Thief

Thief was released in December 1981.

Thief was not a new idea, it was a simple automotive maze game, but is memorable for having some truly horrible graphics. The kind of graphics that are so bad that you can tell a lot of effort was put into them. This was actually a common problem with a lot of lesser known early 80s arcade titles. The programmers would try and push the limits of their hardware, and end up with a true monstrosity.

The game is still fun, despite the "crashed Nintendo" look of the background scenes and explosions.

Thief machines are of an interesting design. They are bright red, and have a very 'top heavy' look to them, this is due to the laid back monitor, and oversized marquee. These machines have a simple 'Thief' logo as sideart (it is a sticker), and use chrome t-molding. The oversized marquee is yellow, and has an image of a 1920s paddy wagon, and a prisoner wearing a classic black and white striped prison suit. The control panel overlay and monitor bezel are yellow as well, and are covered in similar images to the one on the marquee. The control panel itself has only a 4-Way joystick with a red ball on top, and Start buttons for each player located on the right side of the panel.

The machine also has a cassette player mounted inside that plays an eight minute loop tape of actual police radio announcements from many years ago. If you last long enough, you will hear a voice break through the announcements to tell you 'Hey, good play!'. Last even longer, and the voice breaks through with a couple more comments about your play, each one less and less nice.