Kick

Kick (shortly after release renamed to Kickman) is an action game by Bally/Midway first released in arcades in 1981 and a year later ported to the Commodore 64. In the game players control a clown riding a unicycle with the goal of catching falling balloons and Pac-Man characters.

The game screen in Kickman consists of a series of balloons (and other objects) floating in the top half of the screen with the clown riding a unicycle able to move left and right along the bottom. The balloons and other floating objects randomly fall towards the ground and players need to catch and balance them on the clowns head; if an object is missed and hits the ground, the clown falls off of the bike and a life is lost. Once the clown has 8 objects stacked on his head, a Pac-Man appears and pops them for bonus points. If players miss an object, the clown can attempt to kick it back upwards giving the player another chance to catch it. Each level in the game is completed when all objects have fallen and are caught; initially, only balloons appear in the level. As the game progresses additional characters (the four ghosts and Pac-Man) begin appearing as well.

There are also challenge rounds occasionally; in these rounds, both balloons and bombs are thrown out of the building windows. Players need to catch all of the balloons and avoid the bombs; bonus points are awarded for successfully catching all of the balloons, while if a bomb is accidentally caught the challenge round ends.

Development of the arcade version began in 1978 as a black and white game called Catch 40; This version of the game was never released. The game was later reworked into a color game and released in 1981 as Kick; shortly after the game was renamed Kickman.