks set at right angles to each other with an empty square central area all viewed from above; the shape of the maze is not symmetric, and is the same between games. One of the tank sprites is white and the other is black, while the central area is filled with black X marks representing land mines. The tanks can fire shells, which destroy the other tank if they hit; tanks are also destroyed if they hit a land mine. The destruction of a tank grants the opposing player a point and causes a brief explosion and accompanying sound, during which time the other tank cannot shoot, before restoring the tank at the same position. Destroyed land mines do not return.[2] Points are displayed above the play area, and flash during the final twenty seconds of the round. The game continues until the time runs out, after which the player with the higher point value wins the match. Each game typically costs a quarter and lasts for 60 seconds, but an internal toggle adjusts it to two quarters and 120 seconds. The time can be further adjusted by operators.[3]

The game is displayed on a black-and-white television screen, and the tanks are controlled by two joysticks each. Pushing both joysticks moves the player's tank forward, and pulling them both back causes the tank to stop. Pulling them in different directions or amounts causes the tank to turn in place or while moving, respectively. A button on the top of the right joystick fires a shell.[3]

Development

[edit]
Photo of gameplay; the two tanks are at the bottom and neither player has scored.

The arcade game market is split into manufacturers, distributors, and operators; manufacturers like Atari sell game machines to distributors—who handle several types of electronic machines—who in turn sell them to the operators of locations. In the early 1970s, distributors bought games on an exclusive basis, meaning that only one distributor in each distribution region would carry products from a given arcade game manufacturer, restricting the manufacturer to only the operators that distributor sold to. Atari, in 1973 just over a year old and largely based on their hit first game Pong, felt that as a smaller manufacturer this setup severely limited their ability to sell arcade games: they could only contract with a limited number of distributors, who would only buy a limited number of games per year.[4] To work around this, Atari set up a secret subsidiary company in September 1973, Kee Games, which was intended to sell clones of Atari's games, in effect doubling their potential reach. Kee did have its own manufacturing equipment and therefore the ability to develop original titles, and after several clone games lead engineer Steve Bristow developed the idea for a new title. Bristow, who had previously worked with the Atari founders on Computer Space, the first arcade video game, came up with the idea while thinking of how he could improve Computer Space. His idea to correct the perceived shortcomings of the game were to replace its difficult to control rocket ships with more straightforward tanks, and to make it a two-player game instead of a single-player one.[5]

As the company's only engineer, Bristow rapidly developed a prototype himself before turning the game over to new hire Lyle Rains to develop into a finished product, codenamed K2 Tank. Rains added the maze and central minefield to the game design and developed the final hardware, including the simple control scheme.[5] Peter Takaichi designed a large custom cabinet to house it.[6] Tank was one of the first games to use integrated circuit-based memory—specifically, mask ROM (read-only memory)—to store graphical data, rather than the diode arrays that previous arcade games used; it is sometimes claimed in sources to be the very first, but was preceded at minimum by Atari's Gran Trak 10 (1974).[7][8][9] Integrated circuit-based memory thereafter became the standard for arcade and console video games.[7][8] Before the game could be completed, Kee Games was merged into Atari in September 1974; Tank was released that November.[5][10]

Reception and legacy

[edit]

Tank was a commercial success and is credited with buoying the finances of the newly merged Atari at a critical time for the company.[11] Atari produced a second version of the game, a cocktail cabinet form in which the two players sat across a circular table from each other.[12] Tank sold over 10,000 units, considered a large hit at the time, though Ralph H. Baer claims that was only the 1974 sales, with a further 5,000 sold in 1975.[13][14] This would make Tank the best-selling arcade video game of 1974 in the United States as well as the second best-selling title of 1975 in America (below Wheels), according to Baer.[15]

A sequel, Tank II, was released in 1974 to sales of around 1,000 units; gameplay was identical, though the maze could be changed to a new format by modifying the circuitry and more sound effects were added.[14][16] In March 1976, RePlay magazine published a survey of the top 20 arcade games in use, and listed Tank and Tank II together as the highest-earning game in the prior year in the United States.[17] Tank II was later the 15th highest-grossing arcade game of 1977 in the United States according to Play Meter (or 14th highest video game, excluding the electro-mechanical game F-1).[18] It was followed by three further sequels: Tank III in 1975, the first game to be third in a series;[19][20] the color Tank 8 in 1976, which featured eight tanks and players simultaneously;[21] and Ultra Tank in 1978, which reverted to a two-player black and white game with the ability to select multiple different maze types and have invisible tanks.[22]

A dedicated console version of Tank II was announced by Atari at the Consumer Electronics Show in 1977, but was cancelled by the end of the year; the joysticks for the game, designed by Kevin McKinsey, became the standard joystick controllers for the Atari 2600 (1977).[23] The Atari 2600 game Combat, released in 1977, includes several variations of Tank, including ones with bouncing shots or invisible tanks. Combat was initially developed as a console version of the arcade game, like the cancelled dedicated console version, with additional plane-based game modes added during development. Despite Atari's cancellation of the dedicated console version of Tank, a dedicated console game inspired by Tank was still released in 1977 by Coleco: the Telstar game Telstar Combat! plays four variations of Tank, and was released prior to the Atari 2600 and Combat.[8]

The success of Tank, along with 1975 title Western Gun (Gun Fight), led to the popularization of one-on-one dueling video games.[24] The 1980 arcade first-person shooter game Battlezone (1980) was primarily inspired by Tank. According to Battlezone designer Ed Rotberg, his concept was to update Tank with the advent of vector graphics in the arcades.[25]

References

[edit]

Sources

[edit]
[edit]
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Tank (video game)

View on Grokipedia
from Grokipedia
Tank is a two-player arcade video game developed and published by Kee Games in 1974. Players control tanks navigating a top-down maze composed of barriers and scattered mines, aiming to outmaneuver and shoot the opponent's tank while avoiding collisions and hazards; the player achieving the highest score by eliminating the foe or detonating mines wins after a time limit. The game was designed by Steve Bristow and completed by Lyle Rains as Kee Games' first original title, independent of Atari's existing properties, and released on November 5, 1974, shortly before Atari's merger with its subsidiary Kee Games late that year. Kee Games had been established by Atari founder Nolan Bushnell in 1973 to produce "competing" games for distributors seeking exclusive content, allowing Atari to increase production without alienating partners. Tank featured innovative dual-joystick controls per player simulating independent left and right tank treads for movement and steering—and was the first arcade game to use ROM chips for storing solid, contiguous character graphics rather than simple vector lines. Tank achieved significant commercial success as one of the top-selling arcade games of 1974, helping to stabilize Atari's finances amid financial challenges and operational mergers. Its popularity led to variants like Tank II (1975) and influenced home console gaming, particularly the tank combat modes in Combat, the pack-in title for the launched in 1977. The game's emphasis on strategic vehicular combat in enclosed environments set a precedent for future maze-based shooters and multiplayer arcade titles.

Development

Kee Games Background

Kee Games was established in September 1973 as a nominally independent manufacturer by Joe Keenan, a close friend and neighbor of Atari co-founder , who served as its president. In truth, the company was secretly founded and controlled by to bypass the arcade industry's restrictive exclusive distribution agreements, which limited manufacturers to dealing with only one distributor per region; by operating Kee Games alongside , Bushnell could effectively supply nearly identical games to two distributors at once, doubling sales potential without breaching contracts. By 1974, Atari confronted severe financial distress, recording a $500,000 loss for the fiscal year ending June 1974 amid escalating competition from Pong clones, high development costs for ambitious projects like , and underwhelming international sales, pushing the company to the brink of and forcing widespread layoffs. To mitigate these challenges, Atari relied increasingly on Kee Games for separate game development, allowing the subsidiary to produce original titles independently of Atari's core lineup. In a pivotal move, Kee Games announced its first fully original title, , in mid-1974, marking a shift toward autonomous innovation that would prove crucial in alleviating Atari's economic pressures. This development laid the groundwork for 's production under Kee Games' banner.

Design and Production

The design of Tank was led by Steve Bristow, Kee Games' vice president of engineering, who conceptualized a two-player featuring tanks navigating a -like , marking a departure from the Pong-style paddle games that dominated early arcade titles. Bristow aimed to introduce strategic depth through direct confrontation mechanics, where players maneuvered opaque tanks to outflank and destroy each other while avoiding barriers and mines. Lyle Rains, an electronics engineer hired by Kee Games in , completed the development of the core gameplay, refining the fixed maze layout to emphasize tactical positioning and visibility limitations for added challenge. Development of Tank began in mid-1974, shortly after Kee Games had established itself with licensed clones, allowing the team to focus on an original title amid growing competition in the arcade market. The project progressed rapidly, culminating in a debut at the November 1974 Manufacturers Operating Association (MOA) in , where it was showcased as Kee Games' breakthrough innovation. Peter Takaichi, the company's manager, contributed the custom upright cabinet design, which featured a distinctive layout to accommodate dual controls and enhance player immersion; this design was later patented in 1977. Manufacturing took place at Kee Games' facility in , with an initial production run that included approximately the first 50 cabinets featuring a unique protruding wooden coin box between the speaker grills. This early batch highlighted the hands-on production process at the Sunnyvale site, where assembly emphasized durability for arcade environments while keeping costs manageable for widespread distribution. The fixed structure was a deliberate choice to balance simplicity in with replayability, avoiding the need for variable layouts that could complicate .

Technical Implementation

Tank employed discrete integrated circuits for its core memory and logic functions, a notable advancement over the transistor-transistor logic (TTL) components used in earlier arcade titles such as . This approach, pioneered by engineers Steve Bristow and Lyle Rains, incorporated mask (ROM) chips to store graphical data, making it the first production to utilize such for rendering solid, contiguous characters like tanks and maze elements. Specifically, the hardware featured a 2KB MK28000 ROM chip, which streamlined circuit design, lowered manufacturing costs by reducing component count, and minimized the overall board size compared to purely TTL-based systems. The display system utilized black-and-white on a , typically a Motorola adapted for arcade use, to depict the game's top-down with white and black tanks navigating walls and mines. This setup generated simple line-based visuals through the ROM-stored data, processed by discrete logic to produce the 60 Hz standard for early video arcade monitors. Audio output was handled via basic tone generator circuits that produced amplified mono sound effects, including short beeps for tank shots and longer tones simulating explosions upon hits or mine detonations. These effects were created using discrete analog components, such as RC oscillators and filters, integrated into the main PCB to provide immediate auditory feedback without dedicated sound processing chips. Engineering the game required addressing synchronization challenges inherent to simultaneous two-player operation, where dual joystick inputs and fire buttons had to be processed in real-time by the discrete logic circuits to avoid perceptible lag between players' actions. This was achieved through clocked synchronous design, ensuring that position updates, , and screen refreshes occurred in across both players' tanks within the constraints of 1974-era hardware limitations.

Gameplay

Core Mechanics

Tank is a two-player competitive set in a fixed rectangular arena viewed from a top-down perspective, featuring barriers that form a maze-like layout with winding paths and obstructive walls to facilitate strategic navigation and positioning. The core combat revolves around each player maneuvering a to fire short-range projectiles at the opponent, with shots capable of ricocheting off walls to enable bank shots around barriers; a direct hit eliminates the opposing tank, awarding a point to the shooter. Indestructible mines, depicted as X symbols, are scattered randomly across the central area of the maze as deadly hazards, instantly destroying any tank that collides with them and granting a point to the surviving player. Gameplay proceeds in timed rounds lasting 60 to 120 seconds, during which players accumulate points by scoring kills on the opponent or forcing them into mines, with the player having the most points when the time limit expires winning the game.

Controls and Objectives

Tank is controlled exclusively through dual-joystick setups for each of the two players, with no single-player mode available. Each player operates a pair of vertical joysticks simulating tank treads: the left joystick controls the left track, while the right joystick manages the right track, enabling differential steering for movement in eight directions. To move forward, both joysticks are pushed up; pulling both back stops or reverses the tank. Turning is achieved by opposing the joysticks—for instance, pushing the left forward and pulling the right back rotates the tank to the right. Firing is handled by pressing the red button atop the right joystick, which launches a shell in the direction the tank is facing. The primary objective is to outscore the opponent by destroying their tank multiple times within a timed round, typically lasting one to two minutes, while avoiding hazards that cause self-destruction. Destroying the opponent's tank—either by direct shell hit or forcing them into a mine—awards one point to the surviving player, after which both tanks respawn. Mines, marked as "X" on the screen, explode on contact and score a point for the opponent if hit. The round concludes at the time limit, with the player holding the most points declared the winner; ties are possible if scores are equal. The game's upright facilitates side-by-side play, positioning the dual-joystick control panels centrally for two players to compete head-to-head, fostering direct social interaction and . This setup, with its military-style joysticks, immerses players in a competitive without isolation, emphasizing and quick reflexes over solitary practice.

Release and Commercial Performance

Launch Details

Tank was released on November 5, 1974, in as an developed and published by Kee Games. The title debuted on upright arcade cabinets, with a cocktail table variant introduced shortly thereafter, designed specifically for placement in bars and taverns to accommodate seated players. Distribution of Tank was initially overseen by Kee Games, which had been established as a subsidiary of in to circumvent exclusivity agreements with arcade distributors. In September 1974, during the game's development, Atari formally merged with Kee Games, allowing the title to launch under the Kee Games banner while benefiting from Atari's expanded resources and production capabilities post-merger. The game was positioned as a combat simulation offering a departure from the prevalent Pong clones saturating the market, with marketing efforts targeting arcade operators and tavern owners seeking engaging two-player experiences to draw crowds. This strategy capitalized on the growing demand for diverse beyond paddle-based titles, emphasizing Tank's maze-based tank battles as a competitive multiplayer draw.

Sales and Market Impact

Tank achieved substantial commercial success shortly after its November 1974 release, with over 10,000 cabinets sold that year and approximately 5,000 more in 1975. This performance positioned it as the top-earning in the United States for 1975, generating millions in revenue that played a pivotal role in stabilizing Atari's finances during a period of near-bankruptcy. The game's strong helped Kee Games establish credibility in the competitive arcade market and further stabilized Atari's finances in the aftermath of the merger. Tank outperformed key competitors, including Ramtek's early titles like Clean Sweep and Baseball, which struggled to match its unit sales and operator appeal amid the intensifying arcade landscape. By providing a fresh alternative to the saturated Pong-style games, Tank contributed significantly to the 1974-1975 surge in U.S. arcade revenues, as operators increasingly invested in diverse offerings that drove industry growth from tens of millions to over $100 million annually. This success not only rescued from financial collapse but also underscored the shift toward more sophisticated arcade experiences during the mid-1970s boom.

Reception

Contemporary Reviews

Contemporary accounts noted Tank's commercial success and innovative two-player design, which contributed to its popularity in arcades. The game utilized black-and-white graphics, a standard for early arcade titles.

Player Experiences

Tank was designed as a two-player head-to-head , encouraging direct competition between players maneuvering tanks through a maze-like playfield filled with barriers and mines. This setup provided addictive two-player action in social environments like bars and arcades. Players developed strategies centered on skillful maze navigation to position for advantageous shots. Skilled players could dominate matches by mastering positioning and timing. The game was simple to learn but difficult to master, appealing to arcade crowds. Retrospectively, Tank has a user score of 3.05/5 on the Killer List of Video Games, with gameplay rated at 3.67/5.

Legacy

Sequels and Variants

Following the success of the original Tank, Kee Games developed several direct sequels that expanded on the core tank-versus-tank combat formula. Tank II, released in 1974, retained the black-and-white visuals and two-player requirement but introduced multiple layouts through unique wiring configurations, allowing for varied barrier and landmine placements across levels. In 1975, Tank III continued the series as a labyrinth-style game supporting up to two players in alternating turns, maintaining the overhead maze battles with barriers and mines but emphasizing strategic navigation in enclosed environments. Tank 8, launched in 1976, marked a significant evolution by introducing color graphics and supporting up to eight simultaneous players, each controlling a distinctly colored in free-for-all or team-based modes (red versus blue teams), with scoring tied to eliminations amid persistent and hazards. The final major entry, Ultra Tank in 1978, refined the two-player competitive format with customizable battlefields that could include open arenas, mines, barriers, and options for tank visibility (visible or invisible), enhancing tactical depth while preserving the top-down maze shooting mechanics. Home console ports adapted Tank's gameplay for emerging systems. The Atari 2600's Combat, released in 1977 as a launch title, directly emulated the original arcade game's tank battles with 27 variations, including maze navigation, invisible tanks, and projectile barriers, using the system's joystick controls. Coleco's dedicated Telstar Combat! console, also from 1977, featured four game modes—Combat, Night Battle, Robot Battle, and Camouflage Combat—based on Tank's mechanics, with fixed joysticks for one or two players maneuvering through mazes against human or AI opponents. The original Tank itself saw a cabinet variant in 1974 as a cocktail table model, designed for shared play atop a tabletop surface with integrated controls, differing from the standard upright primarily in form factor while retaining identical black-and-white .

Influence on Later Games

Tank established the foundational mechanics of -based vehicular combat in video games, introducing players to top-down navigation through barrier-filled arenas for strategic shootouts, a formula that shaped early simulators and arena shooters. This genre innovation emphasized spatial awareness and indirect maneuvering, distinguishing it from prior paddle-based titles and influencing combat-oriented vehicular in subsequent arcades. The game's core design directly informed the Atari 2600's flagship title (1977), which stripped the maze mines but retained the dual-tank dueling essence, adapting it for home play and exposing a broad audience to these mechanics via the console's launch bundle. Further, Tank's dual-joystick controls—enabling to mimic tank treads—set a precedent for hardware interfaces in vehicular , becoming a staple in later arcade cabinets for authentic movement . This setup carried forward to Battlezone (1980), where Atari reimagined the tank battles in immersive 3D , transforming the overhead skirmishes into first-person perspectives while preserving the tactical vehicular combat core. Retrospectives from the onward hail Tank as a transitional artifact from the rudimentary era to multifaceted experiences, crediting its ROM-based graphics for advancing visual persistence in games. Preservation initiatives, including emulation support in MAME for its TTL hardware, have sustained its study, allowing modern scholars to examine its role in evolving interactive entertainment without relying on scarce originals.

References

  1. https://www.arcade-museum.com/Videogame/tank
  2. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/the-history-of-atari-1971-1977
  3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0suJqALPWc
  4. https://www.thelogbook.com/tank/
  5. https://www.atariarchive.org/blog/combat-tank-plus-august-1977/
  6. https://spectrum.ieee.org/atari-alumni-talk-about-the-tall-tales-the-told
  7. https://landley.net/history/mirror/atari/museum/Atari-Timeline.html
  8. https://mcurrent.name/atarihistory/syzygy.html
  9. https://tcrf.net/Tank
  10. https://www.arcade72.com/atari-ultra-tank-1978/
  11. https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Electronics/70s/75/Electronics-1975-06-12.pdf
  12. https://www.arcade-museum.com/manuals-videogames/T/Tank.pdf
  13. https://www.mobygames.com/game/67307/tank/
  14. http://vicgeorge419.net/games13.htm
  15. https://gamicus.fandom.com/wiki/Tank_%28arcade_game%29
  16. https://oldgamesdownload.com/tank/
  17. https://www.honestgamers.com/7073/arcade/tank/review.html
  18. https://www.arcade-history.com/?n=tank-upright-model&page=detail&id=3383
  19. https://www.arcade-history.com/?n=tank-cocktail-table-model&page=detail&id=30202
  20. https://www.ign.com/articles/2014/03/20/ign-presents-the-history-of-atari
  21. https://entertainment.time.com/2012/02/02/top-10-atari-arcade-games/slide/ultra-tank/
  22. https://www.arcade-museum.com/Videogame/tank-ii
  23. https://www.mobygames.com/game/71017/tank-ii/
  24. https://www.arcade-museum.com/Videogame/tank-iii
  25. https://www.arcade-museum.com/Videogame/tank-8
  26. https://www.arcade-museum.com/Videogame/ultra-tank
  27. https://www.mobygames.com/game/70273/ultra-tank/
  28. https://gamestudies.org/0601/articles/montfort
  29. https://www.pong-story.com/coleco_combat.htm
  30. https://voxodyssey.com/coleco-telstar-combat
  31. https://www.museumofplay.org/blog/from-battlezone-to-world-of-tanks/
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