Indy 500 (1977 video game)

This article is for a video game. For the race, see Indianapolis 500.

Indy 500
Developer(s)	Atari, Inc.[1]
Publisher(s)	Atari, Inc.[1]
Designer(s)	Ed Riddle[1]
Platform(s)	Atari 2600[1]
Release date(s)	NA: 1977[1] EU: 1978
Genre(s)	Racing[1]
Mode(s)	Single-player, Multiplayer

A driving controller

Indy 500 is a 1977 racing video game developed by Atari, Inc. for its Video Computer System (later known as the Atari 2600). It is themed around the Indianapolis 500, and is based on Atari's earlier 8-player arcade game, Indy 800.

Indy 500 was one of the nine launch titles offered when the Atari 2600 went on sale in September 1977. Sears Tele-Games later re-released it as Race; no changes were made to the gameplay. Included with each game was a set of two driving controllers, which were identical in appearance to the 2600 paddle controller but could rotate indefinitely in either direction, among other differences.

Game variations

Though the packaging material claims it to have fourteen games, this number treats each of the various tracks as a "game". There are actually only three unique game modes, which are as follows. Each can be played with one or two players, and with either a time limit or a score limit.

• Standard racing: Players can race against the clock to complete as many laps as they can, or compete to finish 25 laps (requires two players). A number of courses were featured, which all have "Ice Race" variations featuring slippery physics.
• Crash and Score: This mode requires two players, but one can be computer-controlled. Either way, the goal is to seek out and drive into a white square randomly placed on the track; this will earn whichever player points, and the square will then be randomly placed elsewhere.
• Tag: Similar to the above, this is a two-player mode where one can be automated. This is essentially tag; whoever has the blinking car gains points by avoiding the other player's car who gains points by "tagging" the blinking car, after which the roles of the players are reversed.

References

Atari 2600
Games	1977 launch titles Air-Sea Battle Basic Math Blackjack Combat Indy 500 Star Ship Street Racer Surround Video Olympics Best-selling games Pac-Man Pitfall! Asteroids Missile Command Space Invaders Demon Attack E.T. Atlantis Adventure River Raid Kaboom! Game lists List of Atari 2600 games List of Atari 2600 prototype games Atari 2600 games List of cancelled Atari 2600 games Game developers Atari, Inc. Activision Imagic Coleco CommaVid Data Age Games by Apollo M Network Mystique Parker Brothers Sega Spectravideo Telesys Tigervision US Games Xonox Zimag Game programmers Steve Cartwright David Crane Tod Frye Rob Fulop Larry Kaplan Garry Kitchen Carla Meninsky Alan Miller Warren Robinett Carol Shaw Howard Scott Warshaw Bob Whitehead
Hardware	Atari 2600 hardware Television Interface Adaptor Starpath Supercharger Coleco Gemini CompuMate GameLine Atari Flashback Cuttle Cart Atari 2700 Atari 7800
Emulation and Ports	Stella PC Atari Emulator Atari Anthology Atari Greatest Hits Atari Vault
Related articles	Atari 2600 homebrew Atari Age magazine Racing the Beam Atari video game burial Brain Games
Category