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Hunt & Score aka Memory Match


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Hunt & Score aka Memory Match aka A Game of Concentration

 

I think there should be a limited and defined set of "real world" games that are appropriate for translation into the art form of videogames. The following is my hastily composed list of criteria.

 

1: Any real world game for which it may not always be easy to find a human opponent.

2: Any real world game that normally involves two or more teams, physical exertion or a lot of expensive equipment.

3: Any real world game that might kill, maim, or drive you into bankruptcy.

4: Any real world game that just isn't easy to find out in the real world anymore.

 

Of course, this list excludes the consideration of market-driven forces and therefore isn't worth a damn.

 

The "need" for Hunt & Score, while not a bad game by itself, is obviated by the pre-existing Memory Match card games that most every parent already has sitting in their closets and/or playrooms. The "real world" version of this game has illustrations, both more colorful and more numerous, making it, respectively, more entertaining and more challenging. I don't see the point for making this game other than the fact that there must've been a perceived demand for it. I don't know enough about sales numbers for Hunt & Score to know if they were wrong or not.

 

You may choose between a 4 by 4 grid and a 5 by 6 grid of memory cards. You punch in the number of the card you wish to turn over, view the card, type in the second card's number, hear a happy sound indicating they match or a sad sound if they don't. You get to go again in the two-player game if they do match. The difficulty switches merely control the number of points you earn when you make a match. (One point on setting "A", two points on setting "B")

 

While I was able to play the one player game of this title, I wasn't able to play the 5 by 6 grid version because the bottom of the grid extended off the bottom of my old TV screen. When I tried to play it on a more modern television, the picture rolled. (Maybe I have an odd copy of the ROM in my Cuttle Cart 2?). I didn't try playing this with my son, as, unfortunately, we haven't been able to spend time with the Atari since I started my new gig this week. Perhaps this weekend we'll correct that, but I suspect that my bottom line will still stand.

 

Bottom line is: I don't think the game of Memory Match needed to be turned into a videogame. Nice thought. Thanks for trying, but really, it wasn't necessary.

 

Next Entry: Hangman aka Spelling.

 

UPDATE: My son and I played this today and we reached the same conclusion as supercat. Why did they make this a keypad game when a joystick would've worked? We enjoy memory games, too. We just didn't enjoy this one very much.

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I haven't played the Atari version of this game, but I think Concentration can be a worthwhile one-player game; I wouldn't fault the Atari for making one.

 

It's odd, though, that they'd use a number pad on a game that would be good with joysticks and joysticks on a game that would be better with a number pad ("Basic Math").

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I haven't played the Atari version of this game, but I think Concentration can be a worthwhile one-player game; I wouldn't fault the Atari for making one.

 

It's odd, though, that they'd use a number pad on a game that would be good with joysticks and joysticks on a game that would be better with a number pad ("Basic Math").

 

Okay, I just tried the game briefly. What a waste. Atari has already demonstrated with Blackjack that the 2600 can show six sprites on a scan line. Why can't this game show more than four numbers at a time? Or else use joystick? This cartridge is as big a loser as Basic Math, and I like "concentration"-style games.

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Damn. This one is bad. When you guys said this used the number pad, I assumed that each key on the number pad was associated with one slot. That would have made a lot of sense, and I wasn't getting your grip with it. And then I tried the game. Eesh.

 

Move along.

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