Posted on May 21, 2023
Chicken by Synapse for Atari 400/800/XL/XE
Chicken is one of my favorite Atari 8-bit games from the Eighties. It has a lot of the same gameplay elements as Activision’s Kaboom while adding a few twists of its own.
The game shares features of Atari’s Avalanche, Activision’s Kaboom, and several other paddle-based games. However, the game brings several quirks of its own to the screen.
Chicken is deceptively simple. The fox is in the henhouse, and he’s stealing eggs, dropping them through a series of moving blocks (which all chicken coops have, right?). The eggs fall through gaps between the blocks, randomly dropping in different locations on the screen.
If an egg hits the ground, it cracks open and hatches into a chick. While the chicken’s motherly instincts cause it to naturally want to sit on the new baby chick to keep it warm, that’s not a good thing in this game. Luckily, the chicken can jump over them by pressing the fire button on your controller (joystick or paddle, believe me, the paddle is better suited for this game). If the chicken squats on a chick, an angry farmer runs out and kicks the chicken off the screen. The action speeds up as you play until it becomes extremely fast-paced.
Up to 4 players can play the game, taking turns, and sharing a single controller.
This game quickly became a favorite of mine back in the early 80s when I had my first Atari (a 600XL, I believe), and it is still a favorite of mine today. If you enjoy fast-paced games and enjoy a challenge, Chicken is for you. You might even get a chuckle or two out of it.
The game is available to play online at The Internet Archive. It is also available for download from the same site. The manual is also available at the same site. I hope you enjoy the game. Be sure to let me know if you liked it, by leaving a comment below.