Arcade Volleyball
| Company type | Video game |
|---|---|
| Industry | Video games |
| Founded | 1988 |
| Founder | Rhett Anderson |
| Products | Arcade Volleyball |
Arcade Volleyball is a sports video game created by Rhett Anderson for the Commodore 64, initially distributed as a hexadecimal type-in program in the June 1988 edition of COMPUTE!'s Gazette. Subsequent adaptations for the Amiga and MS-DOS platforms were produced by different developers and featured in the Best Gazette Games compilation, which included twelve titles. Eventually, the original creator released the game into the public domain.
Gameplay
Players control teams of one or two characters shaped like balls who use their heads to volley the ball. The game is presented from a side perspective, allowing the ball to rebound off walls and the ceiling without penalty. Scoring adheres to conventional volleyball rules where only the serving side can earn points, with victory achieved by reaching 15 points. Each team is permitted up to three contacts per volley, and a single player may hit the ball multiple times consecutively.
Development
The initial release of Arcade Volleyball appeared as a hexadecimal type-in program compatible with MLX in the June 1988 issue of COMPUTE!'s Gazette. It was co-developed by Rhett Anderson and David Hensley, Jr., who had earlier collaborated on Basketball Sam & Ed in 1987. The original design allowed one player to manage two heads per team simultaneously. Matches concluded upon reaching 15 points without requiring a two-point lead.
By default, the game supported two human participants, but an optional single-player practice mode could be activated through a memory adjustment ("POKE 2065,1"). However, this AI mode was recognized as offering limited challenge. Drawing inspiration from the "Hockey" variant of Pong, Anderson focused on delivering straightforward yet entertaining multiplayer sports gameplay.
Ports
An Amiga version was developed from the ground up by Rhett Anderson and Randy Thompson and was distributed as an executable along with its source code on the Fall 1989 cover disk of Compute!'s Amiga Resource. This iteration featured single-player control per team, required a two-point margin for victory, prohibited ball passing beneath the net, and included standard computer-controlled opponents—differences that set it apart from the original Commodore 64 version.
The MS-DOS adaptation appeared within the nine-game compilation COMPUTE!'s Best PC Games. Programmed using Borland Turbo C, it maintained gameplay mechanics and physics similar to the Amiga release but utilized 4-color CGA visuals and PC speaker audio output.
See also
External links
- Arcade Volleyball at Gamebase 64