Arcade Video game published 43 years ago:

Tapper (c) 1983 Bally Midway.

Taking on the role of an overworked bartender, the player must serve beer to the ever-thirsty patrons that populate his bar. All customers must be served before they work their way up to the beer kegs. Empty glasses must also be collected before they slide off the end of the bar and smash to the floor. Extra points are awarded for collecting tips, while bonus rounds involve locating the one beer that has not been shaken, and serving it. The game features four different levels: 1. Cowboys 2. Athletes 3. Punk Rockers 4. Aliens

- TECHNICAL -

Game No. 0A11 Bally Midway MCR 3 hardware

Main CPU: Zilog Z80 (@ 5 Mhz) Sound CPU: Zilog Z80 (@ 2 Mhz)

Sound Chips: (2x) General Instrument AY8910 (@ 2 Mhz)

Players: 2 Control: 4-way joystick Buttons: 1

- TRIVIA -

Tapper was released in December 1983 in the USA.

There were two other versions of Tapper: "Root Beer" (January 1984) and "Suntory" (Japan, Game ID: 834-5385 / 834-5387). The Suntory version was a Sega board, Suntory is a Japanese beer (see "Updates" section for more information).

The main character in the game (as well as the main character of two other Bally Midway games; "Domino Man", and "Timber") is based on a Marvin Glass employee called Mike Ferris, who had the same distinctive mustache and bald head and reputedly wore a red T-shirt all of the time.

The music for the third stage (the punk bar) was loosely inspired by new wave music group Devo's song 'Workin' in the Coal Mine'.

Player layout in our catalog: 2P alt.

If you are exploring by feel rather than by title, jump from the tags above into the matching genre rooms, or return to the Arcade hall for the full wall.

Open Play on this page to start Tapper (Budweiser, 1/27/84). Keyboard, USB/Bluetooth pads, and the on-screen touch gamepad all work inside the emulator bar. Save states and fullscreen live on that same bar so you can pause mid-session and resume later.

Tapper (Budweiser, 1/27/84) is filed in our catalog as a 1983 release.

Player layout on this cabinet: 2P alt.

Genre tags on Classic Arcade Games: Platform.

Credit line lists Bally Midway as developer.