Ground Kontrol Classic Arcade

New in the arcade: APB, Atari’s 1987 classic game of cops and robbers!

Step behind the wheel as Officer Bob, a rookie officer sworn to protect, serve and stop for donuts. Round up small-time crooks until you’re ready to chase down felons like Freddy Freak and Cool Hand Duke, or the dynamite-tossing psycho Philip Fuse.

Officer Bob is fresh out of training and ready to uphold the law. Things start off easy enough, with minor miscreants like litterbugs and hitchhikers to ticket to meet your daily quota. Step on the gas and steer through winding streets, targeting bad guys with your car’s siren cursor to pull them over. Each stage takes place over the course of a day. As the days go by, the streets get tougher, and you’ll come across whacked-out drivers in vans and on motorcycles that take more than a flashing siren to subdue. Drive through the garage to beef up your cruiser with guns, armor and radar, which you’ll need to take down tougher thugs. Roll over donuts to add time to your day, and bring each Most Wanted suspect back to the station to make ‘em talk with the Confess-O-Meter before the Chief shows up! Don’t forget to drive carefully – each accident, collision or pedestrian hit will award you a Demerit. Earn too many demerits, and you’re canned!

APB was regarded as a unique, fun, and funny game upon its release in 1987. Top-down driving gameplay had been popularized by previous games, as had vehicular combat (most notably Atari’s Spy Hunter.) APB expanded on the idea of running & gunning with livelier characters, power-ups, the “Confess-O-Meter” minigame, and a twisted sense of humor geared toward older players. It can be seen as a precursor to the Grand Theft Auto series, which would begin a few years later as a simple top-down PC action game before exploding into one of the most successful franchises of all time.

APB’s cabinet features police cruiser stylings, with a flashing siren marquee that lights up whenever you hit the “siren” button! We’ve restored it to awesome condition, so pull over and play it today!