Play Tapper online

Tapper is one of those games you get in two seconds: you're the bartender, the bar is packed and customers keep marching toward you wanting a drink. Let one reach the end empty-handed and he slides you down the bar. Simple, frantic and impossible to play just once.

At UsuArcade you can play Tapper online for free, right in your browser. Grab the stool at its cabinet, drop in a virtual coin and start pouring while anyone walking by stops to see how long you last.

History

Bally Midway released it in 1983 in a version sponsored by a big American beer brand and aimed at bars. To get it into regular arcades full of kids, the company followed up with Root Beer Tapper: same game, soda instead of suds.

The original cabinet was a showpiece, with a real tap handle you pulled to fill mugs and a brass foot rail along the bottom, so it felt like you were working an actual bar.

How to play

Move up and down between the four bars and run toward the customers along each one. Hold the button to fill a mug and let go to slide it down the bar. A customer who catches a drink gets pushed back, and if you push him out the door he's gone for good.

Watch the empties coming back: drop one and you lose a life, same as sliding a mug nobody catches. Sometimes a customer leaves a tip, and grabbing it brings out dancers who distract the crowd for a few seconds. Between rounds there's a bonus where a bandit shakes up cans and you have to pick the one he didn't shake.

Fun facts

• The original control was a working replica of a beer tap handle.
• Root Beer Tapper is the kid-friendly arcade version of the same game.
• Each round moves to a new joint, from an Old West saloon to a sports bar, a punk club and a space bar.

In the arcade

Tapper was a take-turns game, and that's how it plays on UsuArcade, just online: invite your friend to your cabinet once they're in the lobby and trade turns, each on your own phone or PC. While one plays, the other watches live.

Nothing to install: it runs in your browser, gamepad supported, and every game starts with INSERT COIN, free. Everyone else in the lobby can watch and chat, and scores go up on the arcade's high score board.

FAQ