Museum of the Game ®

International Arcade Museum® — Killer List of Videogames®

Black Widow

Description

As a spider in the center of the web, you must defend it and yourself from invading bugs. These foes will try to run into you, blow you up if shoot them, or fire rockets at you if you do not kill the other enemies!

Black Widow was produced by Atari in 1982.

Atari released 136 machines in our database under this trade name, starting in 1972. Atari was based in United States.

Other machines made by Atari during the time period Black Widow was produced include: Neutron Star, Tempest Tubes, Tempest, Triangle, Maze Invaders, Akka Arrh, Atari Force Liberator, Gravitar, Fast Freddie, and Kangaroo

Specs

Name	Black Widow
Developer	Atari (United States)
Year	1982
Type	Videogame
KLOV/MOG #	7139
Class	Wide Release
Genre	Shooter
Monitor	Orientation: Horizontal Type: Vector Color: Color 19-inch Wells-Gardner 6100
Conversion Class	Atari Color Vector
Game Specific	Black Widow Pinout
Dipswitch Settings	Black Widow Dipswitch Settings (user contributed)
# Simultaneous Players	1
# Maximum Players	2
Game Play	Alternating
Control Panel Layout	Single Player
Controls	Joystick: 8-way - Move Joystick: 8-way - Fire
Sound	Amplified Mono (one channel)
Cabinet Styles	Upright/Standard
Control Panel	Black Widow Control Panel Image

Video Clips

Atari Black Widow Arcade Game Review - Gravitar Conversion

Game Introduction

Has been accurately described as a cross between Robotron: 2084 due to the left joystick being used for movement and the right joystick for firing and any color vector game. Does not have as many objects on the screen but gets VERY INTENSE!

Game Play

The game involves a dual joystick control effort. The left joystick moves the black widow around its web while the right joystick is used for directional firing. The premise is that the player must move the spider around the web while shooting and/or avoiding various deadly bugs and collecting bonuses after they are shot.

The key to playing this game is based upon the various enemy bugs' powers and characteristics plus the value of the bonuses that are collected:

Mosquito - If shot, becomes ''.
Beetle - Eats '', but if shot, becomes ''.
Hornet - Lays an egg on '', but if shot, becomes ''.
Egg - Grows to become hornet or spoiler. Must be pushed off the web to score 500, 1000, 1500, 2000, or even 2500 points.
'' Grub Steak - Tag for 500, 250, 100, or 50 points -- the sooner the better.
Spoiler - Invulnerable. Can only be destroyed by a grenade, bug slayer or rocket bug.
Grenade - Explodes if shot. Bugs and eggs within the kill zone score 500 points each.
Rocket Bug - Invulnerable. Launches "rockettes" at black widow from the other bugs it tags. Shoot rockettes to score 100 points each.
Thunderbug - If shot, it breaks formation and attacks. Shoot again to explode all T-bugs for 5000 points. Keep away from all T-bugs to earn 10000 points
Bug Slayer-harmless to you, invulnerable, competes with you for food. Beat it to it's flashing prey for points.

Black Widow KLOV/IAM 5 Point User Score: 3.49 (11 votes)

Fun Factor: 3.76

Overall Like	3.80
Fun (Social)	3.20
Fun (Solo)	3.90
Collector Desire	4.10

Technical Rating: 3.47

Gameplay	3.45
Graphics	3.40
Originality	3.90
Sound/Music	3.50

Personal Impressions and Technical Impressions each account for half of the total score. Within the Personal Impressions category, Like carries a little more weight than the other factors.

More pictures

Cabinet - Video Game Marquee

Trivia

The dedicated models were actually Gravitar cabs with a factory conversion kit installed.

Miscellaneous

VAPS Arcade/Coin-Op Black Widow Census

There are 14,755 members of the Video Arcade Preservation Society / Vintage Arcade Preservation Society, 9,475 whom participate in our arcade census project of games owned, wanted, or for sale. Census data currently includes 164,460 machines (6,896 unique titles).

Very Common - There are 214 known instances of this machine owned by Black Widow collectors who are active members. Of these, 157 of them are original dedicated machines. 28 of them are conversions in which game circuit boards (and possibly cabinet graphics) have been placed in (and on) another game cabinet. 29 of them are only circuit boards which a collector could put into a generic case if desired.

For Sale - There are 4 active VAPS members with a Black Widow machines for sale. There are 2 active VAPS members with a Black Widow circuit boards for sale.

Wanted - Very Popular - There are 37 active VAPS members currently looking for Black Widow. There are 2 active VAPS members looking for Black Widow boards sets.

This game ranks a 54 on a scale out of 100 (100 = most often seen, 1=least common) in popularity based on census ownership records.

This game ranks a 55 on a scale out of 100 (100 = most often seen, 1=least common) in popularity based on census want list records.

Rarity and Popularity independently are not necessarily indications of value. [More Information]

Manuals

Operator''s Manual with illustrated parts lists - Black Widow Manual — **Operator''s Manual with illustrated parts lists**
(74 pages, 7.5 MB File)

Additional References (logged in members often see more)

3D Model (External): Upright

eBay Listings

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