Museum of the Game ®

International Arcade Museum® — Killer List of Videogames®


Marble Madness Marble Madness - Japanese Logo - Katakana / Kanji

Marble Madness - Cabinet - Video Game Marquee

Description

Guide your marble through various courses to the goal. Obstacles include marble munchers, acid pools, an evil steelie marble, etc. The playing field includes a maze, ice patches, a funnel, catapult, etc.

Marble Madness was produced by Atari Games in 1984.

Atari Games released 89 machines in our database under this trade name, starting in 1984. Atari Games was based in United States.

Other machines made by Atari Games during the time period Marble Madness was produced include: Paperboy, Last Starfighter The, E.T., Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom, and Gauntlet

Specs

Name Marble Madness
Developer Atari Games (United States)
Year 1984
Type Videogame
KLOV/MOG # 8618
Class Wide Release
Genre Labyrinth/Maze
Monitor
Conversion Class Atari System I
# Simultaneous Players 2
# Maximum Players 2
Game Play Either
Control Panel Layout Multiple Player
Controls
  • Trackball: Optical
Sound Unamplified Stereo (requires two-channel amp)
Cabinet Styles
  • Upright/Standard
Control Panel Marble Madness Control Panel Image

Game Play

Steer your marble to the end of the course in the minimum amount of time. Watch out for other inhabitants that try to slow you down or bump you off - the marble munchers, the steelie, the vacuum, etc. You have an infinite number of lives, but getting killed loses you valuable time. On the "silly level" almost all of the rules are reversed. Some levels have alternate paths to the goal. If you run out of time before you complete a course, the game ends - but sometimes you will be "charmed" with extra time. Each level has its own stereo audio score.

Marble Madness KLOV/IAM 5 Point User Score: 3.91 (19 votes)

Fun Factor: 3.98

Overall Like 4.00
Fun (Social) 4.06
Fun (Solo) 3.78
Collector Desire 4.06

Technical Rating: 4.00

Gameplay 4.11
Graphics 4.06
Originality 4.37
Sound/Music 3.94

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.

Log in to rate this game!

Cheats, Tricks, Bugs, and Easter Eggs

Flipping the test switch (on the Audio/Regulator III board) while pressing either of the start buttons adds 99 seconds to the game play time for each flip of the test switch. Note: I've seen this crash the game on several occasions.

Images

Trivia

This was the first Atari System I game. A successor, Marble Madness 2: Marble Man was playtested but never released.

Cabinet Information

An upright cabinet, sometimes found with plain black sides and sometimes with the blue and silver striped "ATARI" side art.

Conversion

All of the Atari System I games should be convertable by changing the game cartridge (ROM board), control panel, and marquee. Road Blasters also requires a pedal. Note: I'm told that not all System I mainboards have the trackball decoder, used only on Marble Madness.

VAPS Arcade/Coin-Op Marble Madness Census

There are 15,177 members of the Video Arcade Preservation Society / Vintage Arcade Preservation Society, 9,629 whom participate in our arcade census project of games owned, wanted, or for sale. Census data currently includes 166,346 machines (6,974 unique titles).

Very Common - There are 247 known instances of this machine owned by Marble Madness collectors who are active members. Of these, 197 of them are original dedicated machines. 22 of them are conversions in which game circuit boards (and possibly cabinet graphics) have been placed in (and on) another game cabinet. 27 of them are only circuit boards which a collector could put into a generic case if desired.

For Sale - There are 7 active VAPS members with a Marble Madness machines for sale. There is one active VAPS member with an extra Marble Madness circuit board for sale.

Wanted - Very Popular - There are 49 active VAPS members currently looking for Marble Madness. There is one active VAPS member looking for a Marble Madness circuit board set.

This game ranks a 59 on a scale out of 100 (100 = most often seen, 1=least common) in popularity based on census ownership records.

This game ranks a 72 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 main CPU is a 68010, with the sound and coin subsystem controlled by a 6502. A "slapstic" chip is used for copy protection. This game is emulated (as of 5/98) by MGE (internal beta) and MAME.

Fixes

1) Trackball rollers wear out, making control of your marble difficult and slow. Replacement rollers, bearings, etc. are available from Happ Controls (888-BUY-HAPP). 2) IC sockets of this age often make poor contact. If you get a ROM error on powerup or erratic operation, check for oxidation on both the sockets and the IC pins. FOR EXPERTS ONLY: you might want to replace the sockets with Augat or similar machine-pin versions for better contact.

Legacy

  1. Marble Madness
  2. Marble Madness 2 Marble Man

Manuals

Foto-Finder® (Books)

  1. The Encyclopedia of Arcade Video Games Kurtz (ISBN 0764319256) Page: 183; Color photo Price guide: No
  2. Arcade Fever Sellers (ISBN 0762409371) Page: 142; Color photo
  3. Encyclopedia of Arcade Video Games Kurtz (ISBN 0764319256) Page: 183; Color photo

Additional References (logged in members often see more)

  1. 3D Model (External): Upright (2a69befc0dd22bead06e6be4f8954ac)

Arcade Map - Play This Game

Our members have reported that Marble Madness is playable at 1 locations:

Name Location State Country Details Check-ins
Bartari 101 Adams Ave, Scranton Pennsylvania United States Bar 0

eBay Listings

Click to search eBay for Marble Madness Videogame machines and related items.

Click to search eBay for Atari Games for machines and parts.

When you click on links below to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Such revenue helps to fund this site's operations. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.

TOP WATCHED LISTINGS FOR: Marble Madness

Ebay Compatible Application

Nintendo Playchoice 10 Marble Madness Cart Pc-10

Auction ends in: 1 week, 3 days

FixedPrice
$114.99

MARBLE MADNESS Bezel Screen Printed - PA EXCLUSIVE!

Auction ends in: 4 days, 4 hours

FixedPrice
$100.00

GRS Build A Cade Complete Graphics Kit

Auction ends in: 4 weeks, 1 day

FixedPrice
$30.00

Original Marble Madness Set Atari Arcade Video game manual

Auction ends in: 4 weeks, 19 hours

FixedPrice
$19.99

Marble Madness Arcade Marquee 23.5" x 5.5"

Auction ends in: 1 day, 7 hours

FixedPrice
$18.95

Marble Madness Arcade Machine Atari Full Size Classic Video Game

Auction ends in: 3 days, 22 hours

Auction
$1,799.00

Atari MARBLE MADNESS Arcade Video Game Manual - good used original

Auction ends in: 2 weeks, 4 days

FixedPrice
$10.99

Auction Results

Logged in members can see all related auctions.

Auctions Recap

Year Count Median $ Average $
2016 1 977.50 977.50
All Years 1 977.50 977.50

Contribute

  1. Log in to contribute content to this page
  2. Please consider donating to the International Arcade Museum Library