Polo

Overview

This is a game of polo, played on horseback. You move your horse with the joystick. The mallet swings automatically and will always send the ball in the direction of the opposing goal. The object is simply to to get the ball through the opposing player's goal more than they get the ball through yours. Some game variations have the ball wrap around the screen, some make the ball bounce off the sides, some give each player one horse to control, some two apiece. In 1978 Warner Communications, who happened to own both Atari and Ralph Lauren, assigned Carol Shaw to design a game that would tie-in with Ralph Lauren's new cologne "Polo". It's unknown exactly how the game would be used in the promotion, but it may have been intended to be given away to customers who spent large amounts of money. Supposedly several prototypes and handwritten instructions were sent to Bloomingdale's in New York, but nothing became of the promotion and Polo went unreleased until 2002. The cart, box and manual are reproductions from 2002 with permission of programmer Carol Shaw.