''Reactor'' is an

arcade game An arcade game or coin-op game is a coin-operated entertainment machine typically installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are presented as primarily games of skill and include arcade v ...

released in 1982 by Gottlieb. The object of the game is to cool down the core of a nuclear reactor without being pushed into its walls by swarms of subatomic particles. ''Reactor'' was developed by

Tim Skelly Tim Skelly (February 10, 1951 – death reported March 2, 2020) was a video game designer and game programmer who developed arcade games for Cinematronics from 1978 until 1981. He designed a series of pure action games using black and white vect ...

, who previously designed and programmed a series of vector graphics arcade games for

Cinematronics Cinematronics Incorporated was an arcade game developer that primarily released vector graphics games in the late 1970s and early 1980s. While other companies released games based on raster displays, early in their history, Cinematronics and A ...

, including '' Rip Off''. It was the first arcade game to credit the developer on the title screen. ''Reactor'' was ported to the Atari 2600 by Charlie Heath and published by

Parker Brothers Parker Brothers (known by Parker outside of North America) was an American toy and game manufacturer which in 1991 became a brand of Hasbro. More than 1,800 games were published under the Parker Brothers name since 1883. Among its products wer ...

the same year as the original.

Gameplay

Controls consist of a

trackball A trackball is a pointing device consisting of a ball held by a socket containing sensors to detect a rotation of the ball about two axes—like an upside-down ball mouse with an exposed protruding ball. Users roll the ball to position the on-s ...

and two buttons, Energy and Decoy. The player controls a ship that can move freely within a

nuclear reactor A nuclear reactor is a device used to initiate and control a fission nuclear chain reaction or nuclear fusion reactions. Nuclear reactors are used at nuclear power plants for electricity generation and in nuclear marine propulsion. Heat from nu ...

, seen from the top down. Swarms of particles follow the player and bounce off each other, the player's ship, and the reactor core. Any object touching the outer "kill wall" of the reactor is destroyed. Pressing the Energy button during a collision with a particle will cause it to bounce away at a higher speed. While touching the core is not harmful, it continually grows in size, restricting the available space for movement. Two sets of

control rod Control rods are used in nuclear reactors to control the rate of fission of the nuclear fuel – uranium or plutonium. Their compositions include chemical elements such as boron, cadmium, silver, hafnium, or indium, that are capable of absorbing ...

s protrude from the kill wall; if the player knocks particles into all the rods of one set, the core shrinks to its minimum size before starting to grow again. The player starts the game with a limited number of decoys, which can be deployed by pressing the Decoy button in order to lure particles toward the kill wall, control rods, or either of two small "bonus chambers" at opposite corners of the screen. An extra decoy is earned by knocking out both sets of rods. The player earns points for destroying particles or luring/knocking them into the bonus chambers so that they bounce off the walls. A set number of particles must be destroyed in order to complete each level. In later levels, the core is replaced by a slowly expanding vortex that can attract the player's ship and destroy it on contact. One or both of the bonus chambers may be briefly sealed off at times, and the kill wall becomes invisible as well. One life is lost whenever the player's ship touches the kill wall or vortex. The game ends when all lives are lost, with bonus points awarded for each unused decoy.

Ports

The Atari 2600 can be played with either a joystick or a trackball, though the latter is not mentioned in the manual. The difficulty switches set the sensitivity of the controls. There are no voice overs, and the bonus counter is invisible. An

Intellivision The Intellivision is a home video game console released by Mattel, Mattel Electronics in 1979. The name is a portmanteau of "intelligent television". Development began in 1977, the same year as the launch of its main competitor, the Atari 2600. I ...

version was licensed and developed, but never released.

Reception

''Tilt'' gave the game 93%, and said "A classic Gottlieb game that relies on physics for its gameplay, which is quite rewarding." A 1983 reviewer for ''Hi-Res'' magazine wrote, "VCS ''Reactors main flaw is not in the game itself, but the flexibility of the controlling joystick. The trackball controller of the Gottlieb version is gone, replaced by the lackluster Atari joystick. The stiffness of the joystick makes it difficult to direct your ship with any great degree of precision."

References

External links

*{{KLOV game, id=9274, name=Reactor
Twin Galaxies High Score Rankings
1982 video games Action video games Arcade video games Atari 2600 games Cancelled Intellivision games Multiplayer and single-player video games Gottlieb video games Parker Brothers video games Trackball video games Video games about nuclear technology Video games developed in the United States Multiplayer hotseat games