How did Atari apply side art to Arcade Cabinets?

One of the most fascinating sequences in Atari’s arcade manufacturing process in the early 80s, was the application of the fabulous artwork that adorned all of its cabinets from the golden age of arcade gaming. So this week, I thought it would be interesting to take a look at how this cabinet artwork was actually printed. The technique used is called screen printing (often called silkscreen printing), and it’s a world away from the large-format digital printers used today. Let’s take a look at the process in action. This great footage shows the process in full. Shot in 1982, the cabinet sides being printed are for Atari’s Quantum arcade cabinet – it is interesting that this happened to be filmed at the time, as the cabinet run was relatively low, at only 500 cabinets: Atari coin-op screen printing process What you’re seeing there, isn’t a giant sticker being applied. Atari is printing the artwork directly onto the cabinet side panel. And here’s the key bit; it is being done one colour…