Pole Position

About this game

Pole Position

Pole Position was developed by Namco and published by Atari in 1982.


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

Prepare to qualify! A sophisticated game for its day, with scaleable foreground objects and speech. Keep an eye out for the billboards! Also famous for burning the power input edge connectors and finger contacts on the PCB. Several custom integrated circuits.

Pole Position was created by Namco Inc. who also manufactured the game for the entire world except for the United States. Aside from the words which are in Japanese found on and in the Namco version, the graphics on the side of the cabinet are basically the same as well as the billboards that are seen throughout the game. Compared to the Atari release, the only differences are the Atari Racing decal on the simulated dashboard and the little blimp that can be seen at the beginning of a race that is marked Atari with the message Prepare To Qualify. In the Namco version, the blimp has no markings on it.