Frogger 1981

Frogger came out in 1981, a time when simple arcade games were everywhere. It was one of those titles you'd find in a corner of a pizza place or a bowling alley, its green and black screen glowing quietly. The game was published by Sega, and it had a straightforward premise that didn't need much explanation.

You control a frog, moving it one hop at a time. Your goal is to guide it from the bottom of the screen to one of five slots at the top. First, you cross a road with cars and trucks speeding by; timing each hop to land in the gaps between them is crucial. Then you reach a river, where you must jump onto moving logs and turtles to get across, being careful not to fall into the water or linger on a sinking turtle. The game starts calmly but gets faster, the traffic becoming denser and the river more treacherous. It feels like a tense, methodical puzzle where a single mistimed move ends your turn.