When Midway released their Gun Fight game in the mid-70s, it became obvious that there was still a vast market for wannabe cowboys, even in the technological proving ground of the arcade. Atari released a similar game called Outlaw that put the player a little closer to the shooting action.

Outlaw consisted of a stand-up console that featured a screen with black and white graphics and a plastic overlay of a Western town scene. The objective was to outdraw and outshoot your opponent, a sneaky varmint that popped out from behind buildings and alleyways.

The player packed iron, which is to say, an optical gun that looked like a Colt .45. There was a choice of two characters, Half-fast Pete and Billy the Kid. You may think that Billy was the cooler-sounding character and like his real-life namesake, the Kid was quite the fast draw. Pete, however, was the better marksman so a player had to weigh the pros and cons of speed versus accuracy. Who ever said arcade games didn’t exercise your brain?

The light gun was holstered on the front of the cabinet and you couldn’t cheat by drawing it too early, thanks to flashing warnings that told everyone in the immediate vicinity of your dishonesty. The gun had to be holstered after every showdown because, again, flashing lights touted you as a cheat.

It was to be a fair and honorable fight then, right there in the black and white Wild West. Racking up points was the name of the game and players aspired to accumulate enough to be named “Dude,” “Greenhorn” or “Top Gun.” Happy trails, y’all.