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AtariAge Contests

We've held a wide variety of contests on AtariAge since the site's inception, including high score contests, level design contests, and artwork contests to design new labels for homebrew games and other products. This page lists all the contests held on AtariAge in reverse chronological order, with a brief description by each. Click on the icon for complete details on the contest, including submissions you can view for completed contests. If you have an idea for a contest, please don't hesitate to drop us a line!

Star Castle Arcade Label Contest Star Castle Arcade Label Contest

Star Castle Arcade is a 32K game that pushes the boundary of what's possible on the Atari 2600. Star Castle is a 1980 vector arcade game produced by Cinematronics. The game involves obliterating a series of defenses orbiting a stationary turret in the center of the screen. Chris Walton and Thomas Jentzch have created a fantastic port of Star Castle for the Atari 2600, one of two versions of Star Castle developed in parallel. This new version contains many improvements over the previously released version of Star Castle.

The object of Star Castle is to destroy an enemy cannon which sits in the center of three concentric, rotating energy shield rings while avoiding or destroying 'mines' - enemies that spawn from the core, pass through the energy rings, and then home in on the player's ship. They can stick back to the shield if the player maneuvers in such a way that a ring is between the ship and the mines. The player-controlled spaceship can rotate, thrust forward, and fire small projectiles. The cannon's shields are composed of twelve sections each, and each section takes two hits to destroy. Once a section is breached, rings beneath it are exposed to fire.

AtariAge and homebrew authors Chris Walton and Thomas Jentzsch are sponsored a label contest for Star Castle Arcade, and we received many great entries! The winning label design was designed by Jordi Cabo, and his design will be featured on the Star Castle Arcade cartridge, manual and box. You can view all the submitted entries here.

Space Rocks Label Contest Space Rocks Label Contest

While on a routine Stellar Cartography mission, UESC Rains experienced a malfunction and warped into an asteroid field in an unknown sector of space. Unable to get a bearing to safely warp out, the ship must blast the asteroids into smithereens to prevent imminent destruction. To make matters worse, the local inhabitants are xenophobic and have sent warships and Magna-Mines to eliminate the alien (that's you!) threat.

If you're a fan of the arcade games Asteroids or Asteroids Deluxe you'll love Space Rocks. While Atari released a version of Asteroids for the 2600, it pales in comparison to what Darrell Spice, Jr. has crafted in his version. Space Rocks is a 32K game that takes full advantage of our Melody Board resulting in a game that pushes the Atari 2600 hardware to its limits. The graphics, animations, and sound effects are well above what is typically experienced on the 2600.

AtariAge and homebrew author Darrell Spice, Jr. sponsored a label contest for Space Rocks, resulting in over 50 fantastic submissions from the talented AtariAge community. The winning entry, pictured to the left, was submitted by Dave Dries, whose artwork will appear on the label, manual and box for Space Rocks. We also chose three runner up labels, from Brian Ostrowski, André Bolfing, and Nathan Strum. You can learn more about the contest and view all the submitted labels here.

Boulder Dash Label Contest Boulder Dash® Label Contest

Andrew Davie and Thomas Jentzsch worked on an Atari 2600 port of Boulder Dash® for almost a decade. Together these two Atari 2600 veterans have used their insight and sophisticated knowledge about the Atari console to bring to life a faithful rendering of the classic, action-puzzle game (first released on the Atari 8-bit computer platform in 1984) from First Star Software, Inc. Game-play, sounds, and graphics have been faithfully reproduced, culminating in a game for the Atari 2600 unlike any previously seen.

If you're not familiar with Boulder Dash®, the Wikipedia Entry for the game contains a wealth of information. And of course, First Star Software also has an informative Boulder Dash® page describing the various versions of the game released to date and history of the game. In short,

"The game's protagonist is called "Rockford". He must dig through caves collecting gems and diamonds and reach the exit within a time limit, while avoiding various types of dangerous creatures as well as obstacles like falling rocks and the constant danger of being crushed or trapped by an avalanche, or killed by an underground explosion."

AtariAge and First Star Software, Inc. hosted a box and label design competition for Boulder Dash®, resulting in a variety of great entries from the classic gaming community! The winning entry was submitted by André Bolfing, and graces all 250 copies of Boulder Dash® that have been produced for sale in the AtariAge Store. You can learn more about the contest and view all the winning entries here.

FailSafe Label Contest FailSafe Label Contest

The War Continues...

After the successful elimination of the terrorists and their missile silo complexes, we have heard through various sources that they have relocated, and have doubled their security! Once again you must invade enemy territory and prevent the missile launching aimed at Washington D.C. and stop the terrorists once and for all!

Make your way through five different terrains in search of the Depot where you will pick up Fail-Safe clues. One letter in the code, in it's correct position, appears in the center of your fuel gauge. The sixth terrain is the most dangerous of all - the missile silo is heavily guarded by all enemies, including a mine field! If you make your way past that, you will have to enter the four-digit hexadecimal code to stop the launch and save the world. Do that, and you will start over in a more difficult environment. Otherwise...

FailSafe is a new Atari 7800 homebrew game by Bob DeCrescenzo (aka, PacManPlus), who has a stellar track record in releasing a variety of high-quality arcade ports under his belt. FailSafe is an unofficial sequel to Atari's original game Countermeasure for the Atari 5200.

AtariAge and Bob DeCrescenzo sponsored a contest to create original artwork for FailSafe. Congratulations to Jah Fish and Nonner242, whose winning artwork appears on all copies of FailSafe sold in the AtariAge Store. You can view all the contest submissions here.

   
Incoming! Label Contest Incoming! Label Contest

Those of you who keep tabs on the Atari 2600 homebrew scene may be familiar with Incoming! We first posted news about the game back in 2001, and author Ben Larson announced a final version of the game earlier this year. If you've ever played Artillery Duel on the 2600 (not to mention many similar games on various systems and computers over the years), then you'll be right at home with Incoming! Ben has addressed many of Artillery Duel's shortcomings with Incoming!, resulting in a much improved gameplay experience!

AtariAge and Ben Larson sponsored a contest to create original artwork for Incoming! The winning entry was submitted by Holger Bommer, whose artwork will be used for both the cartridge label as well as the cover of the Incoming! manual. You can view all the contest submissions here.

   
Lead Label Contest Lead Label Contest

Will you lead? Find the answer by travelling through the 20 tunnels of Lead, where you'll have to fire at incoming enemies, dodge deadly asteroids, scramble past menacing sentinels and catch wandering satellites to survive, and finally prove to yourself that you can do it.

Lead is a fast paced action game created by Simone Serra, whose first Atari 2600 homebrew release was the unique collection of puzzle and rhythm games in Sync. AtariAge and Simone Serra sponsored a contest to create original artwork for Lead. The winning entry was submited by Hernán Callo, whose artwork will be used for both the cartridge label as well as the cover of the Lead manual. You can view all 74 contest submissions here.

   
bonQ Label Contest b*nQ Label Contest

Ken Siders has been hard at work creating his next Atari 7800 homebrew masterpiece: b*nQ! Fans of the classic arcade game Q*bert will immediately recognize the origins of b*nQ, and Ken has done an amazing job of bringing it to life on the 7800. If only more games of this caliber were released for the 7800 "back in the day", the system may have had a longer shelf life! This is Ken's second release for the Atari 7800--his first, Beef Drop, is a dead-on port of the popular arcade game Burgertime and has been very popular with 7800 fans.

AtariAge and Ken Siders sponsored a contest to create original artwork for b*nQ. The winning entry was submited by Darrin Rose, whose artwork will be used for both the cartridge label as well as the cover of the b*nQ manual. You can view all 45 contest submissions here.

   
Elevators Amiss Label Contest Elevators Amiss Label Contest
Atari 2600 homebrew author Bob Montgomery, whose previous 2600 creations include Go Fish! and Reindeer Rescue has been hard at work on a new 2600 homebrew game--Elevators Amiss! In Elevators Amiss you are a maid working in a hotel gone crazy! Normally the night shift is pretty uneventful, but tonight the hotel's elevators have taken on a life of their own! You need to get to the top of the hotel, but the elevators are simply not an option. To get to the top floor you will need to race along each floor of the building to the stairs while avoiding the out-of-control elevators! And when you do reach the top, you're work isn't done as you need to tackle the next hotel, also suffering the same problem!

AtariAge and Bob Montgomery sponsored a contest to create original artwork for Elevators Amiss sold through the AtariAge Store. The winning entry was submitted by Nathan Strum, whose artwork will appear on all copies of Elevators Amiss. You can view all the contest submissions here.
   
Medieval Mayhem Label Contest Medieval Mayhem Label Contest
Fans of the popular four-player Atari 2600 game Warlords (itself based on an arcade game of the same name) will be happy to learn that 2600 enthusiast Darrell Spice Jr. is nearly finished with Medieval Mayhem, an updated take on Warlords. While the original version from Atari is still a blast to play, Medieval Mayhem adds arcade features such as the launch dragon, multiple fireballs and a level of polish missing from the original 2600 release. It also includes a menu to select options before starting the game.

AtariAge and Darrell Spice Jr. sponsored a contest to create original artwork for Medieval Mayhem The winning entry was submitted by David Vazquez, whose artwork will grace the label and manual of all copies of Medieval Mayhem, which will be available through the AtariAge Store. You can view all the contest submissions here.
   
Rainbow Invaders Label Contest Rainbow Invaders Label Contest
Rainbow Invaders is a new Space Invaders style game for the Atari 2600 from Italian developer Silvio Mogno. While many games of this nature have been released for the 2600 (to say nothing of the countless Space Invaders hacks), Silvio's game adds a breath of fresh air to the genre. Yes, you are shooting at descending waves of alien invaders, attempting to finish them off before they reach the ground. However, the aliens also periodically drop one of 16 random Special Shots, some of which will help and some of which will hinder your efforts if you catch them. Your ship also features a shield that will make you invulnerable for a few seconds, at the expense of not being able to fire again right away.

AtariAge and Silvio Mogno sponsored a contest to create original artwork for Rainbow Invaders. The winning entry was submitted by Nathan Strum, whose artwork will appear on all copies of Rainbow Invaders sold through the AtariAge Store. You can view all the submissions here.
   
Strat-O-Gems Deluxe Label Contest Strat-O-Gems Deluxe Label Contest
Strat-O-Gems Deluxe is a new Atari 2600 game by John Payson, originally created for the 2005 Minigame Competition that bears similarities to Columns, Jewel Master, and Salu's Acid Drop. In Strat-O-Gems Deluxe, colored gems fall from the top of the screen in groups of three. Any time three or more adjacent gems of the same color line up vertically, horizontally, or diagonally they will disappear. Any gems above them will then fall down; if these create new groups of three or more gems, those too will disappear, leading to chain reactions. Your job is to score as many reactions and chain reactions as possible before the gems reach the foul line. If any gems remain over the foul line after all reactions are complete, the game will end.

AtariAge and John Payson are sponsored a contest to create original artwork for Strat-O-Gems Deluxe. The winning entry was submitted by Jason Crouch, and his design appears on all copies of Strat-O-Gems Deluxe sold through the AtariAge Store. You can learn more about the contest here and view all the submissions here.
   
Ye Olde Adventure II Contest Ye Olde Adventure II Contest
Adventure II is a new Atari 5200 game that picks up where the classic Atari 2600 game Adventure leaves off. Adventure II features larger mazes, snazzier graphics, and more to do than in the original game, promising to be one of the best Atari 5200 homebrew releases to date!

As the game nears completion, AtariAge and Square Trio have sponsored a two-prong contest to allow the classic gaming community to contribute to the game. The first part of the contest was to create alternate player icon graphics. The second part of the contest was to dream up player rankings that are displayed to the player upon completion of the game (in a manner similar to Star Raiders). You can learn more about the contest here and view all the results of the contest here.
   
Go Fish! Label Contest Go Fish! Label Contest
Go Fish! is an original game loosely based on the Intellivision game Shark! Shark! - you are a wee fish and, to survive, you must eat other, smaller fish to grow. But watch out for the shark, as he's also on the hunt for food and you could be his next meal! Go Fish! will feature extensive, continuously-playing music (with an option to turn it off for those who'd rather do their fishing in quiet), as well as a two-player battle mode. Additionally, the AtariVox is supported as a means for saving your high scores so they are remembered the next time you fire up the game!

AtariAge and Bob Montgomery sponsored a contest to create original artwork for Go Fish! The winning entry was created by Renato Brito. This label artwork will appear on all copies of Go Fish!, which is making its debut at the upcoming Oklahoma Video Game Expo, after which it will be available in the AtariAge Store. You can view all the contest entries here.
   
Ultra SCSIcide Label Contest Ultra SCSIcide Label Contest
SCSIcide is an original, fast-paced homebrew game released back in 2001 by Joe Grand of Pixels Past. In SCSIcide you play the role of a hard drive read head. As the different colored bits scroll by on the hard drive platter, you need to quickly read them in the correct order before you suffer a buffer underflow. As you complete each level, the data scrolls by more and more quickly! How far can you go? If you're a fan of Activision's Kaboom!, then you'll love SCSIcide.

Joe Grand has spent some time recently updating SCSIcide and has released a new version of the game titled Ultra SCSIcide. This latest version of the game contains many improvements over the original, which you can read about here. To help commemorate this new version of the game, Joe Grand and AtariAge teamed up to create a new label and manual for Ultra SCSIcide. To that end we sponsored a contest to create original label artwork that will grace all copies of Ultra SCSIcide that are sold through the AtariAge Store after the contest. We selected one of Nathan Strum's many entries as the winning label for the contest (pictured to the left), and you can view all of the entries here.
   
2004 AtariAge Holiday Qb Cart Contest 2004 AtariAge Holiday Qb Cart Contest
After the success of the 2003 Holiday Cart, AtariAge, Andrew Davie, and Dave Exton teamed up to create the 2004 AtariAge Holiday Qb Cartridge. This is a special version of Andrew's popular Atari 2600 homebrew game Qb that has been given a special holiday theme. The game's graphics have been updated, and a new label and manual have been created by Dave Exton, who also created the Qb label that graced the Qb: Special Edition package as well as all copies of Qb that were sold through the AtariAge Store (you can see his original label here). Since the original game is no longer available for purchase, this special, limited version of Qb was the last opportunity to obtain a new copy of this game in cartridge form.

So, how did people go about winning one of the ten cartridges we gave away? You needed to print out a "Season's Greetings" image we created and take a picture holding this page in front of one or more interesting landmarks from your home town. We posted all of the submissions on a page where everyone can view them, and after the contest deadline passed, we chose ten winners randomly from all the entries submitted. You can view all the submissions here.
   
Man Goes Down Label Contest Man Goes Down Label Contest
Man Goes Down--no it's not rude, just an accurate description of the gameplay. You see, you control this little guy, negotiating platforms that continuously scroll up the screen. Get pushed off the top or fall off the bottom and it's game over. There's fruit and other goodies to collect along the way to help you on your journey down. There are 12 different items to collect in all!

AtariAge and Man Goes Down author Alex Herbert sponsored a contest to create original label artwork for Man Goes Down. One of Nathan Strum's many submissions was chosen as the winning entry (pictured to the left) for the contest.
   
Krokodile Cartridge Label Contest Krokodile Cartridge Label Contest
The Krokodile Cartridge is a programmable game cartridge for the Atari 2600 game console. The cartridge contains 512K of Flash ROM that can be programmed by connecting the cartridge to a Windows PC with a serial cable. Once connected to a PC, the Windows-based Krokodile Commander software is then used to download software into the Krokodile Cartridge. The cartridge also includes 32K of built-in RAM to support games that require additional onboard cartridge memory (such as Atari's SARA-chip games).

Krokodile Cartridge creator Armin Vogl and AtariAge teamed up to sponsor a label contest to design an original label for the Krokodile Cartridge. The contest was won by Nathan Strum (whose label is pictured to the left), with a runner-up prize given to Alexius Wronka.
   
Beef Drop Label Contest Beef Drop Label Contest
AtariAge user Ken "kenfused" Siders ported the popular arcade game Burgertime to the Atari 5200, where it's been released with the name Beef Drop. Burgertime also made the transition to many home game console and computer systems, including the Intellivision, ColecoVision, Atari 2600, Nintendo Entertainment System, and more. While a disk-based version of Burgertime was released for the Atari 8-bit computers, this version has been written from scratch to be more faithful to the arcade version than the older 8-bit port.

Beef Drop needed an original, Atari 5200-style label, leading us to team up with Ken Siders to sponsor a Beef Drop Label Contest. The winning label was created by Henry Lee and is pictured to the left.
   
Sky Jaguar High Score Contest Sky Jaguar High Score Contest
Sky Jaguar is an original ColecoVision port of the Konami game of the same name, brought to life on the ColecoVision by Opcode Games. Sky Jaguar appeared as an obscure arcade game, as well as on the MSX computers, which this version is based on. Sky Jaguar made its debut at the PhillyClassic 5 gaming expo.

AtariAge and Opcode Games sponsored a Sky Jaguar High Score Contest, won by Troy Whelan. Troy's high score of 185,360 won him a copy of Magical Tree, a game developed and completed for the ColecoVision by Opcode Games, but never released for sale.
   
Indy 500 XE Track Design Contest Indy 500 XE Track Design Contest
Atari created a great driving controller for the Atari 2600, but only released one game to take advantage of it: Indy 500. While Indy 500 is great fun to play, it has a limited number of tracks. Gustavo del Dago developed a new version of Indy 500 titled Indy 500 XE, featuring more tracks (the game has been increased in size from 2K to 4K), double-resolution tracks that allow for more detailed and interesting levels, different car graphics for each player, and more game variations.

Additionally, Gustavo created an easy-to-use Windows-based track editor that allows the easy creation of new tracks, loading and saving of tracks (so you can go back later to refine them), selection of background, playfield, and player colors, and the ability to generate a binary so you can immediately test your creations. AtariAge and Gustavo sponsored a contest on AtariAge to allow everyone a chance at creating tracks that might be included in a cartridge version of Indy 500 XE. We chose 16 different tracks from the many entries received, which you can view here.
   
Combat Redux Design Contest Combat Redux Design Contest
The original version of Combat supports many game variations, but few unique playfields. Zach Matley has created a new version of Combat, dubbed Combat Redux, that allows for 28 unique playfields. This new version of Combat supports seven groups of four playfields each: seven open mazes, seven easy mazes, seven complex mazes, and seven cloud designs. The first three groups are for tank games, and the last group is for jet-fighter and bi-plane games.

To help create new playfields for Combat Redux, AtariAge and Zach Matley teamed up to sponsor a Combat Redux Design Contest. To that end, Zach created a Windows-based editor that allows you to design playfields and immediately test them in your favorite Atari 2600 emulator. Of the many submissions we received, we chose 28 winning playfields that were wrapped up into a single Combat Redux binary.
   
2003 AtariAge Holiday GreetingCart Contest 2003 AtariAge Holiday GreetingCart Contest
For the 2003 holiday season, AtariAge teamed up with artist Dave Exton and programmer Andrew Davie to create a special 2003 AtariAge Holiday GreetingCart. AtariAge sponsored a contest to give away carts to seven lucky recipients. The object of the contest was to take a picture of an Atari 2600 cartridge in an environment appropriate for the game's name. For instance,a picture of Frostbite outside an igloo, or Polaris by a submarine, or Warlords outside an old English castle.

A large number of submissions were received, and we hand picked two entries by Adrian Roberts and Bohus Blahut based on what we felt were the most interesting and creative entries. We then picked five more random entrants to receive Holiday GreetingCarts.
   
Castle Crisis Label Contest Castle Crisis Label Contest
Fans of the classic Atari arcade game Warlords will be pleased to learn that Bryan Edewaard has developed a version for the Atari 5200 titled Castle Crisis. In this fast-paced game, up to four players can compete against one another or computer opponents. Using your shield, you must capture and launch fireballs against an enemy's castle, while protecting your own castle from enemy fireball hits. Gameplay mechanics and graphics closely match the arcade, with additional gameplay options available, adding variety to an already great game.

AtariAge and Bryan Edewaard teamed up to sponsor a contest to develop a unique label for Castle Crisis. The winning label was submitted by Manu Pärssinen, pictured to the left.
   
Redemption 5200 Label Contest Redemption 5200 Label Contest
As any fans of the Atari 5200 are acutely aware, the standard controllers Atari shipped with the 5200 are lacking in several areas. To help remedy these problems, AtariAge and Pixels Past created a new product called Redemption 5200 that allows you to use 2600, 7800, Sega SMS/Genesis, and PC controllers on the Atari 5200.

However, before we started selling the Redemption 5200, we needed some labels! AtariAge and Pixels Past sponsored a contest to design three labels for Redemption 5200. Why three? There are three versions of Redemption 5200, supporting three types of controllers, 1) Atari 2600 / Sega, 2) Atari 7800, and 3) PC Controller. The winning labels were submitted by Matthew Bowman.
   
Star Fire Elite Squadron Star Fire Elite Squadron
Star Fire is an Atari 2600 game programmed by Manuel Polik, who previously created Gunfight for the 2600. Star Fire is a port of the 1979 arcade game of the same name created by David Rolfe and Ted Michon and released by Exidy. Star Fire is a wave-based space shoot'em-up, with several surprises that you won't find in the original arcade game. It carefully tries to not only adopt most features of the original, but to enhance the gameplay whereever possible as well.

Do you have what it takes to join the elite? We are offering you the chance to join the select few. All you have to do is score 3500 points or more in Star Fire, take a picture of your score and send it to us. The first 50 of you to send in a valid score will receive the special Star Fire Elite Squadron Patch and Elite Squadron Acceptance Letter. This offer is only open to those who purchase Star Fire, which may be obtained in the AtariAge Store.
   
Backfire Label Contest Backfire Label Contest
Backfire is an original homebrew game for the Atari 2600 written by Chad Lare. In Backfire you have two guns, one on the top of the screen and one on the bottom. To control the gun on the top of the screen, press up, to switch to the other gun, press down. Once you are controlling a gun, you can move horizontally and shoot. If you have a clear shot all the way across the screen, you can accidentally blow up your own gun. Also if you shoot one of the barriers, your shot is reflected back at you and you have to get out of the way (hence the name Backfire).

AtariAge and Backfire author Chad Lare held a contest to create original label artwork for Backfire. The winning label was submitted by Phosphor Dot Fossils (Earl Green), which adorns the label and manual.
   
CVDRUM Splash Screen Contest CVDRUM Splash Screen Contest
CVDRUM is a ColecoVision cartridge by E-Mancanics based on popular software and hardware drum machines, and it enables the user to create up to 9 different one measure musical rhythm patterns. These patterns can then be arranged into a 56 measure maximum rhythm sequence, and the sequence can then be looped for musical performance. The tempos are also close enough that it can be used in concert with Paul Slocum's Atari 2600 SynthCart. CVDRUM software uses the ColecoVision's sound chips to create 8 different drum like sounds that have the vintage 8-bit sound.

AtariAge and CVDRUM creator Frank Emanuele are sponsoring a contest to create a new splash screen for CVDRUM. The splash screen appears when the ColecoVision is first turned on with the CVDRUM cartridge inserted and remains visible until the user presses a fire button on their ColecoVision controller. The winning splash screen was sent in by Manu Pärssinen, who received an autographed CVDRUM for his efforts.
   
Climber 5 Label Contest Climber 5 Label Contest
Climber 5 is a port by Dennis Debro of an Atari 8-bit computer game that originally appeared in COMPUTE! magazine back in 1987. In Climber you play the role of a baseball player. The baseball has been hit to the upper rafters of a building under construction. Your job is to climb the ladders and retrieve the ball. Of course, there are obstacles along the way that you need to avoid or you lose a life and must start over at the bottom right corner. Once you successfully retrieve the ball, the level changes and becomes more difficult.

AtariAge and Dennis Debro sponsored a contest to create original label artwork for Climber 5. Jason Dvorak submitted the winning label, which also formed the basis for the manual cover. Jason also created a four page comic that is integrated into the manual.
   
Combat II Advanced Contest Combat II Advanced Contest
Combat II Advanced is John Swiderski's second game for the Atari 5200, his first being Haunted House II 3-D. In Combat II Advanced, up to four people (on a 4-port 5200) can take to the battlefield in a wide variety of vehicles, such as tanks, jets, helicopters and submarines. Each vehicle type has several different battlefields to choose from, and there also several game variations to add even more variety.

Mean Hamster Software and AtariAge sponsored a contest for Combat II Advanced while it was still in development. This contest was accessible to everyone--to enter, all one needed to do was send in a postcard. Two winners, Chris Johnson of South Perth, Australia, and Fred Hiss of Arvada, Colorado were chosen at random to win autographed copies of the limited release of Combat II Advanced.
   
Koffi: Yellow Kopter Kontest Koffi: Yellow Kopter Kontest
Koffi is a little kopter, and not allowed to go with the bigger rescue kopters on missions. But when Koffi learns of an insidious plan of Pyro the stormcloud to burn down the forests ... Koffi must take action! Protect the forests and the animals that live there, and defeat the villainous Pyro the electrified stormcloud! Koffi is a one-screen action game, with four stages per level, and as many levels as you can defeat!

Koffi: Yellow Kopter programmer Ron Lloyd and AtariAge held a contest to design the animals that Koffi has to rescue in this original Atari 5200 homebrew game. Ron chose an animated fox submitted by The Hardesty's as the winning animal, and chose an additional eighteen other entries that were also included in the cartridge.
   
Haunted House II 3-D Label Contest Haunted House II 3-D Label Contest
Fans of the Atari 2600 game Haunted House will be glad to learn that John Swiderski created an updated version for the Atari 5200, titled Haunted House II 3-D. This new version is similar to the Atari 2600 version in terms of gameplay, but features over 90 rooms in two different mazes, new creatures, new treasure, and more.

AtariAge sponsored a contest to create an original label for Haunted House II 3-D. A label sent in by Earl Green was chosen as the winner, which was used for the initial run of cartridges. Later runs of the game featured a label submitted by David Streek.
 
Thrust Plus High-Score Contest Thrust Plus High-Score Contest
Thomas Jentzsch and Jah Fish teamed up to create Thrust Plus, a new version of Thomas Jentzsch's popular Thrust homebrew for the Atari 2600. This new version supports two controllers that are new to the game: the driving controllers, allowing a much more precise setting of the ship's direction and the use of a pedal controller, allowing you to control your ship's functions with your feet. In addition, this new version of the game includes other improvements and refinements that are not in the regular edition.

AtariAge sponsored a Thrust High Score Contest, with the top two scorers receiving a free Thrust Plus Special Edition package, numbered 1 and 2 respectively. The two top scorers were Tom Linke with a score of 205,150 points, and Chris Johnson, with a score of 193,110 points.
   
AtariAge T-Shirt Slogan Contest AtariAge T-Shirt Slogan Contest
When we were looking for slogans to put on an AtariAge t-shirt to sell via CafePress, we decided to hold a contest to see what slogans AtariAge visitors could dream up. The contest was a huge success, resulting in over 200 slogans! We ended up selecting three different slogans, submitted by Ashley Alford, Dave Exton, and Joe Kollar.
   
Castle Blast Label Contest Castle Blast Label Contest
Castle Blast is an Atari 5200 homebrew game developed by Ronen Habot (aka "OldGuru"). It is loosely based on the fifth screen of the classic Centuri arcade game Phoenix, which was later ported to the Atari 2600. Castle Blast was Ronen Habot's first foray into programming the Atari 5200, and he used this experience as a means to write a tutorial on Atari 5200 programming to assist others who might want to write games for the system.

AtariAge sponsored a contest to create an original label for Castle Blast. The winner of the contest, Zanza received a limited Special Edition version of Castle Blast.
   
Synthcart Beat Programming Contest Synthcart Beat Programming Contest
The Synthcart is a rather unique cartridge for the Atari 2600 that allows you to play music using a pair of keyboard controllers. Each keyboard controller controls one of the two oscillators in the Atari 2600. You can learn more about the Synthcart and download an MP3 demo of it in action on Paul Slocum's Synthcart page.

AtariAge and Paul Slocum sponsored a Synthcart Beat Programming Contest in early 2002 to allow people to create and contribute beats to be included with the Synthcart. Three beats were chosen, from Hally, Felemel, and Jeff Gregory.
   
Qb Label Contest Qb Label Contest
Qb is a game developed in 2001 for the Atari 2600 by Andrew Davie, who initially wrote a version of Qb for the Atari 800 back in 1984. The game is pretty simple in concept, but tricky in practice. Move the blocks on the large board so they match the pattern on the small board. Problem is, you can only jump to an adjacent block. The long-term aim is to achieve the highest score possible.

AtariAge and Andrew Davie sponsored a contest to provide a label for Qb. Three winning labels were selected, from David Exton, Chris Johnson, and Cristiana Yambo. David Exton's label came in first place, and is the label that was used for the 100 Qb Special Edition packages Andrew Davie created, as well as copies of the game sold through the AtariAge Store.
   
Mental Kombat Label Contest Mental Kombat Label Contest
Mental Kombat is an original Atari 2600 game created by Simon Quernhorst. Mental Kombat is a two player puzzle game based on a concept originally developed by Simon and a friend for the Commodore 64. AtariAge held a contest to provide an original label for Mental Kombat. The winning label was submitted by Jason Parlee, who received the first numbered cartridge (#01).
   
Gunfight Label Contest Gunfight Label Contest
"It's shoot-out time and you've got to be faster than your opponent or the computer. Move, dodge, or hide behind a covered wagon or cactus. But whatever you do, don't waste your time because your opponent is shooting back. Take your position, aim, and fire before he gets you..."

Gunfight is an original Atari 2600 homebrew game written by Manuel Rotschkar. Gunfight is heavily inspired by the 1975 Midway arcade game Gun Fight. AtariAge sponsored a contest to create a label for Gunfight. The winning label was submitted by David Exton.
   
Star Wars Autographed Cartridge Contest Star Wars Autographed Cartridge Contest Results
As part of an effort to gather scans and pictures of unusual or rare Atari items, we held a contest where people would submit items that weren't already depicted on the internet. The prize for the contest was an autographed Atari 2600 Star Wars cartridge, signed by programmer Rex Bradford. Rex created the classics Star Wars: the Empire Strikes Back and Star Wars: Jedi Arena (as well as the unreleased game Kabobber), and he was kind enough to sign a copy of Jedi Arena for us. The contest was won by Russ Perry Jr., who submitted a wide variety of high-quality, unique images, such as correspondence he made with Atari and Answer Software as far back as 1982.
 
Kabobber Manual Conteest Kabobber Manual Contest
While Atari 2600 programmer Rex Bradford was working at Activision, he created the game Kabobber, which was never released. Rex had previously worked at Activision, where he wrote the gamesStar Wars: the Empire Strikes Back and Star Wars: Jedi Arena. Because Kabobber was never released, instructions for how to play the game did not exist, so we held a contest to create an instruction manual for the game. The contest was won by Dave Giarusso, who created an Activision-style tri-fold manual that you can view here.