When Q*bert Met Mello Yello

Several years ago, I visited an arcade to celebrate a birthday. One of the games I always loved, both in the arcade and in Atari 2600 form, was Q*bert. Without really paying much attention to the cabinet itself, I dove in and started playing. I completed a few screens and was then treated to a cut scene featuring Q*bert using a straw to drink Mello Yello. I realized then that I was playing a very rare arcade machine.

The birth of Mello Yello Q*bert is the story of multiple corporate acquisitions and synergy. In 1976, Columbia Pictures acquired D. Gottlieb & Co., maker of Q*bert and other arcade machines. In 1982, The Coca-Cola Company acquired Columbia Pictures, and hence Gottlieb, as well. In order to boost sales of Mello Yello, they created a limited number of Q*bert Mello Yello arcade machines. Mello Yello bottlers were encouraged through corporate newsletters and magazines (such as Coca-Cola’s “Refresher” magazine) to buy the arcade cabinets at a discounted rate and to use them as local contest prizes. A limited number of these cabinets were offered as grand prizes in public sweepstakes and contests, primarily aimed at promoting Mello Yello.

The Mello Yello version of Q*bert plays just like normal Q*bert, except that there’s a break every two levels so that Q*bert (and the players) can enjoy a nice sip of everyone’s favorite yellow soda. Gotlieb released a competition to go along with these multiple sweepstakes called “Q*Bert’s Snout-Out.” If a player finished the game ten times, and sent in a picture of the animation of Q*Bert drinking Mello Yello, that player would receive five free cases of Mello Yello.

Because these units were heavily utilized for marketing displays, promotional events, and exclusive prize giveaways, some units were even manufactured without functional coin doors since they were not intended to collect money. Needless-to-say, today, these cabinets are very difficult to find. I have no idea how my local arcade got hold of one. Unfortunately, it was not there for very long. The next time I visited the arcade, it had been swapped out for a standard Q*bert game.