Avalanche is an arcade game

Arcade game

An arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, usually installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars, and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, and merchandisers...

 released by Atari Inc.

Atari

Atari is a corporate and brand name owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by Atari Interactive, a wholly owned subsidiary of the French publisher Atari, SA . The original Atari, Inc. was founded in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney. It was a pioneer in...

 in 1978

1978 in video gaming

-Notable releases:* June - Taito Corporation releases the Space Invaders arcade game in Japan.* October - Namco releases their first arcade game, Gee Bee, in Japan.* Cinematronics releases the Space Wars vector graphics arcade game....

. The object is to catch avalanching rocks with a controllable set of paddles that diminish in number and size as the rocks fall faster and faster.

Technology

Avalanche is housed in a custom cabinet that includes 2 large lit start buttons and a rotary controller. The side art and bezel feature groupings of rocks with extending lines meant to convey the motion of falling rocks. The screen is black and white with 2 colored strips to provide colored rows of graphics as in Breakout.

The PCB is based 6502 CPU, with game code stored in roms

Read-only memory

Read-only memory is a class of storage medium used in computers and other electronic devices. Data stored in ROM cannot be modified, or can be modified only slowly or with difficulty, so it is mainly used to distribute firmware .In its strictest sense, ROM refers only...

. All game text is selectable to 4 different languages: English, French, German, or Spanish. Avalanche also includes a built-in self-test diagnostic program that displays all microprocessor and memory functions, including all operator switches and functions.

Gameplay

Avalanche is for 1 or 2 players, with no simultaneous gameplay. There are six rows of rocks to deal with. The game starts with a six-storied platform and the player loses one platform per row of rocks cleared. The player scores points for those rocks they prevent from reaching the ground. The farther the row of rocks, the smaller and faster they become. The ultimate goal is to get enough points so that the player can continue the game should they lose their first one.

Clones

• Kaboom! for the Atari 2600
  Atari 2600
  The Atari 2600 is a video game console released in October 1977 by Atari, Inc. It is credited with popularizing the use of microprocessor-based hardware and cartridges containing game code, instead of having non-microprocessor dedicated hardware with all games built in...
  
  , by Activision
  Activision
  Activision is an American publisher, majority owned by French conglomerate Vivendi SA. Its current CEO is Robert Kotick. It was founded on October 1, 1979 and was the world's first independent developer and distributor of video games for gaming consoles...
  
  . Activision programmer and ex-Atari programmer, Larry Kaplan
  Larry Kaplan
  Larry Kaplan is an American video game designer and programmer. He initially worked at Atari and was responsible for a lot of their sales. Due to the lack of recognition for his work, he left Atari and became one of the five co-founders of Activision....
  
  , originally wanted to port Avalanche to the Atari 2600. But the problem was that in Avalanche all the boulders are lined up at the top which is difficult to accomplish on the 2600, hence the shift to the Mad Bomber. David Crane
  David Crane (programmer)
  David Crane is a video game designer and programmer.Crane started his programming career at Atari, making games for the Atari 2600. After meeting co-worker Alan Miller in a tennis game, Miller told Crane about a plan he had to leave Atari and found a company that would give game designers more...
  
   actually coded the overlaid sprites for the Mad Bomber himself.

• The Sky is Falling for the Commodore VIC-20
  Commodore VIC-20
  The VIC-20 is an 8-bit home computer which was sold by Commodore Business Machines. The VIC-20 was announced in 1980, roughly three years after Commodore's first personal computer, the PET...
  
  .

• Popcorn by Steve Bjork for the Tandy Color Computer.