Looking for Video Game Booklet

[Gabriel]

I've recently decided to track down some videogame books I had in my childhood. I just acquired a replacement copy of Tom Hirschfeld's How to Master Video Games, which was a book I read, reread, and re-re-reread all those years ago. Flipping through it again is a trip down memory lane, and there are two games in it's pages which I still haven't seen to this very day.

 

Anyway, I'm trying to make a list of other books I had as a child. I've managed to identify nearly all the titles I owned or had access to for later acquisition. However, one is eluding me and I'm not sure where to start.

 

The last book I'm trying to remember the title of was not a full sized paperback. It was a tiny booklet of the kind which used to be sold in little displays in supermarket checkout lines. It was a format usually used for horoscopes and such. I'm thinking they were called Pocket Guides or something like that. The booklets when opened would be about the size of an Atari 2600 cart label.

 

The presentation of material in the booklet very much resembled Tom Hirschfeld's How to Master Video Games. It had the same drawn representation of the game screen followed by a bulleted list of observations and strategies. It covered several popular arcade games of the time. I don't remember much, but I'm fairly certain it covered Pac-Man and Tempest.

 

I know that's not much information, but does anyone remember this book? Does anyone remember the title?

[SoulBlazer]

Not sure if any of these are what you are looking for, but....

 

You know that Tom Hirschfeld wrote two books, right? This one covers arcade games: http://www.amazon.com/How-Master-Video-Games-Hirschfeld/dp/0553201646/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1400379950&sr=1-1&keywords=Tom+Hirschfeld

 

This one's from the right time period. Not sure if it includes Tempest, but I'm taking a guess based on the cover pictures it does: http://www.amazon.com/The-winners-book-video-games/dp/0446371157/ref=pd_sim_b_6?ie=UTF8&refRID=14CDB8J1K6H6YG3TW1Q7

 

Here's another mystery 'how to beat the arcade games' books: http://www.amazon.com/Secrets-Video-Game-Superstars-Albin/dp/0380806142/ref=pd_sim_b_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=0AV6ZTFA2HTST7G6M2Y9

[Gabriel]

The first book you link to is the one I mention having just reacquired. I still have it's companion volume about Home Video games from years ago.

 

Your second one, The Winners' Book of Video Games is one that is on my list. I had completely forgotten about owning that one back in the day. I remember it being a fun read, and I found a place online where I've read part of it again for the first time in 30 years. So, definitely one I need to pick up, but not the one I'm trying to describe.

 

Your third link, Secrets of the Video Game Super Stars, is one I've been seeing a lot in my web searches, but it doesn't ring a nostalgic bell. It's definitely not the format I remember. I found some information about it here http://www.classicarcadegaming.com/forums/index.php?topic=4766.0 if anyone is curious. It doesn't look like one I remember from back in the day.

 

Once again, the book I'm trying to hunt down is a tiny staple bound booklet. But full sized paperbacks can still point me in the correct direction. I have a feeling the little booklet I'm looking for was an abridged version of another, larger book.

 

I found this link: http://www.cyberroach.com/vidbook/us.htm

 

Score! Beating the Top 16 Video Games has a similar visual presentation to what I remember. How to Win At Video Games by George Sullivan has almost the exact game list which I think the book I'm seeking had, but the visual style is much busier than I recall.

[timdu]

Take a look at the MASTER BOOK LIST on the 2600 Connection web page.

 

http://www.2600connection.com/books/books.html

 

The "master book list" is a list of nearly every video game-related book...

Enjoy!

Tim

[Gabriel]

Aha! That's it! The one I was looking for is Video Games: A Winner's Guide to the 12 Hottest Coin-Op Games. It's a "Dell Purse Book." My chances of finding a copy are probably somewhere near absolute zero, but at least now I know what I'm looking for.

[jhd]

This doesn't help you find a copy, alas, but I too had that book as a kid -- I think that my Mother bought it for me. This would have been about 1982.

 

I remember checking off each game on the list as I played them. As for the content, I only remember that it included Donkey Kong and Wizard of Wor,

 

I have never seen a copy scanned anywhere,

[timsit]

I actually just bought a copy of this online right before stumbling on this post. Once I receive it I'll scan and post a link here.

[Pixelboy]

Slightly off-topic, but a couple of years ago, I actually took it upon myself to track down some game programming books in BASIC I had read over and over again as a kid, namely "SpaceGames" and "Battle Games". There were a few other similar books out there, but those are the ones they had at my local public library. I did eventually find them and bought them. Reading that again was a cool trip down memory lane.

 

EDIT: I remember trying to type in those BASIC programs in my ADAM computer, but they didn't always work as intended, and I had to find work-arounds which involved using the Coleco controller keypad instead of the ADAM keyboard. Good times.