Q*bert
The object of the Q*bert game is to change the color of the top of
the cubes to the designated color by hopping onto them. When all the
cubes in the pyramid have been changed to the designated color, the
screen will advance to the next Round, with Q*bert starting back on
the top cube. At the beginning of each Level, there will be a short
demonstration cycle with the Q*bert character hopping around four
cubes to explain to the player the play action of each Level. Each
Level consists of four Rounds.
The game play starts with the player-controlled Q*bert character appearing at the top of the pyramid. The joystick will move Q*bert from cube to cube by hopping in any of four diagonal directions. Q*bert can move anywhere on the pyramid, but jumping off will kill him. Hopping on the rotating disk will take Q*bert back to the top of the pyramid. In the first two Rounds Q*bert will have to avoid touching the red and purple balls. These deadly objects drop randomly onto the second-from-the-top level and bounce downwards. The red balls will fall off the bottom but the purple ball will stop at the bottom and hatch into 'Coily', the snake which chases Q*bert. To destroy the snake, lure him to the edge, then jump unto a disk. The disk will take Q*bert back to the top and 'Coily' will fall off, awarding 500 points.
Starting at the 3rd Round, other characters come into play. The green characters or objects are safe to hop onto and will award points. All other objects are deadly to touch. In the third Round the red balls will stop falling, but two purple characters, 'Ugg' and 'Wrong-Way', will appear at the lower portion of the pyramid and travel sideways and upwards. They will not chase 'Q*bert' but will move randomly to get in Q*bert's way. In the third Round and every Round after, based on an internal timer, a green ball will appear and bounce down from the top of the pyramid. Hopping Q*bert onto the green ball will award 100 points, and freeze all the characters on the screen for a few seconds, but 'Q*bert' will still be able to move to complete the color changes.
During the 3rd Round of play, 2 green characters, 'Slick' and 'Sam', will appear, based on the internal timer. They will drop onto the second level from the top and hop randomly downwards. If they hop onto a cube that Q*bert has already changed the color of, the cube will change to a different color, to thwart Q*bert. Hopping Q*bert onto 'Slick' or 'Sam' will stop them and award 300 points.
Throughout the remaining Rounds, all the characters and objects will appear in random combinations with increasing speed.
Q*bert was inspired by artwork by M.C. Escher. (arcade-history)
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