1979 · Atari
Road Runner
Known for BIRD targets, Captive balls and Shatz targets. American southwest desert, sunset sky with clouds, layered mesas and buttes, winding road, cacti and scrub and rock terraces.
- Year
- 1979
- Maker
- Atari
- Type
- Solid state
- Display
- Alphanumeric
- Players
- 2
Known for
- Target
BIRD targets
- Captive ball
Captive balls
- Target
Shatz targets
On the playfield
Captive ball 1
- Captive balls
Spinner 1
- Orbit spinners
Targets 3
- BIRD targets
- Shatz targets
- Right drop target
Lane 1
- Star rollover rollover
Flipper 1
- Lower right flipper extra flipper
On the backglass
Who and what
- animal One huge stylised roadrunner bird at centre: purple-lavender body, long yellow beak, big white eye with black pupil, spiky dark-blue crest fanning back, long legs, wings spread wide horizontally in magenta, purple and white, tail sweeping left
- animal A second smaller roadrunner head with a red and white feathered crest, yellow beak, at left-centre, beside the motorcycle
- man A motorcyclist at left-centre wearing a feathered headdress, rendered in small cartoon scale against the road
Setting
- American southwest desert
- Sunset sky with clouds
- Layered mesas and buttes
- Winding road
- Cacti and scrub
- Rock terraces
Text on it
- ROADRUNNER
- ATARI
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- pininside.com
How it plays
-
Awards 1
- Double Bonus
Made by
- Design
- Marty Rosenthal
Reference
Linked terms
- BIRD targets also called BIRD drop targets
- Captive balls also called Left captive ball also called Right captive ball
- Shatz targets also called shatz
- Right drop target also called Solo right drop target
Backglass vision analysis
Written by a machine from the photos, so details may be off.
Backglass
- yellow
- orange
- purple
- blue
Fingerprint: Giant purple roadrunner bird with fanned dark-blue crest and wildly spread magenta-white wings straddling center glass dwarfing everything else, sunset desert highway scene orange mesas cacti stretching behind, ROADRUNNER spelled enormous yellow-orange block letters pierced by three horizontal speed lines, small ATARI emblem blue oval upper left, four numbered score windows 1 2 3 4 stacked vertically down right edge, second smaller crested bird beside motorbike left
The single most memorable element is the giant purple roadrunner bird with the fanned dark-blue crest and wildly spread magenta-and-white wings, straddling the centre of the glass and dwarfing everything else. Behind and below it stretches a sunset desert highway scene of orange mesas and cacti. The title ROADRUNNER is spelled out in enormous yellow-orange block letters pierced by three horizontal speed lines, with a small ATARI emblem in a blue oval at the upper left. Four numbered score windows (1, 2, 3, 4) are stacked vertically down the right edge. A second, smaller crested bird sits beside a motorbike on the left.
Setting
- American southwest desert
- Sunset sky with clouds
- Layered mesas and buttes
- Winding road
- Cacti and scrub
- Rock terraces
Symbols
- Stylised mountain/fuji emblem above atari
- Three horizontal speed lines through the title
- Four numbered circles 1-4
- Motorcycle
- Cacti
- Mesas
- Winding road
Lettering
- Very large geometric block capitals, yellow-orange fill with red-brown outline and white drop shadow, horizontal speed-line motif
Themes
- Desert
- Road runner bird
- Motorcycle
- Southwestern
- Sunset
- Countryside speed
Title on it
- Roadrunner
Text on it
- ROADRUNNER
- ATARI
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- pininside.com
| Kind | Description |
|---|---|
| Animal | One huge stylised roadrunner bird at centre: purple-lavender body, long yellow beak, big white eye with black pupil, spiky dark-blue crest fanning back, long legs, wings spread wide horizontally in magenta, purple and white, tail sweeping left |
| Animal | A second smaller roadrunner head with a red and white feathered crest, yellow beak, at left-centre, beside the motorcycle |
| Man | A motorcyclist at left-centre wearing a feathered headdress, rendered in small cartoon scale against the road |
A landscape-format illustrated backglass in bold flat cartoon colours. Across the whole top runs the word ROADRUNNER in huge chunky yellow-orange block capitals with red-brown outline and a white drop shadow, three horizontal speed lines cutting through the letters. At upper left, inside a dark blue oval, is a white stylised mountain/fuji-shaped emblem over the word ATARI. Dominating the centre is one enormous stylised roadrunner bird: purple-lavender body, long yellow beak, big white eye with black pupil, spiky dark-blue crest feathers fanning from the back of its head, wings spread wide horizontally in magenta, purple and white. To the left a second, smaller roadrunner head with a red-and-white feathered crest perches beside a motorcycle ridden by a figure in a feathered headdress. The setting is an American southwest desert at sunset: a yellow-orange sky, layered mesas and buttes in rust and brown, a winding road, green cacti and scrub, dark hills, and white cloud banks. Down the right-hand side are four stacked horizontal rectangular display windows, each preceded on its left by a small numbered circle reading 1, 2, 3 and 4, with a landscape scene printed behind the upper two. The lower left is filled with yellow rock terraces and cactus; a pininside.com watermark with a coloured sphere logo sits at bottom right.