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Library • Museum • OS100 • PART 1
 

Room 8

Atari Steeplechase gameplay photo. Seven individually coloured rows, each with a uniformly broken line representing the ground. From left to right, a block to illuminate an number. Then a horse and jockey. Some block hurdles then at the end chequered blocks to represent the finish line. The colour and numbers come from a plastic overlay.

Steeplechase

Atari 1975 1-6 player one-button horse racing arcade game. The first multiplayer one-button arcade videogame. Possibly the first commercial videogame with music.

 

Six large illuminated buttons each named and numbered.



1972 SEGA Grand National Race



SEGA's 1972 electromechanical horse racing game shares the same one-button control and Call to Post music as Steeplechase.

Toy electric horse racing games predate both Atari and SEGA's games and are often possible to play with a single ON/OFF switch. A forfeit for the loser made these games even more fun. 

Off on a tangent, the first videogame music can be found in Christopher Strachy's Draughts from 1951.

Room 8 Exhibits

 
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