Kaboom! (thing)

Kaboom! was an Atari 2600 game that required a special sort of zen to play. It was deceptively easy at first. The Mad Bomber would move along the top of the screen slowly dropping bombs on you. You had to catch them in your bucket, (using your paddle controller). If you missed a bomb all of the other bombs on screen would explode and you would lose one of the 3 sections of your bucket.

It is only after you are playing a while that you realize how hard this game is. After a few stages the bombs begin dropping at a rate of about 30 per second. It is still possible to catch them all though. It requires very intense concentration. You must focus on the game. One wrong move with your paddle and you lose the bottom section of your barrel. When that happens you might as well hit the reset button. Because Kaboom! gets harder every time that you miss a bomb.

I remember playing Kaboom! for hours as a child. Staring intently at the screen and furiously twisting my Atari paddle from side to side. The best score I ever managed was a little over 2000. (A score of 3000 would get you a patch from Activision). That is no where near the world record of 999,999, (held by Todd Rogers).

This game was programmed by two of the best Atari 2600 game programmers ever, David Crane and Larry Kaplan.

________________________________
|                      114      |
|                               |
|     (##)                      |
|     (##)   --Mad Bomber       |
|     (##)                      |
|-------------------------------|
|     O                         |
|                               |
|                               |
|              O                |
|          O                    |
|       O                       |
|                --Bombs        |
|    O                          |
|                               |
|        ===                    |
|        ===     --Player       |
|        ===                    |
|_______________________________|

Prepare yourself for a supreme test of reflexes, coordination, and agility. You're about to face the world's most unpredictable and relentless "Mad Bomber". He hates losing as much as you love winning. So, to keep him frowning, take a minute to read over these instructions. Then, grab your buckets and bomb away!

This game is valued at around $2 USD. Games with boxes and manuals are worth more.