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HAUNTED HOUSE - Halloween Special 1 - Diary of an Arcade Employee Podcast


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The Diary of an Arcade Employee Podcast is a weekly podcast that dives deep into Arcade Life and takes a look back at classic coin-op games and arcade memories of yesteryear! The podcast is hosted by The Retroist's Vic Sage along with his arcade co-worker Andy Pickle. 

 

 

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This week's episode isn't about an arcade game, it's about an Atari 2600 game! In Diary of an Arcade Employee Podcast's first Halloween Special, Vic Sage talks about Haunted House, the 1982 adventure game developed by Atari for the Atari 2600 Video Computer System

 

In Haunted Housethe player  must navigate the haunted mansion of the late Zachary Graves to recover the three pieces of an urn. One of the most iconic images of Haunted House is that of the player, which is represented on screen by a pair of white eyes peering out from the darkness.

 

 

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The house has three floors and a basement. The player's character may pick up only one of three items at a time (a key to open doors, a sceptre to ward off evil spirits, or the urn) and must avoid a bat, a tarantula, and the ghost of Mr. Graves himself. If the player is hit by the monsters nine times, the game ends. If the player escapes the house with the urn, the player wins.

 

The items (and house layout in higher difficulties) can only be seen when the player uses the 'fire' button on the joystick to light a match, illuminating a small radius directly around his character; this can be done an infinite number of times, although the match only lasts for a limited amount of time before being snuffed out. If a monster enters the same room as the player, a howling wind from the monster will blow out any lit match.

 

Haunted House has a total of nine different levels which make the game more challenging; in particular, later difficulty levels make the walls of the house itself invisible unless the player lights a match.

 

 

 

 

 

Listen to the Diary of an Arcade Employee Podcast here:

 

https://ia801508.us.archive.org/8/items/DiaryOfAnArcadeEmployeeEp12HalloweenSpecial1HauntedHouse/Diary-Of-An-Arcade-Employee-Ep-12-Halloween-Special-1-Haunted-House.mp3

 

 

 

 

 

You can also search iTunes for Diary of an Arcade Employee Podcast, or visit The Retroist here:

http://www.retroist.com/2015/10/29/diary-arcade-employe-ep-012-haunted-house/

 

 

Here's what Vic Sage had to say about the episode:

 

 

Diary of an Arcade Employee Podcast – Episode 012 – Halloween Special 1 - Haunted House

 

View this episode at The Retroist

 

Welcome friends to the 12th episode and 1st Halloween Special for the Diary of an Arcade Employee Podcast. For this show I discuss not an arcade game or what it’s like to be an employee of a fully functioning retro arcade but talk about Atari’s hit 1982 cartridge entitled Haunted House!

 

If you have any suggestions for future games to cover or comments on the show itself you may email them to me at VicSage@Retroist.com. You can also contact me on Twitter and of course on Facebook. You can also keep up to date on what is going down at the Arkadia Retrocade by making sure to “Like” their Facebook Page.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Trivia: In a December, 2012 article, GameSpy identified Atari's Haunted House as one of the earliest known examples of the Survival/Horror video game genre.

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