The Game: One or two players try to keep a ball in motion in an enclosed space; standard racquetball rules apply. (Games By Apollo, 1982)
Memories: As discussed earlier in our review of Skeet Shoot, Games By Apollo was the first third-party game software supplier for the Atari 2600 founded by a speculator with no prior ties to the video game industry. Skeet Shoot, Apollo’s first game, was rushed out as quickly as possible, whereas programmer Ed Salvo had a little more time to roll out Racquetball, and the graphical difference is huge.
But Racquetball with its 3-D court might have been hailed as more of a huge graphical breakthrough for the 2600 had it not flickered madly like a seizure-inducing Japanese cartoon. It was right up there with Pac-Man in the category of “games made nearly unplayable by flickering graphics.” Other than that, it’s a fine video racquetball simulation, one that perhaps reached too far.