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Q*bert is a 1982 arcade game from Gottlieb. It features a main character of the same name. Q*bert was one of the most famous faces of the Golden age of arcade games and also one of the most bizarre. A furry orange orb with two eyes, two feet and one long snout, Q*bert was strangely adorable, and his game lived up to that wacky, unpredictable image.

1 Description

Designed with a nod to M.C. Escher, Q*bert's playing field is a faux- 3D pyramid of tri-colored cubes. Q's purpose in life is to hop around the tops of these cubes, changing every square to a specific color (i.e. from blue to yellow). On early levels, this is as simple as a single hop on each square, but later rounds become more challenging; cubes have to be touched twice, cubes change back to the wrong color if they get hopped on again, etc. In the original arcade machine, if the Q*bert character hopped off the edge of the pyramid of cubes, he would fall to his death with a loud mechanically produced *plonk* sound at floor level.

Making the task even more difficult is the assortment of odd baddies who menace or jinx Q*bert's every move. "Coily" the snake appears at the top of the pyramid inside a purple ball, bouncing toward the bottom of the screen. Once he hits the bottom row of cubes, the snake springs out from inside, hopping around in pursuit of our little orange friend. Red balls also appear at the top of the pyramid, bringing bouncing death if they collide with Q*bert on the way down.

Other threats come from "Ugg" and "Wrongway," two purple gremlinThis article is about the fictional creature. For the AMC subcompact car, see AMC Gremlin. For the 1984 movie, see Gremlins''. For the British software house, see Gremlin Interactive''. A gremlin is a mythological mischievous creature. Gremlins are depicts who bounce along the side of the cubes, adding even more surrealismSurrealism is a movement for the liberation of the mind that emphasizes the critical and imaginative powers of the unconscious. Often misinterpreted as an artistic movement, it has transformed visual art, writing, film, music, and political thought, not t to an already whacked-out game. And on top of all this, Q has to deal with "Slick" and "Sam," two green mischief making pineappleThe Pineapple Ananas comosus is a tropical plant and its fruit, native to Brazil, Bolivia, and Paraguay. The plant is a bromeliad (Family Bromeliaceae , a short, herbaceous perennial with thirty or more long, spined and pointed leaves surrounding a thicks who turn cubes back to their original color when they hop on them.

Aside from some strategic hopping, Q*bert's only defenses are the spinning discs at the side of the pyramid and the green balls that bounce across the squares. The discs provide a quick escape, floating Q back to the top of the pyramid as Coily jumps to his death in pursuit. The green balls are time freezers, giving Q*bert a free run of the pyramid for a limited time.

Q*bert's simple gameplay and controls (one joystick, no buttons) made the game a hit among all age groups. An animated cartoon merchandizing tie-in debuted on CBS' Saturday Supercade , with the orange furball now sporting arms, a mouth and a high school letterman's jacket. The cute, but foul-mouthed star (who muttered an unintelligible “@!#?@!” with every lost life) was a natural for the merchandising world, and stores soon stocked up on Q*bert dolls, lunchboxes, sleeping bags, etc.

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Topics: Q*Bert Q*bert Cubes Games Q*bert's Arcade Game Pyramid Death...

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