Arcade helicopter games really took off in the 1960s, but are traced back to the 1940s.. Let's take a look at the helicopter games that immediately preceded Sega's Helicopter.
Flying Games
Before the helicopter games, there were a few games that involved rotating an aircraft around a fixed point. The player would have to fly high and fast enough, and then bring in their plane for landings on desirable spots.
1941 Air Defense by C. R. Kirk & Co & International Mutoscope - via KLOV also on pinrepair
The story of helicopter games begins in Canada, where Peter Jacobs of Jaycopters Ltd begins work turning military helicopter training simulators into a ride.
At The World's Fair there were miniature versions of the Jaycopter to play with. We can see them in this advertisement, and in this photograph, the model versions. They all appear larger than the regular coinop one we would see later, but they were coin operated and would set the template for all future helicopter games. If anyone has any photographs of the coin-operated Jaycopter games at the World's Fair, please get in touch!
FB Video on the Jaycopter from The Games Room Company. Jaycopter at pinrepair. All online sources say the normally produced Jaycopter is from 1968, though I can't find any primary sources for that. But the patent for the arcade machine design was filed in 1967, so the dates do line up.
The first official trade magazine mention of Amusement Engineering's Helicopter Trainer was in 1967. Note the last line of this snippet:
1966-09-03 Coin Box
The patent was filed in 1965, one year after the Jaycopter and the coinop Jaycopters appeared at the 1964 World's Fair. R.L. Brown is probably the same Lt. Col. Richard F. Brown that is referred to in a subsequent 1968-03-09 article. (see lower on this page)
The game seems to have arrived in production June 1967:
1967-06-10 Coin Box
1967-07-08 Coin Box "Yes, we have the sensational HELICOPTER TRAINER"
1967-11-25 Coin Box
Midway
In March 1968 Midway had arranged distribution of Amusement Engineer's Helicopter Trainer
1968-03 VT Music and Games
1968-03-09 Coin Box
And by June of 1968, Midway's Helicopter Trainer was advertised, with "a number of improvements".
1968-06-08 Billboard
Sega's Helicopter
Only months after the Midway deal was announced, Sega began advertising their Helicopter in English papers in July 1968.
1968-07 VT Music and Games
And in the July 7th 1969 Cash Box, we find 2 similarly iconic advertisements, from Sega and Midway
1968-07-07 Cash Box
1968-07-07 Cash Box
1968-07-27 Billboard
Williams + Midway
An entry in this style of game would come from Williams just a few months after Sega, with Space Pilot.
1968-11-23 Billboard 1968 Space Pilot by Williams
Early 1969, Midway announced their own entry (Helicopter Trainer was licensed by them) into the helicopter field, with Whirly Bird.
1969-01-11 Coin Box
1969 Whirly Bird by Midway
Many other variant models would be released in through the 1970s.
Art Point's Explorer games
In Japan, Art Point made 2 similar Helicopter-style games. I do not know when they came out, but both existed in 1969: Space Exploration and Antarctica Explorer.
The landing pads in the Sega game are similar to the ones used in the Explorer games by Art Point.
Explorer (Space Exploration) - エクスプローラー宇宙探検 by アートポイント社 (Art Point) detail
1968 Helicopter - ヘリコプター by セガ (Sega) detail
These games also have a central mountain structure for the helicopter mechanism. I suspect they were made using Sega' Helicopter as a template, but that is just speculation.
Name: Explorer (Space Exploration) - エクスプローラー宇宙探検 Company: アートポイント社 (Art Point)
Year: ~1969
I do not know which comes first, but the Space Exploration and Antarctica Exploration games both seem the same except for different art and different vehicle.
This version of the game appears in the 1969 machine directory.
