Paperboy, the Video Game by Atari Games Corp. [CA, USA]

Type of the machine : Video Game
Paperboy © 1984 Atari Games.

Paperboy is a one or two-player game in which the objective is to deliver Newspapers to the Paperboy's customers from Monday through to Sunday.

Each game begins with ten customers and ten non-customers. Paperboy's customers live in the brightly coloured houses, while non-customers live in dark coloured houses. To deliver to a customer, the player must throw a paper either into the customer's mailbox, or onto their front porch. Failure to deliver a paper to a customer results in the loss of that customer for the next day. Any damage done to a customer's property also results in the loss of that customer. Losing all ten of Paperboy's customers will get him fired and the game is over. However, on any day in which all customers have their papers successfully delievered, one of the non-customers will re-subscribe.

Non-customers' houses and yards are loaded with targets at which to throw your extra papers (windows, lamps, statues, etc.). Hitting these targets earns points for the "Breakage Bonus", which is displayed at the top center of the screen. The total Breakage Bonus is awarded to the player at the end of each day (or at the end of the game-whichever comes first).

If Paperboy loses a customer, that customer's house will be dark coloured the next day. As a non-subscriber, this house now presents more targets at which to throw newspapers for building up the Breakage Bonus. At the start of each day, a map of Paperboy's route is displayed to indicate subscriber and non-subscriber houses. This helps to remind players of what customers they may have lost on the previous day and the location of remaining customers.

Paperboy can carry a maximum of ten papers at a time, but can restock his supply by riding over paper bundles placed here and there on his route. A paper supply indicator is displayed underneath the player's score.

While making his deliveries, Paperboy must avoid collisions with all stationary objects and other characters moving about the neighborhood. To avoid collisions, Paperboy can ride his bike anywhere - on the sidewalk, in the street, or into front yards. A collision with anything results in the loss of a life.

In addition to the obstacles, non-subscribers are hostile towards Paperboy and will attack him and try to knock him down. If Paperboy damages a subscriber's property, that character may also attack. So the more customers that are lost, the more hostile the neighborhood becomes toward Paperboy.

At the end of each delivery day, players have a chance to sharpen their skills by guiding Paperboy through the Paperboy Training Grounds. This obstacle course is filled with various targets at which to throw newspaper, as well as ramp jumps to be negotiated. This is a bonus round and no lives are lost for failing to reach the finish line.

Atari System 2 hardware
Game ID : 136034

Main CPU : T11, M6502
Sound Chips : YM2151, (2x) POKEY, TMS5220

Screen orientation : Horizontal
Video resolution : 512 x 384 pixels
Screen refresh : 60.00 Hz
Palette colors : 256

Players : 2
Control : Bicycle handlebars
Buttons : 2 (one on each side of the handlebars, for throwing papers)

Released in December 1984.

On Monday, June 30, 1986; Mr. Mark Caesar and Mr. Robin Hallingstad filed a suit against Atari Games Corp. for $1 million plus profits alleging that the company stole the idea for a video game that was marketed by the name of PAPERBOY. The boys had submitted to Atari a detailed proposal for a similar game in July 1983.

After a score of 10,000,000 or more is achieved, the initial in the top 10 ranking merges with the score to produce a truly impressive score display. For example, if you had top score at 10,000,000, this would appear as '110,000,000'.

The default high score screen of "Cyberball 2072" features names of many Atari arcade games, including PAPERBOY.

Phil Britt holds the official record for this game ('Grand Slam' score of all three streets combined) with 1,136,435 points.

1) Be careful not to move too slowly - swarms of bees or nasty whirlwinds may come to push you along.
2) Develop skill in maneuvering in and out of tight situations using the handlebar control.
3) Build up your Breakage Bonus by riding over flowers in non-subscribers' yards.
4) Some players prefer to lose many of their customers so they can do more 'trashing'. Others like to try for Perfect Deliveries. See which strategy scores highest for you.
5) Try hitting characters with papers - you might be pleased with the results!
6) Dirt piles in the streets can be used for making jumps, which will also score points

1. Paperboy (1984)
2. Paperboy II (1992, Sega Mega Drive)
3. Paperboy (1999, Nintendo 64)

Designed and programmed by : John Salwitz, Dave Ralston, Russel Dawe (Rusty)
Game art by : Doug Snyder
Sound by : Hal Canon
Animation by : Will Noble

Consoles :

Atari 7800 (unreleased prototype)
Nintendo Famicom (1988)
Sega Master System
Atari Lynx (1990)
Nintendo Game Boy (1990)
Sega Mega Drive1990)
Sega Game Gear (1992)
Sony PlayStation (1998, "Arcade's Greatest Hits - The Atari Collection 2")
Nintendo Game Boy Color (1999)
Sega Dreamcast (2000, "Midway's Greatest Arcade Hits Volume 2")
Sony PlayStation 2 (2003, "Midway Arcade Treasure")
Nintendo GameCube (2003, "Midway Arcade Treasure")
Microsoft XBOX (2003, "Midway Arcade Treasure")
Sony PSP (2005, "Midway Arcade Treasures - Extended Play")
Nintendo Game Boy Advance (2005, "Paperboy / Rampage")
Microsoft XBOX 360 (2007, "Xbox Live Arcade") [Retired in 2010]

Computers :

Tandy Color Computer (1985, "Paper Route")
Commodore 16 (1986)
Sinclair ZX Spectrum (1986)
Commodore C64 (1986)
Amstrad CPC (1987) [Elite Systems]
PC [MS-DOS] (1988)
Atari ST (1989)
Commodore Amiga (1989)
PC [MS Windows, CD-ROM] (1998, "Arcade's Greatest Hits : The Atari Collection 2")
PC [MS Windows, CD-ROM] (2004, "Midway Arcade Treasure")

Others :

Tiger Handheld LCD Game (1988)
Mobile Phones (2006)

Game's rom.
Machine's picture.