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Dig Dug Dig Dug - Japanese Logo - Katakana / Kanji

Dig Dug - Cabinet - Video Game Marquee

Description

Dig tunnels underground and use an air pump to inflate and blow-up your enemies. You can also drop rocks on your foes. Dislodge two rocks and a bonus fruit or vegetable will appear in the center of the screen. A level ends when all the enemies have been destroyed.

Dig Dug was produced by Atari in 1982.

Atari released 137 machines in our database under this trade name, starting in 1972. Atari was based in United States.

Other machines made by Atari during the time period Dig Dug was produced include: Neutron Star, Tempest Tubes, Tempest, Triangle, Maze Invaders, Akka Arrh, Atari Force Liberator, Gravitar, Black Widow, and Kangaroo

Specs

Name Dig Dug
Developer Atari (United States)
Year 1982
Type Videogame
KLOV/MOG # 7581
Class Wide Release
Genre Labyrinth/Maze
Monitor
Conversion Class Namco Galaga
Game Specific Dig Dug Pinout
# Simultaneous Players 1
# Maximum Players 2
Game Play Alternating
Control Panel Layout Single Player Ambidextrous
Controls
  • Joystick: 4-way (up, down, left, right)
  • Buttons: 1 - Pump
Sound Unamplified Mono (requires one-channel amp)
Cabinet Styles
  • Upright/Standard
  • Cocktail
  • Cabaret/Mini
Control Panel Dig Dug Control Panel Image
Side Art Dig Dug Side Art Image
PCB Dig Dug PCB Image

Game Introduction

The game has an amusing cast of characters. The two enemies are Pooka and Fygar. Pookas are animated red tomatoes with yellow sunglasses and Fygars are green dragons who can breathe fire. The player character is Dig Dug, a blue and white robot equipped with a shovel and a pump.

Game Play

If you want to be extra greedy and get more points, eat all the dirt on the level. Leave only two enemies because they will speed up, and three is too hard to handle. You do not need to eat every little bit of dirt you can leave long passageways to slow down the enemies. Also leave only Pookas, since the Fygars can burn you through the dirt.

After level 12, the screens repeat in waves of four. There are patterns for these levels. Also, after level 36, all the enemies will speed up. You will have to use new patterns for all the other levels again.

This game does not award extra man after 900,000 points. The score will flip over at 1,000,000. It is very easy to get a score of 999,990 by eating dirt for ten points per section.

At level 256, the game begins with a Pooka on top of the player character. Since there is no way to escape, your game is basically over, no matter how many lives you have left.

Dig Dug KLOV/IAM 5 Point User Score: 3.88 (26 votes)

Fun Factor: 3.82

Overall Like 4.08
Fun (Social) 3.13
Fun (Solo) 3.96
Collector Desire 3.62

Technical Rating: 3.96

Gameplay 4.27
Graphics 3.88
Originality 4.19
Sound/Music 3.35

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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Cheats, Tricks, Bugs, and Easter Eggs

Get either a Pooka or Fygar right on your tail, then pump him up but not so much that he explodes. Do this right near a rock but be warned that this is rather tricky. The idea is to loosen the rock when the enemy is almost fully inflated, get out of the way, then do a quick reverse and finish off the enemy at exactly the same time as he is crushed by the rock avoiding the rock yourself, of course. This will confuse the game and all enemies on the current level will disappear leaving you to aimlessly dig tunnels through the dirt. You will not progress to the next level until you drop another rock.

If you scoop away ALL the dirt on screen while keeping one Pooka alive, and afterwards blow up the remaining enemy, the game freezes up and leaves you forever stranded on a black screen. Amusingly, you cannot die or progress anywhere, so the machine has to be turned off.

Hacks

ULLIIBubBobI Changes the graphics to make them look more like those from IBubble BobbleI.LIIMr. DigDoi An amalgam of IMr.DoI and IDig DugI.LIIZig ZagI Has different colors.UL

Images

Cabinet Information

The cocktail version features two control panels, each with a fourway joystick and a Pump button on the left and righthand side of the stick. The 13inch Electrohome color raster monitor is mounted vertically and the screen image flips for each player. The top glass features the game instructions, point values and cartoon renditions of Fygar, Pooka and Dig Dug.

Miscellaneous

LICENSOR NamcoBRWWW httpwww.zxscreens.i12.comzxscreensdig_dug_arcade.htm

VAPS Arcade/Coin-Op Dig Dug Census

There are 15,220 members of the Video Arcade Preservation Society / Vintage Arcade Preservation Society, 9,649 whom participate in our arcade census project of games owned, wanted, or for sale. Census data currently includes 166,619 machines (6,982 unique titles).

Very Common - There are 686 known instances of this machine owned by Dig Dug collectors who are active members. Of these, 550 of them are original dedicated machines. 19 of them are conversions in which game circuit boards (and possibly cabinet graphics) have been placed in (and on) another game cabinet. 111 of them are only circuit boards which a collector could put into a generic case if desired.

For Sale - There are 20 active VAPS members with a Dig Dug machines for sale. There are 18 active VAPS members with a Dig Dug circuit boards for sale.

Wanted - Very Popular - There are 68 active VAPS members currently looking for Dig Dug. There are 2 active VAPS members looking for Dig Dug boards sets.

This game ranks a 90 on a scale out of 100 (100 = most often seen, 1=least common) in popularity based on census ownership records.

This game ranks a 83 on a scale out of 100 (100 = most often seen, 1=least common) in popularity based on census want list records.

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

Flyers

Technical

The game uses three Z80 microprocessors and a Namco 3channel PSG for sounds.

Legacy

  1. Dig Dug
  2. Dig Dug II

Manuals

Foto-Finder® (Books)

  1. The Encyclopedia of Arcade Video Games Kurtz (ISBN 0764319256) Page: 128; Color photo Price guide: No
  2. Arcade Fever Sellers (ISBN 0762409371) Page: 90; Color photo
  3. Encyclopedia of Arcade Video Games Kurtz (ISBN 0764319256) Page: 128; Color photo

Additional References (logged in members often see more)

  1. 3D Model (External): Upright (a88ee2d3ac174f55d06e6be4f8954ac)

Arcade Map - Play This Game

Our members have reported that Dig Dug is playable at 5 locations:

Name Location State Country Details Check-ins
Bartari 101 Adams Ave, Scranton Pennsylvania United States Bar 0
Bit Bar 278 Derby St, Salem Massachusetts United States Unknown 1
District 82 Pinball Arcade 800 O Keefe Road, De Pere Wisconsin United States Arcade 0
Sting Rays Bar And Grill 3112 East State Road 60, Valrico Florida United States Unknown 0
Upstate Pinball & Arcade Museum 109A West Trade St, Simpsonville South Carolina United States Arcade 2

eBay Listings

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TOP WATCHED LISTINGS FOR: Dig Dug

Ebay Compatible Application

Dig Dug Arcade Marquee 23.6" x 6.5"

Auction ends in: 1 week, 4 days

FixedPrice
$19.95

ATARI DIG DUG Arcade Game Boards - 2X Original ATARI Boards - CLEAN untested

Auction ends in: 23 hours, 36 minutes

FixedPrice
$139.99

GRS Build A Cade Complete Graphics Kit

Auction ends in: 4 days, 15 hours

FixedPrice
$30.00

13 pc Dig Dug Die Cut Sticker Set Coin-Op Arcade Sprites

Auction ends in: 3 weeks, 1 day

FixedPrice
$8.95

Arcade1up Super Pac-Man Countercade Pac-C-01334 Dig-Dug

Auction ends in: 4 weeks, 1 day

FixedPrice
$90.00

DIG DUG Arcade Marquee Night Light

Auction ends in: 3 weeks, 2 days

FixedPrice
$9.99

Auction Results

Logged in members can see all related auctions.

Auctions Recap

Year Count Median $ Average $
2015 1 862.50 862.50
2016 1 460.00 460.00
2017 1 1,062.00 1,062.00
2018 3 1,298.00 1,326.33
All Years 6 1,163.50 1,060.58

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