Armscar Coder

Those are flames, as those are "hot dogs." Below is the page from the manual.

@Atarian7, for the power-up to be activated as soon as you touch Crazy Culvert Kitty, you must already have a power-up stored in your power pocket (the box/icon to the left of your score). You cannot store more than one power-up, so the next one becomes active immediately. Below is a snapshot from the manaul, with the pertinent information highlighted. I hope that helps.

You can hit the gong as many times as you want on a level. The only requirement to hit it again is to have Hank exit the hospital waiting room. Hank’s feet have to be in the grass. Also, while the gong chime sound is playing, Hank can walk through the therapy dogs without being affected. Of course you got to be careful with the timing of this method but you don’t have to go completely around the dogs during this brief period of the gong playing.

Well, this was a surprise. I had no idea that Doggone It! was going to be played during the Homebrew Weeks. Good luck to everyone! I won't rehash all of the tips and scoring startegies in detail here, but below is a link to the original forum thread for reference. I will also gladly answer any questions posted in this forum thread. For convenince, I have attached the game manual (professionally created by my graphic designer) and a quick start guide (unprofessionally created by me). The game manual gives the full story on the game but if you are interested in a get-to-the-point read, just use the quick-start guide. I am also honored to be featured alongside Juno First, a clear masterpeice, and Meooow! 2. I remember playing Meooow! 2 a while back and besides pairing well with a dog related game, it is just plain fun. Congratulations @Vocelli! That is awesome. Enjoy, and try not to think about pizza. Doggone It! Manual.pdf Doggone It! quick start guide.pdf

For me it is because it sounds like "Battlefield."

I certainly agree with the Paddlefield votes. But what first came to mind for me was something with "Tango" in it. The preceding "It takes two to" could be implied. Additionally, with tango meaning "target" or "enemy" in military speak, it could carry a double meaning. "Tango Tango" could be a bit too much. OK, Paddlefield it is.

Cool! Thanks for coming forward @Dopy25. The Doggone It! shirt is hanging up in my closet next to all of my "nice" shirts. I can't decide if it will be a wear around the house shirt or if I will only don it for special occasions. This is going to be pretty nerdy, but I love the calculator. It is really satisfying to see my previous operations on the large screen. The fact that the original packaging was included (even the original batteries, but I put in fresh ones) is pretty cool. I was using it yesterday and I do believe it is better than my old TI-81. Even though I felt like I was carpet bombing hints for it, I haven't gotten my 2600+ yet. I do have one more family get together to go. If it doesn't come to fruition then, I will be taking matters into my own hands. I saw my brother on Christmas and since he possesses our NES, I gave him the games I received. Even though I am the older brother, and obviously better, he is already getting a leg up on me by practicing Tetris and texting me photos of his high scores. Oh, it's on! Thanks again for all of the gifts. It was, as it has been in my first two years, a special experience to have participated in the AtariAge Secret Santa.

Well my package got here two days early! And seeing how Christmas is now less than a week away (and that I have NO self-control), I decided to go ahead and open it. There was a tin of fudge and several wrapped gifts. The packaging was superb! All of the gifts were individually bubble wrapped or in a bubble mailer. Here is the overview of the haul. I don't deserve all of this goodness. I asked Santa for a TI-82 calculator and he delivered. I had a TI-81 in high school and used it in college as well as at work up until a year or so ago when it finally died. I told Santa that it was time to upgrade to the TI-82. Notice the price tag. I can still remember my dad crapping his pants back in 1990 when I told him how much the TI-81 would cost. Two NES games in the loot. I don't currently own an NES but my brother has unearthed ours from our childhood. We have been playing it some, and now we have more games in our joint collection. This is one of those gifts that is greater than its financial value because it gives me even more reason to hang out with my brother. Also, my Secret Santa is paying attention. Last year I mentioned how much I love golf video games, and that still holds true. I don't have a 7800 either, but I am hoping to get the Atari 2600+ for Christmas from that other Santa. Since I don't own any 7800 games, I just asked Santa to send one of their favorites. And boy did he nail it. I can remember playing/watching Xevious at the local pool near me where I grew up. Before I was old enough to have my own money, I would crowd around the cabinet with other kids and watch the older ones play. This one is going to be fun. I had mentioned in my letter to Santa that I like to wear T-shirts. It is boring I know, but basically If I am not at work (casual Fridays excluded), I am wearing a T-shirt. And Santa got me what I asked for, but in a totally unexpected way. It is a T-shirt with the box art from my first Atari 2600 game Doggone It!. I gotta say it, that is doggone awesome. To my Secret Santa, thank you so much! This is perfect. There is only one problem. My Secret Santa did not reveal themselves. Please, I ask that you do reveal your AtariAge identity and take credit for this very thoughtful gift package. And for all of you Secret Santas out there, both givers and receivers, have a very Merry Christmas!

Glad to hear. My question was only semi-serious as you didn't say which "her." After asking the question and being amused by your post, I looked around our living room and was starkly reminded that I am living in the same reality. Our nativity scene is placed up high. And no, it isn't because my wife, also a country girl, is tempted to terrorize the wise men. We don't have presents under the tree yet so that temptation isn't there for our cats. Since we have had these rambunctious two, we do leave breakable ornaments off of the tree. And I am pretty sure they are drinking tree water. Just got tracking for my package. Looks like it should be here on Wednesday. If it arrives on time, there is NO chance it stays unopened before the weekend.

I don't mean to be rude nor intend to offend, but is your girlfriend short or can your tiny cat really jump? Here are our resident bums giving their "this better be good" looks. In other news, according to the tracking, my recipient's package has been delivered. I hope it arrived in good shape.

Finally. All of the gifts for my recipient have arrived. I am hoping to have it all put together and out the door by Friday. I thought I was on top of things by having everything on order by the Saturday before Thanksgiving. One gift decided to take the long way from Florida to Virginia, via Honolulu? For an impromptu geography lesson, see the below diagram. It shouldn't have crossed the Mississippi River, much less over the Pacific Ocean.

Sign me up for another year. It has been a blast the last two years. I still need to put my letter together. I will try to have it submitted by the end of the weekend.

@cwieland, Congratulations! I knew you would earn a patch. It was just a matter of time. I already added you to the patch list in the RAPTOR forum. I'll send you a PM in regards to getting your patch to you. @ChiTown Chris, great score. Even if you don't break a 1000 points by the time this round is over, keep at it. When you do earn a patch score, send me a PM with a screenshot and I can hook you up with a patch. @littaum, yeah you are better than that. But you are probably just too busy making another great game. I appreciate the praise, especially from an accomplished developer such as yourself.

How about "Hop-n-Bot" or "Zig & Zag" (for something a little different). Great game by the way.

Yes, there are patches still available. I ordered 100, but there were some that had defects beyond what I would deem worthy to distribute. Between giving honorary patches to the RAPTOR play testers and a fair amount to friends and family over the holidays, plus saving some for the future (like for grandkids), I would say I have at least 10-20 more to give away, possibly more. There have been 19 patches earned so far. I'll probably make it an even number like 30, 40, or 50 total. As a reminder, you don't have to post your qualifying screenshot to the forum to get a patch. You can just send me a PM. Now that RAPTOR carts are available to order, I am hoping to see more patches earned in the near future. But earning the patch using emulation is still OK too.

@Chuck D. Head, thanks a bunch! Yeah, that shipping was fast. I didn't realize the book was the trilogy (probably explains why it is so thick), so that's like three presents in one. I immediately played a round of golf. It is certainly not the most sophisticated game, but for what I believe to be programmed in 2k of ROM, it's actually pretty good. Oh, and that Beyond Good candy bar didn't survive the night. I had to go back to last year's thread to get this quote, but it is still ringing true.

Well, I made it to Tuesday. Here is my loot: Chocolate, chocolate, and more chocolate. What's crazy is that I only asked for the Whatchamacallit. I did receive that (king size I may add) but some coconut chocolate too, which is also one of my favorites. What's even crazier is that the sea salt almond is my wife's preferred chocolate. So, it's a win-win for everyone! Atari 2600 games Golf, Miniature Golf, and Artillery Duel/Chuck Norris Superkicks. I have always been a huge fan of golf video games. I am sure its partly due to the fact that I always play better in the digital world than real golf in the physical world. Since rediscovering Atari a few years back and starting over with collecting games, these had yet to make it into my game library. I have never owned a double-ender cartridge and I am pretty stoked to now have one in my possession. Imploding Kittens. My kids and I love playing Exploding Kittens and now we can take one of our favorite card games to another level with this expansion pack. Dune. I have always wanted to read this book (I am guilty of seeing the movies first) and now I don't have any excuses not too. With some cold months approaching, I look forward to cozying up in my recliner and savoring this one. My Secret Santa was stupendous! Everything they gave me is what I was hoping for and then some. The only problem is that they remained "secret." If they are willing, I do ask that they reveal themselves. Regardless, many, many thanks to them and Merry Christmas to everyone!

OK, according to super elf @chicgamer, my package was delivered to my post office yesterday. I have been checking daily but yesterday I was too busy to do so. My daughter is performing in the Nutcracker this weekend and there were two shows yesterday and another show today. I'll be going to the post office first thing tomorrow to pick it up. I'm really excited and not sure how long I'll hold out until opening it. I am going to try and wait until next weekend, but we'll see. Thanks in advance to my Secret Santa for keeping me on the good list this year.

I am also waiting for my Secret Santa package to arrive. Maybe I haven't been as good this year as I thought I have. According to the tracking, I can see that my recipient should have received theirs, and that is a bit of a relief.

I have my outgoing package all packed up and ready to go. I do appreciate my recipient giving some specific suggestions as that is always helpful. I was hoping to get it shipped this week, but it will have to wait until Monday. As I was wrapping the gifts this week, my daughter really got into the Christmas spirit by making some homemade decorations and decking out the tiny hallway outside of her bedroom. If you are wondering, the elf party is in her brother's room.

I want back in again this year. Last year was my first time and I really enjoyed the experience. Beyond the delightful gift exchange and the opportunity to make some great new acquaintances at AtariAge, the forum post banter is a hoot. I especially liked when one of the gifts last year took on a personality (see pages 9 and 11 of the 2021 Atari Age Secret Santa forum thread).

@kermit73, it has been a while since I played it, but that is how Bumper Bash works. I think it is a combination of the paddle buttons to launch the ball. Killer score on Midnight Magic, by the way. @Vocelli, Bumper Bash for paddle weeks? Mostly kidding.

After starting Pitkat from level 1 several times over the past few months, I finally decided to stay with it. This week I was able to finally finish the game. I was initially drawn to Pitkat because I was super impressed with the coding effort that went into it (at least what I can only imagine). As I kept playing and clearing more levels, I wanted more and more. I surprised myself because I didn't realize how much I loved puzzle games. Even on those levels that required me to press reset many, many times, it was always so satisfying to finally solve it (I eventually took up position on the very edge of my couch so that the reset button was within a good stretched arm's reach). Even though Pitkat is a port to the 2600, the product that @Jamtex and @MarcoJ have put together is nothing short of amazing. I still can't get over the fact that Pitkat is Marco's first 2600 programming effort. The features in the game really make the whole experience so much more enjoyable. The in codes and out codes allow the game to be played over multiple sessions without the need to always start from scratch (at one point my cheat sheet with all of my codes was recycled by a family member which induced a panic-stricken rummaging through the garage until I eventually found it). The rewind feature is also really cool and helpful (I didn't use it that much...yeah right) and being able to preview the screen by holding down the fire button and moving the joystick left and right is a really nice touch. The music is great, but you can turn it off if you want. With 99 normal levels and some bonus levels, I will definitely be coming back to play this game again without any worry of the puzzles being too familiar. There is even a speed run mode that I might even give a whirl at some point in the future. For some spoilers to the game ending, see below.

That is a heck of a way to begin the round. By my unofficial account, that is the highest score presented so far. Awesome job.