Tapper

1001 Video Games

The Arcade version of Tapper appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

How to Squeeze an Arcade Into Your 64

Tapper on the Commodore 64 appeared in an article by Julian Rignall in Zzap! (Issue 3 Jul 85 p80) about how accurate to the arcade original it came from. It scored 93%.

Movie appearance

Tapper is one of the games appearing in the Wreck-It Ralph movie. The bartender also has a small speaking role, and the bar seems to serve the same purposes for game characters as it would for people in the real world (drinking, chatting..).

Player character

The player character in this game is based on an employee of the game's designer (Marvin Glass) named Mike Ferris who had the same bald head, glasses and mustache, and always wore a red T-shirt. In the original coin-op versions, his T-shirt is in red. The same man is also found in some other Marvin Glass coin-ops: "Domino Man" and "Timber".

Product placement

The original arcade game featured references to Budweiser ingame, as well as on the cabinet. Most of the home conversions lack these, instead they feature Mountain Dew/Pepsi. Because of laws against advertising alcoholic beverages to minors, another arcade version was released called Root Beer Tapper. The game is the same, but you are a soda jerk in game and on the cabinet.

Awards

• Zzap!
  • May 1985 (Issue 1) - #13 It's the Zzap! 64 Top 64!

Information also contributed by Tony Gies.