Dodg'em
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How to play Dodg'em
The main tactic for winning this game is to focus on precision and not speed. Although you may need to accelerate while trying to avoid jam boats, switching lanes without crashing mainly needs precise movement. The game only ends when you have crashed all your boats or when you have collected all the dots on the screen. To steer your boat from right to left, use the arrow keys. For up and down movement, use the second pair of arrow keys. To accelerate and slow down, press and hold down the ‘up key’ or ‘down key’.
Opposing boats are constantly trying to get into the same lane as your boat, switch lanes frequently to clear dots and avoid jam boats. Trying to collect all the dots on one lane may put you at risk of a crash. When you are on the same lane as the jam boats, change lanes and move as far away as possible. The jam boats only move at a static speed, unlike you, they cannot move faster or slower during a particular game, so this may help in anticipating their moves. It is very easy to assume the jam boats are predictable in the first few levels but do not forget that their speed changes at the advanced levels. When you crash your boat, the level starts all over again and your scores are cleared.
Dodg'em Description
Dodg’em is a racing arcade game released in 1979. It is one of the few maze games created by Zaccaria, which is a company that creates mainly pinball arcade games. Zaccaria was an Italian-owned company that produced coin-operated arcade games between the years 1977 to 1990. The company operated from Bologna while it existed, and created popular arcade titles such as The Invaders, PuckMan Astro Wars, Scramble, Fantasy, and Space Pirate.
Dodg’em is a maze arcade game classified under a category that usually has a playing field set up in form of a maze. You are required to navigate through the field within a particular time limit. Although each maze game has its own distinct characters and features, most arcade games under this genre imitated Pac-Man, which was originally created by a company called Namco.
This arcade game has a lot of similar game titles developed by other companies, including the popular Atari’s 1975 variations of Dodgem and Sega-Gremlin Head-on. The game is in 2-D and the perspective is from top to bottom. Zaccaria’s Dodg’em features two small boats, one belonging to you (the player), and the other being a computer operated vehicle meant to crash into your boat. The game is set in a maze, with the objective being to collect tiny dots while avoiding a head-on collision with the second boat. This game is very fast paced as at the beginning of the game, both vehicles start moving at high-speed. When playing the game for the first time, you can expect a few crashes within the first couple of tries, but as you proceed the maze becomes familiar and you can work on evading the opposing boat.
The maze is made of five lanes with gaps in between them that allows the boats to switch lanes. In the beginning, all lanes are filled with dots and these dots can only be cleared by you (the player), as the opposing car just glides over the dots without acquiring any of them. When you pass through the lanes with dots, your score increases by 2 points with each dot you collect. In addition to dots, there are flags occasionally appearing on the screen. When you collect the flag, 50 to 200 points are added to your score depending on the level you are currently on. In the early level, the game is easy with just one opposing boat but as the game progresses, multiple jam boats are introduced. New maze tracks with more lanes appear after clearing each level. The opposing boats always travel in the opposite direction and they can only switch one lane at a time.
The graphics of this game is very basic with the background in black and the boats, maze lines, dots, and scores in white color. Due to the fact that all the characters in the game are of the same color, trying to identify your boat at the start of the game may take a few seconds. The sound effects for this game is a miss. It consists of a loud screeching sound and a loud bang when the boat crashes, making it hard to keep the volume up while you play. Credits and player information are at the bottom of the game, while the high score is displayed at the middle of the lanes.
Altogether, Dodg’em is an okay action video game. It pumps its own little adrenaline but it doesn’t promise many surprising features. In its own way, the game becomes addictive until you master most of the levels, as after that there is really not much to look forward to. Compared to other arcade games with similar features, the difference is not much except for the graphics, scores, and levels in each game.
Cheats/Hints/Walkthroughs for Dodg'em
Randomly collect dots while you keep an eye on the jam boats. When the levels are a bit easier, you can clear a few dots on the first track and move to the second, collect a couple more on the second level, and then move to the third. Do the same on the third, fourth, fifth, and repeat the process again. The goal is to spend less time on one track before a jam boat enters the same track and collides with your vehicle.
When your boat is on high speed, you can only pass through a few tracks at a time. The hack is to reduce your speed when crossing lanes.
When flags appear, do not go head-on at it without minding the other boats, as it may be a trap. Navigate the lanes for a moment and gradually find your way to the flag.
