Publisher: Spectravision

Spectravision was the video game label of the American company Spectravideo. It was founded in 1981 by Harry Fox and Alex Weiss as a games publisher that hired outside developers, and in late 1982 it changed its name to Spectravideo because a hotel TV service already used the Spectravision name. The company later moved on to home computers, and some later cartridges, such as Gas Hog, already carry the new name in the manual.
Spectravision’s 2600 games are small, quirky ideas rather than arcade conversions, and several are rare today, partly because some seem to have been sold mainly in Canada. The site has twelve of them, including the PAL release Super Baumeister. A few to start with:

Mangia’ (1983): eat your mother’s pasta, or slip it to the pets when she isn’t looking.
Master Builder (1983): study a blueprint for five seconds, then build it from memory.
Chase the Chuck Wagon (1983): a mail-order maze game made to promote Ralston Purina’s dog food.
Gangster Alley: a shooting gallery in which you must spare the hostages.
Tapeworm (1982): a Surround-style worm game with a beetle, a spider and a bird.
Bumper Bash (1983): a one-screen pinball table played with paddle controllers.

The list also includes China Syndrome, Planet Patrol, Gas Hog, Cross Force and Challenge of Nexar. Choose any of them below and play it in your browser.

Gas Hog

Gas Hog is a 1983 Atari 2600 action game published by Spectravision. You drive a fuel-hungry, laser-armed vehicle, the "GasHog", across a battlefield, jumping over holes and enemy ships while flying saucers drop bombs from above. The twist…

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Bumper Bash

Bumper Bash is a pinball game for the Atari 2600, published by Spectravision, the games label of Spectravideo, in 1983 and programmed by David Lubar. It fits a whole table on one screen: bumpers, drop targets, a spinner…

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