Popular games published by company Sears
Pong is a table tennis-themed twitch arcade video game with simple two-dimensional graphics. It was the first sports arcade video game and one of the earliest arcade video games in history, helping to establish the video game industry along with the Magnavox Odyssey. Soon after its release, several companies began producing games that closely mimicked its gameplay.
Adventure is a video game for the Atari 2600 video game console, released in 1980. In the game, the player controls a square avatar whose quest is to hunt an open world environment for a magical chalice, returning it to the golden castle. The game world is populated by roaming enemies: dragons, which can eat the avatar; and a bat, which randomly steals and hides items around the game world. Adventure was designed and programmed by Atari employee Warren Robinett, and published by Atari, Inc. At the time, Atari programmers were generally given full control on the creative direction and development cycle for their games, and this required them to plan for their next game as they neared completion of their current one to stay productive. Robinett submitted the source code for Adventure to Atari management in June 1979 and soon left Atari. Atari released the game in early 1980.
In Astrosmash you control a laser canon at the bottom of the screen; your goal is to earn as many points as possible by destroying the various incoming meteors, bombs, and other objects. Points are earned for destroying objects, while points are lost for letting them get past you. Meteors are the most common item you need to defend yourself against. They come in various sizes and colors, and some even split into two smaller meteors when shot. Mixed in with the meteors are white spinning bombs. While letting a meteor get past you will only lower your score, you have to shoot the spinners. If one gets past, you will lose a life. On the more difficult levels, ufo's and guided missiles will also appear occasionally and attempt to destroy your canon.
Surround was an unofficial port of the arcade game Blockade, released the previous year by Gremlin. As such, it was the first home console version of the game that would become widely known on other platforms as Snake. As with other early Atari games, it was licensed to Sears, which released it under the name Chase. The cartridge was subdivided into 14 different games. The first 12 of these were variations on the Blockade theme. Like its predecessor Blockade and successor Snake, the object of Surround was to maneuver a sprite across the screen, leaving a trail behind. A player wins by forcing the other player to crash into one of the trails. Various options allowed for speed-up, diagonal movement, wrap-around and "erase" (the choice to not draw at a given moment); in addition, the sprites could be set to operate at a beginning "slow" speed, or progressively speed up through five speeds.
The game is based on the game of bowling, playable by one player or two players alternating. In all six variations, games last for 10 frames, or turns. At the start of each frame, the current player is given two chances to roll a bowling ball down an alley in an attempt to knock down as many of the ten bowling pins as possible. The bowler (on the left side of the screen) may move up and down his end of the alley to aim before releasing the ball. In four of the game's six variations, the ball can be steered before it hits the pins. Knocking down every pin on the first shot is a strike, while knocking every pin down in both shots is a spare. The player's score is determined by the number of pins knocked down in all 10 frames, as well as the number of strikes and spares acquired.
Video Pinball is a loose simulation of an arcade pinball machine: ball launcher, flippers, bumpers, and spinners.
The player controls a car which must be driven along a road at nighttime without crashing into the sides of the road as indicated by road side reflectors. The game is controlled with a single pedal for gas, a wheel for steering and a four-selection lever for gear shifting. The coin operated game had a choice of three difficulties, novice, pro, and expert, from which the player could choose at game start. The turns were sharper and more frequent on the more difficult tracks. As play progresses, the road gets narrower and more winding.
Street Racer is an action racing game for one to four players played from an overhead view. The screen is split into two lanes; in one or two player games, each player has a lane. In three and four player games, players must share the lanes. Each game has a two minute and sixteen second time limit, and your goal is to earn as many points as possible by the end of this time. In addition to the basic racing version, several other game variations are included as well.
Pelé's Soccer is an Atari 2600 game based on the famous footballer Pelé, and published in 1980. It features basic graphics, realistic (for that time) ball-handing and goal-keeping techniques using the Atari joystick.
Intellivision Backgammon is identical with the board game. Backgammon is a game played by two players (the computer can be one of the players). Each player has 15 pieces. The object of the game is to be the first to move all your pieces completely around and finally off the board. Moving your pieces off the board is called "bearing off". The first player to bear off all his pieces is the winner. Each player moves in a direction beginning from his opponent's Home Table and coming around to his own Home Table. Thus one player always moves clockwise and the other always counterclockwise. You can play against the computer at two skill levels - one for beginners or intermediate, another for experts - or two players can compete against each other. It displays the American Backgammon Players Association (ABPA) logo.
You're the commander of a submarine in enemy waters. Use your skills, radar, and luck to take down the enemy ships. With 8 difficulty settings there is a lot of the game to master as you must start to keep an eye on your fuel, torpedoes, radar, and enemy while avoiding depth charges as the difficulty rises. You can fire up to two torpedoes at a time. While enemy shows go by your periscope sink as many as you can. The periscope can turn 360 degrees and look off into the horizon or close to your sub. Some ships move slower than others, and one of the ships moves so fast that the only way to hit it is by tracking it by radar instead of visually. This game was never released under any name by Atari. It was a Sears exclusive.
Stellar Track is a text- and turn-based strategy game where the player controls a Terran Super Warship that must clear out alien ships from all quadrants of a galaxy. It was a conversion of a college mainframe Star Trek game released by Sears in 1981. It is a suitably primitive game where you have to run scans to locate enemies and starbases on a 6 x 6 galactic map. You run scans to find the enemies then must warp to their quadrant to confront them with either phasers or photon torpedoes. You use the joystick to determine the numerals of where you intend you to travel to.
This game is a colour sequel of Sea Wolf. The Atari 2600-game "Submarine Commander" is a loose port of Sea Wolf II, and thus not to be confused with the 8-bit game of the same name.
The game is housed in a custom cabinet that includes a simulated motorcycle steering column mounted on the control panel. The right side handle grip is twisted for acceleration. The monitor is a 19-inch black and white CRT monitor with a black and white overlay that adds giant tubes to the play field used to traverse from one split level to another. Sounds include a motorcycle roar, crash sounds, and crowd cheers. Stunt Cycle was ported to the AY-3-8760 custom chip by General Instruments and released by Atari as a dedicated console with bike handle controls. Sears released an Atari-manufactured version called Motocross.
In 480 B.C. a small Spartan force held off Xerxes and the entire Persian army, in the famous Battle of Thermopylae. The Spartans chose to die defending the pass into Greece, to give their allies time to prepare for attack. SPACE SPARTANS reenacts this battle in space, in a heroic adventure that pits you against overwhelming alien odds. You are the elite force. Stop the first alien onslaught and a new alien force appears. Hold the aliens back as long as you can and give your home galaxy time to repare for attack! Score as many points as possible by shooting down alien ships, before your ship is destroyed or you run out of energy. Repair damaged ship systems and re-energize at your 3 starbases. Destroy all aliens on the Sector Grid and a new round starts with more aliens. YOU HAVE ONE SHIP AGAINST A CONTINUOUS ONSLAUGHT OF ALIEN ATTACKERS.