Manufacturer: Sega
Released: 1982
Designer: ?
Added to my colleciton: December, 2000
Cost to date : $529
Current Condition : Working 100%

Description:

Pengo is a game that came out during the heart of the "maze craze" that was started by Pac-Man in 1980. It is certainly a lesser-known game, but it's just as cartoony and much more fun. (Well, at least I think so...)

Pengo is unlike most other maze games in that you are actually able to manipulate the maze. You take on the role of Pengo, an oddly-hued penguin. Your goal is to avoid and, ultimately, eliminate the Sno-Bees--brightly-colored puffballs with eyes and fists--who are trying to catch you. To do this, you must squash them between the ice cubes that make up the inner walls of the maze or shake the walls (thus stunning the Sno-Bees if they happen to be in contact with the wall at the time)and walk over them. For an added bonus, you can push the indestructible diamond blocks together in a row. (This also stuns the Sno-Bees for a few seconds.) The levels are timed, creating a sense of urgency.

Like Pac-Man, Pengo is a non-violent game. (Well, other than the crushing of the Sno-Bees, I suppose.) Instead of a fire button, there is a "push" button for sliding or breaking through ice blocks. Just like Pac-Man, this game includes "intermissions"--little breaks between designated levels where game characters perform a little dance for the player's amusement.

This game embodies the perfect recipe for quick addiction--it's easy to play but tough to master. In the days when I frequented the arcades, I can only remember seeing Pengo in one location--a pool hall near where I lived. Even so, I was quickly hooked on the game, and it remains one of my favorites to this day.

My Machine:

This is the second game I won in an ebay auction (Space Wars was the first one--I sold that a while back because I could never get it working). I saw it just three days after I picked up the other game at the shipping terminal, put in the bid, and won. It's the most expensive game I've bought (if you don't include shipping charges, that is), but it was still under $300--the top end of what I consider reasonable for most 18-year-old video games.

I picked up this game and found that it was packed meticulously...and I mean meticulously. It was in a plywood crate, which is required by Forward Air (the preferred way to ship a video game if you have the means to pick it up at the terminal...and a terminal nearby, of course). Once the crate was removed, I found the game wrapped top to bottom in cardboard. After the cardboard was removed, I found a layer of bubblewrap (again, top to bottom). Finally, the glass (both the screen and the marquee) was taped and the neck of the monitor (inside the game) was wrapped in bubblewrap. Obviously, a great effort was made to make sure this game got to me intact. (Thanks to Tony, the guy I purchased it from, for taking such good care of it!)

My hopes that the game would be in good shape were well-founded. Cosmetically, there are a couple of blemishes on the sideart, but both sides are completely intact. The cabinet has some minor scuffs, and the control panel is worn. The joystick was probably not original and, in any case, wasn't working all that well. I replaced it with a new one. The joystick replacement wasn't as simple as it should have been because the wires were soldered. (Every other joystick I've replaced has had quick-connect cables.) The marquee was perfect. And, inside, there wasn't even any dust! Usually, there's about, oh, 18 years' worth inside these games.

Of course, the real test was plugging it in--and it passed with flying colors. The monitor could probably use a re-capping-- it's a little wavy, and not perfectly crisp--but it works and that's the important thing. This game is a real asset to my collection.

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Pengo Technical Info:

DIP switch settings:

Pengo has three banks of DIP switches. Bank 1 (which has only two switches) is not used. The asterisks (*) indicate the factory default settings.

More Pengo Info:

• The Killer List of Video Games has information on Pengo and pretty much every other game ever made.
• Kids Domain has a downloadable version of Pengo (or something very much like it). Try it...it's free!
• Better still, you can play the real Pengo (and a bunch of other classic games) through a Java emulator at Norbert's Emulator Software.
  

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