Posted on May 21, 2023
Atari 8-Bit History: Preppie – Not Just Another Frogger
Preppie was published by American computer game publisher Adventure International, which was best known at the time for the Scott Adams adventure game series, which included such popular games as Adventureland, Pirate Adventure, Savage Island, and various others.
Preppie was developed by Russ Wetmore for the Atari 8-bit lineup of computers, and unlike most other games developed for game consoles and home computers at the time, was not ported over to other platforms.
While the game borrows heavily from the gameplay of Frogger, instead of controlling a frog, the player controls prep schooler, Wadsworth Overcash, as he navigates the hazards of a country club to retrieve golf balls. Wadsworth has been assigned to retrieve golf balls at the country club where he works and must avoid golf carts, lawnmowers, and other golf-related vehicles, then jump onto a canoe, log, or alligator to make it to the other side of the river, where he grabs a golf ball.
There are ten levels. A bonus preppie is given for reaching 8,000 points.
For more information about Preppie, visit the Preppie Wikipedia page.
To play Preppie, visit Atarimania, where you can download the game and its manual.
For the developer-minded among us, you can download the Preppie! Source Code at the Internet Archive.