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The anticipation is killing me. Jeff

And the few times one has been reasonably close to me, the price ended up being so ridiculously high it was like shipping one in from Australia. Jeff

Definitely not my best game. High so far is 1485. Jeff

Not much of an improvment: 43630.

Depends on whether or not I can get my controllers working. Jeff

You could try what I did and just put 3/4" t-molding on the 1/2" sides and use a pair of long sharp scissors to trim off the excess. Open the scissors and hold one side flat against the wood, then just push it forward. Don't push down too much or you will scratch the surface. You can try putting a piece of paper between the scissors and the cab to help prevent scratching it. Try it on a scrap piece to get the technique down. It worked pretty well for me, hopefully it will work for you too. Jeff

I have a couple hints that I hope are helpful: If you are really having trouble lasting very long, try playing with the large buckets (Left Difficulty on B.) It will get your wrist loosened up a bit and might give you some confidence going into the harder difficulty. After you miss a bomb, take a little breather before you hit the button to start another run. Flex your fingers, take a drink, crack your back, whatever keeps your comfort level up. Make sure you have a good set of paddles. Jitter kills in this game. Try to keep your movements smooth. A lot of bombs seem to go between the buckets in the early levels when you move too fast. Then again what do I know, my high score so far is under 800. Good luck. Jeff

If it's so easy to do the invisible reactors in 25 seconds or less, why aren't you? Jeff

Definitely a good idea for this game since the difficulty stays the same for each time through the different variations (ie. regular gravity, reverse gravity, invisible and reverse gravity invisible.) Jeff

The 7800 was the first console I ever bought waaaaay back when. I liked the new games and I also liked the fact I could play all my old 2600 games on it. Besides, I thought those Nintendo controllers sucked! Jeff

So I was taping a game of Gravitar, and after rolling the score once I decided to keep going and see if I could roll it again, even though I had been playing for quite a while. I went through the first 4 planets and then did the next 2 reactors each time I cycled through the solar systems. Just blowing up the reactors and nothing else would be way too boring. Anyway, I hadn't been dying very often and I noticed the ship counter at the top kept cycling through between black ships on blue backgrounds and just all black squares. At some point I must have flipped the extra ship counter. I had noticed it was adding the black ships on the blue background once again and after dying about 5 times on several different planets the blues were gone, but this time the game ended on my next death even though I should have had over 100 lives left. I still ended up with a score of 1673950. Maybe I'll get a mention as first to roll the extra lives counter. I was hoping to get a response from TG about submitting a score but they must be busy with something else at the moment. I'll have to try getting ahold of Todd and see what I have to do. Jeff

Actually the ones with the circular center aren't too bad for the most part. Once you get used to it you can use that pull toward the center to your advantage. You only have to thrust a little bit to keep going around in a circle and you can blast away at those bunkers. One other thing about the reactor is that the faster you go the more you will want to point your ship toward the ceter of the screen. You will also be using longer bursts of your thrusters. Just keep practicing. I'm off to tape a game and see how far I can make it using only the 6 lives you start with. Jeff

It's been a long time since I played this one, and I never was real good at it. My first score: 37,910. Jeff

Here's solar system 2. Jeff Edit: Added System 3 map. Pretty sure I got all the labels right.

Like J. A. said previously, it's one way to advance to the next level, it's not a bug. Completing an invisible reactor in 25 seconds is not easy but with practice you can have a very good success rate. One thing about finishing the reactor quickly is that you have to get a feel for how much to thrust and at what angle. You always want to keep your momentum going, so try not to thrust in the exact opposite direction you are travelling. Once you start moving you should be able to make it to the core by keeping your ship pointed slightly toward the center of the screen and using the right amount of thrust. Also, if you just hold down on the thrust you will definitely crash. Hope that helps. I'll try to get those other galaxy maps up as soon as I can. Jeff

I put together this map of the first solar system as an example. Let me know if it looks ok and I'll try to map the other solar systems tomorrow. Jeff Edit: Added header.

That's why I suggest practicing the reactor. It's the easiest way to get past the really tough planets. Eventually you will only have 25 seconds to complete the reactor level. After you complete that one you go back to the easy level and the time to complete the reactor cycles back through again. That's why once you can do the reactor in 25 seconds, your score will skyrocket. Just remember that the invisible levels are even worse. BTW, I'll try to make a map of the planets if I get time tomorrow. Jeff

A couple more tips: Unlike the arcade game, you can hold quite a bit of fuel, so after a while you probably won't need to pick up any more. Make sure you have a comfortable chair, because once you get going you will be playing a loooooong time. Practice the reactor! Some of those planets get pretty tough, but if you practice manuvering around that spiral and get good enough to do it in 25 seconds or less, you will be able to flip the score. Unless of course you are like me and (after sitting on the floor way too long) have to take a break, then make sure you come back before the game times out or you lose all the bonus lives you've accumulated. Maybe later this week I will try again, and if those really are the high scores at TwinGalaxies I'll tape my game this time. My high so far is 846300. Jeff Edit: Forgot the photo.

OK, it's hint time. I decided to start playing a game so I would have a better chance of remembering what happens. My first game i died pretty fast but now I am in my second game and it's all coming back to me. As I start typing this my ship is pushed against the bottom corner of the round planet on the reverse gravity level. (BTW, this version is so much easier than the actual arcade game you would be amazed.) Anyway, here's my strategy and tips. First, pick a planet and go or the spaceship will come out of the reactor and attack you. If you do get attacked by the spaceship remember that, when you defeat it, whatever direction you are going will carry over to the planet screen. You can use this to your advantage at times to line yourself up in the right direction to reach a planet and as a result use less fuel. When navigating planet surfaces, try to use a bunch of short bursts of your rockets to slow your descent. Doing this makes it a lot easier to control your ship. Destroy each of the first set of planets (by shooting all of the gun emplacements on it's surface) picking up as much fuel with your tractor beam as possible. It might take a little while to get used to the gravity that pulls you sideways on some planets but it's worth the effort. The more fuel you collect on the easy levels the better chance of success you will have later on. The second set of planets is quite a bit more difficult so I suggest going to the reactor and blowing it up which will take you to the next set of planets. Try not to rush in the reactor, you have more than enough time to get in and out. Once again use short bursts of your rockets to move through the spiral maze. It just takes some practice and you will be zooming through there in no time. Not having any gravity in there sure helps too! The third set of planets is just as bad so you might as well destroy that reactor again. You don't get as much time but as long as you don't panic you should be alright. The next set of planets will be the same as the first set but with reverse gravity. Once again go through each planet and collect as much fuel as you can. When you get to the invisible planets, just shoot the walls a lot to keep your bearings. Try each planet at least once with regular gravity and with reverse gravity. That way you will know which planet in each set is the easiest for you to do. Then if you start getting low on fuel later on you will know at which planet you have the best chance to collect some fuel. One other thing, don't forget to use your shield! After a little playtime you will start to see where the greatest areas of danger are, ie. the most shots from the gun emplacements. If you tap your shield in dangerous areas it will be easier to react to a shot coming right at you. That's all I can think of at the moment, but I'll post again if I remember anything else. Good Luck and most importantly try to have fun. Jeff

I remember playing this for Atari Age magazine's game master's competition back in the day. I even qualified for a timed playoff. Of course I didn't do very well in the timed part, but it was still pretty cool. Should be pretty easy to score high unless I really am starting to get old and slow. Jeff

There's just not enough time in the week to play 3 games well, but here are my scores this week. Jeff

My new high score : 148,350. Jeff

Another game that drives me up a wall. My high so far is 127,060. Jeff

It partly depends on where you're located, but you should be able to find a decent one for around $250. Check e-bay and look/post in the rec.games.video.arcade newsgroup : http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&grou...es.video.arcade . You can also check to see if there will be an auction near you : http://www.usamusement.com/calendar.html . Good luck. Jeff

Here's my partial list: Star Wars Tempest Gravitar Gyruss Crystal Castles APB Team Quarterback Indiana Jones pinball Too many projects and boards to keep track of, including a bunch of Atari pinball games. Hopefully this summer I can get it all straightened out again. Jeff