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Arcade / Arcade - Catch'em! · 1983

Gumball

Published by Brøderbund Software · Developed by Eltanan Effects

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Information

Genre
Arcade - Catch'em!
Language
Machine Language
Controls
Joystick, Keyboard
Players
1, Demo
Programmer(s)
Cook, Robert, Sadato
Year
1983
Publisher
Brøderbund Software
Developer
Eltanan Effects
Country
USA
License
Commercial
Medium
Disk
Rarity
8

Votes / Statistics

Rating: 7.7/10 · Votes: 32 · Downloads: 2,829 · Hits: 12,052

Screenshots (5)

Gumball — screenshot 1
Gumball — screenshot 1
Gumball — screenshot 2
Gumball — screenshot 2
Gumball — screenshot 3
Gumball — screenshot 3
Gumball — screenshot 4
Gumball — screenshot 4
Gumball — screenshot 5
Gumball — screenshot 5

Ads (1)

Bet'cha Can't Play Just One! · 1983
Bet'cha Can't Play Just One! · 1983

Book / Magazine Reviews (1)

Computer Fun · May, 1984 · Rating: 3.5/4

It's not the policy of Computer Fun to review business software, but faced with something as valuable as Gumball we had to make an exception. To call Gumball a game is misleading. It's a decision-making laboratory, a microcosmic simulation of real-life mini-crises, calling for global strategic thinking and a clear grasp of megatrends in the absolute.
Gumball puts you in the role of a sorter in a gumball factory. You must make sure that green gumballs end up in the green bin and blue gumballs end up in the blue bin. You have a quota of gumballs and a time limit. The gumballs roll down from the top of the screen and pass through a dizzying assortment of chutes and conveyors, You control a series of trip-gates which regulate the gumball directional flow and you can also move the bins to align with various gumball spigots.
You are not penalized for letting the occasional gumball fall through the cracks, but don't let a green gumball fall into the blue bin, or vice versa. If you do, the boss comes out, shakes his fist, and in a wild rage dumps your entire bin of gumballs onto the floor. Gumball is a highly imaginative game and a difficult and challenging one at that. To meet your quota on the higher levels before the time runs out, you've got to increase your production speed to levels which the Amalgamated Brotherhood of Gumball Sorters have deemed dangerous, frivolous and wanton. No time and a half, either.

Comments (2)

  • eppy200027 Feb 2017

    At a time when Activision was doing mainly phoned-in ports of their 2600 games, companies like Brøderbund put out some great original material like Gumball, and this is certainly one of those gems. As with the zany action of their Spare Change (where you ran an arcade), Gumball has you in charge of a gumball factory. You have to be fast, efficient, and accurate in sorting the colored gumballs or face the wrath of your boss. The animation is funny when he's hopping mad, and when he dumps out your work if a colored gumball goes to the wrong corresponding color container.

  • Daniel Thomas MacInnes15 Oct 2012

    I remember Gumball as one of my first Atari 800 games back in 1983. It was a clever puzzler with detailed graphics and tense gameplay. It was miles above anything I had seen on Atari 2600 or Intellivision. This is still a fun and challenging video game; it would be perfect for iOS or Android.

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