Freeway
| |
| Freeway | |
| Developer | Activision |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Activision |
| Platforms | Atari 2600 |
| Released | Atari 2600 North America: July 1981 |
| Added to Museum |
March 1, 2024 |
Freeway is an Atari 2600 video game by Activision.
Plot
Chickens try to cross a busy freeway without getting hit by passing cars.
Development
There were several instances related to heavy traffic in Chicago, Illinois that inspired David Crane to create the original Bloody Human Freeway version of the game. The first inspiration involved Crane and his friends crossing the busiest road in the city from the wrong side of a building when one of his friends joked that it would make a great video game. The second involved the video game designer Larry Kaplan riding a bus when he witnessed a man crossing Lake Shore Drive. The third involved Crane himself witnessing a man trying to cross during rush-hour traffic while attending the Consumer Electronics Show in Chicago.
In 1981, Crane prototyped a game for the Atari 2600 about humans crossing a road full of traffic, however three days before the next CES show, the Activision CEO at the time, Jim Levy, suggested it should be a chicken to be a variation on the "Why did the chicken cross the road?" joke and so it can be promoted at the show by a person wearing a chicken suit.
