There are several game genres that are mostly exclusive to arcades, and of them, the light-gun shooter is one of the most entertaining. While the experience has been transferred to home consoles multiple times in the past, there’s nothing quite like standing in front of a cabinet with a gun controller in your hand, blasting through enemies with reckless abandon. Light gun games became more prevalent with the rise of 3D graphics in the 1990s and 2000s, but there were still plenty of stellar shooters in the glory days of the 1980s. Of those classics, Turkey Shoot stands out as not only one of the rarest games of its kind, but also an exceptionally weird experience that you can only get in its original form.
Blast Full of Feathers
Turkey Shoot was developed by Williams Electronics, a true titan during the glory days of the arcade. Starting out as a pinball company in the 1950s, Williams saw great success for decades, and eventually took on the video game side of the arcade business starting in 1981. Between ’81 and ’83, Williams put out a killer lineup of games, including all-time classics like Defender, Joust, and Robotron: 2084, just to name a few. While 1984 brought several other arcade titles, like Devastator and Mystic Marathon, Williams was starting to ease up on internal video game development, with their focus shifting back to pinball and gambling games. Turkey Shoot arrived at the tail end of 1984, and while its mounted gun controller was notably unique to arcade shooters of the era, that wasn’t the only eye-catching novelty that the game offered.
Turkey Shoot is set in the futuristic year of 1989, where mutant turkeys have taken over the streets, ransacking the city and causing mayhem with every disastrous trot. Armed with your machine gun and a handful of grenades, you arrive on the scene as a turkey terminator, and your only goal is to eradicate every feathery foe that steps into your line of sight. The actual gameplay is equally simplistic, but fun all the same. Hunkering down and getting close to the glass that separates you from the crisp CRT, with all of its beautiful neon-colored pixel graphics, you unleash bullets onto unsuspecting enemies across multiple missions. Once you’ve completed a mission, Turkey Shoot reveals its ultimate gimmick: a burst of real turkey feathers erupts inside the machine, evoking a goofy moment of turkey-fueled triumph. In truth, there’s not much else to the game, apart from more difficult missions, but it’s a one-of-a-kind celebration you won’t find in any other cabinet.
Due to the small initial run of machines in 1984, many of which have disappeared in the decades since, Turkey Shoot has since become one of the rarest arcade shooters in existence. It’s hard to get an exact number, but there are only 10 – 30 physical machines left, and collectors will often jump on any decent unit that pops up. However, with a hefty price tag that often exceeds $10,000, it’s a machine that only the most dedicated collectors will buy. As such, if you want to play it for yourself, there are only a few locations left in the world where it’s on public display. So, if you take a trip to Galloping Ghost in Brookfield, IL, or Past Times Arcade in Girard, OH, you’ll be able to give it a whirl, but you might have a hard time finding it elsewhere. That said, if you ever have the opportunity, Turkey Shoot is worth a shot just for its main gimmick alone, and it stands as a notably weird entry in Williams’ storied arcade catalog.
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