I was HUGE fan of Crystal Castles back in the day so I decided to choose it for today's Arcade Flyer Art Saturday. Produced in 1983 by Atari, Crystal Castles put the player in the role of Bentley, a cute little teddy bear with a wizard's cap and a penchant for gems. The levels were done in a "3D" stle and always reminded me a little of Escher's stair painting. Bentley was constantly under attack by the evil one eyed Gem Eaters, evil trees, skeletons, scary bowling ball monsters, bees and the big mamma, Berthilda the Witch. he would run around, collecting gems while avoiding the monsters and when all gems were gone from the level, the stage would end and points would be tallied. The only real "power ups" were the honey pot that would give you extra points and Berthilda's hat that would make Bentley invincible for a short time allowing him to run through enemies and even eliminate Berthilda herself. There were also secret warp points on some levels that would advance you several screens in the game.

The machine itself was beautiful. The bright purple and blue cabinet with it's happy teddy bear being chased by skeletons was always a beacon across a flashing arcade. According to KLOV, the game had no "attract sound" to try and get players interested and instead relied on the great artwork to get it's share of quarters. The control was an awesome red flashing trackball and a button that you could use to jump. If you did well enough to make the high score, your entered initials would be incorporated into the design of one of the levels th the game the next time it was played.

There were several versions of this flyer on TAFA, but I chose this one because it was the most bizarre. The other three were all just different versions of the cabinet art, but this one... wow. Most impressive is the crystal castle itself with it's red gems. But how long did they make that thing? That is a lot of hours with plexiglass and a heat gun. Someone obviously spent a lot of time putting this together. They even made Bentley a little felt wizard's hat, "B" belt and boots and everything. It's teddy bear cosplay for the sake of advertising. Strange and yet oddly compelling. Flynn De Marco