Arcade videogame automat

Rip Off - Vector Cocktail Arcade Game (bootleg)

Condition: Very good. Fully restored by Andreas Kraemer www.andysarcade.de, Thank You.

Description: Manufactured by ‘Microhard/Italy’, presumably in 1980 or 1981, per the Cinematronics’ original. Technically the Cinematronics Vector monitor and game PCB have been cloned, where the PCB is a little enlarged to use 2708 EPROMS instead of the original MASK ROMS. The machine has been fully restored to its original beauty. All parts have been cleaned including cables&cabinet, everything has been repaired or checked and kept original where possible. Only the top cover, blue filter plexi and glass have been replaced as all were damaged beyond repair. The new glass has rounded corners like the original and is made of certified hardened glass. Rusty screws have been replaced with similarly shaped ne ones. The game and the vector monitor electronics are working perfectly, the picture is bright and the tube has virtually no burn. The fan has been replaced with a new ‘Papst’ low noise fan. Key locks have been replaced, all black parts have been repainted with a 2K black satin paint, the coin mechanism is working wit AT ‘Schilling’ as the machine came from LINZ in Austria, and a manual ‘Coin Switch’ has been added’.

Rip Off is simultaneous cooperative game for two player

Rip Off game was produced by Cinematronics in 1980. The player uses a tank-like vehicle to protect fuel canisters from the game-controlled "pirate" tanks. Pirate tanks hook-up and drag the canisters off screen. The game speed and difficulty increase with each successive wave until all the canisters have been "ripped off".

One or two players attempt to protect fuel canisters from groups of invading pirate tanks that appear from the edges of the screen. There are six styles of pirate tanks in the game worth 10 to 60 points each. The value of each style is determined by its speed and strategy. Low point valule tanks are very slow and generally head directly for the fuel. Higher point tanks are much faster and may work together to lure a player to destruction.
All pirate tanks are armed with short-range lasers, while player tanks are equipped with a cannon. Invading tanks are destroyed when they are hit by a cannon shot. Enemies can also be destroyed by a collision with a player's tank. There is no penalty to the player for destroying enemy tanks this way except for the brief period of time he is out of the game. When playing a two-player game, it is not possible to shoot the other player, although you will both be destroyed if your tanks collide.

The game is organized into waves and bonus levels. Two or three enemy tanks attack in each wave. A wave ends when all the pirate tanks have either been destroyed by the players or have dragged a fuel canister off the screen. After a number of waves, the bonus level increases 10, 20 ... and another round begins, starting with 10-point tanks. Each successive round is slightly faster and harder than the one before it. The bonus level gives additional points for each enemy tank destroyed. The game proceeds in this manner until all fuel canisters have been "ripped off" by the pirate tanks.

Game Play

As a single player game, Rip Off is quite difficult. The game attempts to correct for the lack of a second player by attacking with fewer pirate tanks during the first few waves, but this doesn't fully make up for another player. All too often, when a pirate laser blast blows you up, you'll lose one or more fuel canisters in the time it takes to get back out on the screen.
The two-player mode is what makes Rip Off such a unique game. The players play in a cooperative, rather than competitive manner. With two players, various strategies can be employed to cover as much area as possible against the invading tanks. Ideally one player should always remain on the screen to protect the fuel.

The ability to destroy your own tank in order to wipe out an enemy tank also provides an interesting twist to gameplay. Sometimes it can be more effective to collide with the pirate and destroy both tanks than to risk being shot by the pirate and have your last fuel canister stolen. This strategy is generally only effective in a two player game.

Photos