''Indy 500'' is a 1977

racing video game Racing games are a video game genre in which the player participates in a racing competition. They may be based on anything from real-world racing leagues to fantastical settings. They are distributed along a spectrum between more realistic raci ...

developed by Atari, Inc. for its Video Computer System (later known as the Atari 2600). It is themed around the

Indianapolis 500 The Indianapolis 500, formally known as the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, and commonly shortened to Indy 500, is an annual automobile race held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indian ...

, and is based on Atari's earlier 8-player arcade game, '' Indy 800''. ''Indy 500'' was one of the nine

launch title Since the origin of video games in the early 1970s, the video game industry, the players, and surrounding culture have spawned a wide range of technical and slang terms. 0–9 A ...

s offered when the Atari 2600 went on sale in September 1977. Sears Tele-Games later re-released it as ''Race''. Included with each game was a set of two driving controllers, which were identical in appearance to the 2600

paddle controller A paddle is a game controller with a round ''wheel'' and one or more ''fire buttons'', where the wheel is typically used to control movement of the player object along one axis of the video screen. A paddle controller rotates through a fixed arc ...

but could rotate indefinitely in either direction, among other differences. The game was once again renamed to ''Race 500'' in the 2022 compilation, ''

Atari 50 ''Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration'' is a 2022 video game compilation and interactive documentary developed by Digital Eclipse and published by Atari to commemorate the company's 50th anniversary. It is composed of newly shot interviews wi ...

''.

Gameplay

Though the packaging material claims it to have fourteen games, this number treats each of the various tracks as a "game". There are actually only three unique game modes, which are as follows. Each can be played with one or two players, and with either a time limit or a score limit. * Standard racing: Players can race against the clock to complete as many laps as they can, or compete to finish 25 laps (requires two players). A number of courses were featured, which all have "Ice Race" variations featuring slippery physics. * Crash and Score: This mode requires two players, but one can be computer-controlled. Either way, the goal is to seek out and drive into a white square randomly placed on the track; this will earn whichever player points, and the square will then be randomly placed elsewhere. * Tag: Similar to the above, this is a two-player mode only. This is essentially tag; whoever has the blinking car gains points by avoiding the other player's car who gains points by "tagging" the blinking car, after which the roles of the players are reversed.

Reception

In 1995,

Flux Flux describes any effect that appears to pass or travel (whether it actually moves or not) through a surface or substance. Flux is a concept in applied mathematics and vector calculus which has many applications in physics. For transport phe ...

magazine ranked the game 58th on their "Top 100 Video Games".

References

{{Atari 2600 1977 video games Atari games Atari 2600 games IndyCar Series video games North America-exclusive video games Top-down racing video games Video games developed in the United States Video games set in Indianapolis Multiplayer and single-player video games

Gameplay

Reception

See also

References