Play Rally-X online

You know Rally-X the second you hear it: that catchy loop that never stops while your little blue car zips through a maze of streets hunting yellow flags. Red cars pile in behind you, more every round, and your only way out is a cloud of smoke.

Namco put it out the same year as Pac-Man, and it shares that maze DNA, but here the map is way bigger than the screen and you steer by radar. On UsuArcade it's got its own cabinet on the floor, ready to play right in your browser.

History

Namco released Rally-X in 1980, right as the arcade boom was taking off. It was one of the early games with a scrolling playfield that follows the player and a side radar showing where the flags and enemies are, which felt pretty high-tech back then.

A year later came New Rally-X, a tuned-up version that ended up even more popular. Still, the original is the one a lot of people remember from the corner arcade.

How to play

Steer your car through the maze with the joystick. The goal is to collect all ten flags in each round before you run out of gas. Each flag is worth more than the last, so the order you grab them in matters for your score.

Watch for the special flags: the S flag doubles the value of the flags after it, and the Lucky flag pays out a bonus for whatever fuel you have left. The red cars hunt you nonstop. Hit the button to lay down a smoke screen that stuns them for a moment, but every puff burns fuel. Rocks block some streets too, so don't plow into them.

Every few rounds you get a challenging stage where the enemies freeze and it's all about grabbing flags as fast as you can.

Fun facts

• The radar on the right side of the screen is everything: without it, good luck finding the flags.
• Smoke costs fuel, so spam it and you'll be stranded early.

In the arcade

Rally-X was a take-turns game, and that's how it plays on UsuArcade, just online: invite your friend to your cabinet once they're in the lobby and trade turns, each on your own phone or PC. While one plays, the other watches live.

Nothing to install: it runs in your browser, gamepad supported, and every game starts with INSERT COIN, free. Everyone else in the lobby can watch and chat, and scores go up on the arcade's high score board.

FAQ