What you are currently viewing is a true piece of arcade flyer history. Bouncer was created in 1983 by a small company called Entertainment Sciences. They created only two games, and neither of them ever really made the blinking lights of an arcade, save for a few in select test locations. Bouncer was seen briefly in 1983 at the AMOA show in New Orleans and was basically never heard from again.

It was one of the first games to use actual drawn animation for it's characters. Dragon's Lair, which was also rearing it's head at this time, used animation burned to a laser disc, while Bouncer's method consisted of drawn characters that were then converted to computer graphics. The astronomical cost of creating the machine made it extremely difficult to sell to investors, although Atari did show a passing interest in publishing it at one point. The programming was all run on the in-house invented, aptly named RIP system (Real-Time Image Processor) which itself never really saw much, if any, use.

In the game, you played "The Bouncer", a big, bald, Michael Chiklis looking guy who's job is to eject rowdy patrons from the bar while simultaneously keeping the other customers happy. The problem characters have such iconic names as Fatso, Soppy, Romeo and Scooter. If you couldn't tell from their rather obvious names, Fatso has a hilarious fat guy, Soppy was the old lush, Romeo was a flasher in boxer shorts and Scooter was a smart alec-y young skateboarder. Joining you on the bar staff were Julie, the waitress and Jake, the bartender.

You controlled the Bouncer with a trackball and something called the "Bounce" button that was used to get rid of the pesky troublemakers by rolling them into a ball or throwing them out the door. You could also punch, kick or otherwise maim the offending patrons.

A rabid fan known only as "Chris", has made a quite in depth (if not horribly formatted) web page all about the game. He goes into great detail about the whole history of Bouncer and it's parent company Entertainment Sciences, including interviews of people who were involved with the game. He also has several screenshots of the machine in action as well as a great shot of the game being demoed at the AMOA show, complete with 80's booth babe. The His interest in the game borders on the obsessive, but it's a pretty interesting read about a company and a game that fell victim to end of the first great era of video games. Flynn De Marco

Bouncer Fan Page