In the centipede game, you must avoid getting eaten by the huge centipede crawling your way. Shoot him before he gets the chance to snack on you! You might recognize this game, as it has been around for quite some time. Centipede is from the '80s and has been played on many devices over the decades. The arcade machines and game consoles like GameBoy were the beginning of the classic Centipede, but now it's easier to play than ever before, as Centipede is available to play online on your web browser for free.

Controls

Mouse

Move the mouse - move your character

Left-click - shoot upwards

Keyboard

WASD or arrow keys - move your character

Space bar - shoot upwards

What does the centipede really do?

The game is set in a field of mushrooms, and your goal is to kill the centipede without getting eaten. Centipede is the main villain of the game and will come crawling down from the top of the screen. It moves from side to side and when it hits a wall or a mushroom in the field, it moves one line down and changes direction. When you shoot the centipede, it leaves a mushroom in its place. With time your field will get more crowded with mushrooms, allowing the Centipedes to move downwards faster. Shoot a mushroom four times to get rid of it!

When the Centipede is shot in the head, it gets one piece smaller, however, when hit somewhere else on the body, it splits in half and now you have two, but shorter, Centipedes. You have to keep shooting and killing every part of the Centipede to win the level. For every level, you have 3 lives, after getting eaten three times and losing all three lives, it is game over. When you have destroyed a Centipede though, the field will refresh into a new color and you regenerate back to 3 full lives!

You are surrounded by even more insects

In the Centipede game, you have many bugs to worry about. What are they and what do they do?

Spiders - they come creeping from the sides and stay at the bottom of the screen, crawling up and down. If it gets to you, you are eaten, so you have two options: either avoid it or shoot it before its many legs hold you captive.

Fleas - they fly in from the top of the screen downwards, leaving a trail of mushrooms behind and disappearing as it hits the bottom of the field. As you might have guessed, if the flea hits your character, you get eaten. As always, shoot or avoid.

Scorpions - They appear from one side of the screen and move in a straight line horizontally, disappearing when reaching the other side of the field. Although they can't hurt you, they turn the mushrooms on their way into poison mushrooms. When the centipede touches a poison mushroom, it can suddenly move straight downwards, which can be challenging for your Bug Blaster to avoid.

Beloved in the 1980s and now

Centipede the game was released more than 40 years ago, in 1980 by Atari games. Atari was one of the first video game producers that achieved great success with their games. First played on arcade cabinets in bars and game centers, the game Centipede was extremely commercially successful, awing the world with its interesting and addictive gameplay. Now, playing it on modern devices, but still having the original retro graphics and sound effects, the player almost travels in time!

When the Centipede is defeated, play these games next

If you want to discover the world of classic video games from the seventies and eighties, we have a selection of the most loved and successful games made by Atari. However, if you are ready to return to modern times, we also have other fun snake games, where you can experience similar gameplay. If the game Centipede pulled you in because you like arcade games, there are many other interesting and addictive arcade games on our website, available to play for free online.