Sears Pinball Breakaway

Sears released it's own Atari manufactured version of the Video Pinball that same year, as it did with all Atari consoles up through 1984. Called the Sears Pinball Breakaway (Model 99713) Unlike some of it's other Atari produced dedicated consoles, this was an exact copy of the first wood grain model of the Atari Video Pinball console - only the expected labeling was changed. And just as with the Atari version it suffered from the dedicated console market collapse and the release of the Sears Telegames Video Arcade (the Sears version of the Video Computer System).

Video Pinball coin-op screen

Interestingly enough, Atari did follow up with an actual Video Pinball coin-op, two years after the release of their home console. It was a unique hybrid between video game and pinball technology that still has not been duplicated to this day. While some before and after tried using the video game part as a game within the game or simply to display unique animations (such as Baby Pac-man, or the more recent Star Wars pinball hologram effect model), this was the first to actually use both technologies as an integral part of the game play. The play area consisted of a 3d playfield (another words a real manufactured pinball playfield - not a 3d rendered one, this is the '70's after all), complete with all the things you'd expect to find in a pinball machine. Bumper targets galore, special targets, led's and lights that light up. However, the player's bumper controllers, the pinball, and some of the targets were fully computer generated. The control panel on the coin-op itself could also be pushed to create a "tilt" effect.

The arcade Video Pinball coin-op didn't cause much of a splash either. Coin-op games were just entering their boon of popularity and the new full color games (like Namco's Galaxian) also released that year stole the hearts and quarters of young kids. What kid wanted to play a video representation of a pinball machine when they could fight off aliens? Pinball was that old thing in the corner the older kids played while smoking their cigarettes and drinking beers.

Video Pinball (the home systems) are still popular among collectors, and the wood grain model is a bit harder to find then the all white model. Still fun to play, it's definitely one of the best dedicated consoles Atari released.