CrackPots

CrackPots is a ColecoVision homebrew adaptation of the classic 1983 Activision title originally designed by Dan Kitchen for the Atari 2600.

You play as Potsy, a Brooklyn gardener whose building is under siege. Bugs are swarming out of the sewers and climbing toward your windows — and your only weapon is a rooftop full of flower pots. Move left and right, drop your pots at the right moment, and crush the invaders before they break through.

But if too many bugs get inside, the building crumbles — one floor at a time — until there's nothing left.

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• Left / Right — move Potsy along the rooftop
• Button — drop the flower pot above your current position
• # key — toggle background music on/off

Up to 3 pots can be in the air simultaneously. Each pot resets to a new random color after it lands.

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Each level is made up of four waves of twelve bugs. The color tells you what to expect:

Color	Behavior
	Climbs straight up
	Zigzags left and right
	Climbs diagonally
	Zigzags between window columns

Clear all four waves and you advance to the next level — faster, more relentless.

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Every time 6 bugs reaches a window, the building loses a floor. After six floors are gone, it's Game Over — and Potsy has to watch as the survivors parade across the ruins.

Survive long enough and the building "chews" through its own floors mid-level, forcing you to adjust your pot drops in real time as the rooftop drops lower and lower.

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This version goes beyond the original Atari 2600 game:

• Full multi-bank ROM (128K) for rich tilesets and animated backgrounds
• Detailed Brooklyn building backdrop with cracked walls and lit windows
• Animated splash screen and attract mode with bugs climbing during the menu
• Original soundtrack — two in-game music tracks plus a full sound effects system
• Bonus bug counter displayed per wave, with wave-color indicators
• Score displayed as a 6-digit counter on the building facade

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The game is distributed as a .rom file.

Emulator (recommended for testing): Download CoolCV — free, available for Windows, macOS, and Linux.

On real hardware: Compatible with any standard ColecoVision cartridge flash solution (e.g. Opcode Games cartridge, SGM-compatible flash carts).

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• Real ColecoVision hardware — tested and confirmed
• Collectorvision Phoenix — compatible
• CoolCV (Windows / macOS / Linux) — recommended emulator
• BlueMSX — ColecoVision mode

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• Design & Programming & Sound: Eric Damain
• Music : Adan Toledo 
• Graphics : Gilles Roisin
• Original game: CrackPots (Atari 2600, 1983) Designed by Dan Kitchen, published by Activision

Built with: CVBasic by Oscar Toledo G.

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Electric Dreams is an independent homebrew studio dedicated to bringing original games and faithful adaptations to classic hardware. CrackPots is one of several ColecoVision titles developed by Eric Damain.

This is a non-commercial fan adaptation created out of love for classic gaming. CrackPots and all related intellectual property are trademarks of Activision Publishing, Inc.