Cinematronics Inc. was an American company that made and sold arcade video games. Cinematronics and Atari, Inc. created games using a special type of display called vector-display, which had a unique appearance and better graphics than other games at the time. However, these games were only black and white at first. In 1983, Cinematronics released Dragon's Lair, the first major video game made using LaserDisc technology. Today, Warner Bros. Games owns the rights to Cinematronics' games because it bought Midway Games.

History

Cinematronics Inc. was started on April 1, 1975, by Dennis Partee and Gary Garrison, who were players on the San Diego Chargers football team, and Jimmie Dale "Jim" Pierce (1937–2011) in San Diego, California. Gary Garrison was the first president, but Jim Pierce later took over that role. The company began by making copies of the game Pong and selling them locally. Their first game sold nationwide was Flipper Ball (1976), followed by Embargo (1977). The company had difficulty staying in business, and in 1977, Gary Garrison sold his share to Ralph Clarke, a mortgage broker.

At the end of 1977, Cinematronics released the game Space Wars, created by independent developer Larry Rosenthal. This game was a version of the mainframe game Spacewar! and used a special vector monitor display. Because Cinematronics was near bankruptcy, they agreed to make the game in exchange for a 5% royalty on each unit sold to Rosenthal.

Space Wars was first shown at the Amusement and Music Operators of America show in October 1977, but Cinematronics was not ready to produce it. They hired Ken Beuck, an expert from Atari Inc., and Bill Cravens, a salesman, to help. To keep the company from closing, Thomas B. Stroud, a coin-operated machine operator in San Diego, bought Dennis Partee’s share.

When the first units of Space Wars were shipped in late 1977, it became the first commercially available video game using vector graphics, which provided a clearer image than the raster graphics used at the time. The game was the top-selling coin-operated video game of 1978, with about 7,000 units sold. This success helped Cinematronics survive, but Rosenthal and Bill Cravens were unhappy with the company. In April 1978, Rosenthal left to start a new company called Sunrise Research in Northern California. He took all the documents needed to make vector games with him. Cinematronics kept the right to use Rosenthal’s patents but lacked the knowledge to create games. Rosenthal’s company later became known as Vectorbeam, a name previously used by Cinematronics.

Cinematronics continued making games due to two events. First, an engineer named Bob Long copied the code for Rosenthal’s system. Second, Rosenthal had tested a new employee named Tim Skelly before leaving. Skelly joined Cinematronics after Rosenthal left and helped create their first new game, with the help of engineers Dennis Halverson and Rob Patton.

In 1978, Cinematronics changed its management. Ralph Clarke left, and Tom Stroud’s son, Tom A. Stroud, became the salesman. Jim Pierce briefly stepped down as president but returned to the role. The company did not release any games that year but introduced Tim Skelly’s first game, Starhawk (1979), at the Amusement Trade Expo in January 1979. Released in March, Starhawk was successful and outperformed Vectorbeam’s game, Speed Freak (1979).

Jim Pierce and Tom Stroud worked with Rosenthal to buy his patents. After more than a year, Vectorbeam was sold to Cinematronics on June 1, 1979, along with the rights to two patents on vector game technology. Vectorbeam became a subsidiary of Cinematronics, with Tom A. Stroud as president and Tim Skelly as head of product development. Rosenthal continued making games, including Tail Gunner (1979) and the unreleased Oops! (1979), before leaving the company. He later sued Cinematronics for payment related to his patents.

Vectorbeam acted as a factory and label for Cinematronics products in 1979. Games like Barrier (1979) and Warrior (1979) were released under the Vectorbeam name. In November 1979, Cinematronics sold Vectorbeam’s factory and assets to Exidy Inc., who relabeled them as Exidy II. Exidy gained the rights to make vector games after releasing Tailgunner as Tailgunner II. Some Vectorbeam staff moved to Cinematronics in San Diego.

In 1980, Cinematronics used their patents more actively. They sued Atari Inc. for making games like Lunar Lander and Asteroids with their own vector system. The case was settled without going to court. They also licensed their games to be made in the cocktail table format by Rock-Ola, who created Demon! (1982) and QB-3 (1982). Cinematronics won a major copyright case by stopping the sale of illegal copies of Star Castle (1980).

Star Castle was developed by Tim Skelly and new programmer Scott Boden. It became Cinematronics’ most successful game, selling over 10,000 units and staying in production through much of 1981. A disagreement between Skelly and management led to his leaving the company. He later joined Sega/Gremlin, who was also making vector games, which caused Cinematronics to sue Gremlin and Skelly for stealing trade secrets.

In June 1981, Cinematronics moved to a new 78,000-square-foot facility in El Cajon. After releasing Armor Attack (1981), the last game Skelly made for them, Cinematronics struggled to find new products. Scott Boden created Solar Quest (1981) to replace Star Castle but it was not as successful. They tried to organize development by hiring managers and made a tank gunner simulator for the military. Their attempt to create color vector hardware led to the release of the unsuccessful Boxing Bugs (1982).

Fred Fukumoto, the company’s former vice president of finance, became president in January 1982. He planned to license games from Japanese companies, like Midway had done with Space Invaders and Galaxian. They imported games like Naughty Boy (1982) and Jack the Giantkiller (1982), but they failed. They canceled many projects, including their military contract. In August 1982, Security Pacific Bank foreclosed on Cinematronics, and the company entered Chapter 11 Bankruptcy. Fukumoto left, and Jim Pierce returned as president.

While still in bankruptcy, Cinematronics kept a small development team and created Cosmic Chasm (1983). They partnered with Advanced Microcomputer Systems (AMS) and released Zzyzzyxx (1982). AMS convinced Cinematronics to make Laserdisc games, including Dragon’s Lair (1983), in partnership with Don Bluth Productions. The three companies formed Starcom to control the rights to the game and future Laserdisc releases. Cinematronics produced Dragon’s Lair, which brought the company out of bankruptcy and gave them national recognition as leaders in video game technology.

By the time of the follow-up game, Space Ace (1984), the partnership between the companies had broken down. The decline of Laser

Coin-operated games

All games developed by Cinematronics unless otherwise noted.

• Unknown Pong clone (1975)
• Flipper Ball (1976)
• Embargo (May 1977)
• Space Wars (December 1977) Developed by independent designer Larry Rosenthal.
• Starhawk (March 1979)
• Barrier (August 1979) Released under the Vectorbeam label.
• Sundance (October 1979)
• Warrior (October 1979) Released under the Vectorbeam label.
• Tail Gunner (March 1980) Developed by Vectorbeam. Later released by Exidy as Tailgunner II.
• Rip Off (March 1980)
• Star Castle (October 1980)
• Armor Attack (June 1981)
• Solar Quest (October 1981) Developed by independent developer Scott Boden.
• Vanguard (1981) Developed by Tose. Cinematronics published the cocktail cabinet version only (Centuri was the American publisher for upright cabinets).
• Boxing Bugs (May 1982)
• Naughty Boy (June 1982) Developed by Jaleco.
• Jack the Giantkiller (1982) Developed by Hara Industries.
• Zzyzzyxx (December 1982) Developed by Advanced Microcomputer Systems. Later renamed Brix.
• War of the Worlds (February 1983) Also offered in a kit form by Progressive Game Distributors.
• Cosmic Chasm (April 1983)
• Dragon's Lair (July 1983) Developed by Advanced Microcomputer Systems. Licensed from Starcom.
• Space Ace (February 1984) Developed by Advanced Microcomputer Systems. Licensed from Magicom.
• Scion (1984) Developed by Seibu Denshi.
• Freeze (January 1985)
• Cerberus (February 1985)
• Mayhem 2002 (March 1985)
• Power Play (September 1985)
• World Series: The Season (November 1985)
• Alley Master (May 1986)
• Danger Zone (December 1986)
• Redline Racer (December 1986) Also published by Tradewest.

• Doctor Strange (1980) A vector-based combat game based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name. Tim Skelly worked on it shortly after the release of Warrior.
• Catch and Throw (1980) A Tim Skelly concept where players were their own shooting projectile. Later worked on at Sega/Gremlin before eventually becoming Reactor (1982), which Skelly independently developed for D. Gottlieb & Co.
• Sentinel (1981) A fixed turret shooting game at advancing targets developed by Scott Boden and Tim Skelly. Evolved into Boxing Bugs.
• Hovercraft (1983) An advanced vector graphics game utilizing polarized 3D imaging. Was location tested and planned to be shown at a trade show, but was shelved in favor of Dragon’s Lair.
• Cutter (c. 1983) A game where players destroyed the web of a spider.
• Express Delivery (1984) A top-down racing and maze game with similar objectives to Paperboy (1985).
• Striker (c. 1986) The four player version of Power Play.