Popular Post jerryd Posted November 17, 2017 Popular Post Report Share Posted November 17, 2017 Atari forum, My boss in the lab was Don and the first thing he did was put a small aluminum box on my desk and said "see what you can do with this". It was about 4 X 4 X 2 inches, had an on/off switch on the side and a panel on the top with 4 leds and 4 buttons. It was the first prototype for the "Touch Me" game, the forerunner of "Simon". I played it all day. It wasn't a very successful game but we had an arcade size prototype in the lab and we would play it as a 4 player game. Each player was assigned to a button and as the game progressed everyone would forget when it was their time to press their button. It was a hilarious. Later that week I attended an in house class that taught all new engineers the circuity used in Pong, concentrating on the composite sync signal. I think the instructor's name was Mac. I had a basic understanding of electronics including integrated circuits and transistors but much of this was new to me. On the wall in the classroom was a clock that was upside down, the face was a mirror image and it ran back words. I thought "welcome to Atari" which was starting out to be different than any other place I had ever worked. After the class I was pretty much left alone to figure out where I could best contribute to the success of this amazing company. The production floor at Atari similar to most. It was a large open area with a flow solder machine and pc board assembly on one end and final assembly for the cabinets on the other end. There were probably about 100 people working in that area. During break time the final assembly workers played foosball on a machine set up in their area. On the final assembly end of the building there was a model shop run by a guy named Holly. He had 5 or 6 young men working for him making parts for the game currently in production. In the shop there was a lathe, milling machine, router, thermal forming machine, table saw, etc. Most of this equipment was very familiar to me because I had been a machinist at one time. Holly and I struck up an instant friendship and I had the run of the shop. There was a large fish tank in the lobby made of inch thick plexiglass. I later learned that it was made in this shop. With all this equipment available to me I convinced my boss that I could build the cabinet, mount the TV, make the wire harness, install the coin handling, and basically make the first complete prototype for any new game. I would just need help with the graphics on the cabinet because I have no art gene. This became my function but it didn't make our mechanical designers or draftsmen very happy because when I completed a prototype game I would put it next to their drawing board and have then measure what I made and make drawings. There was no thinking or creativity left for them to do. I'll post more as I try to recall events from over 40 years ago. Thanks for viewing.Jerryd StormSurge, The Professor, dgrubb and 7 others 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Posted November 17, 2017 Report Share Posted November 17, 2017 Every Atari story, no matter how small, is another piece of history saved for all time. Thank you for sharing your memories with us Jerryd, it's sincerely appreciated. How cool it must've been to be there at the beginning. StormSurge and The Professor 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starbuck66 Posted November 17, 2017 Report Share Posted November 17, 2017 I love hearing these stories, please keep sharing! StormSurge, Justin and The Professor 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dgrubb Posted November 17, 2017 Report Share Posted November 17, 2017 Later that week I attended an in house class that taught all new engineers the circuity used in Pong, concentrating on the composite sync signal. Ah, the "if this doesn't scare you away you can stay" approach! Justin 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.