Tomy Police Turnin Turbo Dashboard?

[Retrocrazy]

Hi All,

As a keen retro game collector for 3 years, I've recently come across a 1980's Tomy mechanical range; of which I've managed to acquire and refurbish the following:
Tomy Turnin Turbo Dashboard;
Tomy Space Turbo (both the blue and white ones);
Tomy Top Shot Pilot; and very recently a
Tomy Police driving simulator styled on the Turnin Turbo Dashboard.

The police driving game uses a scenery disk with a bulb behind it, instead of the conventional cylinder as used by the original turnin turbo dashboard and Space Turbo; but this doesn't fill the entire screen. Having fixed this game up, it appears that the two-thirds screen display is correct?

As a result, I'd appreciate it if anyone could confirm this as it does look a bit odd!

Also, although I have found a Corvette version of this game, I've been unable to find ANY reference to the Police version on the internet? Is it very rare, or of little interest?

Many thanks.

[Retrocrazy]

For clarity, the red arrows on the picture show the edge of the scenary disk on the display.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/pzr7l4ulbich5x3/1.jpg

[Rik]

Does the scenery change? I'm trying to figure out how that would work, but I would think that the image should fill the screen... Don't think I've ever seen the police car version of this, but haven't seen a lot of these in person either.

Maybe the police version was the last one they made, and wasn't on the market as long...?

[blanka]

Did you replace the bulb?
Is the wolfram wire in the same position in the new bulb as in the original one?
Guess a few mm of change in position can mess up the position of the projection quite a bit.

[Retrocrazy]

@Rik
Yes, the scenary does change, the disk rotates around an axis roughly perpendicular to the screen (see image1 and video1). The light bulb is around 1 quarter diameter lower than the top of the scenary disk, but it's securely screwed on brackets; so there's no room for the bulb bracket to maneuver in any direction except the left and right movement from the steering wheel (which is also stopped by guides if it's steered too far).

Image1: Disk looking up with the rear of the screen in the background. The bulb is behind the orange and black wires on the top right.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/8u1ekf2lllt6yfh/Photo%2029-03-2013%2015%2014%2055.jpg

Video1: Front of game with rotating scenary.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/hqt3lcjvs96ibls/Video%2029-03-2013%2015%2036%2046.mov


@Blanka
I believe the bulb is original as it clips very precisely into the plastic housing and appears to be non-standard (see image2). Agree that a few mm's would change the scenary perspective on the screen, but there's no give on the bulb or the bracket holding it.

Image 2: Bulb clipped into plastic housing.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/dpf03nd3q3b9748/Photo%2029-03-2013%2015%2000%2039.jpg


As it appears quite rare (as I cant find any other internet based references) and the 'unfinished' nature of the scenary; I'm guessing it may have been some sort of demo to test the market at the time? Like you said Rik, maybe it wasn't on the market long; if at all?

Anyone else seen one?

Many Thanks...

[Rik]

See the video makes a little more sense now... It looks like it's probably working correctly since you can actually steer the car and keep on the road. Maybe there was just a static picture of sky/clouds that would have been put inside it to fill up the remaining space... Did it look like it had been opened up before?

Can you actually 'crash' or anything? Does anything trigger working lights in the police light bar, or just a switch to turn them on? (Assuming it has lights there, the sticker on the dash seems to indicate they do). I just wasn't sure if the game play was completely passive or not (i.e., you just move the car back and forth and the game has no idea what's going on...)

[Retrocrazy]

Like the idea of a sky or at least something to 'fill the gap'. Unfortunately, there doesn't appear to be anything left to support this on the game as it stands, however; there could have been sticker which has since been removed?

As for previously being opened, it was mint inside and the screws were tight. Also, as the screen is slightly cloudy (like the Space Turbo), a sticker inside probably wouldn't work; but happy to be wrong.

The police light bar does flash alternately, however this is manually controlled by the switch. The lights are powered alternately by a simple set of contacts much like a distributor in a car!

As for car crashes, the game is completely passive; with no flashing, noise or anything!!!

Again, unlike the Space Turbo, there a no notches or anything to sense being off the road or otherwise. All a bit bizarre...

[Rik]

You know, it might have just been a cheaper version of their car games for younger kids... Something to keep very young ones entertained (thus the no scoring/crashing, etc... It just goes). I have a couple of small handhelds like this. It's literally a cartoon map that spins (like a paper belt on two rollers), and a plastic car you can move back and forth with a steering wheel... It does _nothing_ else (no lights, not even sound), so it's hardly even considered a game, more of a small-child distracter... This might have just been a larger version of something like that.

[Retrocrazy]

Yes, I think you're probably right.

[macaw]

I just came across this from browsing Japanese auctions: http://page10.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/m96657756

Looks like another version of the police car game, has the same cheaper looking design too. Judging from the packaging it looks like 90's era Tomy. So yeah, I guess both this and the police car game were cheaper 90's releases of the original Turnin Turbo.

[Retrocrazy]

Thanks for the additional info Macaw, there's certainly a few different types of this game available; and I've never seen any reference to the one you've found either!!!

For clarity, the Police one is dated 'Tomy 1987 Singapore'.