Paperboy

Paperboy is an arcade game originally released by Atari Games in April 1985. It was later ported to numerous home computers and game consoles. In the game players control a paperboy riding a bicycle on a suburban street; the goal is to deliver papers to all of the customer houses while avoiding obstacles. A sequel, Paperboy 2, was later released for several home systems.

The game begins with some houses being customers while some are not; the goal is to deliver papers to all customer houses by throwing a paper either in the mailbox or on the front porch. Customers can be identified by house color; customer houses are bright colors while non-customer houses are dark. If a paper is not delivered to a customer or any damage is done, such as breaking a window, to a customer house it will no longer be a customer on the next day. The game is over if all customers are lost; if a paper is delivered to all of the customers, a new house will become a customer the next day. Along the way, bonus points are earned for damage to non-customer houses and other targets. The paperboy can only carry 10 newspapers at a time; bundles of papers can be found on the sidewalk at certain points and can be picked up to replenish the supply.

Along the road there are numerous obstacles that can knock the paperboy off of his bike; these include cars, storm drains, pedestrians, fences, and more. Some obstacles can be stopped by hitting it with a newspaper (for example, a running dog will stop chasing the paperboy if it is hit). Other obstacles are unaffected when hit with a paper. Players begin the game with a limited number of lives, and a life is lost each time the paperboy crashes into an obstacle. At the end of each day there is a bonus obstacle course containing numerous targets, ramps, walls, and other dangers; bonus points are earned for hitting the targets with newspapers.

The original arcade version of Paperboy featured controls that replicated a bicycle handle bar. The handle bars could be turned left or right to guide the paperboy, or pushed forward to speed up and pulled back to slow down; a button on each side would throw a newspaper. The home versions utilized either a standard joystick or keyboard depending on the system.