Star Castle - Videogame by Cinematronics

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Star Castle

Name: Star Castle
Manufacturer: Cinematronics
Year: 1980
Type: Videogame

Class: Wide Release
Genre: Space
Monitor:

Orientation: Horizontal
Type: Vector
CRT: Black and White with a Color Overlay

Conversion Class: Cinematronics BW Vector
Settings: Star Castle Dipswitch Settings

Number of Simultaneous Players: 1
Maximum number of Players: 2
Gameplay: Alternating
Control Panel Layout: Single Player
Controls:

Buttons: Rotational (left, right)
Buttons: 2 [FireThrust]

Sound: Amplified Mono (one channel)

Cabinet Styles:

Upright/Standard
Cocktail (Very rare)

Click here to contribute another image.

Star Castle Control Panel Image

Star Castle Description

Star Castle was produced by Cinematronics in 1980.

Cinematronics released 33 different machines in our database under this trade name, starting in 1976.

Other machines made by Cinematronics during the time period Star Castle was produced include Armor Attack, Rip Off, Solar Quest, Boxing Bugs, Jack The Giantkiller, Sundance, Tail Gunner, Space Wars, Starhawk, and Embargo.

You 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.

Star Castle - KLOV/IAM 5 Point User Score: 3.93 (15 votes)

Personal Impressions Score: 4.18

     Overall 'Like': 4.36
     Fun (Social): 3.29
     Fun (Solo): 4.21
     Collector Desire: 4.36

Technical Impressions Score: 3.90

     Gameplay: 4.14
     Graphics: 3.87
     Originality: 4.21
     Sound/Music: 4.00

Personal Impressions and Technical Impressions each account for half of the total score. Within the Personal Impressions category, "Like" carries a little more weight than the other factors.

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Cabinet Information

The 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.

Cabinet Style Weights and Measures

Type
Upright/Standard
Cocktail (Very rare)

Cheats, Tricks, Bugs, and Easter Eggs

Originally, 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.

Miscellaneous

BOOTLEGS: Space Castle, Stellar Castle and Space Fortress

VAPS Arcade/Coin-Op Star Castle Census

There are 12,097 members of the Video Arcade Preservation Society / Vintage Arcade Preservation Society, 9,507 whom participate in our arcade census project of games owned, wanted, or for sale. Census data currently includes 159,184 machines (6,676 unique titles).

Very Common - There are approximately 247 known instances of this machine presumably owned by our current and past members. More are likely owned by non-members. 114 of these machines are owned by our active Star Castle collectors. And of these, 98 are original dedicated machines, 3 are conversions in which game circuit boards (and possibly cabinet graphics) have been placed in (and on) another game cabinet, and 13 are only circuit boards which a collector could put into a generic case if desired.

For Sale - There are 2 active VAPS members with Star Castle machines for sale. There is one active VAPS member with an extra Star Castle circuit board for sale.

Wanted - Popular - There are 18 active VAPS members currently looking for Star Castle.

At any given time, our active members are listing on VAPS on average of 4,400 games they are looking for, and 3,600 games for sale.

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 48 on a scale out of 100 (100 = most often wanted, 1=least common) in popularity based on census want list records.

Rarity and Popularity independently are NOT necessarily indications of value. [More Information]

Technical

The monitor uses a colored plastic overlay that makes the rings different colors.

Trivia

This 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.

This game can be seen in the 1986 Stephen King film, Maximum Overdrive.

Manuals

Operation and Maintenance Manual 89 Pages, 7.2 MB File.

Foto-Finder® (books)

The Encyclopedia of Arcade Video Games, Kurtz (ISBN 0764319256): Page: C1; Color photo;
The Encyclopedia 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:

Video Clips

Star Castle Arcade Machine

See Recent Video Links Added to Other Records

Additional References
(logged in members often see more)

The Arcade Flyer Archive (TAFA): Star Castle Flyer #1067
The Arcade Flyer Archive (TAFA): Star Castle Flyer #1984
The Arcade Flyer Archive (TAFA): Star Castle Flyer #6235

eBay Listings

Click to search eBay for Star Castle Videogame machines and related items.

Click to search eBay for Cinematronics for machines and parts.

Check out the IAM/KLOV report of the hottest coin-op machine auctions, powered by Ace.com.

*TODAY'S PICKS FOR:
Star Castle

	1. STAR CASTLE monitor plexi Auction ends in: 1 day, 8 hours
	FixedPrice	$59.00
	2. CINEMATRONICS coin door STAR CASTLE etc Auction ends in: 3 weeks, 1 day
	FixedPrice	$177.00
	3. Star Castle Cinematronics UNTESTED arcade Video game PCB board cif37 Auction ends in: 1 week, 4 days
	FixedPrice	$245.00
	4. STAR CASTLE control panel with interface PCB Auction ends in: 1 day, 8 hours
	FixedPrice	$149.00
	5. STAR CASTLE original wiring harness Auction ends in: 4 weeks, 4 hours
	FixedPrice	$89.00
	6. Vintage Star Castle Marquee Cinematronics Original Auction ends in: 1 week, 5 days
	FixedPrice	$59.99
	7. Star Castle Arcade Marquee 26" x 8" Auction ends in: 3 weeks, 6 days
	FixedPrice	$22.95
	8. Original Star Castle Cinematronics CONTROL PANEL ARCADE GAME PART Auction ends in: 2 weeks, 1 day
	FixedPrice	$189.00
	9. STAR CASTLE original arcade plexi marquee Cinematronics Auction ends in: 5 hours, 40 minutes
	FixedPrice	$89.00
	10. UNTESTED CInematronics Star Castle Mpu CPU only ARCADE GAME PCB board Ifm4-5 Auction ends in: 3 days, 3 hours
	FixedPrice	$69.00
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