Single Spinner Games:

720 Degrees (12)

Playing this game well requires a ton of spinning the custom spinner-mounted joystick in precise whole or half-circle motions, which is really difficult without the joystick and auto-calibrating disc that the original had attached to the spinner. For those of us with a standard arcade spinner, this game is still fun in small doses.

Arkanoid (40.5)

The original often-imitated mega hit that itself was just a variant on Atari’s original Breakout game. Arkanoid added so much that became standard to the formula of later block breakers and it’s still an amazing game to play today, although be prepared for unfair difficulty spikes. Adding to the brutal difficulty is the fact that the game resets the stage each time you continue, Forcing you to beat each level in one credit. You can use save states to alleviate some of the pain, or even change the dip switches to easy mode and give yourself 5 lives, but it still hurts. For an easier version of Arkanoid, the NES version is good and plays well using the Mesen emulator in Retroarch with the Arkanoid paddle in port 2. For whatever reason, I have to use the left mouse button to start and the letter X on my control panel to fire and there is no sensitivity adjustment, but it is very playable.

Arkanoid - Revenge of Doh (81)

The sequel brings more power ups, more special blocks, as well as a power-down making your paddle smaller. The spinner had four gears instead of two, so you need to double the sensitivity to get the game to play like the first Arkanoid. Of interest is that the US version of the game has a different and more interesting version of the first level, but the real change between the US version and the rest of the world is that the blocks you destroy stay destroyed when you continue, which makes the US version my preferred version

Aztarac  (24)

An ambitious vector game where you use a joystick to drive a tank while controlling the tank’s swivel turret with your spinner, somewhat like the tank stage in Tron. You fight off wave after wave of enemies and sweep the area with your radar. It’s fun, but repetitive.

Bomb Bee (50?)

Breakout crossed with pinball. It looks and sounds pretty decent for 1979.

Boxing Bugs (11?)

This is a fun game that is sort of like Star Castle in reverse. You have a weird two sided turret that extends a boxing glove out of one end and shoots out of the other. The turret spins pretty much 1 to 1 with a Turbo Twist 2 in MAME with a sensitivity of 11.

Cameltry (40.5)

A fun and unique labyrinth game where you rotate the entire maze instead of moving the ball directly.

Cerberus [72?] (6)

You control the rotation of a small ship with the spinner, along with buttons for thrust and fire similar to Blasteroids. In the game, you have to return fuel pods to your space station and the game is unique in that you don’t have a set number of lives. You can die as many times as you want as long as you get at least one pod back to the ship. Graphics are okay, but it gets repetitive quickly.

Circus / Acrobat TV [5k pot?] (50)

The original game where you have two guys on a see saw and have to send them up to pop balloons. It’s fun enough for a few minutes.

Clowns [5k pot] (50)

Essentially, the same game as Circus with a few small changes in graphics and sounds.

Cosmic Chasm  (24)

Once again, you have the spinner rotating a ship with asteroids style thrust, shoot, and shield, but sweet vector graphics and a cool mini-map make this an excellent lesser-known title.

Crater Raider  (5)

Rescue “survivors” on a barren landscape, the original controls have a trigger stick that only moves up and down to control your tank’s forward and reverse movement. All steering is controlled by the spinner. You have a shot that kills enemies in one hit and a shield button. It’s a decently fun game.

Cutie Q (50?)

Similar to Bomb Bee, a mix of breakout and pinball, but Bomb Bee seems superior.

D-Day (50?)

You use the spinner to rotate a gun to shoot at a gallery of military targets. I remember playing games like this on my old Apple IIC. Gameplay is pretty lackluster.

Dark Planet (5)

A bizarre game with the spinner again controlling the ship’s rotation and utilizing three buttons for fire, thrust, and laser (which looks like a red cloud?). You’re supposed to be stopping the enemy from building bases, but it’s difficult to understand what’s happening because of the rudimentary graphics.

Discs of Tron (11)

Another classic, it had an up/down spinner, but you can certainly map those buttons elsewhere on your panel. I find this game fun in small doses. It’s pretty funny that it offers you extensive written directions before you play the game.

Exterminator (24?)

A terrible game where you play a digitized disembodied hand that shoots “juice” all over the house to kill a variety of pests.

Gigas (40.5)

Gigas is a pretty lackluster copy of Arkanoid/Breakout. It’s fun enough and not too difficult if you’re desperate for more block breaking action with powerups.

Gigas Mark II (40.5)

Looks almost exactly the same as Gigas with different block layouts.

Goindol (40.5)

Another Arkanoid/Breakout copy, but it redeems itself by being very quirky. There is a caveman wandering around the block patterns and driving a tank across a floating line of balloons between stages. There are bonus shooting stages, as well as some pinball elements in here, similar to Bomb Bee and Cutie Q.

Ixion (15?)

An interesting game where you play a tank with a rotating turret on a grid where you must collect the letters of IXION without getting blasted by many enemies. A sensitivity of 15 seems to be almost 1:1 with the turret, but a little higher sensitivity seems to play better with the frantic gameplay.

Kick  (2?)

Originally, it was a trackball game that only used the one axis. Gameplay is simple and fun with the cute addition of Pac-Man and the ghosts. I find a sensitivity of 1 to be too sluggish and 3 causes some reversing of inputs when you spin too forcefully, so I set it to a sensitivity of 2 and that seems to be a happy medium.

Kosmik Kroozr (18?)

Discs of Tron style cabinet and control layout, the cartoony design of the sprites was done by the same guy who did Rampage and it looks good, but the gameplay is incredibly thin. A sensitivity setting of 18 puts the spinner roughly 1:1 with the turret aiming, but since you can only fire in 8 directions anyway, it may play better to set the sensitivity higher.

Mad Planets  (6)(actually 3, according to testing)

According to the BYOAC wiki, the spinner is the same as the Tempest spinner. (*Edit* Maybe not, see the Wiz Warz entry below.) A very strange game with Tron style controls where you control a nimble ship that resembles an Imperial star destroyer from Star Wars being attacked by swarms of planets. The gameplay is fast and fun and the soundtrack has a catchy beat that is unfortunately drowned out by the other gameplay noises once you start shooting. *Edit* I should mention that the resolution indicated by the wiki doesn't make your ship spin 1:1 with the spinner, which is odd. Your ship spins roughly 3 times per rotation. A sensitivity of 2 actually achieves roughly 1:1 spinning, but the higher sensitivity of 6 plays better. It would be nice if someone who has access to the original cabinet and hardware could verify how much the ship spins with one turn of the dial. *EDIT* I had the chance to play this game at Galloping Ghost arcade in Chicago. A sensitivity of 3 seems to be correct, as a full turn of the spinner rotates the ship more than a full turn, maybe 380 degrees.

Major Havoc (24) (50)

This one used a roller, kind of like a skateboard wheel turned on its side. I set sensitivity to 29 50. It seems to play well, especially the game of Breakout in before you have each space battle, but I only played this once or twice on an original cabinet and I don’t remember too well what the controls felt like.

Moonwar (25?)

Controls don’t feel great here no matter what the setting. However, the game plays fine at sensitivity 25. The game is asteroids style shoot, thrust, shield, with the spinner controlling ship rotation. It has a fourth button that flips your ship like the reverse button in Defender, which is odd.

Omega Race (5)

This is one of the very best of the shoot, thrust, spin spaceship games.

Peggle (50?)

A unique puzzle game where you spin a pegboard to try to get a falling character to hit and break the pegs. It originally used a trackball and it doesn’t play particularly well with my spinner.

Plump Pop (81?)

A good update to Circus/Clowns, but you control a movable trampoline rather than a see saw, which makes the game easier. There are bosses, music and bonus stages, so the game has a decent variety.

Prebillian (40.5?)

Futuristic billiards with annoying music. You use the spinner to aim the cue ball. It’s alright.

Quester (40.5?)

Very basic Arkanoid imitation. The blocks make different melodious sounds when they break and there is a funny moment at the beginning when your ship, which is a cylinder on its side, takes off from a hangar full of fighter jets.

Razzmatazz (40.5?)

Carnival style gallery shooter, you control a rifle that sweeps side to side at the bottom of the screen like a paddle. It doesn’t have much to offer.

Riddle of Pythagoras (100?)

Another Arkanoid imitation, this one with an Indiana Jones vibe. It’s not bad. It might be the only spinner game that plays well at 100% sensitivity?

Star Trek (5)

I’m not sure what’s going on with the Wiki resolution of 64 for this game, but the ship rotates 1:1 for me at a sensitivity setting of 72. This one is fun, although most of the game is on the mini map, so it feels tiny.

Straight Flush (40.5?)

Breakout with the gimmick that there are cards that you change by hitting them with the ball.

Super Breakout (40)

It’s difficult to go back to a game this basic when you have Arkanoid style games.

Super Free Kick (40.5?)

Breakout with soccer players instead of blocks and a goal with a goalie at the top of the screen.

Tac/Scan  (5) (21) - This is a fun classic, but the ships turn nearly 1:1 at sensitivity 24. Maybe the 64 tooth encoder was quadrupled for a true resolution of 256? Or maybe the tooth count was actually 72?

Teeter Torture (10?)

I get backspin whenever I try increasing the sensitivity above 10, but it plays well enough there. It’s an interesting gallery shooter where the floor is a scale that will explode if it tips too far to one side or the other. Enemies fall down and hang on it if you don’t shoot them.

Tempest (6)

Tempest is an amazing game. I remember it in the arcade back in the 80’s. If you spun the spinner on that machine too hard, it would vibrate to a stop.

Tempest Tubes (6)

This is one of those well-done hacks that just adds variety to the original.

Tournament Arkanoid (40.5)

A US exclusive variant that plays identically to the original game. Block patterns are unique and round 2 has a block pattern that resembles the American flag. This one is supposedly more difficult than the already brutally difficult original, but I haven’t played enough to comment.

Tron (11)

It’ll take you five minutes to play through the four minigames, but the execution is stunning and the game is a classic, especially for those of us who experienced this mind-blowing cabinet back in the day. You’ll need a joystick and a fire button as well as a spinner.

Victory (18?)

Colorful graphics and lots of voice samples highlight this otherwise bland thrust and fire space shooter.

Wiz Warz AKA Arena (Mad Planets spinner?) (2) – I have no idea how this one is supposed to play, but 50 6 seems okay. The game is a mix of Robotron and Tempest and it is really fun. You use a joystick in your right hand to aim your shots like in Robotron and the spinner in your left hand to spin around the outside of the arena like in Tempest. *Edit* I found a Facebook post by Doc from Galloping Ghost Arcade talking about the original prototype cabinet of Wiz Warz that he found. He said that it used a Mad Planets style spinner mounted on the left side of the control panel and a top fire joystick mounted on the right side. The top fire button would be for zapping the walls. It's odd that Doc didn't mention Tempest spinner when he was talking about trying to find a Mad Planets spinner, because the BYOAC Wiki claims that Tempest and Mad Planets used the same spinner and Doc probably could have found a Tempest spinner a lot more easily, which makes me think that maybe the two spinners are not the same. *2nd Edit* I found video footage of the Arena cabinet being played and it looks like it is less sensitive than I initially thought, so perhaps it is the same resolution as a Tempest spinner? *EDIT* I had the chance to play the game at Galloping Ghost arcade in Chicago. The correct sensitivity seems to be 2, as one full turn of the spinner moves the letter selection after the game just past the letter B.

Zektor (11?)

Similar to Omega Race with some cool voice samples. Plays better at sensitivity 11 or 12.

Zwackery (16?)

Another game by the guy who designed Rampage, so it has that cartoony look, as well as unusual gameplay, with platforming and the spinner controlling 360 degree aiming of your wizard’s sword and shield. You have to aim upward to do spells, it feels very experimental in design and is definitely worth a try.

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More Games Spinner settings More Info and Interesting facts at the original website that this was copied from. here.