Gran Trak 10
Gran Trak 10 was released in March 1974 by Atari Inc, co-developed with the firm Cyan Engineering. Based off of existing electro-mechanical arcade driving games and inspired by a Scientific American mathematical game by Martin Gardner called Racetrack, Gran Trak 10 was the first graphical car racing video game ever released.
The initial prototype of the game was created at Cyan Engineering by Steve Mayer and Larry Emmons - founders of Cyan - with additional help by Bob Walker and Ron Milner. Among other notable features, it is one of the first arcade games to make use of a ROM chip as well as custom analog-digital hybrid chips in order to prevent copying by competitors. This extra hardware lead to production issues with the game, which first shipped in March of 1974 but had to be re-released in May of 1974 along with a redesigned model called Trak 10 which was identical in gameplay but did not make use of the custom chips internally.
Kee Games, the company secretly owned by Atari, also released their own version of the game known as Formula K.
Development[edit]
Prototype model for Gran Trak 10 being tested. (1973)
Production[edit]
Inside the production line for Gran Trak 10. (1974)
Announcement[edit]
(1974)
Advertisement[edit]
Flyers[edit]
Front page of the first Gran Trak 10 flyer. (1974)
Back page of the first Gran Trak 10 flyer. (1974)
Ad Pages[edit]
(1974)
Articles[edit]
(1974)
A report on the static coin reset problem of Gran Trak 10. (1975)
Proposed fixes for Atari's Gran Trak series and other games. (1975)
Photos[edit]
(1974)
Trade Shows[edit]
(1974)
Histories[edit]
- Fixing Gran Trak 10 by Ed Fries.
Books[edit]
They Create Worlds: The Story of the People and Companies That Shaped the Video Game Industry, Vol. I: 1971-1982
They Create Worlds, Volume 1: The Story of the People and Companies That Shaped the Video Game Industry (published November 2019) covers how the most renowned game creators overturned technology, pop culture, and birthed a whole new medium. From the very first video games up to the edge of the traumatic North American market crash in 1983, this book illuminates the people, business decisions, and market forces which brought video games to the height of popular culture in the early 1980s. It shows how technological innovations in research labs and in the realm of coin-operated games were propelled by visionaries who saw potential in the then new and expensive technology. The first Volume of this work covers important landmarks such as Spacewar!, Atari, Space Invaders, the early console market, electronic handheld games, and the commercial industry underlying them all.
ISBN 978-1138389908
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Atari Inc.: Business is Fun
An amazing 800 pages (including nearly 300 pages of rare, never before seen photos, memos and court documents), this book details Atari's genesis from an idea between an engineer and a visionary in 1969 to a nearly $2 billion dollar juggernaut, and ending with a $538 million death spiral during 1984. A testament to the people that worked at this beloved company, the book is full of their personal stories and insights.
ISBN 978-0985597405
