Nibbler (rev 9, set 1) - MAME machine

Arcade Video game published 42 years ago:

Nibbler © 1982 Rock-Ola Mfg. Corp.

A maze game where you control Nibbler the snake to eat food around the maze. With each food you eat, Nibbler gets bigger. Complete each level by eating all the food on the screen. You lose a life if Nibbler hits his own body.

TECHNICAL
Model G-208

Main CPU: MOS Technology M6502 (@ 930 Khz)
Sound Chips: Custom (@ 930 Khz), SN76477 (@ 930 Khz)

Players: 2
Control: 8-way joystick

TRIVIA
Released in December 1982, this is the first game to support a billion point score.

Japanese sales by Taito.

Rock-ola offered a free Nibbler machine to the first player to turn the game over by scoring a billion points. The early favorite was Tom Asaki, who came close but failed in attempts at Twin Galaxies arcade in Ottumwa IA (once when the joystick broke after he scored 793 million points). Tim McVey finally broke the billion-point barrier with a score of 1,000,042,270 points after six unsuccessful attempts (he passed out after one of them) and January 28 1984 was declared Tim McVey day in Ottumwa.

On December 25th, 2011, Tim McVey ended a lengthy Twitch stream with the new world record, 1,041,767,060 points.

UPDATES
There were at least 8 revisions of the game.

SCORING
Food Item: 10 points x level.
Time Bonus: 10 points per remaining second on clock x level.

TIPS AND TRICKS

• Nibbler does pause for a split-second when it hits a corner, so use this pause to decide your next turn.
• Try to collect the items on the inside of the maze first, as you can use the outer edges to move relatively safely when Nibbler is longer.

STAFF
Designed & programmed by: Joe Ulowetz (JHU), John Jaugilas (JMJ), Joe Bak (BAK), Lonnie Ropp (LDR)

PORTS

• COMPUTERS:

Amstrad CPC (1984)
Apple II

CONTRIBUTE
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