Heres a track and field with trackball

[leapinlew]

Something you don't see everyday

ebay item

[leapinlew]

Can someone remind me how to make a short ebay link?

[polaris]

yes
click on insert hyperlink button . in the first bracket, after url put an = then the link inside the brackets
(url=www.etc)
then in between the two sets of brackets write something hilarious like, willy pictures ,which will then appear in blue text as the clickable link.
hope that makes sense
you may prefer your own hilarious text.

EDIT spellin

[spacies]

Willy pictures? LMAO

Leap, you can use tinyurl.com as well.

[patrickl]

Why use tinyurl when you know how to use the forum url tag? All it takes is to put =<url> before the first closing bracket.

[Neverending Project]

Er, how would you run with a trackball?

[Ed_McCarron]

Er, how would you run with a trackball?

Pick up trackball.

Run.

Seriously, was this a different version of T&F? Faster you spin, faster you go?

[Ed_McCarron]

Hm, yup.  From KLOV.

Later versions of the game replaced the Run buttons with a trackball.

[cw]

Seriously, was this a different version of T&F? Faster you spin, faster you go?


you got it....  much easier than hitting the buttons, unless you happen to have a large plastic comb.   


(only the old farts will get that one)

[Hoopz]

Seriously, was this a different version of T&F? Faster you spin, faster you go?


you got it....  much easier than hitting the buttons, unless you happen to have a large plastic comb.   


(only the old farts will get that one)

Pencil too.

[Neverending Project]

Pencil too.

I always used a pencil too,. but I seemed to break them often. In the end, it always came down to slamming the CP as hard fast as you could. You could always hear when someone was playing T&F from the smacking on the CP.

[polaris]

Seriously, was this a different version of T&F? Faster you spin, faster you go?


you got it....  much easier than hitting the buttons, unless you happen to have a large plastic comb.   


(only the old farts will get that one)

im intrigued?
we used to pull our sleeves over our hands and rub back n fore between the 2 buttons giving awesome friction burns

[Wade]

Hm, yup.  From KLOV.

Later versions of the game replaced the Run buttons with a trackball.

I don't think it was a later version of the game, I think it was an addon package sold later, not an official Centuri part.  You can see on the CP there is no art or text that looks like T&F or the Centuri brand name, but on all the known original CPO's (upright and cocktail) the brand name is displayed clearly.

Wade

[leapinlew]

This is the version I played and loved. I wasn't good at the button version. Mame doesn't emulate the trackball version of this game, which is all well and good I suppose. I wouldn't have dual 2.25" trackballs on my control panel anyhow.

[u_rebelscum]

This is the version I played and loved. I wasn't good at the button version.

Me too.

Mame doesn't emulate the trackball version of this game,

And if it's a hardware add on with no ROM changes, I doubt mame will.    Anybody know if there was or wasn't rom differences?

which is all well and good I suppose. I wouldn't have dual 2.25" trackballs on my control panel anyhow.

Well, I'm disappointed. Maybe because I do have a dual 3" TB CP.

[Wade]

I've heard some others say the same thing, that they always played the trackball version.  Actually had one guy who was disappointed because I only had the 4-player cocktail button version. Just depends on what was around your local hangout I guess!  The trackballs could be completely mechanical (I've never seen one from underneath).  Instead of a wheel cutting an optical beam, it could just be flicking a switch.  Since I'm pretty sure this was just an add on, MAME will probably not ever emulate it directly (you could build your own trackballs though)

Wade

[gatordad]

Seriously, was this a different version of T&F? Faster you spin, faster you go?


you got it....  much easier than hitting the buttons, unless you happen to have a large plastic comb.   


(only the old farts will get that one)

ROTFL
Do you mean like this one?

These were for members only....

[Ed_McCarron]

Seriously, was this a different version of T&F? Faster you spin, faster you go?


you got it....  much easier than hitting the buttons, unless you happen to have a large plastic comb.   


(only the old farts will get that one)

Man, I'm an old fart now...

I always ended up hurting a finger with the comb...

[kelemvor]

Anyone ever play the Decathlon game on the Atari 2600?  You "ran" by taking the joystick and smacking it left and right as fast as you could.  We have people who'd put their palm on top of the stick and move it, resulting in nice blisters.  Some put it between their thumb and index finger.  Others between different fingers.

That was a fun game but damn your arms got tired...

[XyloSesame]

Anyone ever play the Decathlon game on the Atari 2600?  You "ran" by taking the joystick and smacking it left and right as fast as you could.  We have people who'd put their palm on top of the stick and move it, resulting in nice blisters.  Some put it between their thumb and index finger.  Others between different fingers.

That was a fun game but damn your arms got tired...

yup. we had "grabber" ball tops that you stuck on the ends of your stock joysticks; made decathlon less blister-ery.

still have those toppers in a box somewhere...

[u_rebelscum]

... taking the joystick and smacking it left and right as fast as you could.... resulting in nice blisters....

That was a fun game but damn your arms got tired...

Makes you blind too.

[Avrus]

Anyone ever play the Decathlon game on the Atari 2600?  You "ran" by taking the joystick and smacking it left and right as fast as you could.  We have people who'd put their palm on top of the stick and move it, resulting in nice blisters.  Some put it between their thumb and index finger.  Others between different fingers.

That was a fun game but damn your arms got tired...

Lol I played it with the keyboard.  I can't remember which event it was (maybe high jump) but you had to hit the space bar to begin the jump angle, a second time to jump and then a third time to release.

Holy did that keyboard take a pounding.

[Xiaou2]

 This could be an early limited prototype production of the game. 

[polaris]

Hm, yup.  From KLOV.

Later versions of the game replaced the Run buttons with a trackball.

[XyloSesame]

Lol I played it with the keyboard.  I can't remember which event it was (maybe high jump) but you had to hit the space bar to begin the jump angle, a second time to jump and then a third time to release.

Holy did that keyboard take a pounding.

That reminds me of the Summer/Winter/California Games we played on the AppleII. Poor keyboards...

[Onyx_PghPA]

I have fond memories of Track & Field only because it was the game directly to the right of the Dragon's Lair in my local arcade circa 1984.

A friend of mine actually recorded some 'arcade ambiance' of the Dragon's Lair in action and you can hear Track & Field clearly in the background.

I would play that T&F machine frequently when the DL was in repair, which was often.  The high jump was my best event, but I have to admit, that machine was strictly button operated.  Until seeing this post I wasn't even aware there was a trackball version.  Very cool.


Onyx

[Wade]

This could be an early limited prototype production of the game. 

Unlikely!  Again, with no Centuri logo on those panels, I really think this was an aftermarket add-on for operators to breath new life into T&F.  Kinda like MsPac Speedup chips.

Wade

[Xiaou2]

From KLOV:

Conversion
Later versions of the game replaced the Run buttons with a trackball.


 Actually, its more unlikely that this was a non-Centuri add on.   Such
a kit would be very expensive (dual trackballs), and not easy to get
widespread word out to Ops.


 Ok, so Ive been to many sites now..  and each says basically the
same as KLOV.

 The Artwork is said to come from the Konami version of the game,
seen here in very good close up detail:

http://www.ggdb.com/GameByName.aspx?c=&s=&vid=3165

 and heres the Tball CP underside:

http://www.quarterarcade.com/Game.aspx/7809


 Edit:  Looking at the Ebay pics of the Side-Art,  One can clearly
see the Konami logo.   This may be why they chose not to
add any additional Logos to the other artwork.   As
back then, many times licensing shifted often.
 

[Wade]

I don't know if we'll ever know the source of the trackball version for certain.

This much I know - info on KLOV is VERY OFTEN wrong (if necessary, I can dig up some examples), and lots of other sites copy info from KLOV.  So just because KLOV says it was a later version, means absolutely nothing.

To me, the fact that the Trackball artwork has no brand name or logo on it, and looks absolutely NOTHING like the original sideart, marquee art, or CP art, strongly suggests that it is an aftermarket add-on.  Also, upgrades and conversion kits were pretty common as a way to bring interest back to an old game (or cabinet), so something like a trackball add-on for a game where some people couldn't do well with buttons seems like a sellable item.  Obviously, I can't prove this is how it happened, but it just seems like the most likely scenario.

Wade

[Kremmit]

Look at the pic of the underside of that CP at Quarterarcade.  See that PCB attached to the bottom of the trackball?  I'll bet that thing converts the TB data to button presses.  If somebody had one of those and could do some testing to figure out how many button presses it sends per quadrature tick, we'd have what we need to work on a driver hack for MAME.

[kelemvor]

Lol I played it with the keyboard.  I can't remember which event it was (maybe high jump) but you had to hit the space bar to begin the jump angle, a second time to jump and then a third time to release.

Holy did that keyboard take a pounding.

That reminds me of the Summer/Winter/California Games we played on the AppleII. Poor keyboards...

Oh man, that brings back some memories too.  Cycling, biathlon, diving.  I had some weird one that had the caber toss and other things too.  Think it was the World Games or something.

[RBadboys]

I've heard some others say the same thing, that they always played the trackball version.  Actually had one guy who was disappointed because I only had the 4-player cocktail button version. Just depends on what was around your local hangout I guess!  The trackballs could be completely mechanical (I've never seen one from underneath).  Instead of a wheel cutting an optical beam, it could just be flicking a switch.  Since I'm pretty sure this was just an add on, MAME will probably not ever emulate it directly (you could build your own trackballs though)

Wade

I owned one when I lived in California and the trackballs had a small plastic piece that looked like a spoke wheel to cut the beam with. I use to love playing it with my son because he would beat my records and when I beat his he would play it until he had blisters to beat my score again. I had to sell it when I moved to Germany and I let it go for 75.00. I wish Mame would emulate the trackball so I wouldn't have to beat my control panel to death to play it.

[Paul Olson]

I am actually starting to be called an old fart on a pretty regular basis.
I am not sure what else I would have carried a comb for; my hair seems to be able to hold its own after the morning brushing. lol When I get track & field panels done for my cab, I guess I will have keep a comb handy.

[Cynicaster]

Anyone ever play the Decathlon game on the Atari 2600?  You "ran" by taking the joystick and smacking it left and right as fast as you could.  We have people who'd put their palm on top of the stick and move it, resulting in nice blisters.  Some put it between their thumb and index finger.  Others between different fingers.

That was a fun game but damn your arms got tired...

I can't count the number of CX-40's my brother and I busted playing that game....

[boardjunkie]

I'm thinking that it was a "geared down" approach to the t-ball version. IE, every 4 or 5 teeth/beam breaks would produce a low pulse to mimic a switch closure. Otherwise, if it was a 1:1 deal you could just spin the ball real slow and get the onscreen guy just fly'n.

Anyone with that version of the board and a 2 ch storage scope could verify this.

[danny_galaga]

Look at the pic of the underside of that CP at Quarterarcade.  See that PCB attached to the bottom of the trackball?  I'll bet that thing converts the TB data to button presses.  If somebody had one of those and could do some testing to figure out how many button presses it sends per quadrature tick, we'd have what we need to work on a driver hack for MAME.

How hard could it be to just make a guess? Set up a trackball, and start dialing in some rates. After all, whoever made these would have experimented for an optimal rate.

Note: When I say 'how hard' I don't mean for me. I can barely manage to install an OS 

[ark_ader]

Pencil too.

I always used a pencil too,. but I seemed to break them often. In the end, it always came down to slamming the CP as hard fast as you could. You could always hear when someone was playing T&F from the smacking on the CP.

I used a Bic pen - much better!