Star Castle DescriptionYou control a ship that fires at a cannon surrounded by three oppositely rotating energy rings of twelve segments each. When a clear line of fire is open, the cannon fires back at your ship with a big "fuzzball". Three sparks start off on the rings, but eventually fly loose and chase the player's ship.Cabinet InformationThe cabinet at the top of the page shows a close-up of an original cabinet with the standard control panel overlay. The cabinet image on the right shows either a prototype overlay or an aftermarket design (view close-up).Cheats, Tricks, Bugs, and Easter EggsOriginally, the three sparks were slow enough that it was possible to outrun them in the ship. The player could, by using the wraparound playfield, fly out of the right side (appearing on the left), while firing a few shots, then fly out the top (appearing at the bottom), again firing a few shots. This pattern automatically avoided the sparks, and opened up the walls of the Star Castle. This technique allowed for hours of play. A later revision of the game sped up the sparks enough that this method would fail.MiscellaneousBOOTLEGS: Space Castle, Stellar Castle and Space FortressVAPS Arcade CensusThere are 6,975 members of the Video Arcade Preservation Society / Vintage Arcade Preservation Society, 4,013 whom participate in our arcade census project of games owned, wanted, or for sale. Census data currently includes 65,105 machines (3,796 unique titles).Very Common - There are 118 known instances of this machine owned by Star Castle collectors who are members. Of these, 105 of them are original dedicated machines, 1 is a conversion in which game circuit boards (and possibly cabinet graphics) have been placed in (and on) another game cabinet, and 12 of them are only circuit boards which a collector could put into a generic case if desired. For Sale - There are 5 VAPS members with Star Castle machines for sale. VAPS members are totally independent of VAPS and the International Arcade Museum, and we are unable to recommend, endorce, or guarantee any person or company selling games or game parts. Wanted - Popular - There are 16 VAPS members currently looking for Star Castle. This game ranks a 62 on a scale out of 100 (100 = most often seen, 1=least common) in popularity based on census ownership records. This game ranks a 39 on a scale out of 100 (100 = most often wanted, 1=least common) in popularity based on census want list records. TechnicalThe monitor uses a colored plastic overlay that makes the rings different colors.TriviaThis was one of the first games to use an experimental artificial intelligence to harrass the game player's ship. A barely noticable feature of the game from our perspective, but a fundemental element of all video games today!At approximately every 182,000 points, the game play slows down. As opposed to some games, the points will not roll over at 1 million (approximately four hours of game play). It is unknown if the score might roll over at 10 million. Manuals- Operation and Maintenance Manual 89 Pages, 7247 KB File.
Foto-Finder™ (books)- The Encyclpedia of Arcade Video Games, Kurtz (ISBN 0764319256): Page: C1; Color photo;
- The Encyclpedia of Arcade Video Games, Kurtz (ISBN 0764319256): Page: 84; Color photo;
- Encyclopedia of Arcade Video Games, Kurtz (ISBN 0764319256): Page: 84; Color photo; Price guide:
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