Warlords (1980 video game)

Warlords
North American arcade flyer
Developer(s)	Atari, Inc.
Publisher(s)	Atari, Inc.
Platform(s)	Arcade, Atari 2600
Release	Arcade NA: 1980 Atari 2600 NA: 1981 EU: 1981
Genre(s)	Action
Mode(s)	1-4 player competitive multiplayer (cocktail) 1-2 player cooperative (upright)

Warlords is an arcade video game released by Atari, Inc. in 1980.^[1] The game resembles a combination of Breakout and Quadrapong (an early Atari arcade game). Up to four players are able to play the game at the same time and the "castles" in the four corners of the screen are brick walls that can be destroyed with a flaming ball.

Warlords used spinner controllers for player control and came in both a two-player upright version and a four-player cocktail version. The upright version used a black and white monitor and reflected the game image onto a mirror, with a backdrop of castles, giving the game a 3D feel. The upright version only supported up to two simultaneous players, who moved through the levels as a team. The cocktail version was in color and supported 1–4 players. Three-to-four player games were free-for-alls where the game ended as soon as one player won. One-to-two player games played identical to the upright version.

According to Atari production numbers, 1014 uprights and 1253 cocktails were produced. The prototype version of Warlords was called "Castles and Kings" and was housed in a large four-player "Sprint 4-like" cabinet. Only two versions of the prototype were made. The game was considered a success, although a redesign to a smaller cabinet was necessary, as the large cabinet made it impossible to produce in large quantities and unfeasible to install.