Arcade Nostalgia: "Missile Command" Quiz

Answer: Atari

Designed by Atari's Dave Theurer and released in June of 1980, "Missile Command" was heavily influenced by Cold War anxieties and the threat of nuclear war. Originally titled "Armageddon", the game challenged players to defend six cities from endless missile attacks.

Theurer later revealed that the project's subject matter affected him so deeply that he began having stress dreams involving cities being destroyed.

Answer: Six

The object of the game was to protect the six cities arrayed along the bottom of the screen, along with three counter-missile battery placements (left, center, and right). After each round, the counter-missile batteries would be restored (if destroyed) and restocked, while the cities could only be restored if 'extra' cities had been earned through accumulation of points.

Answer: A trackball

The use of a trackball for aiming the targeting cross-hairs allowed for finer control than a joystick. You could move the cursor quickly across the screen with a fast roll, and also slow down and make precision placement when needed.

Answer: Sigma Base

The left and right battery placements were named Alpha Base and Omega Base, respectively, with Delta Base chosen as the name for the center battery. Outside of choosing 'official, military-sounding names,' there was no (published) reason for choosing 'Delta' over any other Greek letter.

Answer: True

Altogether, players had thirty counter-missiles available to battle the incoming barrage of ICBMs (and other types of attack that came in later rounds). While points would be earned for any unused munitions, the danger of using all your counter-missiles before the enemy barrage ended was the guaranteed loss of one or more cities by the end of the level.

Answer: Faster missile speed

Not only did the Delta Base battery's counter-missiles travel more quickly to meet the enemy missiles, its median placement allowed for a shorter path to hit incoming missiles, where the edge placements were best for catching missiles closer to their placements, and would have difficulty hitting incoming ICBMs at the other side of the screen. One had to be a little careful not to dispense all of Delta Base's complement of counter-missiles too quickly.

Answer: 10,000

Different targets were worth different point values, and bonuses would also be earned for every unused counter-missile and each surviving city. The longer one could survive, though, the quicker the points would accumulate. A multiplier came into effect after two rounds of play (2x), which would increase by one every two rounds after that, maxing out at a 6x multiplier at Level 11 (for as long as you could last).

With every 10,000 points achieved, players earned a new city, which would automatically be used to replace any destroyed city at the end of a round (or be held in reserve until needed if no cities were destroyed).

Answer: Tanks

All attacks on your cities and bases were of an aerial nature - there were no tanks. ICBMs would continually rain down, and as levels increased in difficulty, those ICBMs would come faster, and other types of attacks would be added. Smart bombs were among the most dangerous because they could dodge defensive explosions. Bomber aircraft flew across the screen, launching new missiles as they travelled. Satellites served a similar role, adding attacks from above and increasing the chaos on screen. The faster missiles from the center Delta Base were particularly effective against smart bombs because they could reach distant targets more quickly.

Answer: False

While "Missile Command" and the 1983 film "WarGames" share Cold War themes, the game was not a direct prequel to the movie. It WAS, however, instrumental in the development of the film.

"WarGames" screenwriters Lawrence Lasker and Walter Parkes addressed the issue directly in film commentary, acknowledging that "Missile Command" was a direct inspiration for the movie, and that Matthew Broderick's character was actually written to be an expert "Missile Command" player.

Answer: True

Like many arcade games of its era, "Missile Command" had no ending. The game gradually became overwhelming, and the objective was simply to survive as long as possible and achieve a high score. More than that, though, was how the game ended with the words "THE END" instead of "GAME OVER." This was intended to imply the end of civilization itself after a nuclear exchange. Designer Dave Theurer intentionally sought to create a sense of tension and inevitability.