Dominos (video game)
From Wikipedia the free encyclopedia
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (September 2017) |
| Dominos | |
|---|---|
 Promotional flyer | |
| Developer(s) | Atari, Inc. |
| Platform(s) | Arcade |
| Release | January 1977 |
| Genre(s) | Snake |
Dominos is a one, two or four-player video action game packaged in its own distinctively styled upright cabinet that rest directly on the floor.
Gameplay[edit]
Gameplay is a variation of the snake genre, in which players compete by surrounding each other with lines of dominos. Players change direction via a set of four directional buttons representing up, down, right, and left respectively. A player loses when they hit a wall, their own dominos, or their opponent's, at which point all the dominos in their line "fall" down. At the end of each round, a point is awarded to the winner of that round until the end point goal is reached. The point goal can be 3, 4, 5, or 6 points.[1][2]
Development[edit]
Dominos was programmed by Dennis Koble.[3] He had joined Atari in 1976 and was only the fourth programmer at the company. His first project was Sprint 2 (1976) made with Lyle Rains and Dan Van Elderen.[4] Koble stated that despite being credited as the programmer on Dominos, Rains was "the brains behind the game", stating Rains suggested the concept, drew the graphics and created the AI for the computer controlled player.[3]
Following the release of Blockade by Gremlin Industries, Atari wanted to make their own version of the game. Koble said the game was not stolen from Blockade, stating that prior to Gremlin's release, he had seen similar snake video games on ARPANET and CompuServe, which made him feel he was not stealing Gremlin's game.[4] Among the additions made to the game, Koble added a computer-controlled opponent, giving the game a single-player mode.[3]
Koble claimed it was made in a very short amount of time, estimating about 13 weeks from to complete. He recalled that the game was made when Atari was still a "young company and just trying to survive as they made the transition into using microprocessors. They didn't quite have the standards they developed later."[4]
Release and reception[edit]
Dominos was shipped in January 1977.[5] Following Dominos, Koble went on to program Avalanche, his final game for Atari.[6] Atari would shortly release another snake game, Surround for the Atari 2600 on September 1977.[7]
From retrospective reviews, Bret Alan Weiss wrote in Allgame that Dominos was a simplistic game in terms of both visuals and gameplay and that it was superior as a two-player game, but it was "more fun than it looks, which isn't saying much"[8]
References[edit]
- ^ "Dominos Manual" (PDF). Retrieved 19 September 2017.
- ^ "Dominos Killer List of Video Games Entry". Retrieved 2007-07-06.
- ^ a b c Drury, p. 33.
- ^ a b c Drury, p. 32.
- ^ Akagi 2006, p. 110.
- ^ Drury 2012, p. 88.
- ^ Bunch 2022, p. 114.
- ^ Weiss.
Sources[edit]
- Akagi, Masumi (2006). "海外編" [Overseas Edition]. アーケードTVゲームリス 国内 • 海外編 ( 1971 - 2005 )ト [Arcade TV Game List Domestic/Overseas Edition (1971-2005)] (in Japanese). Japan: Amusement News Agency. ISBN 978-4990251215.
- Bunch, Kevin (2022). Atari Archive: Vol.1 1977-1978. Press Run Books. ISBN 978-1-955183-21-5.
- Drury, Paul (2012). "Dennis Koble". Retro Gamer. No. 107. Imagine Publishing. ISSN 1742-3155.
- Drury, Paul. "The Making of Dominos". Retro Gamer. No. 211.
- Weiss, Brett Alan. "Dominos". Allgame. Archived from the original on November 14, 2014. Retrieved February 12, 2024.
 | This arcade game-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |