Blockade (video game)

Blockade
Arcade flyer
Developer(s)	Gremlin
Publisher(s)	NA/AU: Gremlin[2] JP: Taito[1]
Platform(s)	Arcade
Release	NA: November 1976 JP: March 1977
Genre(s)	Snake
Mode(s)	Two-player competitive

Blockade is an arcade video game developed by Lane Hauck for Gremlin and released in November 1976. It is a two-player game where each player controls the direction of an arrow on the screen which creates a trail behind it. The object is the avoid any walls surrounding the playfield or created by each player for a select amount of turns. Blockade spawned many clones which came to be known as snake games.

The game was designed by Lane Hauck, who prior to joining Gremlin had taught himself to code and met with the team at Gremlin prior to their entry in the arcade game market. After experimenting with a physics problem in assembly language, he created a game where a trail was left behind a player not allowing them to return to a position they had already visited. After showing the concept to the staff at Gremlin, it was developed into a video game, test marketed and released to great acclaim at the 1976 Music Operators of America in Chicago. As Gremlin were new to developing arcade games, before they could release it publicly, several other companies such as Atari, Inc., Ramtek and Meadows Games released their own variations on the game, leading to many pre-sales being cancelled for Gremlin.