Gee Bee (all related games)
Gee Bee
Manufacturer: Namco, 1978
Designer: Toru Iwatani
Description:
A combination of pinball and Breakout, this was also the first video
game published by Namco. When Iwatani first joined them, he wanted
to make pachinko (pinball) machines but soon became inspired by the
burgeoning video game market. This gave him the opportunity to work
on both forms of games. He'd soon become even more famous for
creating Pac-Man.
Scoring tips:
Pop Bumpers: 10 or 100 points.
Spinner: 10 or 100 points.
1st row of drops: 20 points.
2nd row of drops: 50 points.
3rd row of drops: 100 points.
Namco bumpers: 50 points.
Finishing the side drop target banks puts in a barrier to the side
drain and increases the pop bumper points on the side you've
cleared.
Finishing the top drop targets increases the spinner awards.
Lighting all Namco bumpers increases bonus multiplier to double the
amount.
Bomb Bee
Manufacturer: Namco, 1979
Designer: Toru Iwatani
Description:
This sequel features more colors for the bricks you need to break.
Scoring tips:
Pop Bumpers: 10 or 100 points
Spinner: 10 or 100 points
Green Drops: 10 points
Blue drops: 20, 40, 60 or 80 points
1st row of drops: 10 points
Namco bumpers: 50 points
Big Pop: 1,000 points
Finishing red-yellow side drop targets bank puts in barrier to the
side drain and increases the pop bumper points on the side you've
cleared.
Finishing blue top drop targets gives you a big 1,000 pop bumper
which you have a limited number of hits you can give it before it
explodes and gets replaced by another bank of blue drop targets.
Lighting all Namco bumpers increases bonus multiplier to double the
amount.
Note:
Occasionally the ball will get stuck in a very long loop (this
usually happens with the pop bumpers). Just sit back and relax while
the points rack up, but eventually the game will figure out the ball
is stuck and shoot it out in some other direction.
Cutie Q
Manufacturer: Namco, 1979
Designer: Toru Iwatani
Description:
The third entry features bricks with ghost images, possibly a
precursor to the ghost adversaries popular in Pac-Man.
Scoring tips:
EXTRA rollovers: 100 points.
Drop Targets: 10 points.
Faces: 50 points.
Spinner: 10 points.
Side Traps: X amount of points, in 100 point increments.
Ghosts in middle roll-through: number of points listed above
targets.
Finishing all drop targets in an area brings up a ghost. Hit it, and
you get a certain number of points (shown near the ghost) multiplied
by a number which changes quickly. If the ghost is hit (or if it
makes it to the edge of the area), the drop targets return with an
extra row of two drops to work on each time.
Make all faces into smiley faces increases bonus multiplier up to
triple the amount.
Light up 'EXTRA' on either side will give you a shot in one of the
side drains for an extra ball. Once gotten, the 'Extra' rollovers
will disappear.
