Arcade Files · 👾 The golden age (1978–83)

G33Z3R Arcade Files · 19821986

What was Q*bert saying when he swore?

Q*bert

Released
1982
Made by
Gottlieb; designed by Warren Davis and Jeff Lee
How it played
Hop an orange creature around a pyramid of cubes, changing their color, dodging Coily the snake
The swear
A speech-bubble of random symbols and a synthesized gibberish voice; the cabinet also had a knocker that thumped when he fell

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The file

An orange thing with a long nose hopping diagonally on a pyramid, with a joystick mounted at 45 degrees so the diagonals made sense. When he jumped off the edge, a solenoid inside the cabinet thumped, and you felt it.

The comic-book swear when he died was the first cursing in a video game, and every kid did the impression. Q*bert was on lunchboxes and had a cartoon within a year.

Sources: Wikipedia — Q*bert

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