Original Release: Merit, 1988, Arcade
The follow-up to the pioneering “bar countertop” game adds several new options including a horse race and some word and trivia games
Pit Boss II Arcade, Merit, 1988)
Where to Buy: eBay
How to Emulate: Arcade Emulation Guide
Review by: C. M0use
I picked this one off name value alone, thinking it might be some cool casino table game … well, nuts to me, as it’s actually a badly dated mix of electronic bar games and a bit of (fake) gambling. The games are pretty much Atari 2600 caliber … really not good considering it came out in 1988!
You got a trivia game, a word scramble, a little virtual horse racer, and a couple video poker games … the horse racing sim is probably the most entertaining bit, but the odds on each racer seem to be randomized (not really tied to their performance) and so it’s easy to game by just placing small bets on nearly everyone.
I’d never heard of it before now but as it turns out, the first Pit Boss was a 1983 release that was actually the first of these little bar countertop time-waster games aimed at the jurisdictions where you can’t have the casino gaming.
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