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Q*Bert (Qバート)

Released in 1983

Developer: Gottlieb / Mylstar / Premier
Manufacturer: Gottlieb / Mylstar / Premier
Distributor: Gottlieb / Mylstar / Premier

****.5 (2 total votes)

Q*Bert marquee
game marquee

Game Summary

Jump around pyramid, changing the color of cube faces.

Hardware Info

Controls: 1 Joystick
Vertical-mounted Raster monitor
240 x 256 Resolution
Colors: 16 Color

Additional Hardware Info (from Mame)

I86 cpu @ 5 Mhz
M6502 cpu
DAC audio
* Samples audio
* Information was extracted from Mame, so "Samples audio" may indicate the game has analog sound hardware.

Hardware Platform

Gottlieb GG-III

Mame ROMs

qbert, Q*bert (US)
qbertjp, Q*bert (Japan)

Game Details

Designed and Programmed by Warren Davis
Video Artwork by Jeff Lee
Cabinet Artwork by Terry Doerzaph
Audio by David Thiel

From Warren Davis: "Another programmer, Kan Yabumoto, had filled a screen with shaded hexagons which looked like cubes. I had the idea of creating a pyramid out of them, and dropping balls down. This was a programming exercise for myself to program randomness (the balls have exactly 2 choices of which way to go each time they hit a surface) and gravity. It was after I had this programmed that other people noticed it and we were encouraged to turn it into a game."

Ron Waxman came up with the idea of Q*Bert changing the color of the cubes. Q*Bert's name originated by the combination of cube and Hubert, but the Cube-Bert was changed to Q-Bert to make it more unique. The concept game was called Snots and Boogers and then @!#?@! (which many of the programmers and Gottlieb VPs said would be impossible to get anyone to say) before the final version was called just Q*Bert. Slick and Sam were a play on the phrase "spick and span" with Sam being named after co-worker Sam Russo. Rick Tighe came up with the idea of adding the pinball hardware which generated the very mechanical KA-CHUNK when Q*Bert falls off the pyramid.

Tips and Tricks:

Good results can be obtained by working your way down one end of the level at the start, moving across the bottom to the other side, catching a disk to the top, and then filling in the middle squares.

A big part of the game is waiting to see where creatures are going to jump. You need to make sure you always time a jump at the same time the creatures jump to you can always have a clear path to a new square.

After level 9, the levels repeat themselves.

Because the game was developed during the period when Columbia Pictures owned Gottlieb, the intellectual rights to Q*bert remained with Columbia, even after they divested themselves of Gottlieb's assets in 1984. The rights have been owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment since 1989. Q*bert appeared in Disney's Wreck-It Ralph franchise under license from Sony, and later appeared in the film, Pixels.



Q*Bert control panel
control panel


Q*Bert cabinet photo
cabinet photo
Q*Bert title screen
title screen
Q*Bert gameplay screen shot
gameplay screen
Q*Bert promotional flyer
promotional flyer

"Maybe" Images

(fuzzy search, these MAY match the game, or they may not)

Q*Bert cocktailQ*Bert upright cabinetQ*Bert Flyer:

Coinop.org Member Ratings / Comments

***** by kk. Comment: "Perfect gameplay, fun as all get-out." 2000-07-26 09:10:00Z

**** by tcbear. Comment: "One of the most addictive games of all times." 2001-10-18 17:06:03Z

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This game page was created 8/3/1998 12:00:00 AM and last updated 7/9/2000 11:14:27 AM