Centuri, formerly known as Allied Leisure, was an American arcade game manufacturer. They were based in

Hialeah, Florida Hialeah ( ; ) is a city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. With a population of 223,109 as of the 2020 census, Hialeah is the sixth-largest city in Florida. It is the second largest city by population in the Miami metropolitan area ...

, and were one of the top six suppliers of coin-operated

arcade video game An arcade video game takes player input from its controls, processes it through electrical or computerized components, and displays output to an electronic monitor or similar display. Most arcade video games are coin-operated, housed in an arc ...

machinery in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

during the early 1980s. Centuri in its modern inception was formed when former Taito of America president Ed Miller and his partner Bill Olliges took over Allied Leisure, Inc. They renamed it "Centuri" in 1980. Many of the

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

machines distributed in the US under the Centuri name were licensed from overseas manufacturers, particularly Japanese developers such as

Konami , is a Japanese multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Chūō, Tokyo, it also produces and distributes trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, pachinko machines, slot machines, and arcade cabinets. Konami has casino ...

. Allied Leisure previously also manufactured

pinball Pinball games are a family of games in which a ball is propelled into a specially designed table where it bounces off various obstacles, scoring points either en route or when it comes to rest. Historically the board was studded with nails call ...

and

electro-mechanical game Electro-mechanical games (EM games) are types of arcade games that operate on a combination of some electronic circuitry and mechanical actions from the player to move items contained within the game's cabinet. Some of these were early light gun ...

s, which were developed in-house. The company's vice president was Joel Hochberg from about 1976 to 1982, before he went on to work for Rare. Centuri had a close relationship with Konami, which licensed the North American rights of their games to Centuri during the early 1980s. This led to Konami acquiring 5% of Centuri's stocks in 1983, with Konami founder

Kagemasa Kōzuki is a Japanese industrialist who is the founder and chairman of Konami , is a Japanese multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Chūō, Tokyo, it also produces and distributes trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, ...

announcing he would become a director at Centuri. Centuri discontinued their video game operations in January 1985.

List of games

Allied Leisure and Centuri published the following arcade games in the United States:

Pinball Pinball games are a family of games in which a ball is propelled into a specially designed table where it bounces off various obstacles, scoring points either en route or when it comes to rest. Historically the board was studded with nails call ...

and

s released as Allied Leisure (1969-1979) * ''

Monkey Bizz Monkey is a common name that may refer to most mammals of the infraorder Simiiformes, also known as the simians. Traditionally, all animals in the group now known as simians are counted as monkeys except the apes, which constitutes an incomple ...

'' (1969) * ''Unscramble'' (1969) * ''

Wild Cycle Wild, wild, wilds or wild may refer to: Common meanings * Wildlife, Wild animal * Wilderness, a wild natural environment * Wildness, the quality of being wild or untamed Art, media and entertainment Film and television * Wild (2014 film), ''Wi ...

'' (1970) * ''Sea Hunt'' (1972) * ''Spooksville'' (1972) * ''Crack Shot'' (1972) * ''Monte Carlo'' (1973) * '' Chopper'' (1974) * '' Super Shifter'' (1974) * '' F-114'' (1975) * ''

Dyn O' Mite Dyn or DYN may refer to: * ''DYN'' (magazine) * Dyne (dyn), a unit of force * Dyn (company) (Dynamic Network Services, Inc., originally known as DynDNS), an Internet performance management company * Dynorphin, a class of opioid peptides * Nira Dy ...

'' (1975;

solid-state Solid state, or solid matter, is one of the four fundamental states of matter. Solid state may also refer to: Electronics * Solid-state electronics, circuits built of solid materials * Solid state ionics, study of ionic conductors and their use ...

pinball machine) * '' Daytona 500'' (1976) * ''Take Five'' (1978; cocktail pinball) * ''

Clay Champ Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, aluminium, Al2Silicon, Si2Oxygen, O5(hydroxide, OH)4). Clays develop plasticity (physics), plasticity when wet, du ...

'' (1979; licensed from

Namco was a Japanese multinational video game and entertainment company, headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo. It held several international branches, including Namco America in Santa Clara, California, Namco Europe in London, Namco Taiwan in Kaohsiung, ...

) * '' Star Shooter'' (1979; cocktail pinball)

Arcade video game An arcade video game takes player input from its controls, processes it through electrical or computerized components, and displays output to an electronic monitor or similar display. Most arcade video games are coin-operated, housed in an arc ...

s released as Allied Leisure (1973-1979) * ''

Paddle Battle A paddle is a handheld tool with an elongated handle and a flat, widened distal end (i.e. the ''blade''), used as a lever to apply force onto the bladed end. It most commonly describes a completely handheld tool used to propel a human-powered w ...

'' (1973), a ''

Pong ''Pong'' is a table tennis–themed twitch arcade sports video game, featuring simple two-dimensional graphics, manufactured by Atari and originally released in 1972. It was one of the earliest arcade video games; it was created by Allan Al ...

''-style game * ''Super Soccer'' (1973), a ''Pong''-style game, sold 5,000 arcade cabinets, among top 5 best-selling arcade video games of 1973. * '' Tennis Tourney'' (1973), ''Pong''-style game, sold 5,000 cabinets, among top 5 best-selling arcade video games of 1973. * ''

Fire Power Firepower is the military capability to direct force at an enemy. (It is not to be confused with the concept of rate of fire, which describes the cycling of the firing mechanism in a weapon system.) Firepower involves the whole range of potenti ...

'' (1975) * '' Bomac'' (1976) * ''

Chase Chase or CHASE may refer to: Businesses * Chase Bank, a national bank based in New York City, New York * Chase Aircraft (1943–1954), a defunct American aircraft manufacturing company * Chase Coaches, a defunct bus operator in England * Chase Co ...

'' (1976) * '' Battle Station'' (1977) * '' Battlestar'' (1979; unreleased?) * '' Lunar Invasion'' (1979; unreleased?) * ''

Space Bug Space is the boundless three-dimensional extent in which objects and events have relative position and direction. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually conside ...

'' (1979; unreleased?) * ''

Clay Shoot Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay part ...

'' (1979; video game version of ''

'') Arcade video games released as Centuri (1980-1984) * ''

Rip-Off ''Rip Off'' is a multidirectional shooter with black and white vector graphics written by Tim Skelly and released in arcades by Cinematronics in 1980. It was the first shooter with cooperative gameplay and an early game to exhibit flocking b ...

'' (1980; color cocktail version licensed from Cinematronics) * ''Targ'' (1980; cocktail version licensed from

Exidy Exidy was a developer and manufacturer of coin-operated amusements. The company was founded by H.R. "Pete" Kauffman and Samuel Hawes in 1973. The name "Exidy" was a portmanteau of the words "Excellence in Dynamics". Notable games released by Exid ...

) * ''

Eagle Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, j ...

'' (1980; developed by

Nichibutsu was a Japanese video game developer and publisher headquartered in Kita, Osaka. In the past they had also manufactured and sold yachts. The main video game brand of the company was Nichibutsu (日物、ニチブツ), with adult video games (ma ...

as ''

Moon Cresta is a fixed shooter video game released by Nichibutsu for Arcade video game, arcades in 1980. In North America, it was licensed to Sega/Gremlin Industries, Gremlin and Centuri, the latter releasing it in arcades as ''Eagle''. Incentive Software p ...

)'' * '' Killer Comet'' (1980; developed in-house; licensed to Game Plan) * '' Megatack'' (1980; developed in-house; licensed to Game Plan) * ''

Phoenix Phoenix most often refers to: * Phoenix (mythology), a legendary bird from ancient Greek folklore * Phoenix, Arizona, a city in the United States Phoenix may also refer to: Mythology Greek mythological figures * Phoenix (son of Amyntor), a ...

'' (1980; developed by a "smaller Japanese developer" such as Hiraoka or TPN); licensors: Hiraoka and Amstar Electronics * '' Route 16'' (1981; developed by Sun Electronics); licensor:

Tehkan , was a Japanese video game corporation founded in 1967. It had its headquarters in Kudankita, Chiyoda, Tokyo. Its subsidiary, Tecmo Inc, was located in Torrance, California. Tecmo was formerly known as Tehkan. Tecmo is known for the ''Captain ...

* ''

Pleiades The Pleiades (), also known as The Seven Sisters, Messier 45 and other names by different cultures, is an asterism and an open star cluster containing middle-aged, hot B-type stars in the north-west of the constellation Taurus. At a distance ...

'' (1981; developed by

) * '' Round-Up'' (1981; developed by

Taito is a Japanese company that specializes in video games, toys, arcade cabinets and game centers, based in Shinjuku, Tokyo. The company was founded by Michael Kogan in 1953 as the importing vodka, vending machines and jukeboxes into Japan. I ...

and Hiraoka); licensor: Hiraoka & Co. * '' The Pit'' (1981; developed by AW Electronics); licensor: Zilec * ''

Vanguard The vanguard (also called the advance guard) is the leading part of an advancing military formation. It has a number of functions, including seeking out the enemy and securing ground in advance of the main force. History The vanguard derives fr ...

'' (1981; developed by

TOSE () (also called Tose Software) is a Japanese video game development company based in Kyoto. It is mostly known for developing Nintendo's Game & Watch ports and remakes#Game & Watch Gallery series, ''Game & Watch Gallery'' series, various ''Drago ...

); licensor:

SNK is a Japanese video game hardware and software company. It is the successor to the company Shin Nihon Kikaku and presently owns the SNK video game brand and the Neo Geo video game platform. SNK's predecessor Shin Nihon Kikaku was founded in 1978 ...

* '' Challenger'' (1981; developed in-house) * '' D-Day'' (1982; developed by Olympia) * ''

Locomotion Locomotion means the act or ability of something to transport or move itself from place to place. Locomotion may refer to: Motion * Motion (physics) * Robot locomotion, of man-made devices By environment * Aquatic locomotion * Flight * Locomo ...

'' (1982; developed by

) * '' Swimmer'' (1982; developed by

) * ''

Time Pilot is a multidirectional shooter arcade game designed by Yoshiki Okamoto and released by Konami in 1982. It was distributed in the United States by Centuri, and by Atari Ireland in Europe and the Middle East. While engaging in aerial combat, the ...

'' (1982; developed by

) * ''

Tunnel Hunt Atari, Inc. was an American video game developer and home computer company founded in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney. Atari was a key player in the formation of the video arcade and video game industry. Based primarily around the Sunny ...

'' (1982; developed by Atari) * ''

Aztarac ''Aztarac'' is a scrolling multidirectional shooter with color vector graphics. It was developed by Tim Stryker (1954-1996) and released in arcades by Centuri in 1983. The player commands an intergalactic race of mutant humans whose mode ...

'' (1983; developed in-house) * ''

Gyruss is an arcade shoot 'em up game designed by Yoshiki Okamoto and released by Konami in 1983. ''Gyruss'' was initially licensed to Centuri in the United States for dedicated machines, before Konami released their own self-distributed conversion ki ...

'' (1983; developed by

) * '' Guzzler'' (1983; developed by

) * ''

Track & Field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...

'' (1983; developed by

) * '' Munch Mobile'' (1983; developed by

) * '' Circus Charlie'' (1984; developed by

) * '' Hyper Sports'' (1984; developed by

) * '' Mikie: High School Graffiti'' (1984; developed by

) * ''

Badlands Badlands are a type of dry terrain where softer sedimentary rocks and clay-rich soils have been extensively eroded."Badlands" in ''Chambers's Encyclopædia''. London: George Newnes, 1961, Vol. 2, p. 47. They are characterized by steep slopes, m ...

'' (1984; developed by

)

References

* {{note, nytimes}
"Financial Desk: Company Briefs", ''The New York Times'', January 17, 1985.
(subscription required). "Centuri Inc., Hialeah, Fla., said it would discontinue operations of its video games division and close its National Interport Services Inc. boat repair facility in Hampton, Va., resulting in a $2.5 million charge against 1984 results."

External links

Killer List of Videogame's entry on Centuri

The Centuri Arcade Database
Defunct video game companies of the United States Video game companies disestablished in 1985 Video game publishers Defunct companies based in Florida Companies based in Hialeah, Florida