This game is not currently available to play at our venues. We hope to see it return soon!

Pole Position

Prepare to qualify

Race your Indy car around the Fuji course before the timer runs out. The first run is the qualifying lap and your starting position is determined by your completion time. Avoid road hazards and other cars as you drive, earning extra time for each completed lap.

  • 1982
  • Namco
  • 1 Player
  • Racing
  • Available At
    OUT OF ORDER
A Pole Position upright model appears in the Judas Priest music video 'Freewheel Burning'. The gameplay shows the head of Rob Halford (lead singer) in the player's car.

Description

Pole Position was the first racing video game to feature a track based on a real racing circuit. It was also the first game to feature a qualifying lap, requiring the player to complete a time trial before they can compete in Grand Prix races. Once the player has qualified, they must complete the race in the time allowed, avoiding collisions with CPU-controlled opponents and billboards along the sides of the track. The game's publisher Atari publicized the game for its "unbelievable driving realism" in providing a Formula 1 experience behind a racing wheel.

How to Play

In this game, the player controls a Formula One race car, and has to complete a time trial lap within a certain amount of time (between 90 and 120 seconds) to qualify for an F1 race at the Fuji Racetrack. After qualifying, the player races against seven other CPU-controlled cars in a championship race (but if he or she does not qualify, the car will stay on the track until the timer runs out). The player must also avoid going off the road so that he or she will not crash into the billboards.

Once inside all arcade games are Free to Play!

Please Note: Despite our best efforts, we cannot guarantee that a particular machine is available at your chosen location, on a particular day. We regularly need to rotate arcades in to and out of service to keep them in good condition and extend their lives.

Available At

This game is not currently available for play at any of our venues.
Creative Commons License

The content within the Arcade Club Game Library database is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

You may share and adapt freely where existing copyright restrictions do not apply. Please do not link directly to media.