Domino Man

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Domino Man
Domino Man at the Title Screen.
Developer: Marvin Glass and Associates
Publisher: Bally Midway
Release date: 1983
Genre: Skill
Game modes: Up to 2 players, alternating turns
Cabinet: Standard
Controls: Joystick, 1 button
Monitor
Orientation: Horizontal
Type: Raster, standard resolution
Size: ?
Notes
Uses Scott Joplin's Maple Leaf Rag for the background game music.

Domino Man is a 1983 arcade videogame released by Bally Midway. It is one of the few videogames that features the ragtime piece, Maple Leaf Rag by Scott Joplin as the game background music.

[edit] Gameplay

The player controls Domino Man, a bespectacled, balding artist in a beat-up turtleneck sweater and sporting a mustache. The player attempts to set up a number of giant dominoes across the screen.

Domino Man runs back and forth across the screen setting up each domino on a site marked by a black dot. Meanwhile, pedestrians meander throughout the playfield, so caught up in their own thoughts that they never bother to look where they are going. Or maybe knock over a domino, which will cause one Domino Man to be eliminated. However, pedestrians are the least of Domino Man's concerns. A killer bee constantly appears trying to sting Domino Man. The player must swat the bee before it stings. There is also a neighborhood bully who is a real bruiser and is about twice Domino Man's size, and when he appears, he will head for the closest domino. You must try to take down the dominoes before he knocks them over.

After the player has set up all the dominoes, they will have a choice to either knock down all the dominoes or continue play in hopes of increasing the domino bonus value. After they have made the choice, they will move on to the next screen.

After the game is over, the game will have a poem displayed on the screen to evaluate the player's performance on the game. For example:

Roses are red
Or so goes the verse,
You set up 52—
You could have done worse.

[edit] Trivia

  • The main character in this game is very similar (if not the same) as the bartender in Tapper and one of the Timber lumberjacks. Rumor has it that his likeness was based upon that of one of the Midway employees.
  • An interesting advertisement for the game read:
Domino Man's my name and building a domino chain is the exciting new game but if I do not work fast there's a mean old bully who wants to knock them over and a pesky bee who wants to stick it to me but if I jump on the bully's head he will go away and I can whack the bee with a domino and to make matters worse there's always clumsy people running into the chain knocking the dominos down but if you help me we will get this chain built yet and there's no more time to talk because the bully's coming this way so I have to gooooooo.....

[edit] External link