How to play The Activision Decathlon online
All players share the Player 1 joystick and take turns.
- Run: press the left and right arrow keys one after the other, fast and steadily
- Jump, throw, hurdle, plant or release the pole: Space bar
- Start the competition: F12 (the console’s Reset switch)
- Choose the number of players or a practice event: F11 (the console’s Select switch)
- Save and load your progress: Ctrl + 0–9 saves to a slot, Alt + 0–9 loads it
Gameplay
Your athlete’s speed depends on how quickly you move the joystick left and right. You do not have to push it all the way to each side; what counts is a constant back-and-forth rhythm, and a gauge on screen shows your speed. The fire button handles the moment of action: the take-off, the throw or the hurdle.
- 100 m and 400 m: pure speed, one attempt each
- Long jump: three tries; jump just before the scratch line, because stepping over it is a foul and scores zero
- Shot put, discus, javelin: three throws each; the faster your approach, the longer the throw
- High jump and pole vault: up to three tries at each height, and the bar rises automatically after every clear. In the vault, press fire to plant the pole, keep running, then press fire again at the top to let go
- 110 m hurdles: ten hurdles; hitting one slows you down but does not disqualify you
- 1500 m: the last event, where pacing matters more than raw speed
Each result is converted into points, and all ten events count equally toward your total. A score of 1,000 or more in one event is rewarded with a short tune. Where you get several attempts, only the best counts. Holding down Select lets you pick a single event to practise. The difficulty switches are not used.
Tips
- Rhythm beats panic. Alternating the two arrow keys evenly is faster than hammering them at random. Try to hold the speed gauge high rather than letting it spike and drop.
- Keep running on the pole. In the vault, the joystick still matters after you plant the pole.
- Pace the 1500 meters. The manual suggests a steady pace for the first 1300 meters and a sprint only at the end.
- Practise your weakest event. Since every event counts the same, lifting a poor one helps your total more than polishing a good one.
The story behind The Activision Decathlon
David Crane, one of Activision’s founders, made the game after his hit Pitfall!, partly because the Olympic Games were returning to the United States in 1984. It came out in the same year as Konami’s arcade game Track & Field, and some people noticed similarities between the two.
Players who sent Activision a photo of a high total received a Decathlon Club patch: bronze for 8,600 points, silver for 9,000 and gold for 10,000. Video magazine praised its imaginative programming, and Computer and Video Games gave the 2600 version 92%. The game was also released for the Atari 5200, ColecoVision, Commodore 64, Atari 8-bit computers and MSX, and it appeared in the Activision Anthology collection in 2002.
