Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube
    Nostalgia Central
    • Home
    • Blog
      • Lists
    • Television
      • TV by Decade
        • TV – 1950s
        • TV – 1960s
        • TV – 1970s
        • TV – 1980s
        • TV – 1990s
      • Comedy
      • Drama
      • Kids TV
      • Variety
      • News & Sport
      • Advertisements
    • Music
      • Music by Decade
        • Music – 1950s
        • Music – 1960s
        • Music – 1970s
        • Music – 1980s
        • Music – 1990s
      • Artists – A to K
        • Artists – A
        • Artists – B
        • Artists – C
        • Artists – D
        • Artists – E
        • Artists – F
        • Artists – G
        • Artists – H
        • Artists – I
        • Artists – J
        • Artists – K
      • Artists – L to Z
        • Artists – L
        • Artists – M
        • Artists – N
        • Artists – O
        • Artists – P
        • Artists – Q
        • Artists – R
        • Artists – S
        • Artists – T
        • Artists – U
        • Artists – V
        • Artists – W
        • Artists – X
        • Artists – Y
        • Artists – Z
      • Artists – 0 to 9
      • Genres
      • Music on Film & TV
      • One-Hit Wonders
      • Playlists
      • Online Radio
    • Movies
      • Movies by Decade
        • Movies – 1950s
        • Movies – 1960s
        • Movies – 1970s
        • Movies – 1980s
        • Movies – 1990s
      • Movies – 0 to 9
      • Movies – A to K
        • Movies – A
        • Movies – B
        • Movies – C
        • Movies – D
        • Movies – E
        • Movies – F
        • Movies – G
        • Movies – H
        • Movies – I
        • Movies – J
        • Movies – K
      • Movies – L to Z
        • Movies – L
        • Movies – M
        • Movies – N
        • Movies – O
        • Movies – P
        • Movies – Q
        • Movies – R
        • Movies – S
        • Movies – T
        • Movies – U
        • Movies – V
        • Movies – W
        • Movies – X
        • Movies – Y
        • Movies – Z
    • Pop Culture
      • Fads
      • Toys & Games
      • Fashion
      • Decor
      • Food & Drink
      • People
      • Technology
      • Transport
    • Social History
      • 1950s Year by Year
      • 1960s Year by Year
      • 1970s Year by Year
      • 1980s Year by Year
      • 1990s Year by Year
      • Events
    Nostalgia Central
    Home»Pop Culture»Toys & Games
    Toys & Games 3 Mins Read

    Toobin’

    Share
    Facebook Twitter Pinterest WhatsApp Reddit Email

    Years before Extreme Sports hit the mainstream, there was Atari’s Toobin’, one of the oddest and most dangerous sports to hit the video arcade.

    The game was billed as an inner tube race down a series of waterways, but these rivers were anything but lazy, and only the strong would survive.

    Starting on the Colorado River, tube dudes BIF and JET (or their computer-controlled counterparts) floated downstream with only their hands and feet to control their progress.

    A unique four-button set controlled your character’s paddling – back-left, back-right, forward-left and forward-right.

    It took a bit of practice to learn how to make BIF and JET spin, backpaddle and race downstream, but the visual rewards were well worth it.

    Toobin’ took players on a wacky, cartoony trip, running down courses in many places and times: the Amazon, the Black Forest in the Middle Ages, a Jurassic river, a polar freeze-fest and even a trip down the red river to Hades.

    Each course came complete with its own hazards, from dragons and haunted trees to alligators and spear-hurling Amazons to dinosaurs, polar bears, snakes, fishermen, stream-crossing cows and shotgun-blasting hillbillies. Any contact with these baddies, or with one of the many branches and twigs that littered the waterway, and your tube would pop a gaping hole, leaving you one less repair patch and one snag closer to “Game Over.”

    Any contact with these baddies, or with one of the many branches and twigs that littered the waterway, and your tube would pop a gaping hole, leaving you one less repair patch and one snag closer to Game Over.

    Most obstacles had to be avoided with swift paddling, but for a little counter-attack, players could pick up floating cans along the trek, handy for use as projectile weapons.

    Bonus points could also be earned by sliding through course gates or snatching floating treasure chests, and for even quicker rewards (but much greater risks), players could take whirlpool shortcuts to higher levels.

    It’s safe to say that Toobin’ was unlike anything else in the arcade at the time. That was both good and bad for Atari. The unique look and play caught players’ interest, but the very specific control system and vertically-oriented monitor limited the game’s adaptability for home systems.

    An NES version was released, but not very widely. For most, Toobin’ remains purely an arcade experience, a memorable jaunt down some of the most unfriendly waters on Earth.

    Related Posts

    • Sprint series
      Sprint series
      Atari’s Indy 800 brought multi-player racing to the masses, but the company’s Sprint series took the genre to the next…
    • Pac-Man
      Pac-Man
      It will come as no surprise that Pac-Man originated in Japan, where a Japanese computer firm called Namco Limited, modelled…
    • Intellivision
      Intellivision
      It was an Atari world back in the late 70s and early 80s, but Mattel’s Intellivison staged a pretty good coup.…
    • Tron
      Tron
      It came as no surprise that Tron hit the arcades at the same time as its 1982 film counterpart. This…
    • Video Pinball
      Video Pinball
      Despite some industry fears, video didn’t kill the pinball star. Flipper-fuelled action had been an arcade mainstay since long before…
    • Computer Space
      Computer Space
      The history of coin-operated video arcade games began not with a whimper, but with several explosive bangs, rendered in simple…
    • Airball
      Airball
      Arcade game designers have always been a creative bunch, generally willing to try any idea (no matter how strange it…
    • Pong
      Pong
      The first successful computer game was a video version of ping-pong, whose "ball" was a blip that bounced back and…

    Arcade games
    Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest WhatsApp Reddit Email
    Previous ArticleSea Wolf
    Next Article Tron

    Comments are closed.

    Follow us
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • YouTube
    • Instagram
    You May Also Like
    • Danger Route (1967)
      This espionage thriller from Amicus was made at the height of […]
    • Bobby ‘Blue’ Bland
      Born in Rosemark, Tennessee on 27 January 1930, Bland was an […]
    • Charles In Charge
      1 9 8 4 – 1 9 8 5 (USA) 1 9 8 7 – 1 9 9 0 (USA) 126 […]
    • You Bet Your Life
      1 9 5 0 – 1 9 6 1 (USA) 209 x 30 minute episodes They […]
    • Fist of Fury (The Chinese Connection) (1972)
      Bruce Lee plays Chen Zhen, the former student of a revered […]
    • Gold Robbers, The
      1 9 6 9 (UK) 13 x 60 minute episodes Mechanics and armed guards […]
    Twitter Feed
    Please note


    Nostalgia Central covers the period 1950 to 1999 and contains some words and references which reflect the attitudes of those times and which may be considered culturally sensitive, offensive or inappropriate today.
    Popular Tags
    1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1975 1976 Action Figures Amicus Arcade games Australia Beach movies Beatles Blaxploitation Board games Britpop Canada Crime Disney Doo-Wop Elvis Presley Girl groups Glam Goth Hammer Heavy Metal Irwin Allen Labels Merseybeat Mod revival Motown New Romantic New Wave NWOBHM Oi! One-hit wonders Power Pop Pub rock Punk Radio Scotland Ska Soul music Sport Surf music
    Search Nostalgia Central
    Copyright © 1998, 2022 Nostalgia Central
    • About Nostalgia Central
    • Contact
    • FAQ

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.