Hot Rod is a 1988 racing arcade game from Atari Games, built on a cabinet for up to three players side by side, each controlling their own steering wheel and gas pedal. The goal was to drive through a series of tracks winding through cities and countryside faster than the rivals, and to make it within a time limit extended by passing checkpoints along the track.
The main mechanic that set the game apart from other road races of its time was the turbo button — pressing it rapidly and repeatedly temporarily boosted the car's speed and decided who reached the start of the next corner first. Combined with three parallel control stations, this made Hot Rod an ideal attraction for competitive groups at a single machine, where the winner wasn't just the more skillful driver but also the one with the more tireless finger on the turbo. The tracks took players through city streets and open countryside, and passing checkpoints extended the route, so the outcome was often decided in the final seconds before time ran out.
Although Hot Rod never achieved the fame of other Atari Games racing series, among regular arcade visitors it earned a reputation as a fun party game where you could compete live with friends right next to each other at a single machine. Today it's remembered rather as a footnote, but as evidence of how arcade machines in the 1980s built a social dimension of on-the-spot play, long before online multiplayer became the standard.
Why play it: Hot Rod is a simple but infectiously competitive three-player race at a single machine, built around frantically mashing the turbo button.
Game 140 of 258 for Arcade
