Boing!

Name:	Boing!
Company:	First Star Software
Model #:	N/A
Programmers:	Alex Leavens & Shirley Russell
Year:	1983
Released?	Yes
Notes:	Originally called Bubbles then Soap Suds

Boing is a strange little Q-Bert clone put out by the relatively small software company First Star Software (who happen to still be in business).  While this was First Star's only 2600 game, it showed alot of promise.  First Star also released a few very hard to find games for the Atari 400/800.

The hero of Boing is a bubble called "The Bubble" (that's original), who must bounce around the screen touching each of the 36 squares (arranged in a 6x6 grid).  Of course it wouldn't be much of a game if there weren't a few enemies to impede your progress now would it?  Out to get our dash hero are the Bubble Eater (mmm. Tastes like chicken!), and the Pin (watch out, he's sharp!).  The Bubble Eater will chase you around the screen in a fashion similar to Coily (this is a Q-Bert clone after all), while the Pin will appear randomly at the top of one of the rows and move vertically down.  If you're crafty enough, you can lure the Bubble Eater into the path of the oncoming Pin.  If the Pin collides with the Bubble Eater he'll start glowing and be temporarily stunned.  Use this time to complete the level hassle free.

As the levels progress you'll find that the squares need to be jumped on in a certain order.  Starting on level two you must jump on all the squares in a row before you can start on another row.  On level three you must jump on all the squares in the three even rows before you can start on the odd rows (the squares you need are marked in white).  Starting on level four, jumping on the same square twice will cause the square to turn off (revert back to it's original color) so be careful!  Levels five and six are the same as two and three, but now have the reverting squares.

While it may not be anything original, Boing is still a fun (and very rare) game.  Boing takes the concept of Q*Bert, but adds a few little twists to make it slightly different (must have worked because no lawsuits were ever filed).  During the revival years (86-90), Atari planned to re-release Boing under their own label as they had done with several Coleco games.  However for unknown reasons, Atari never got around to re-releasing it.  Recently however a Boing prototype with an Atari lab label has been found, thus proving that Atari had actually obtained the original code from First Star.

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