Back Pipeline

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  1. By IPDB
    gameplay_feature
    Pop Bumpers ×2
    gameplay_feature
    Messenger Balls ×3
    gameplay_feature
    Solitary Drop Targets ×3
    gameplay_feature
    Star Rollovers ×7
    gameplay_feature
    Flippers ×2
    gameplay_feature
    Slingshots ×2
    gameplay_feature
    Spinning Targets ×2
    gameplay_feature
    Kick-Out Holes ×2
    gameplay_feature
    Standup Targets ×3
    ipdb.corporate_entity_name
    Atari, Incorporated
    ipdb_id
    5275
    ipdb.image_urls
    ["https://www.ipdb.org/images/5275/image-1.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/5275/image-3.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/5275/image-2.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/5275/image-6.png","https://www.ipdb.org/images/5275/image-7.png","https://www.ipdb.org/images/5275/image-8.png","https://www.ipdb.org/images/5275/image-4.png","https://www.ipdb.org/images/5275/image-5.png","https://www.ipdb.org/images/5275/image-9.png"]
    ipdb.notable_features
    Flippers (2), Pop bumpers (2), Slingshots (2), Star rollovers (7), Solitary drop targets (3), Messenger balls (3), Standup targets (3), Kick-out holes (2), Spinning targets (2). Dual inlanes.
    ipdb.notes
    This surfing-themed game was never produced. We have been told of the existence of two additional backglasses beyond the one shown here, and of a box of parts that had included a PC board, drop targets, wiring harness, and some documents for it. If a full game was ever made as a prototype, only stories of parts for this game are what seem to have survived. Dan Kramer is a former Atari employee and owner of the glass pictured here. We asked him to comment on this game. He replies:I got this backglass from another former Atari employee in the late 1980s. Actually, I was told that a pilot build of 50 units was planned and parts were allocated. I tracked down a [different] guy around the late 1980s who had saved for ten years everything to build one, except a backglass and cabinet. A month before I ran across him, he got tired of hanging onto the stuff and took it to the dump. He gave me a single drop target with the imprint of a naked foot ("Hang Five"), which I still have. The engineering drawing pictured here indicates it was drawn by C. Fernandez and the Engineer was the last name of Slater. We know Claude Fernandez as a designer for Williams and Bally starting in 1980. The playfield layout of this game is nearly identical to the production game, Atari's 1978 'Space Riders', credited to Gary Slater as its designer. Pictured together in this listing are two MPU boards. The owner described for us the provenance of these and other items pictured with it: There is a picture of both boards, essentially identical except for wear and tear. In that picture is also the display adapter to run the score displays in the head and the power distribution adapter and some wiring harnesses that plug into the main board as well as other things. There is a picture of a bag of drop targets with the two bare feet. I found the first board about 20 years ago [would be about 2003] and only new it was Atari pinball as that is what is said on the board. But I kept it. The second board and a box of parts to build a Pipeline came from an ex-Atari employee who also had the Alien Space prototype game. The box of Pipeline parts had "Pipeline" written on it. From the looks of all the wiring harnesses, it appears these were never installed in a game as there is absolutely no wear on them as they were kept in plastic bags. The PC board however had some wear and bent pins as it wasn't kept in a protective bag. It is possible that this Pipeline stuff was forgotten about and is actually the stuff that was thought to have been thrown out by the person that Dan Kramer had visited. And maybe the only thing actually thrown out was the original playfield. He further describes the MPU as follows: There was another System between after System 1 and before System 2. This was used for Pipeline. One difference is that the Gen-1 aux board which provided audio amp and power, hi voltage power for the displays, and the lamp drive muxes was eliminated and incorporated in the CPU board. Also most of the connectors were changed from edge connectors to pin/socket connectors similar to System 2. We don't know the official designation given this MPU by Atari.
    player_count
    4
    technology_generation
    solid-state
    theme
    Surfing
    theme
    Recreation
    theme
    Happiness
    theme
    Water Sports
    theme
    Sports