Old school 70s motorcycle arcade games

I’m a huge big fan of retro arcade games and they simply don’t get any cooler than these two electro mechanical 70s arcade machines.

Kevin Keinert has restored Sega Moto Champ and Bally Hill Climb to their former glory as demonstrated in the videos. Both the games use actual model bikes rather than video versions used on screen in the 1980s.

The bike on Bally Hill Climb actually features a chain driven rear wheel to power the bike and spin the drum that serves as the track.  The object is not to make the bike wheelie by feeding in too much power!

I think we may need one of these in the MotorSportRetro.com office!

Here is a fuller explanation from Kevin about his Bally Hill Climb video.

“Here we have a 1972 Bally Hill Climb game that I restored in 2007. The player steers a minibike up a steep hill and tries to cover as much ground as possible without popping a wheelie. Any wheelies will stop the bike and cause the player to loose valuable time. An electric motor which is mounted inside the bike actually powers the rear tire to make the bike go. Except the bike doesn’t go anywhere. Instead, the hillside scenery is caused to move beneath the bike by the rotation of the rear tire. I was fortunate enough to get this game in trade for my labor cost of restoring another Hill Climb. The customer sent me two games. I got to keep one and I restored the other for his collection.”

In Sega Moto Champ the rider hangs onto a set of handle bars equipped with a throttle which allows you to manoeuvre your bike around the other riders on your quest for victory.

Here is Kevins blurb on the Sega Moto Champ video.

“This is a 1973 Sega Moto Champ that I restored in 2008. The four opponent’s motorcycles are held, by magnets, to an elaborate motion sequencing mechanism located under the roadway. This video does show the mechanism that moves the bikes while the race is underway. The player’s motorcycle is attached to a rod, which leads back to a motor, that your handle bars control. The object of the game is to maneuver your bike in-between the random motion of the other bikes and finish the race in first place. If you succeed, you win one free replay. As you twist the throttle handle to accelerate, you pull ahead of the other bikes and the roadway appears to move faster. This game however, unlike the Kasco Untouchable discussed below, does not use a large moving treadmill for the roadway. The road scene is projected from a rotating drum and lamp assembly that is mounted in the head board.