Plaque Attack is a 1983 video game for the Atari 2600

Atari 2600

The Atari 2600 is a video game console released in October 1977 by Atari, Inc. It is credited with popularizing the use of microprocessor-based hardware and cartridges containing game code, instead of having non-microprocessor dedicated hardware with all games built in...

 that was made by Activision

Activision

Activision is an American publisher, majority owned by French conglomerate Vivendi SA. Its current CEO is Robert Kotick. It was founded on October 1, 1979 and was the world's first independent developer and distributor of video games for gaming consoles...

. Loosely based on Space Invaders

Space Invaders

is an arcade video game designed by Tomohiro Nishikado, and released in 1978. It was originally manufactured and sold by Taito in Japan, and was later licensed for production in the United States by the Midway division of Bally. Space Invaders is one of the earliest shooting games and the aim is to...

, the player must prevent food from destroying teeth in a person's mouth. Steve Cartwright

Steve Cartwright

Steve Cartwright is an American computer and video game designer. He is best known as one of the original Activision game designers credited with such hits as Barnstorming, Megamania, Seaquest and Hacker...

, who designed the game, said that game was meant to help people develop good dental habits.

Gameplay

In this game, the user is a toothpaste

Toothpaste

Toothpaste is a paste or gel dentifrice used with a toothbrush as an accessory to clean and maintain the aesthetics and health of teeth. Toothpaste is used to promote oral hygiene: it serves as an abrasive that aids in removing the dental plaque and food from the teeth, assists in suppressing...

 tube, and there are eight teeth to defend. Various types of food, such as hamburgers and french fries

French fries

French fries , chips, fries, or French-fried potatoes are strips of deep-fried potato. North Americans tend to refer to any pieces of deep-fried potatoes as fries or French fries, while in the United Kingdom, Australia, Ireland and New Zealand, long, thinly cut slices of deep-fried potatoes are...

 try to take out the teeth. The player fires toothpaste at food

Food

Food is any substance consumed to provide nutritional support for the body. It is usually of plant or animal origin, and contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals...

intent on destroying the teeth. If the food is allowed to touch a tooth, it begins breaking down the tooth. If the player is fast enough to shoot the piece of food as soon as it starts breaking down the tooth the player will be able to save the tooth. If not, the tooth will be broken down. The food comes in waves, and the movements become more complicated. Destroying the food scores points, as does the number of teeth left at the end of each wave, and the amount of toothpaste

After a certain amount of points is scored, users gain bonus teeth. Bonus teeth are applied at the end of each wave. If all eight teeth are still present, the additional teeth will be placed on the sides of the mouth. Otherwise the teeth will replace any teeth lost. Play continues until all the teeth are gone, at which point the game is over.

The No Plaque Pack

Skilled Plaque Attack players who scored more than 35,000 points could send a screenshot of their accomplishment to Activision, which would send a promotional patch and congratulatory letter to the player. In addition to the popular game a new product for canine oral care marketed as Plaque Attack is now being researched by dog nutrition organizations.