Kaboom!

Kaboom! is an action game originally released in 1981 by Activision for the Atari 2600 and later ported to the Atari 5200 and Atari Home Computers. In the game, the mad bomber is on the loose and dropping bombs from above! Players need to catch all of the bombs with a bucket of water before they hit the bottom of the screen.

During the game, the mad bomber is at the top of the screen on the city rooftops; he moves rapidly left and right and drops bombs in various patterns. The player controls a stack of three buckets located at the bottom of the screen; the goal of the game is to catch all of the bombs that are dropped before they hit the bottom of the screen. If a bomb is missed, one of the buckets is lost; the game ends when player's have no more buckets remaining. Additional buckets can be earned for every 1000 points that are earned. As the game progresses, the mad bomber moves faster and drops bombs at a more rapid rate. During each round in the game, the bombs fall in a slightly different pattern; to complete the level players often need to recognize the pattern and follow it closely. In the Atari 5200 and Atari Home Computer versions, the 1812 Overture theme is used as background music with one note being played every time a bomb is successfully caught.

As was common for many Activision games of the era, players could earn a badge for high scores; for Kaboom!, the Activision Bucket Brigade badge was awarded for scoring at least 1800 points. Badges were received by taking a photo of the T.V. screen showing the score and sending it to Activision.