Game of the Week: Dig Dug

In the early 1980s, there were tons of arcades around filled with tons of different video games. Many are remembered fondly even today, but some stood out as different from all the rest. One such game was Dig Dug.

While Dig Dug might not seem overly special when compared to today's gameplay and today's graphics, it was quite unique when it first came out in 1982. Before Dig Dug, most games had been science fiction shooters, climbing games or maze games, with a few unique exceptions. Dig Dug was one of those exceptions.

The object of Dig Dug is to destroy underground monsters and dragons. To get to these enemies, you have to dig. Once you get to them, or they get to you, the player has to destroy the monsters by blowing them up with an air pump or by dropping a large rock on them. Sometimes your enemies would get away, but more often than not they came at you, quickly and in numbers.

And beyond the first board or two, it was never easy killing all those dragons and monsters. Especially the dragons because they could breath fire.

After a player had dropped two of the available rocks on the screen, extra items would appear that could be picked up for bonus points.

Dig Dug was quite the popular game in the early 1980s, and it was ported to many home video game systems and computers of the time including the Atari 2600, Intellivision, Commodore VIC-20 and many more. There was even a sequel game, Dig Dug II, but it never had the following of its original. There have also been small, hand-held versions of Dig Dug, including versions for cell phones.

Though not as popular as such games as Pac-Man, Donkey Kong and the like, Dig Dug is still quite iconic and is often remembered fondly even today by retro gamers.