[3][5][6] Tapper puts the player in the shoes of a bartender who must serve eager, thirsty patrons (before their patience expires[7]) while collecting empty mugs and tips.

[9] The re-themed Root Beer Tapper followed in 1984, which was developed specifically for arcades because the original version was construed as advertising alcohol to minors.

If they are too far away from a door, they stop, consume the drink, and resume their advance while sliding the empty mug back toward the keg.

Collecting a tip causes a group of female dancers to appear for a few seconds, distracting a portion of the customers so that they will stop advancing.

The bartender then pours/consumes a drink of his own with humorous results involving the empty mug, such as getting it stuck on his head or stubbing his toe when he tries to kick it.

As the game progresses, the customers appear more frequently, move faster along the bar, and are pushed back shorter distances when they catch their drinks.

[10][11] Music and sound effects for the arcade version of Tapper were created by Rick Hicaro of Marvin Glass & Associates.

Susanna" (composed by Stephen Foster), "Buffalo Gals" (traditional American folk song), the Budweiser theme, and "Galop Infernal" by Jacques Offenbach.

Most of the home versions of Tapper featured the Mountain Dew logo, while the ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC versions had the Pepsi logo, but they retained the bartender character of the original arcade game instead of the soda jerk in Root Beer Tapper.

[14] In Japan, Game Machine listed Tapper on their March 15, 1984 issue as being the most-successful table arcade unit of the month, tied with 10-Yard Fight and Vs.

's Gazette called the Commodore 64 version of Tapper "one of the most addictive games we've seen lately ... not only fun to play, but also immensely challenging, graphically entertaining, and full of action".