Q*Bert
Developer:	Gottlieb
Publisher:	Gottlieb
Game designer:	Jeff Lee
Release date:	1982
Genre:	Retro/Arcade
Game modes:	Up to 2 players, alternating turns
Cabinet:	Standard and table
Controls:	Joystick
Monitor
Orientation:	Vertical
Type:	Raster, standard resolution (Used: 256 x 240)
Size:	19 inch
Notes
Developed during the Golden Age of Arcade Games

Q*bert is a 1982 arcade game from Gottlieb. It features a main character of the same name. Q*bert was one of the most famous faces of the Golden age of arcade games and also one of the most bizarre. A furry orange orb with two eyes, two feet and one long snout, Q*bert was strangely adorable, and his game lived up to that wacky, unpredictable image. Screenshot from the arcade game Q*Bert This is a screenshot of a copyrighted computer game or video game. ... A video game developer is a software developer (a business or an individual) that creates computer or video games. ... Gottlieb was an arcade game corporation, which was established by David Gottlieb in the 1930s and first produced pinball games; it later began developing video games (for both the arcade and Atari). ... Video game publishers are companies that publish video games that they have either developed internally or have had developed by a video game developer. ... Gottlieb was an arcade game corporation, which was established by David Gottlieb in the 1930s and first produced pinball games; it later began developing video games (for both the arcade and Atari). ... A game designer is a person who designs games. ... 1982 is a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... This is listing of computer and video game genres with a brief description and examples from each genre. ... This is listing of computer and video game genres with a brief description and examples from each genre. ... This is listing of computer and video game genres with a brief description and examples from each genre. ... Joystick elements: 1. ... Suppose the smiley face in the top left corner is an RGB bitmap image. ... In Space Invaders, the player controls the firing and horizontal position of the green cannon at the bottom, fending off constant attack by echelons of eponymous enemies. ... 1982 is a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Centipede by Atari is a typical example of a 1980s era arcade game. ... Gottlieb was an arcade game corporation, which was established by David Gottlieb in the 1930s and first produced pinball games; it later began developing video games (for both the arcade and Atari). ... In Space Invaders, the player controls the firing and horizontal position of the green cannon at the bottom, fending off constant attack by echelons of eponymous enemies. ...

Description

Designed with a nod to M.C. Escher, Q*bert's playing field is a faux-3D pyramid of tri-colored cubes. Q's purpose in life is to hop around the tops of these cubes, changing every square to a specific color (e.g., from blue to yellow). On early levels, this is as simple as a single hop on each square, but later rounds become more challenging; cubes have to be touched twice, cubes change back to the wrong color if they get hopped on again, etc. In the original arcade machine, if the Q*bert character hopped off the edge of the pyramid of cubes, he would fall to his death with a loud mechanically produced *plonk* sound at floor level. Self-portrait (1943) by M.C. Escher Maurits Cornelis Escher (Leeuwarden, June 17, 1898 – March 27, 1972 in Laren) was a Dutch mathematical artist known for his woodcuts, lithographs and mezzotints which feature impossible constructions, explorations of infinity, and tessellations. ... Faux (pronounced as foe) is a French word for fake. ... 3-D or 3D abbreviates three dimensional and is often related to a stereoscopic display that exploits binocular vision. ... Geometric shape created by connecting a polygonal base to an apex A pyramid is a geometric shape formed by connecting a polygonal base and a point, called the apex, by triangular faces. ... Cube may denote one of the following. ...

Making the task even more difficult is the assortment of odd baddies who menace or jinx Q*bert's every move. "Coily" the snake appears at the top of the pyramid inside a purple ball, bouncing toward the bottom of the screen. Once he hits the bottom row of cubes, the snake springs out from inside, hopping around in pursuit of our little orange friend. Red balls also appear at the top of the pyramid, bringing bouncing death if they collide with Q*bert on the way down. Superfamilies and Families Henophidia Aniliidae Anomochilidae Boidae Bolyeriidae Cylindrophiidae Loxocemidae Pythonidae Tropidophiidae Uropeltidae Xenopeltidae Typhlopoidea Anomalepididae Leptotyphlopidae Typhlopidae Xenophidia Acrochordidae Atractaspididae Colubridae Elapidae Hydrophiidae Viperidae Snakes are cold blooded legless reptiles closely related to lizards, which share the order Squamata. ...

Other threats come from "Ugg" and "Wrongway," two purple gremlins who bounce along the side of the cubes. And on top of all this, Q has to deal with "Slick" and "Sam," two green mischief making pineapples who turn cubes back to their original color when they hop on them. A gremlin is a mythological mischievous creature. ... Binomial name Ananas comosus (L.) Merr. ...

Aside from some strategic hopping, Q*bert's only defenses are the spinning discs at the side of the pyramid and the green balls that bounce across the squares. The discs provide a quick escape, floating Q back to the top of the pyramid as Coily jumps to his death in pursuit. The green balls are time freezers, giving Q*bert a free run of the pyramid for a limited time.

Q*bert's simple gameplay and controls (one joystick, no buttons) made the game a hit among all age groups. An animated cartoon merchandizing tie-in debuted on CBS' Saturday Supercade, with the orange furball now sporting arms, a mouth and a high school letterman's jacket. The cute, but foul-mouthed star (who muttered an unintelligible “@!#?@!” with every lost life) was a natural for the merchandising world, and stores soon stocked up on Q*bert dolls, lunchboxes, sleeping bags, and more. A board game and a card game were also created. A cartoon is any of several forms of art, with varied meanings that evolved from one to another. ... CBS (Columbia Broadcasting System) is a major radio and television network in the United States. ... Categories: Stub ... In camping and other outdoor activities, a sleeping bag is a protective bag for sleeping, analogous to a bed. ... A board game is any game played with a premarked surface, with counters or pieces that are moved across the board. ... A card game is any game using playing cards, either traditional or game-specific. ...

Q*Bert's Qubes

Screenshot from the arcade game QBerts Qubes This is a screenshot of a copyrighted computer game or video game. ... Screenshot from the arcade game QBerts Qubes This is a screenshot of a copyrighted computer game or video game. ...

Legacy

For a time, Q*bert was a king of the arcade world, but the video game crash of 1983 brought an end to his reign. The collapsed market was a death blow to Q*bert's arcade sequel, Q*bert's Qubes (called Q*bert II when it was ported to the Colecovision). The new game added more challenges to the Q*bert theme, scattering the cubes into separate space. Now, when Q*bert hopped off, the cubes actually rotated to a new side, shifting in the direction of Q*bert's jump. Screenshot of E.T. (Atari 2600 version) The video game crash of 1983 was the sudden crash of the video game business and the bankruptcy of a number of companies producing home computers and video game consoles in North America in late 1983 and early 1984. ... The Colecovision is Colecos third generation video game console, released in August 1982. ...

Unfortunately, these new touches were wasted on a depressed market. Few Q*bert's Qubes machines even made it to the public, and the orange one's arcade career was over. Q*bert did make a comeback in home system conversions and in the Super Nintendo's Q*bert 3, and he remains one of the most well-known characters of the early 1980s arcade. The European SNES design is identical to the Super Famicom. ... // Events and trends The 1980s marked an abrupt shift towards more conservative lifestyles after the momentous cultural revolutions which took place in the 60s and 70s and the definition of the AIDS virus in 1981. ...

Games inspired by Q*bert include Pogo Joe for the Commodore 64 and Bert: The Rise and Fall of a Swedish Politician for the Macintosh Classic. Pogo Joe is a computer game for the Commodore 64. ... The Commodore 64 (C64, CBM 64) was a popular home computer of the 1980s. ... Macintosh Classic Demand for another all-in-one Mac, such as the popular Macintosh Plus and the SE, spurred the introduction of the Macintosh Classic. ...

Sproingies, a popular plugin for the XScreenSaver program, is a three-dimensional animation in the style of Q*Bert. It consists of an infinite staircase of Q*Bert cubic blocks, down which several coilies race. When they collide both explode, and two new coilies join the race. XScreenSaver-demo and the XMatrix hack XScreenSaver is a screensaver program for Unix-like operating systems running the X Window System. ...

In 1983, Gottlieb created a Q*bert themed four-flipper pinball table called Q*bert's Quest. The table was particularly unusual, as the bottom two flippers were inverted in a upside-down 'V' fashion. The game featured sounds used in the Q*bert arcade game, and an actual spoken sample from Q*bert itself; a squeaky "Bye Bye" when game was over. Gottlieb was an arcade game corporation, which was established by David Gottlieb in the 1930s and first produced pinball games; it later began developing video games (for both the arcade and Atari). ... The term flipper has a number of meanings: Flipper is the name of several TV series and films featuring extremely intelligent bottlenose dolphins of the same name. ... Pinball is a type of coin-operated arcade game where a player attempts to score points by manipulating one or more metal balls on a playfield inside a glass case. ...

Ports

Q*Bert was ported to numerous home systems and was remade several times. In 1983, it was ported by Parker Brothers to ColecoVision, Intellivision, Atari 2600, Atari 5200 and the Commodore 64. In 1989, Q*Bert was ported to the Nintendo Entertainment System. In 1992, it was ported to the Game Boy. In 1999 a PlayStation version was released. 2000 saw the release of new versions for Windows and Dreamcast. Q*Bert is also one of the three standard games on the Sony-Ericsson T610 and T630 mobile phones. Some were ports of the original code, others complete re-writes of the game. In computer science, porting is the adaptation of a piece of software so that it will function in a different computing environment to that for which it was originally written. ... 1983 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Parker Brothers logo is recognized throughout the world. ... The Colecovision is Colecos third generation video game console, released in August 1982. ... The Intellivision is a video game console released by Mattel in 1980; development of the console began in 1978 (less than a year after the introduction of its main competitor, the legendary Atari 2600 aka the Atari VCS). ... Atari 2600 (four-switch version). ... Atari 5200 System The Atari 5200 is a video game console introduced in 1982 by Atari. ... The Commodore 64 (C64, CBM 64) was a popular home computer of the 1980s. ... 1989 is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Nintendo Entertainment System (North America, Europe, and Australia) The Nintendo Entertainment System, or NES, is an 8-bit video game console released by Nintendo in North America, Europe and Australia. ... 1992 is a leap year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The original Game Boys design set the standard for handheld gaming consoles. ... 1999 is a common year starting on Friday of the Common Era, and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ... The PlayStation (Japanese: プレイステーション) is a video game console of the 32-bit era, first produced by Sony Computer Entertainment in the 1990s. ... This article is about the year 2000. ... Microsoft Windows is a range of operating environments for personal computers and servers. ... Sega Dreamcast The Sega Dreamcast (Japanese: ドリームキャスト; code-named Katana during development) was Segas last video game console. ...

Atari 2600 port screenshot Atari 2600 QBert by me This is a screenshot of a copyrighted computer game or video game. ... Atari 2600 (four-switch version). ...	Atari 5200 port screenshot Atari 5200 QBert, made myself. ... Atari 5200 System The Atari 5200 is a video game console introduced in 1982 by Atari. ...	C64 port screenshot C64 QBert, made myself. ... Close_up of C64 Commodore 64 (C64, CBM 64) was a popular home computer of the 1980s. ...	Colecovision port screenshot Colecovision QBert by me This is a screenshot of a copyrighted computer game or video game. ... The Colecovision is Colecos third generation video game console, released in August 1982. ...
Game Boy port Image File history File links screenshot Game Boy QBert, made myself. ... The original Game Boys design set the standard for handheld gaming consoles. ...	Intellivision port screenshot Intellivision QBert, made myself. ... The Intellivision is a video game console released by Mattel in 1980; development of the console began in 1978 (less than a year after the introduction of its main competitor, the legendary Atari 2600 aka the Atari VCS). ...

External links

• The KLOV entry for Q*Bert
• atarimagazines.com (FAQ/Walkthrough, for the Atari version)
• History of Q*bert The History of Q*Bert by (creator) Jeff Lee
• MobyGames' entry on the various Q*Bert games for home systems
• Category at ODP
• Yahoo Games - includes a faithful version of Q*bert that you can play for free online (plus an updated version you can buy)
• Internet Pinball Database Entry for Q*Bert's Quest