Anteater

Manufacturer: Tago Electronics
Year: 1982
Class: Wide Release
Genre: Labyrinth/Maze
Type: Videogame

Monitor:

Orientation: Horizontal
Type: Raster: Standard Resolution
CRT: Color

Conversion Class: Konami Classic
Number of Simultaneous Players: 1
Maximum number of Players: 2
Gameplay: Alternating
Control Panel Layout: Single Player
Controls:

Joystick: 4-way (up, down, left, right)
Buttons: 1 [Tongue Retract]

Sound: Amplified Mono (one channel)

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Anteater Side Art Image

Anteater Description

You play an anteater that elongates his sticky tongue through maze-like anthills eating ants, other bugs and insects.

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Cabinet Information

The cabinet shown was a Stern conversion with original Tago side art but an after market marquee. The marquee shown is original.

Game Introduction

The game has four different critters which the anteater can get to score points and each of them have different point values. Ant larvaes are worth 10 points, ants are worth 100 points, worms are worth 200 points and a Queen Ant is worth 1,000 points. Also, an extra anteater is rewarded every 20,000 points.

You cannot touch the worm's head, but you can munch him from behind. Worms and spiders cannot be killed unless they reach the tip of your tongue. The spider comes out at night and travels down the tongue until it reaches the tip. It can only be removed by eating a Queen Ant which clears all the critters from the screen. The Days get shorter as the game progresses, consequently the spider comes out earlier. The spider is truly the nemesis of this game.

VAPS Arcade Census

GAMES OWNED, WANTED, or FOR SALE BY MEMBERS OF THE VIDEO ARCADE PRESERVATION SOCIETY

Uncommon - There are 10 known instances of Anteater owned by one of our 3,650 members who participate in our machine census project. Of these, 4 of them are conversions in which game circuit boards (and possibly cabinet graphics) have been placed in (and on) another game cabinet, and 6 of them are only circuit boards which a collector could put into a generic case if desired.

Of the 59,767 machines (3,520 unique) tracked by the Video Game Preservation Society, this game ranks a 5 on a scale out of 100 (100 = most commonly seen, 1=least common) in popularity based on ownership records.

Wanted - We currently do not know of any VAPS members that have gotten around to adding this game to their wish list. The wish-list system is fairly new (not all VAPS members have filled one out) and there are probably a number of collectors who might purchase this game if offered one at the right price. There is one VAPS member looking for a Anteater circuit board set.

Rarity is NOT necessarily an indication of value. Some common games show up as very rare here because collectors don't want them (they are common because arcade operators might be sitting on tons of them in warehouses), while some fairly scarce games are grabbed by collectors every time they show up. Additionally, some games made in the last 5 years are still making money for operators and are thus not yet affordable to the typical collector. For a clue to value, compare how many people have this game vs. how many people want this game and then click on the eBay links to help determine an accurate price range.

Technical

The game uses a 3.072 MHZ CPU Z80 for main processing and a 1.789 MHZ Z80 and a 2XAY-8910 for sound processing. The screen resolution is 224 lines by 256 pixels and uses 96 static colors.

eBay Listings

Click here to automatically search eBay's Arcade, Jukebox, and Pinball categories for the Anteater Videogame machine and items related to it.

Click here to automatically search eBay's Arcade, Jukebox, and Pinball categories for machines and parts made by Tago Electronics.

Alternatively, check out the IAM/KLOV custom report of the hottest coin-op machines on eBay, powered by Ace.com (updated throughoutthe day).

Anteater - Title screen image

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