Before arcade games had 3-D graphics and cars had cup holders, Night Driver took a very simple concept and delivered a challenge to all players, licensed to drive or not. On a black and white screen, the player's headlights illuminated the posts on either side of the road ahead and for a quarter, you could take a lonely roadtrip through the forbidding darkness.

The car itself wasn't rendered graphically; the road markers were the only thing to see. The top of the screen included information like high score, your score and top speed, while on the bottom you could see what level and gear you were in.

The controls contributed to the illusion of driving a real car and included a steering wheel, a gas pedal and a gear shift with four gears. By steering and shifting, you had to stay on the road as long as possible without crashing. Things started out easy but soon more bends and turns appeared on the road ahead.

There were three levels of increasing difficulty: Novice, Pro and Expert. Points were awarded based on speed and not crashing. After accruing 300 points, the player earned bonus time that came in handy on the wildly twisting roads.

Night Driver was a novelty in the mid-70s, introducing a driving simulator to arcades. For that extra nice ride, Atari released the game in a sit-down cabinet that placed the gear shift to the right of the driver's seat, just like a real car. The trick was to convince your dad that 500 quarters worth of Night Driver games was an acceptable alternative to driver's ed.