Touch Pad Game

Name:	Touch Pad Game
Company:	Atari
Model #:	N/A
Programmer:	Unknown
Year:	1984
Released?	No
Notes:	Found in 2025

Just when you think you've seen everything that was in development for the Atari 5200, a new prototype comes along and turns everything on its head.  These prototypes were found in a storage unit that was purchased in an auction in 2025 and quietly sold on Ebay along with three prototypes for Slide Show and several other 5200 prototypes.  This storage unit most likely belonged to a former Atari programmer, although their name is currently unknown.

Although the game identifies itself as Touch Pad Game on the splash screen, a more apt description would be Touch Tablet Game.  In fact the earliest prototype EPROMs are actually labeled TT (Touch Tablet) and the latest prototype is actually called Touch Tablet on the label.  These prototypes appear to be an attempt at making a game for the 5200 that would utilize the CX77 Touch Tablet.  Although no Atari 5200 version of the Touch Tablet has ever been found or known to be in development, the Atari 8-Bit version was released in January of 1984, which is right around the time these prototypes were created.  Given the expense of the hardware Atari may have been considering simply making an adapter to plug the CX77 into the 5200 rather than make an Atari 5200 specific version.

While the prototype was made to be played with a Touch Tablet, it appears to be playable with a standard 5200 controller (although with some difficulty).  This is because the Atari 5200 controller is really just two paddles in joystick form (one for the X-axis and one for the Y-axis) and the CX77 Touch Tablet just happens to to connect to the same inputs (paddle #0 and paddle #1).  As the CX77 Touch Tablet uses an inverted vertical axis, the vertical control is also inverted when using a 5200 controller (up is down and down is up). Although the Touch Tablet has three buttons (two on the tablet, one of the stylus), only one fire button (corresponding to the stylus button) is used and none of the 5200's keypad buttons are recognized.

Being a tech demo, the gameplay is fairly simple.  The screen consists of a room with a futuristic looking cityscape on the bottom.  There is also a hole (exit) towards the center of the cityscape.  Bouncing around the room are six spaceships that are made up up one to three segments. There is also an energy counter at the top of the screen which starts at 99 and goes down based on the players actions.  At the center of the screen is a star shaped marker which represents the player.  The player can move the marker around the screen by using the joystick.  When the player pushes the fire button the marker will be pinned to that location and start to fade.  The player then has about 1.5 seconds to move a second marker to another location and press the fire button.  If done correctly a line will appear between the two points.  If the player fails to push the button before the first marker fades nothing will happen.  The button must not be pushed too quickly or the line will not be drawn (wait for the marker to start fading).  The player may also hold down the fire button after placing the first marker in order to 'hold the shot'.  During this time both markers will disappear until the player releases the fire button which will cause the line to be drawn immediately.  This is useful for waiting and lining up shots to hit the enemy ships as they go by but can be tough to remember exactly where the markers were.

The purpose the line is twofold.  The player may either try to hit the spaceships with the line, or the player may use the line to form a barrier to deflect the ships (worth 10 points).  Hitting the spaceship with the line will either destroy one segment or cause a segment to break off (this may be random).  The edges of the screen will also flash pink when a segment is hit.  When a single segment of a ship is broken off it will turn into a bomb once it hits the left or right sides of the screen (the segment will flash white).  If the bomb hits the side of the screen again it will explode and cost the player 10 energy units.  Destroying a single segment of a ship scores 25 points, while splitting a segment off a ship scores 50 points.  Hitting multiple segments or ships with a single line will score more points (100 points for each extra object hit).  The player loses 1 energy unit for deflecting a ship and 2 energy points for destroying or splitting a segment.

However the real goal of the game appears to be to force the ship segments into the exit at the bottom of the screen before you run out of energy.  Forcing a single segment into the hole scores 500 points while forcing a bomb, double, or triple segmented ship into the hole will score 750 points.  After all the ships are either destroyed or forced into the hole the player will go to the next level.  Unfortunately each level looks exactly the same, but the score and energy counters are not reset.  If the player runs out of energy the game will reset.  There does not appear to be a way to gain any extra energy in this game.

No documentation exists on the Atari 5200 Touch Tablet project, so it may have been an unofficial project that was being worked on at one Atari's skunk works labs (Cyan Engineering, Grass Valley, or the Design and Research Group).  It is unknown if any further work was done on the game past the 2/21 prototype, but another tech demo called Slide Show also appears to have used the 5200 Touch Tablet controller.  In particular, the prototype called Slide Show 2 seems to show a later version of this game with an energy meter on the side of the screen and updated graphics.

Special thanks to Kr0tki for figuring out how this prototype works.

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