ULTIMATE GUIDE: TAPPER

“Ian had a reputation for being able to pull some tricks out of the machine that others simply couldn’t think of”
DAVID J ANDERSON

Designed by Marvin Glass Associates’ Scott Morrison and Steve Meyer, Tapper began life as a simple concept where the player assumes the role of a busy bartender, slinging drinks down a series of slippery bars to the waiting customers. Based around a character called Domino Man (who had previously starred in an eponymous puzzle game), the style and look of Tapper would be that of an authentic classic American bar.

With Marvin Glass and Bally Midway bosses receptive to the idea, the latter company’s licensing division hit upon the scheme of linking the game to features a quartet of long bars within each of its four different drinking establishments. In the first, a Western saloon, a keg sits opposite each bar. Pulling down on the joystick while next to a keg – a proper simulation of drinks pouring – pours a cold one ready for sliding down the bar to a waiting customer. The bartender can nimbly jump from bar to bar, flinging down beer and collecting the empty glasses that come back his way. Occasionally his services will be rewarded with a cash tip, unhelpfully deposited at the far side of the bar. Collection of this not only generates a points bonus but also releases a trio of dancers, temporarily distracting some of the patrons and giving the player a valuable slice of breathing space.