Distributor(s) Atari Inc. Initial release date 1975 Platforms Arcade game, Atari 2600 | Genre(s) sports simulation Developer Atari Publishers Sears, Atari, Inc. | |
 | ||
Sound Amplified Mono (one channel) Display Horizontal orientation, raster (black and white), Standard Resolution, color overlays Similar Crash 'N Score, Stellar Track, Championship Soccer, Street Racer, RealSports Volleyball | ||
Steeplechase is a 6-player arcade game by Atari Inc., originally released in 1975. Developed by Atari subsidiary Kee Games, it simulates a steeplechase-style horse race.
Contents
Technology
Originally called AstroTurf, all pcb's still have the name on the board. The game is housed in a custom extra wide cabinet that six individually colored and lit buttons used to make a player's horse jump. The monitor is a 23" black and white CRT monitor with 6 color overlays to make each of the 6 horizontally stacked lanes match their colored button counterparts. Sounds include a bugle, galloping hoof beats, and crowd cheers.
Gameplay
Up to six players can play against each other, each choosing a horse while the computer controls the seventh horse on the bottom. Each player's horse begins galloping, and the players must jump over obstacles in their lanes by pressing their colored buttons. The horse that successfully jumps all obstacles smoothly becomes the fastest horse and wins.
Legacy
A European version was released by Löwen-Automaten. A port for the Atari 2600 was released under the same name in 1980. It was programmed by Atari and distributed under Sears' Tele-Games label. It was one of three games to be created by Atari exclusively for the Tele-Games line.