Sente System

The Sente System, also known as the SAC (short for Sente Arcade Computer), SAC-1, or SAC-I, was an arcade system originally released in 1983.

It was developed by Sente Technologies (originally Videa) under the chairmanship of Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell, who after buying out the company made it a division of Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre. In May 1984, Sente Technologies was bought up by Bally Manufacturing for $3.9 million and rebranded as Bally Sente, who supported the system until its discontinuation in the mid-80s.

The system consisted of a cabinet with interchangeable game cartridges, which are accompanied by corresponding control panels and cabinet graphics, the latter three of which all in a standardized kit referred to as a SAC-PAC. The theory behind it was when an arcade operator decided that a new game is required, they would change out the cartridge, control panel, and cabinet artwork instead of disposing of the entire cabinet. The financial model was that the operator paid a one-time fee of $3,195 for the cabinet and then a low weekly rental cost of $20 for the games themselves, and in return, Sente guaranteed to deliver at least four new game releases every year.

Originally, the SAC-1 used a ruggedized cabinet known as the Game Frame, which consists of a metal frame with removable polypropylene panels. Later, after Sente Technologies was bought up by Bally Manufacturing and renamed to Bally Sente, they made a new cabinet from cheaper traditional arcade materials with SAC-PACs continuing to be compatible with both cabinet models. Also released by Bally Sente was the SAC MAN, a conversion kit which could be used to convert older Pac-Man, Galaxian, and Ms. Pac-Man (later on Hyper Sports and Track & Field) cabinets into SAC-1s.

Variants

 * SAC-1 - The SAC using the Game Frame cabinet while under Sente Technologies.
 * SAC-1A - A retrospective designation for the SAC-1 using the Game Frame under Bally Sente.
 * SAC-1B - Designation for the SAC-1 using the later Bally Sente cabinet.
 * SAC-II - Unreleased variant of the SAC-1 based around a new sit-in cabinet with a motorized motion simulation system controlled by a Motorola 68000-based computer.

Why It Didn't SAC Up

 * 1) One major factor that brought the Sente System to its knees was  its own software library . The games received negative reviews. As industry long-timer Roger Hector, who was the President of Bally Sente, had put it; "What was wrong with the Sente system, is that while everything made sense, the games weren't any fun to play."
 * 2) Passion for the project and its concept was strong and the demand was there in theory, but Bally Manufacturing was more focused on profitability and required sign-off on every decision made and every cent spent.
 * 3) Added to the above, Bally never had any real interest in the concept behind the SAC-1, and saw features such as the Game Frame cabinet as wasteful, according to an interview with Howard Delman, one of Sente's co-founders.
 * 4) Bally Sente was constantly frustrated at an inability to get their product out to market and take risks.
 * 5) Bally Manufacturing struggled to cope with the harsh reality of the mid-80s arcade environment, leading it to close Sente down in 1987. That year, Bally Sente released the two last games for the SAC-1.
 * 6) Sente had a successful launch, but it was marred by Chuck E. Cheese's financial struggles having lead it to bankruptcy and putting the Sente division up for sale after less than five months of running it. This scared many distributors and operators into returning their SAC-1 cabinets for fear of being left with an expensive dud with no more games coming down the pipeline as promised. That was, until Bally's purchase of Sente Technologies and rebranding it.

Redeeming Qualities

 * 1) The interchangeable SAC-PACs gave operators a cheaper way to change out games on the same cabinet without having to dispose of it. Even more so with the later Bally Sente cabinet and the SAC MAN conversion kit.

Trivia

 * The name "Sente" came from a term used in the traditional Asian board game Go (Bushnell's favorite game) that literally means "taking the initiative".
 * The SAC-PAC concept served as a sort of predecessor to the JAMMA standard.
 * Five of the Sente System's 1984 releases were a series of games based on the Trivial Pursuit board game, with five Spanish releases licensed to Maibesa in 1987 and 1988.
 * The SAC-1's games were programmed using a DEC VT100 video terminal, as seen in a brochure for the system, as well as a photograph in a 1984 issue of Video Games Magazine where programmer Mark McPhee is working on the SAC-1 title Snake Pit.
 * The cartridges originally had white plastic shells and were later made bare to lower the costs.
 * The concept with interchangeable games on an arcade cabinet started with the DECO Cassette System.
 * Jaxson de Box, the protagonist of the SAC-1 game Snacks'n Jaxson, made a minor appearance in the 2012 Disney film Wreck-It Ralph.