Video Olympics
Video Olympics is a sports video game programmed by Joe Decuir for the Atari 2600. It is one of the nine 2600 launch titles Atari, Inc. Published when the 2600 system was released in September 1977.
Video Olympics
Karawane_71 · Own work Original text: eigenes Werk nach Vorlage des Spiels · Public domain
- Date
- 1977
- Publisher
- Atari and Inc.
- Genre
- sports video game
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
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Documentary summary
Video Olympics is a sports video game programmed by Joe Decuir for the Atari 2600. It is one of the nine 2600 launch titles Atari, Inc. Published when the 2600 system was released in September 1977.
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wikidata · Q7927865 · wikipedia · Video Olympics
In this article
The object
The object
The cartridge is a collection of games from Atari's popular arcade Pong series. A similar collection in arcade machine form called Tournament Table was published by Atari in 1978. Rebranded by Sears as Pong Sports.
Key facts
Key facts
• Title — Video Olympics • Developer — Atari, Inc. • Publisher — Atari, Inc. • Designer — Joe Decuir • Released — September 1977 • Genre — Sports • Modes — Single-player, multiplayer • Platforms — Atari 2600
Gameplay
Gameplay
The games are a collection of bat-and-ball style games, including several previously released by Atari, Inc. as arcade games. The games use the Video Computer System's paddle controllers, and are for one to four players (three or four players requires a second set of paddles).
Games
Games
• Illustration — The Hockey variation Video Olympics includes 50 games and variations: • Pong - The classic table tennis simulation. • Super Pong - A Pong variation where each player has two paddles. • Robot Pong - A solitaire Pong variation. • Pong Doubles • Quadrapong - A four-player, four-wall Pong variation. • Foozpong - Based on Foozball, this Pong variant has the players control a vertical three-paddle column. • Soccer • Handball - A handball simulation. • Ice hockey • Hockey III - An ice hockey simulation where players can catch and shoot the puck at the opposing goal. • Basketball - A basketball simulation. • Volleyball - A volleyball simulation where the traditional (Pong-style) left-right volley is swapped for a top-bottom volley. Players can volley or spike.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
- United States
Named but not plotted · 1
Video Olympics is associated with United States.
Country
Reception
The cartridge and its individual games were reviewed twice in Video magazine. In the Winter 1979 issue of Video, the cartridge was reviewed as part of a general review of the Atari VCS where it received a review score of 8.5 out of 10, and its constituent games were characterized as "old standbys" but "still lots of fun". A more thorough review appeared in Videos "Arcade Alley" column in the Summer 1979 issue where the release was generally praised for "tak[ing] Atari's Pong concept and explor[ing] it to the limit." Individual games were singled out as well, with praise for Volleyball and Robot Pong (described as "astonishingly good"), and criticism for Handball (for its use of a visually disturbing blinking paddle rather than an absent paddle to indicate inactive players), and Basketball (described as primitive compared to Atari's own 1978 version of Basketball).
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Lapetino, Tim. Art of Atari. Dynamite Entertainment. 2016. 978-1524101039.
- 2.Montfort, Nick. Racing the Beam. MIT Press. 163. 2009. 978-0-262-01257-7.
- 3.Tournament Table.
- 4.AtariAge - Atari 2600 Manuals (HTML) - Video Olympics (Atari).
- 5.Creative Computing (Better Scan) 1978 07. July 1978.
- 6.Reese Communications. VideoTest Report Number 18: Atari Video Computer. Video. 1. 5. 30–34. Winter 1979. 0147-8907.
- 7.Kunkel, Bill. Arcade Alley: Atari Video Computer System. Video. Reese Communications. 2. 3. 42, 43, and 66. Summer 1979. 0147-8907.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 17 August 2026.
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