How to play Dodge ‘Em online
- Change lanes: arrow keys, pressed when your car reaches one of the gaps in the track
- Accelerate: hold the Space bar
- Start a new game: F12 (the console’s Reset switch)
- Choose a game (1–3): F11 (the console’s Select switch)
- Computer car speed: F4 (left difficulty switch)
- Computer car starting position: F9 (right difficulty switch)
- Second player (Game 3): T/F/G/H to change lanes
- Save and load your progress: Ctrl + 0–9 saves to a slot, Alt + 0–9 loads it
Gameplay
The track is four square rings, one inside the other. Your car always travels counter-clockwise, and the computer car travels the opposite way. Each side of the track has a gap where you can switch lanes, and this is the only place you can escape or reach new dots. Normally you can jump up to two lanes at once. While you hold the accelerator, your car goes twice as fast, but you can only change one lane at a time.
Every dot you drive over scores points. Clear all the dots and you get eight bonus points, and a fresh set appears. After you have cleared two sets, a second computer car joins the chase. You can clear at most five sets in one turn. You get three turns, and a turn ends when you crash.
The score has an odd quirk. The counter rolls over at 1,000, and it then shows the hundreds digit as a blank. Players have found that the game stops you at 1,080 points, even with perfect play.
Game variations and switches
- Game 1: one player against the computer.
- Game 2: two players take turns scoring against the computer car.
- Game 3: two players at once. The left joystick starts as the scoring car and the right joystick drives the crash car, which has one speed and scores nothing. After every crash the players swap roles.
With the left difficulty switch at A, the computer car speeds up to double speed after your first and third sets of dots. At B it keeps its normal speed. With the right switch at A, the computer car starts in different places on the track. At B it always starts next to you.
Tips
- Make your moves at the gaps. A crash can only be avoided near a gap, so plan your lane change a gap ahead, not at the last moment.
- Use the double jump. Moving two lanes without accelerating often puts a whole lane between you and the other car.
- Accelerate on empty stretches. Speed lets you clear dots before the computer car comes round again, but it limits you to one-lane moves.
- Save the last dots for a safe moment. A new set of dots, and later a second car, appears as soon as you clear the board.
History
Dodge ‘Em plays much like Sega’s 1979 arcade game Head On. Carla Meninsky was one of very few women programming Atari 2600 games at the time. She also worked on Indy 500 and the 2600 versions of Warlords and Star Raiders, and later became an intellectual property lawyer.
The game was well received. Video magazine said it was exciting with one player or two, and it received an honourable mention for Best Solitaire Game at the 3rd Arkie Awards.
Similar games to play next
- Indy 500 – Carla Meninsky’s top-down racing game
- Warlords – Meninsky’s four-player castle battle
- Slot Racers – cars chasing each other round a maze
- Pac-Man – the most famous dot-collecting maze game
- Maze Craze – a cops-and-robbers race through a maze