Atari games are certainly primitive by even NES and Master System standards, but there was always fascinating appeal to them that made me come back to playing a few, even after we began to amass a varied Nintendo collection by the late 90's. So something as simplistic and self explanatory as Kaboom! was always one of my more addictive games. 

Developed by Larry Kaplan and published by Activision in 1981, the premise of Kaboom! is a maniac bomber has taken to the rooftops and is armed with deadly explosives. With only three buckets of water, you must catch the bombs as the assailant throws them faster and faster. miss three bombs, and you're out. You get points for collecting bombs, and after every 1,000 score, you earn an extra one back. There's always and incentive and drive to see how high a score you can total up, and an extra bucket at the right time really sparks that enthusiasm. Kaplan originally wanted to port the arcade game Avalanche to the Atari, but there were complications with adding the boulders that sat atop the hill. Kaboom! is basically the same concept.

Kaboom! uses the control paddles, which utilized with a potentiometer at aided in calculating precise movement with the knobs. Variations of Pong used them, as well as Super Breakout and they were essential for games on the Commodore VIC-20. I used to think the paddles came with copies of games like Kaboom!, but my dad picked up a couple of them from a Big Lots. When the speed really picks up and the Bomber is zipping back and forth, it gets pretty heated. At my best, I could total up a pretty decent score. With three buckets, it's naturally easier to collect the bombs, but even losing one has great stakes. One of the strategies I used was if I looked like I was closing in on another 1,000 with a full stock, I'd drop one on purpose and gain it back immediately. I don't think it's really essential, but it helped me establish a rhythm. 

As an Atari game, it was more gameplay focused and a lot of imagination generally filled in the gaps. For instance, were it not for the cover art, I wouldn't have guessed that what you caught the bombs in were supposed to be buckets of water. It looked more like a fajita plate stacked atop scented candles. if I'm being generous, and oil drum. These kids today with their processing cores, 4K, and ray tracing are arguing over "muh specs", Atari games where you're literally controlling squares were powered by the feats of our brains. Granted, our brains were fueled by Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Eggo waffles drenched in syrup.

As stated, this has always been a game that I love to revisit when given a chance. By its design, Kaboom! is a hard game to really try to improve upon. Being driven completely by how sharp your vision, reflexes, and motor skills are determines how long you can survive. It's the definitive video game that's great for turning on and killing some time if you're by yourself, or passing the paddle around to see if any one of your friends can top the highest score. At the time of its release, there was a competition held for Kaboom! by Activision. If players were able to reach 3,000 points, they could receive an Activision Bucket Brigade patch, with proof of a screenshot to document the grand achievement. Imagine trying to accurately capture that with photography of the early 80's. There were techniques get a decent enough picture, but what a way to go.