If you’re a child of the 80s or just enjoy the old school video games, you have definitely heard of Centipede. Created by Atari in 1980, this classic vertical fixed shooter was all about blasting the bugs that descended upon you. It was a bit of a button masher – all you had to do was move the little gnome back and forth across the bottom of the screen and keep pressing the button to shoot at things. And now you can do that in tabletop form! 

That’s right, at the end of September Atari’s Centipede from IDW Games will hit store shelves. Now you can control the gnome trying to indulge in some succulent mushrooms while exploring the forest or the centipede who wants to control the entire forest and destroy the gnome. In a way, it’s a bit like chess or checkers, in that each player needs to make their way to the other side of the board to win. Game play is an interesting mix. The gnome player rolls and spends their dice to perform actions, while the centipede player uses a deck of cards to spawn insects and mushrooms in an attempt to control the game board. It’s a race to eliminate your opponent to control the forest and win the game.

The game will include a set of centipede cards, as well as gnome cards. Plus there are centipede segments and tokens for the gnome, mushrooms and insects. And, of course, there’s a game board, dice and a rulebook. At $40, this might not be the game on everyone’s list, but the straightforward gameplay and nostalgia value could attract some players who don’t necessarily consider themselves gamers.