Sky Jinks
{{Short description|1982 video game}}
{{Infobox video game
| image = Sky Jinks cover.jpg
| caption =
| programmer = Bob Whitehead{{cite web |last1=Hague |first1=James |title=The Giant list of Classic Game Programmers |url=https://dadgum.com/giantlist/}}
| developer = Activision
| publisher = Activision
| platforms = Atari 2600
| released = {{Video game release|NA|1982}}
| genre = Racing
| modes = Single-player
}}
Sky Jinks is a vertically scrolling, air racing-themed video game developed by Bob Whitehead for the Atari 2600{{cite web |url=https://www.atariage.com/software_page.html?SoftwareLabelID=437 |title=Sky Jinks |author= |website=Atari Age |access-date=24 May 2013}} and published by Activision in 1982.
Gameplay
In Sky Jinks, the player pilots a low-flying Seversky XP-41{{cite book |last=Weiss |first=Brett |title=Classic Home Video Games, 1972–1984: A Complete Reference Guide |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BzxTtml8Jq4C&pg=PA303 |access-date=25 May 2013 |year=2007 |publisher=McFarland & Company |location=Jefferson |isbn=9780786432264 |oclc=124036221 |page=105}} airplane through a time trial. To complete a game level, the player must bank around a prescribed number of pylons (left for blue and right for red). The XP-41 can bank left and right, as well as accelerate and decelerate. Flying into a pylon (which counts), tree, or hot air balloon slows down the plane.
The game has four courses: Polo Grounds, Aero Race, Love Field, and Speedy Meadows. There is also a pseudo-randomly-generated course called Thompson Tourney.
Legacy
In the mid-1980s, social psychologist Roy Baumeister used the game in his psychological research into performance anxiety.{{cite book |last=Beilock |first=Sian |title=Choke: Use the Secrets of Your Brain to Succeed When It Matters Most |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H3AtuWM6ZPUC&pg=PA244 |access-date=25 May 2013 |year=2010 |publisher=Free Press |location=New York |isbn=9781416596172 |oclc=464593186 |pages=244–45}}
Activision anthologized Sky Jinks in the PlayStation title A Collection of Activision Classic Games for the Atari 2600 (1998) and in the multi-platform collection Activision Anthology (2002).
See also
{{Portal|Video games|1980s}}
- List of Atari 2600 games
- List of Activision games: 1980–1999
- Skiing (1980), a similar skiing game written by Bob Whitehead for Activision
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{atarimania|id=8400}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sky Jinks}}
Category:Air racing video games
Category:Atari 2600-only games
Category:North America-exclusive video games
Category:Top-down racing video games