The player uses a the joystick to guide a frog to each of the empty homes at the top of the screen. The arcade cabinet can be configured to start the game with three, five, or seven frogs. Losing them all results in game over. Frogger is either single-player or two players alternating.
The frog starts at the bottom of the screen going upward, to cross a horizontal road with speeding cars, trucks, and bulldozers. The player must guide the frog between opposing lanes of traffic to avoid becoming roadkill, which would result in a loss of one life. A median strip separates the road and the deadly river with logs, alligators, and turtles, all moving horizontally. The player must also guide the frog across the river while avoiding being bitten or drowning. A brightly colored female frog is sometimes on a log and may be carried for bonus points. The top of the screen contains five frog homes, which are the safe destinations for each frog. These sometimes contain bonus good insects or deadly alligators.(source: Wikipedia)