Centipede is a vertically oriented shoot 'em up developed by Atari and released in arcades in 1981, designed by Ed Logg and Dona Bailey. Players control a shooter at the bottom of the screen, defending against waves of insects while targeting a segmented centipede as it winds its way downward through a field of mushrooms. Eliminating the entire centipede clears the round. Additional insects, including fleas and spiders, complicate each stage. The game holds a notable place in arcade history as one of the first coin-operated titles to attract a substantial female player base, partly attributed to Bailey being among the rare women working in game development at the time. Originally an arcade cabinet, the game is also playable via web browser.
The Enchanted Forest Once upon a time in a misty, enchanted forest, there lived a colony of good elves. These elves had a major problem, though. Their prized mushroom garden was infested with pests--a giant Centipede, a poison-spreading scorpion, a mischief-making spider, and a pesky flea. The good elves tried everything they could to rid their garden of these bugs. But nothing worked. One day, an elf named Oliver was hacking away at a poisoned mushroom in the garden. Suddenly, he saw an unusual stick gleaming in the dirt. Just as Oliver picked up the stick, a spider jumped out from behind a mushroom and rushed at him. When Oliver waved his hands wildly to try to scare the spider away, sparks flew from his stick and the spider disappeared! "How did that happen?" Oliver wondered out loud. "Could this be a magic wand?" Soon Oliver had another chance to try the wand. When the scorpion scurried across a row of mushroom, poisoning every mushroom it touched, Oliver pointed the wand at the scorpion and shouted, "Be gone!" Instantly, the scorpion disappeared and the poisoned mushrooms were transformed back into normal mushrooms. "This is great! This is the tool we need to clean up our mushroom garden" Oliver shouted ecstatically. With his new found magic wand, Oliver hid behind a mushroom. "OK, you great big Centipede," he said. "Come out wherever you are. I'm ready for you now!" --From the Atari 2600 Centipede instruction manual.
