Blue Print (Midway)

Arcade Video game published 42 years ago:

Blue Print (c) 1982 Bally Midway Mfg. Co.

The player controls a character that must search houses to find pieces of a machine. There are a variety of antagonists that impede progress, including monsters and bombs. Once the machine has been assembled in accordance with the blueprint, the player must use it to shoot the monster that is chasing the player character's girlfriend.

- TECHNICAL -

Project Model 300

Upright Cabinet.
Dimensions : 35in. Deep x 25in. Wide x 68in. High.

Main CPU : Zilog Z80 (@ 3.5 Mhz), Zilog Z80 (@ 1.25 Mhz)
Sound Chips : General Instrument AY8910 (@ 1.25 Mhz), AY8910 (@ 625 Khz)

Screen orientation : Vertical
Video resolution : 224 x 256 pixels
Screen refresh : 60.00 Hz
Palette colors : 16

Players : 2
Control : 8-way joystick
Buttons : 1

- TRIVIA -

Blue Print was released in September 1982.

Ashby Computers and Graphics Ltd, the game's programming team, would go on to become 'Ultimate Play the Game', who created a large number of classic and seminal games for both eight-bit home computers, such as the ZX Spectrum and Commodore C64; and, eventually, 'Rare'.

Under the ownership of Nintendo, the Rare team would be responsible for some of the finest games to grace both the SNES and N64 game consoles; as well as creating a small number of arcade titles, such as "Killer Instinct" and "Battletoads"; both of which were released in 1994. Rare is now owned by Microsoft.

David Nelson holds the official record for this game with 146,300 points on June 4, 2006.

Others releases:
"Blue Print [Mini Upright] [No. 301]"
"Blue Print [Cocktail Table] [No. 302]"

Export releases:
Blue Print (Jaleco)

- SCORING -

Dropping a bomb in the monster pit : 50 points.
Returning a monster to the monster pit : 100 points.
Finding a piece of the blueprint in the maze : 1,000 points.
Killing the monster with the constructed weapon : 500, 1,000, 1,500 or 2,000 points, depending on how close the monster is to the girl.

- TIPS AND TRICKS -

* Use your speedup ability to negotiate the maze faster, but save some of your energy in case you collect a bomb. You do not have enough time to dispose of a bomb running at normal speed.

* If a monster is sitting on the weapon start button, only return it to the monster pit when it is convenient to you, as the monster does no harm except drop the pieces of the weapon to the floor. Once the monster is removed the pieces are easy to replace on the blueprint.

* There is never more than one piece of the blueprint in a house, so do not return if you have already collected a weapon piece. There will only be a bomb located there.

* The firing pattern of the weapon is random, and only a few shots will actually reach the top of the screen. It will therefore be mainly luck when you kill the monster.

- STAFF -

Staff : Christopher Stamper, John Lathbury, Timothy Stamper

- PORTS -

* CONSOLES:
Atari 5200 (1983)

* COMPUTERS: