X-Treme Skate City

Found this skateboard slot-car set in a local thrift store recently. They were asking $24.24 for it but the next time I was there they had it down to about $12. Maybe if it gets to about $5 I'll pick it up. The main reason I passed was the figures just looked too lame. It's advertised as having "Real Skate Park Detail," such as "Radical Ramps," "Thrashin' Rails," and a "Cool Half-Pipe" that is really just a banked turn. It takes 4 D batteries so if I do end up getting it the batteries I bought for Don't Bite the Pavement may not be a total waste after all.

Don't Bite the Pavement

Tomy's "Don't Bite the Pavement" is a game where you attempt to navigate a marble through a series of obstacles before the timer runs out. The obstacles are described on the back and have very little to do with skateboarding:

It's been awhile since I've seen skaters cross a drawbridge or take a balloon ride or even railslide down a old mine shaft. This was originally a haunted house themed game that I actually owned as a kid (pictured at the very bottom). The copyright on the back says 1982 but the skateboarding graphics seem a bit too new for that. I would guess that sometime in the '90s, probably around the start of the X-Games, Tomy took an old game and slapped some new graphics on it. Anywho, I remember this game being pretty fun. I picked this game up on eBay for pretty cheap (I actually paid total less than what the poor seller paid for shipping). The game was missing its marble, the balloon riders and the top arm with the guy doing an air. I grabbed the marble out of the Haunted House that I still had at my parent's house and stopped by the drug store to pick up a D battery (which they only sell in packs of 2). Not only did this game not work but my old Haunted House didn't work either. Better luck next time I guess...

Mousin' Around!

I've been going to the York Pinball show for a couple years. Each year I hope to see Skateball or Radical!, the 2 skateboard theme pinball games. I have yet to see those games but it is always fun to scan playfields for random skateboard references. The above graphic of 2 mice cruising on erasers-turned-skateboards was found on the playfield of Mousin' Around, whose backglass graphic is featured below (along with a fat, lazy cat for good measure).

Squinkies

Squinkies is a game made up of tiny figures that you put into gumball machine type plastic spheres and then roll some dice. I didn't finish reading the directions so I have no idea how to play but I think there some sort of battle going on. There are 3 series, each with the same figures in different color schemes. These guys are from series 2. These were originally sold at Target but they clearly didn't sell very well because they all ended up at Goodwill.

Simpsons Pinball Party

Simpsons Pinball Party came out in 2003 and is The Simpsons second attempt at pinball (the first attempt from 1990 was already featured on BPA). This machine is an improvement over the earlier attempt although it features fewer skate references. There is a series of Bart skating (and slamming) on the playfield and a Daredevil Bart attached to a captive ball. Check out the full specs at the Internet Pinball Machine Database. This machine holds some extra BPA for me as it is in the local arcade at Bethany Beach, DE.

The Simpsons Pinball

This is the first attempt at a Simpsons pinball game. It came out in 1990 and features a number of images of Bart riding his skateboard. In addition to the backglass there are a few images of Bart with board on the playfield as well as a nice side graphic featuring Bart skating with a stack of hotdogs. Bart is shown as both goofy and regular. This is a pretty fun machine although I think the later Simpsons Pinball Party is a little better (which will be featured here at a later date). More info and images can be found at the Internet Pinball Database.

Awesome

Awesome. I guess that is the title of this game. It also says "Rats Rule" and "Crash and Burn." This is a ticket giving machine by Sega that is basically like the old SNAFU game. It puts a ball into play and you control the tilt of the board and try to get to the finish hole. This rat has an unusual style of skating.