Batty Builders

• Title — Batty Builders • Developer — M. D. Caballero • Publisher — English Software • Platforms — Atari 8-bit • Released — 1983 • Genre — Action • Modes — Single-player

• Illustration — The brickie catches falling multicolored brick and launches it to complete the patterned wall. Batty Builders uses a three-tier playfield split into a top conveyor belt, a middle partially built wall, and a bottom catch area. At the top, a conveyor belt carries multicolored patterned bricks (white, yellow, orange, and brown) moving from left to right. The player moves the joystick-controlled brickie along the bottom row to position under falling bricks. Pressing the joystick fire button raises the brickie’s arms and if timed correctly, this catches a single brick as it falls. Once a brick is held, the player can move beneath the incomplete wall and press the fire button again to launch the held brick skyward, aiming it into a gap. Perfectly matched rows of the same colour or pattern award bonus points, while misaligned bricks still fill gaps but reduce scoring potential. Each dropped brick that lands on the brickie deducts one of the five available lives. Completing the current wall advances play to the next stage. As levels progress, horizontally scrolling crates of TNT appear on the conveyor belt, requiring additional timing and dexterity to dodge while still catching and placing bricks.