Do you have a craving for some good old-fashioned Americana? Do you like to watch cars go really fast? Do you love toys and gadgets related to cars?
If so, then you’re going to love the new attraction at the Madigan Farms Amusement Park in Indiana—a super-stretch-out version of the classic arcade game, Dig Dug. It’s a playground for cars, train tables, and dinosaurs, with all sorts of motorsports-related delights. A must-see for Monster fans.
The game was created by Atari and first released in 1972. Its inventor, Ralph Baer, called it the first truly realistic car-racing game. You’ll take on the role of an entrepreneur in the year 2064 and build up your business—selling snacks and soft drinks to hungry motorists on their way to the races. The object is to mine as much money as you can in order to buy new cars to improve your performance on the road.
As you play, you’ll encounter a variety of opponents, from lowly workers to giant corporate monsters. When you hit one, it’s game over—but you can still keep playing. You need to learn the ins and outs of this unique game if you want to become an expert player. Luckily, learning how to play Dig Dug is actually quite simple. Once you’ve mastered the basics, you’re on your way to becoming a money-making machine. Here’s how much two monsters at speedway cost.
The Basics
At the Madigan Farms amusement park in Indiana, you’ll find the game designated by the letters D-D-G-O-O-T with a gold foil D-D-G on its marquee. That’s Digital Dugger, Gold Omlet version—the most common type of game currently sold at the park. The D-D-G-O-O-T version was first released in 1977 and has been continuously reissued ever since. If you’re unfamiliar, here’s a quick breakdown of how the game works.
On the left side of the screen, you have a road. To the right, you have a valley full of holes. Your goal is to tap the screen to fill up the road with coins. When a car drives over a coin, it disappears, and the player wins a point. Your vehicle will only move when you tap the screen—and only at certain speeds related to the number of coins in your bucket. There are also power-ups that will help you reach new levels of speed and achievement.
How To Play
If you’ve ever played a video game before, then playing Dig Dug shouldn’t be too difficult. All you need is a working cell phone, an SD card, and a USB drive to create a backup of your game after each play. You can also download the game to your computer and print out scorecards. The interface is also fairly intuitive—there are only four buttons: tap to go, pause, reset, and play.
But even if you’re a seasoned player, there are several things you should know before you start playing. One of the first things you should do is ensure that your device is registered with the internet. This ensures that your game saves remain online even when you close the application. Without this feature, whenever you turn off your device or switch it to airplane mode, your progress in the game will be lost. You’ll have to start from the beginning if you ever want to play again—which can be incredibly frustrating if you’re playing on a mobile device.
Another thing you should be aware of is that coins disappear when you tap them. This means that whenever you tap a coin, it’s potential value is immediately reduced and can’t be restored. Be sure to replace any coins you lose, as they’ll disappear forever once they’re out of sight. And last but not least, the game ends when you run out of lives. You start each round with three lives, and if you run out of them before you tap the finish line, then you’ll have to start over from the beginning. Again, this can be incredibly frustrating if you’re playing on a mobile device.
Now that you’re armed with the basics, let’s move on to the fun stuff. From a gameplay perspective, Dig Dug is all about speed. The faster you can make coins disappear, the better. The more you speed, the more you’ll earn—and the more you’ll earn, the faster you’ll be able to advance to new levels of play.
Here are some general suggestions for increasing your speed: