Surround (video game)

Surround
Surround cover art by Cliff Spohn[1]
Developer(s)	Atari, Inc.
Publisher(s)	Atari, Inc.
Programmer(s)	Alan Miller
Platform(s)	Atari 2600
Release	September 1977
Genre(s)	Snake
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer

Surround is a video game programmed by Alan Miller and published by Atari, Inc. for the Atari Video Computer System (Atari VCS).^[a] The game plays similarly to the arcade game Blockade (1976), which allows players to navigate a continuously moving block around an enclosed space as a wall trails behind it. Every time the opposite player has their brick hit a wall, the opposing player earns a single point, with the winner being the first to collect ten points.

Following Gremlin Industries' presentation of Blockade at the 1976 Music Operators of America (MOA) Expo, several other game developers created their own snake-style video games, including Atari with their arcade game Dominos (1977) and the home console game Surround. The game includes various modes of Surround which controlling the speed and the amount of directions the player could move. It features a mode titled "Video Graffiti", that allowed players to create simple digital illustrations.

Surround was among the launch titles for the Atari 2600. Initial reviews noted that the game was complex and generally stating it was a quality game. Retrospective reviews found the graphics and sound for Surround weak, while remaining effective as a two-player competitive game.

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