Answer Software was a small company from Cupertino, California, with three known Atari 2600 titles, all from 1983. Malagai and Gauntlet were sold in very small numbers, and Gauntlet only by mail order, in a thin foam case with no box. The third game, Confrontation, was shown at the 1983 Consumer Electronics Show and sold directly for a short time, so collectors class it as a prototype. AtariAge rates the two released cartridges as extremely rare.
Malagai: escape an alien starbase by catching the right aliens in the right order.
Gauntlet: run a forest trail of arrows, stones and tomahawks. It has nothing to do with the later arcade game of the same name.
Confrontation: a two-player strategy game in real time, with an energy meter instead of turns.
Here you can skip the hunt for a cartridge and play all three in your browser.
Malagai is a 1983 maze game for one or two players and the first Atari 2600 cartridge from Answer Software (model ASC 1001). You are a starship commander held on an alien starbase, and you escape by catching the right aliens in the right order to collect the airlock keys. It rewards herding and timing more than fast reflexes. Original cartridges are very hard to find, but you can play it here in your browser.
Gauntlet is a 1983 one-player action game from Answer Software, a small company from Cupertino, California. Despite the name, it has nothing to do with Atari Games’ later arcade Gauntlet. You play Sir Robert Wittenbottom, an explorer who must run a forest trail full of arrows, stones and tomahawks to earn a place in a council of warriors. The cartridge is one of the hardest 2600 games to find today, but you can play it here in your browser.
Confrontation is a two-player strategy game for the Atari 2600 from Answer Software, dated 1983 and programmed by Kim Ellis. It never reached the shops: Answer showed it at the 1983 Consumer Electronics Show and sold it directly for a short time, so it sits somewhere between a prototype and a real release. It plays like a small board game in real time, with an energy meter instead of turns. You can play it here in your browser.