Olympic Decathlon involve alternately pressing the 1 and 2 keys. Other events have more complex controls, with the pole vault using five different keys. "Decathlon" received the "Creative Computing" Game of the Year Award at the 1980 West Coast Computer Faire. "BYTE" in 1981 called "Decathlon" "a great party game" and "a remarkable simulation ... challenging and entertaining", praising the adherence to the real decathlon's rules and the TRS-80 and Apple II versions' graphics. "Computer Gaming World" stated in 1982 that "Decathlon" "has all the characteristics that are required of a long-lasting, quality game". It described the game as having "superb graphics
The Activision Decathlon The Activision Decathlon The Activision Decathlon is a sports game written by David Crane for the Atari 2600 and published by Activision in 1983. It was ported to the Atari 8-bit family, Atari 5200, Commodore 64, ColecoVision and MSX platforms. Up to four players compete in the ten different events of a real-life decathlon, either in sequence or individually. The game became somewhat notorious for the amount of wear or damage inflicted upon console controllers, namely the Atari 2600 version where rapid back-and-forth movement of the joystick propels the athlete down the track. The game was later reissued simply as