Timber

Timber is an arcade game that was manufactured by Midway Games in 1984. The object of the game is to amass points by chopping down trees or by balancing atop a floating, rotating log.

The player assumes the role of a lumberjack in the game. He or she has a limited amount of time to chop down a given number of trees that sequentially pop up from the ground. Difficulty increases with each level since the number of trees to chop down slightly increases (maxing out at 19) and the allotted time slightly decreases. While playing, the player must avoid beehives that are thrown by bears or lose a life. These beehives, however, can be destroyed with the player's axe for a 500-point reward. Some trees contain birds that will run around the level after they have been chopped down, yielding 1,000 points if touched by the player.

Every couple of levels, the player is given the opportunity to amass bonus points. He or she begins by standing on a floating log. As the log begins to rotate, players must make use of their reflexes to stay on top of the log. The first two times this is played, the log is relatively large; on future attempts, the size of the log shrinks considerably. This minigame ends if the player falls off the log or he or she balances atop it for a certain amount of time (in which case 1,000 bonus points are earned).

The game also features two-player simultaneous multiplayer, and can be played competitively or cooperatively. In this mode, chopping or pushing down a tree such that it falls on your opponent awards you with 1,000 points.

The cabinet of all the Timber arcade games were originally either a Tapper or a Root Beer Tapper cabinet, both also made by Bally Midway. The controls consist of two joysticks, with one controlling the player's movement and the other corresponding to left or right chops with the player's axe. Timber was included in 2004's Midway Arcade Treasures 2, a compilation disc of Midway Games games for the Xbox, PlayStation 2, and GameCube.

The current world record holder for highest score is Vincent Vassallo with a high score of 5,005,555.