How to play Tapper online
- Move between the four bars: up and down arrow keys (moving past the top or bottom bar wraps you around to the other end)
- Walk along a bar: left and right arrow keys
- Fill a mug and serve it: Space bar (stand still at the tap while the mug fills)
- Choose one or two players: F11 (the console’s Select switch)
- Start a new game: F12 (the console’s Reset switch)
- Set the difficulty: F4 and F9 (the two difficulty switches, see below)
- Save and load your progress: Ctrl + 0–9 saves to a slot, Alt + 0–9 loads it
Gameplay
The screen shows four counters, one above the other, with a soda tap at the end of each. Customers walk in from the far end and slowly move towards you. Fill a mug and it slides down the counter. A customer who catches it drinks up and, sooner or later, sends the empty mug sliding back. Serve every customer on the screen and you move on.
You lose a life in three ways: a customer reaches your end of the counter without a drink and throws you down the bar, you slide a full mug down a counter with nobody left to catch it, or you miss an empty mug and it falls off the end. The game takes you through four bars, each with its own crowd: the Old West Saloon, the Jock Bar, the Punk Rock Bar and the Space Bar. At the end of a round, three dancers appear on stage.
| Action | Points |
|---|---|
| Serve a cowboy or cowgirl | 50 |
| Serve a sports fan | 75 |
| Serve a punk rocker | 100 |
| Serve a space creature | 150 |
| Catch an empty mug | 100 |
| Clear a screen | 1,000 |
| Win the bonus round | 3,000 |
You earn an extra life at 20,000 points and then every 50,000 points. Between bars comes the bonus round, a soda-can version of the shell game. The Soda Bandit shakes five of six cans and shuffles them. Pick the one he did not shake for 3,000 points; pick wrong and the bartender gets sprayed.
Difficulty switches
- Both switches on B: Beginner – five lives, slow customers
- Left B, right A: Intermediate – three lives, slow customers
- Left A, right B: Arcade – five lives, fast customers
- Both switches on A: Expert – three lives, fast customers
Tips
- Count before you pour. Only send a mug down a counter that still has a thirsty customer on it. A mug that reaches the door costs a life.
- Collect empties. A caught mug is worth 100 points, but don’t wander so far that another bar is left unattended.
- Use the wrap-around. Going down from the bottom bar takes you straight to the top one, which is often quicker than walking up three counters.
From beer to soda
The arcade Tapper was designed at Marvin Glass and Associates and was sponsored by Anheuser-Busch, with Budweiser branding and cabinet controls shaped like beer tap handles. Because of concerns about advertising alcohol to children, Bally Midway soon released Root Beer Tapper, where a soda jerk replaced the bartender. The home versions went their own way: they kept the original bartender but switched to soft drinks, and the 2600 bonus round shows a Mountain Dew logo instead of Budweiser.
The 2600 conversion kept all four bars from the arcade game. It did drop a few details: customers no longer leave tips on the counter, and you can only have two mugs sliding down a counter at once.
Similar games to play next
- Pressure Cooker – Activision’s hectic burger-assembly game, another race against impatient customers
- BurgerTime – arcade-style cooking chaos from Mattel
- Fast Food – another quick-reflex game with a food-and-drink theme
- Spy Hunter – another Bally Midway arcade hit brought to the 2600 by Sega