Word Zapper

How to play Word Zapper online

• Move the Zapper: arrow keys
• Shoot a letter (fire upwards): Space bar
• Shoot asteroids to the left or right: hold Space and press the left or right arrow key
• Start the game: F12 (the console’s Reset switch)
• Choose one of the 24 game variations: F11 (the console’s Select switch)
• Scroller asteroids on or off: F4 (left difficulty switch: A = on, B = off)
• Doomsday asteroids on or off: F9 (right difficulty switch: A = on, B = off)
• Second player: T/F/G/H to move, A to fire. In a two-player game, the players take turns.

Gameplay

You fly the Word Zapper, a small craft armed with lasers. Above you runs “the Scroll”, a moving strip of letters. The target word is shown at the bottom of the screen, and you have to shoot its letters in order, one at a time. Complete three words within 99 seconds and you have won. In some variations the target is not a real word but a scrambled group of letters, which is harder because you cannot guess what comes next.

Asteroids drift across the lower part of the screen, and there are four kinds. Bonkers and Zonkers knock the Zapper sideways. A Scroller jumbles the letters on the Scroll for five seconds. A Doomsday asteroid, which you can recognise by its threatening sound, ends the game at once. The game also ends when the timer runs out. Your rank depends on how many words you finished: none makes you a Rookie, one a Champ, two an Ace, and all three earn the honorary rank of Zapper. If you complete all three words, the seconds left on the clock count as your bonus.

Variations

The 24 variations combine four settings: how fast the Scroll moves (slow, medium or fast), whether the asteroids all move at one speed or at mixed speeds, whether there are few or many asteroids, and whether you match English words or scrambled letters. For a gentle start, set both difficulty switches to B, which removes the Scrollers and the deadly Doomsday asteroids.

Tips

• Wait under the letter. Move to where the next letter will pass and fire as it arrives, rather than chasing it along the Scroll.
• Listen for Doomsday. It makes its own menacing noise. When you hear it, find it and move clear before you go back to the letters.
• Keep Bonkers and Zonkers off you. A sideways shot clears the way, and staying in place is what lets you hit the next letter.
• Speed pays. The time left after the third word is your bonus, so every second you save counts.

History

Word Zapper came out in 1982, during the rush of third-party 2600 cartridges. U.S. Games released several titles made by Wickstead Design, including Gopher and Space Jockey. Reviewing it in The Space Gamer, Richard A. Edwards called it “innovative enough to draw attention at first”, but was unsure whether it would hold players’ interest for long. At the 1983 Arcade Awards, Word Zapper was one of two runners-up for Most Innovative Videogame.