Top 13-16 best games in 1974, Reviews: Sailplane, Racer, Qwak!, Ping-O-Tronic

All list top 32 games.

Sailplane

This is a text simulator for landing a sailplane. You control only the spoilers of the aircraft and appear at a specific altitude and distance from the landing spot. The player specifies the glide ratio from 8 to 23 and the duration. After that, you are given a new position and distance, and you can adjust your actions based on this information.

Racer (Speed Race Deluxe, Speed Race)

This is an arcade racing game. A very rare guest in those years when various variations of Pong dominated.

In this game, there was a scrolling straight track downwards, and your primary goal was to avoid collisions with opponents rather than navigate turns. You were given 90 seconds, and you had to score as many points as possible, awarded for overtaking opponents.

The control method was also unconventional – a steering wheel and a lever for changing gears. For video games, this was a rarity for that time. Two difficulty levels were available, increasing the speed and the number of cars on the track.

Qwak!

A game for arcade machines where you tried to shoot ducks using a light gun. The game had fairly good duck sounds.

You had three bullets to hit the bird, but after each unsuccessful shot, the duck flew in a different direction. If you hit it, the duck fell down, where a dog was supposed to retrieve it.

The screen featured an overlay of reeds, and after each killed duck, a small image of it was displayed at the top. The game lasted for the time set by the arcade owner.

Ping-O-Tronic

It was quite a notable item, an Italian game console that included only three games. The company was a well-known manufacturer of household appliances - Zanussi.

The first game was tennis, which was a variation of Pong.

The second game was squash, allowing you to play against yourself. And the third game was Attraction, an endless ball bouncing used for demonstration in stores.

In the game, you could adjust the paddle's length. In later versions, they added a slot for a light gun, which was a rarity for Pong consoles.