{{Short description|1982 video game}} {{distinguish|Nibblers (video game)|Nibbles (video game)}} {{Infobox video game |title=Nibbler |image=frameless|upright=1.15 |caption = 1982 arcade flyer |developer=Rock-Ola |publisher='''Arcade''' {{vgrelease|NA/EU|Rock-Ola<ref name="France">{{cite web |title=Video Game Flyers: Nibbler, Rock-Ola Manufacturing Corp. (France) |url=https://flyers.arcade-museum.com/?page=thumbs&db=videodb&id=2977 |website=The Arcade Flyer Archive |access-date=31 May 2021}}</ref>|JP|Taito<ref name="MAD"/>}} '''Ports''' <br> Datasoft |designer=Joseph H. Ulowetz<br>John M. Jaugilas |engine= |released='''Arcade''' {{vgrelease|NA|October 29, 1982<ref>{{cite web |title=Nibbler (Registration Number TX0001067982) |url=https://cocatalog.loc.gov |website=United States Copyright Office |access-date=30 May 2021}}</ref>|EU|Late 1982<ref name="France"/>|JP|January 1983<ref name="MAD"/>}} '''Ports''' <br>'''1983:''' Atari 8-bit<ref name="mania">{{cite web |title=Nibbler |url=http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-400-800-xl-xe-nibbler_3694.html |website=Atari Mania}}</ref> |genre=Maze, snake |modes=Single-player, multiplayer |platforms=Arcade, Apple II, Atari 8-bit }}

'''''Nibbler''''' is an arcade snake maze video game released in 1982 by Chicago-based developer Rock-Ola. The player navigates a snake through an enclosed maze, consuming objects, and the length of the snake increases with each object consumed. The game was the first to include nine scoring digits, allowing players to surpass one billion points.<ref name="kotaku"/>

The arcade game was distributed in Japan by Taito in 1983.<ref name="MAD">{{cite web |title=Nibbler |url=https://mediaarts-db.bunka.go.jp/id/M731349 |website=Media Arts Database |publisher=Agency for Cultural Affairs |access-date=31 May 2021}}</ref> Home versions were published in 1983 by Datasoft for the Atari 8-bit computers<ref name=mania/> and Apple II.

==Gameplay== ''Nibbler'' is a maze-and-munch game, among many others which followed ''Pac-Man'',<ref name="grande"/> but the game features no enemies, and a life is lost only when the snake bites itself.<ref name="smith">{{cite web|url=https://allincolorforaquarter.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-story-of-rock-ola-video-games-part-3.html|title=The Story of Rock-Ola Video Games (Part 3)|first=Keith|last=Smith|work=The Golden Age Arcade Historian|date=October 12, 2012|accessdate=June 12, 2017}}</ref>

==Reception== In the United States, it was among the thirteen highest-grossing arcade games of 1983.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=AMOA Votes On Annual Game Awards |magazine=Cash Box |date=October 29, 1983 |page=60 |url=https://archive.org/details/cashbox45unse_20/page/68}}</ref>

==Competitive play== [[File:Nibbler World Record Attempt at MagFest 2009.JPG|thumb|right|World-record attempts by Tim McVey and Dwayne Richard at MAGFest in 2009]]

''Nibbler'' is the first video game to feature a nine-digit scoring system allowing players to score one billion points.<ref name="kotaku"/> The first to achieve this feat was a seventeen-year-old named Tim McVey, who scored 1,000,042,270 points on January 17, 1984, while playing continuously for 44 hours over two days at Walter Day's Twin Galaxies arcade in Ottumwa, Iowa.<ref name="kotaku">{{cite web | url=http://kotaku.com/man-vs-snake-documents-one-mans-obsession-with-nibbler-1788109519 | title=''Man vs. Snake'' Documents One Man's Obsession with ''Nibbler'' |first=Ethan|last=Gach|work=Kotaku|date=October 22, 2016| accessdate=June 12, 2017}}</ref> A local news crew arrived to film him on location as he closed in on the record.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.twingalaxies.com/index.aspx?c=18&id=394|title=The 1,000,000,000 Point Game|first=Paul|last=Stokstad|work=Computer Games Magazine|date=July 1984|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070311214330/http://www.twingalaxies.com/index.aspx?c=18&id=394|archivedate=March 11, 2007}}</ref> McVey stated in a 2016 interview that he quit playing of his own accord due to exhaustion after setting the mark.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nerdreport.com/2016/06/19/filmquest-interview-tim-mcvey-dwayne-richards-man-vs-snake/|title=Filmquest Interview: Tim McVey and Dwayne Richard on ''Man vs. Snake''|first=Fred|last=Topel|work=Nerd Report|date=June 19, 2016|accessdate=June 12, 2017}}</ref> For his achievement, McVey, an Ottumwa native, had the day of January 28, 1984 declared in his honor.<ref name="smith"/> He additionally received his own ''Nibbler'' machine as a prize, which he later gave to a rival arcade in exchange for two hundred dollars in game tokens.<ref name="bearman">{{cite web|url=http://laweekly.blogs.com/joshuah_bearman/2009/01/because-its-there-.html|title=Because It's There|first=Joshuah|last=Bearman|work=laweekly.blogs.com|date=January 3, 2009|accessdate=June 13, 2017}}</ref>

In September 1984, Italian player Enrico Zanetti topped McVey with a 1,001,073,840 score, but it was not officially recognized by Twin Galaxies,<ref name="Zanetti">{{cite web | url=http://www.retrouprising.com/index.php?pid=enrico_zanetti | title=Interview with ''Nibbler'' Billionaire Enrico Zanetti | work=Retro Uprising | date=January 31, 2002 | accessdate=December 16, 2013 }}</ref> who ultimately stopped verifying record scores for the game altogether; however, this score was grandfathered in retroactively as a historical record due to a new ruling that permitted significant and well-documented media coverage, although the former record was only officialized after McVey took back the record from Rick Carter.<ref name="press"/> In September 2008, Dwayne Richard of Grande Prairie, Alberta, gained media attention when he fell short in his attempt to become the first player since McVey to officially surpass one billion points.<ref name="grande">{{cite web|url=http://www.dailyheraldtribune.com/2008/09/15/world-record-attempt-foiled|title=World record attempt foiled|work=Grande Prairie Daily Herald-Tribune|date=September 15, 2008|accessdate=June 14, 2017}}</ref>

McVey's mark consequently stood for nearly three decades before it was surpassed twice, including once by Richard in 2009,<ref name="bearman"/> but McVey was still recognized by ''Guinness World Records'' as the official record holder because others' scores were never submitted for verification.<ref name="press">{{cite web|url=http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/chattanooganow/movies/story/2016/jun/23/mvs-snake/372220/|title=Documentary 'Man vs. Snake' explores quest for gaming immortality|first=Hayden|last=Seay|work=Chattanooga Times Free Press|date=June 23, 2016|accessdate=June 12, 2017}}</ref> Rick Carter of Glen Burnie, Maryland officially claimed the new world record with a score of 1,002,222,360 on July 31, 2011.<ref name="kotaku"/> McVey regained the mark on December 25, 2011, with a score of 1,041,767,060.<ref name="press"/>

On May 1, 2023, Italian player Alessandro Porro, from Triest, totaled a score of 1,233,326,800 after 51 hours and 55 minutes. The performance is broadcast live on Twitch and the new world record comes a few days later formed by Twin Galaxies.{{citation needed|date=February 2025}}

==Legacy== ''Buzzworm'' is a ''Nibbler'' clone for the TRS-80 Color Computer published by Novasoft in 1984.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Boyle |first1=L. Curtis |title=Buzzworm |url=http://www.lcurtisboyle.com/nitros9/buzzworm.html |website=Tandy Color Computer Games}}</ref>

The documentary ''Man vs. Snake: The Long and Twisted Tale of Nibbler'', about the difficulties of achieving a one-billion point score on ''Nibbler'', was released in 2016. During the credits Elijah Hayter is shown with a score of 1,042,774,470 in June 2012, and Rick Carter is shown with 1,231,372,670 points after 53 hours and 8 minutes in November 2012. As of January 2020 neither of these scores have been credited as official by Twin Galaxies.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.calgaryundergroundfilm.org/2016/man-vs-snake-the-long-and-twisted-tale-of-nibbler|title=Man Vs Snake: The Long And Twisted Tale Of Nibbler |work=Calgary Underground Film Festival|accessdate=2016-05-24}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://pressreleases.triplepointpr.com/2016/05/24/documentary-feature-man-vs-snake-the-long-and-twisted-tale-of-nibbler-coming-june-24th/|title=Documentary Feature MAN vs SNAKE: The Long and Twisted Tale of Nibbler Coming June 24th |work=TriplePoint Newsroom|last=Brown|first=Gentry|date=24 May 2016 |access-date=2016-05-24}}</ref>

==See also== *''Eyes'', a Rock-Ola game with similar visual elements

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== *[http://www.twingalaxies.com/scores.php?scores=1393 Twin Galaxies scoreboard of ''Nibbler'' world records]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nibbler (Video Game)}} Category:1982 video games Category:Apple II games Category:Arcade video games Category:Atari 8-bit computer games Category:Datasoft games Category:Maze games Category:Multiplayer and single-player video games Category:Multiplayer hotseat games Category:Rock-Ola games Category:Snake video games Category:Taito arcade games Category:Video games about snakes Category:Video games developed in the United States