Surround

by Atari · published by Sears

1977 · Atari2600

Surround was an unofficial port of the arcade game Blockade, released the previous year by Gremlin. As such, it was the first home console version of the game that would become widely known on other platforms as Snake. As with other early Atari games, it was licensed to Sears, which released it under the name Chase. The cartridge was subdivided into 14 different games. The first 12 of these were variations on the Blockade theme. Like its predecessor Blockade and successor Snake, the object of Surround was to maneuver a sprite across the screen, leaving a trail behind. A player wins by forcing the other player to crash into one of the trails. Various options allowed for speed-up, diagonal movement, wrap-around and "erase" (the choice to not draw at a given moment); in addition, the sprites could be set to operate at a beginning "slow" speed, or progressively speed up through five speeds.