| University game room | |
| Years active | 197?-? |
| Number of games | 12-18 |
| Located | U. S. A. |
| Status | Unknown |
Background[]
The Greatest American Hero was a television show where, in the pilot episode, a mild-mannered high school teacher named Ralph Hinkley (played by William Katt) is visited by aliens and given a suit that bestows him super powers. Unfortunately, just as quickly as he acquires the suit, he also loses its instruction book. The series focused on his struggles with the suit (namely in regards to flying and not being able to land correctly), along with fighting crime and solving cases with his F. B. I. agent friend Bill Maxwell (Robert Culp) and attorney girlfriend (and later wife) Pam Davidson (Connie Sellecca). The show ran from 1981-1983.
In the "Wizards and Warlocks" episode, an Arab prince that is attending an unnamed California university has gone missing, which his father approaches the F. B. I. – and specifically Maxwell – in order to find his son; Hinkley and Davidson assist in the case.
Several scenes take place in the university’s arcade (which is also unnamed, as the closest the audience gets to a name is the “game room”, as stated by Davidson).
The arcade/known games[]
- Armor Attack
- Defender
- Dig Dug
- Donkey Kong Junior
- Jungle King
- Margolis (fictional; see Trivia section below)
- Missile Command
- Ms. Pac-Man
- Robotron: 2084
- Star Castle
(miscellaneous)[]
- Pinball games
- Pool tables
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Those familiar with early 1980s arcade video games should recognize one game in particular that was mainly featured as Tempest due to the wide cab and side art. However, the onscreen game itself (dubbed "Margolis") was actually Advanced Dungeons and Dragons for the Intellivision home console. The sounds also did not match the game, as well as the controls, as when Hinkley was playing the game, it showed several buttons and a joystick on the control panel; no model cab of Tempest had a joystick, but a spinner controller. (It could also be considered ironic that an Atari product [Tempest] was replaced by an Intellivision product, as many Intellivison commercials blasted Atari for its 2600 console, stating of the much more “realistic” graphics of their product when compared with the 2600's library.)
- A Pac-Man mural with its monsters adorned the arcade, which can be seen in the background in at least one shot during the episode.
- The title of the episode is in regards to a fictional Dungeons and Dragons-type game that was sweeping the country at the time. Many of the students that Maxwell and company were trying to get information out of in regards to the missing prince played the game.
Links[]
Watch episode at The Greatest American Hero Hulu channel
This arcade was featured in September, 2015.