Codex Gamicus
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Checkmate is an arcade game released in 1977. It was ported to the Bally Astrocade as one of its built-in games. It became the basis not only for Atari's Surround for the Atari 2600 and Mattel's Snafu for the Intellivision, but also for the light cycle sequence in the movie TRON.

Gameplay[ | ]

This game can be played by one to four players. A one-player game is played against three computer players. After coins have been deposited, you press the proper "number of players" button to start the game. The object of game is for a player to direct his moving arrow (marked "1", "2", "3", or "4" respectively) leaving behind a trail and avoiding crashes. A player is eliminated when his moving arrow crashes into a wall or a trail. Play continues until one player is left. After a crash, the remaining player or players score one point each. When one player remains, that is the end of one "round" of play. Depending on the DIP switch settings, there can be two to five rounds of play per game.

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