A version of Barroom Baseball and some information about the project.

[Dutchman2000]

I found this also on some VAX/VMS backup tapes, the barroom sports project.  Here is a 5200 rom of Barroom Baseball that differs from the existing version (has a few different bytes) and a report on the project when it began.

 

PROJECT PROPOSAL -- BARROOM (Bar Top Sports Game)
		_________________________________________________


DESCRIPTION

	As was evident at AMOA, there is an abundance of "Bar Top" games,
primarily of the gambling type (mostly card games and horse racing).  There
must be a sizable market for this type of product or there wouldn't be so
many companies building them (maybe a bad assumption).  This is a proposal
for a product to compete in this market.  But rather than a gambling game,
we would produce a 5200 quality sports game ("RealSports" Baseball, Foot-
ball, etc.).  It was originally thought that we could design a hardware
system which would accept off-the-shelf 5200 cartridges on which time
could be bought, but it was later decided that the cartridges do not have
what it takes to succeed in a coin-op environment (dead time, ability to
stall, long game times).  However, to minimize unnecessary engineering
effort, let's field test a unit which does contain an unmodified 5200
cart (we like Baseball) to see how it does.  We'll call this phase I of
the project.  If the field test is successful, phase II of the project
will consist of getting a programmer to modify the cartridge program,
customizing it to the coin-op environment.



Phase I:	A Moose Brain and 16 character alphanumeric display will
	be used in conjunction with a 5200 PC board and an unmodified 
	RealSports Baseball cartridge to field test the concept.  Some
	software development will be necessary to control the alpha-
	numeric display and read the coin mech.  An "add-a-coin" feature
	will be implemented to address the problems of excessive game
	time.  An anticipated problem with this field test is that we
	will use standard 5200 controllers, which will probably break
	and have to be replaced every day or two.  For phase II, new
	controllers will have to be designed.

Phase II:	If phase I proves successful, a programmer will be as-
	signed to the project to modify the cart (or write a new baseball
	program from scratch).  Since the basic 800 chip set will be
	used, the program (and subsequent programs) can be developed on
	an 800 and re-assembled to run on "Barroom".  Messages and timing
	will be moved from the Moose Brain to the game program and the
	Moose Brain and alphanumeric display will be eliminated.  Coin-op
	quality controls will need to be integrated into the system.
	Either the modified program will accept standard coin-op controls,
	or a coin-op quality keyboard will have to be developed to be used
	with a coin-op pot joystick.

 

Barroom Baseball (11-21-83).bin

[Dutchman2000]

					BARROOM
			GAME DEVELOPMENT STATUS			BARROOM

DATE:  8 FEB 1984    PROJECT LEADER: STEMPLER/DOWNEND   START:  21 NOV 83
LAB:   SICKBAY			EXT:	7174/7456	NUMBER: 434XX
                                                                  RASTER

|		  	| SCHEDULE or |  MISSED DATES 			|
|			| <OCCURANCE> |					|
------------------------------------------------------------------------
  PROJECT START:	  <21 NOV 83>
  1ST ENG REVIEW:	  <13 JAN 84>	 3 JAN 84	20 DEC 83
  2ND ENG REVIEW:
  1ST MKT REVIEW:	  <16 JAN 84>	 9 JAN 84	 3 JAN 84
  2ND MKT REVIEW:
  3RD MKT REVIEW:
  FOCUS  GROUP:		  <21 JAN 84>
  4TH MKT REVIEW: 
  UL/FCC REVIEW:	   29 FEB 84
  FIELD  TEST:		    2 MAR 84
  DRB/UL REVIEW:
  PROD REL MKT REVIEW:
  PROD RELEASE:		      JUN 84

     NOTE:  Above dates (except for prod release) are Phase I dates.  Phase II
	calls for an engineering review in March, marketing review in April,
	field test in April and production release in June.  But the occurance
	and/or schedule of Phase II depends on the results of Phase I.

 1.  Focus Group report received.  Meeting should be scheduled late next week
     or the following week (2/20).

 2.  Before field test can occur, extensive gameplay changes will have to be
     made to the Baseball cart.  A list of required changes (to simplify the
     game for the targeted audience) will be generated.  A programmer is
     needed to implement these changes (can we borrow Keithen?).

 3.  Phase II hardware is 75% debugged.  Still some problems with the DRAM
     refresh.

 

[Tempest]

It literally is just a few bytes.  I wonder if they actually matter?

 

BTW what the heck is a 'moose brain'?

[Kr0tki]

14 hours ago, Dutchman2000 said:

An anticipated problem with this field test is that we
	will use standard 5200 controllers, which will probably break
	and have to be replaced every day or two.

😆

[Kr0tki]

14 hours ago, Tempest said:

BTW what the heck is a 'moose brain'?

I've found a reference in the "Archives Catalog of the Strong" in a collection of Atari Coin-Op Division materials. (This is only a catalog, the documents are in a library in Manhattan, if anyone wishes to research. 🙂) The collection contains documents referring to a "Moose Brain", "Mouse Brain" and "Mouth Brain" which may or may not be the same thing. I guess it was some widget developed by Atari for use in coin-ops.

Edited May 1 by Kr0tki

[Tempest]

I think I see the difference between the two roms.  The 'new' one has a better formatted title screen than the  'old' one.

 

New

 

Old

[jhd]

Do we know how far this project progressed? Was it ever actually field-tested, or were the proposed changes to simplify the game never made?

 

 

[Tempest]

1 hour ago, jhd said:

Was it ever actually field-tested, or were the proposed changes to simplify the game never made?

We don't believe so.