Chapter 51: A Bridge Too Far

You have destroyed several snakes with the laser cannon, and each new one seems to get faster and faster! But this is the last one, you are certain of it, because you can see the glittering Sport Combat Ring around the tip of its tail! You dodge more deadly venom, launch Melvin up for a final blast, and Zap! The final snake vaporizes, and you see the ring tumbling through space, end over end, as if in slow motion. You jump out of the control pod, leap into the air, thrust your hand up at it, and as if by magic, it slides right onto your finger. It glitters and shines with the marks of many warriors. You land back on the control pod, panting, with the moon, star, and city lights glittering off the ring on your triumphantly extended hand.

A cold wind blows, and whistles through the ruins of the arena that lie all around you. Melvin flies over, whistling himself. “That ring looks so cool! We did it!”

Below, Smilin’ Sam rolls up. “Hey, up there!” he calls. You and Melvin climb down the control pod, to find Sam rolling over the wreckage of his once beautiful arena. “Why, you two did it! I knew you could!”

“Sorry about your arena,” you say.

He taps his cigar, and you watch the ash fall down into, well, more ashes. “I guess the time had come for the end of my old arena.” He cocks his hat. “Funny thing. I had completely forgotten that Mister Mean was just a bag of snakes.” He rubs his digital eyes. “I mean, I knew, when I signed up, that he was a collection of snakes from the planet Nekoboh… but… somehow, over the years, I just forgot.”

“Nekoboh!” says Melvin. “That’s supposed to be one of the meanest planets in the galaxy. No wonder those snakes were so nasty!”

Sam reflects some more. “I… guess they were using energy from the ring to build their power. I’m glad you stopped them when you did! No telling what they could have taken over!”

You think you’ve got it figured out. “I guess they were drawing energy from the ring. That’s why you couldn’t remember. The treasures of the Rainbow Palace are what keep the memory of the Atariverse intact. It’s why we have to get these treasures back to Queen Stella.”

Sam claps you on the shoulder with his mighty metal claw. “You better do just that. Those snakes might have destroyed my arena, but they could have done much worse. You definitely earned that ring. I’ll let you take it to the Queen, I’ve got an arena to rebuild. If I’m fast, maybe we can have Shufflefoot matches by this weekend!”

You wince at the thought, and you and Melvin climb over the wreckage, while Sam barks orders to the maintenance robots.

Back at the castle, you are glad to see that things are getting gradually more orderly. Almost all the rubble is gone, and there are banners hanging that weren’t there before. Even though everything is still gray, you get the feeling these would be bright rainbows if you could see color here. Charlie Hustle greets you excitedly at the door. “Did you get the ring?”

“You bet we did!” shouts Melvin.

“Funny you say that,” laughs Charlie. “I had fifty bucks on you in that Mister Mean fight! And at seven to one odds!”

“You should give us a cut,” says Melvin, raising a non-existent eyebrow.

“Instead, I’ll take you to the Queen!” says Charlie, unperturbed. He takes you to the throne room, now neat and tidy. The Crown, the Baseball Ring and the Star Stone float, glowing, in their alcoves on the wall… but there are still so very many empty alcoves.

“My Queen, our heroes have returned!” calls Charlie, and her eyes flicker open.

“Player! Little missile! How did you fare in the arena of combat?”

You kneel down and present the ring to the Queen. It floats up, grandly, and an impressive “4/26” appears in the air. There is, again, a flash of color everywhere that quickly fades. The ring flies to its proper alcove. “Very impressive!” says the Queen. “You have recovered two of the five sporting rings! Would that I knew where the other three could be found.” She closes her eyes and thinks. “No matter. Already I can feel new memories coursing into my system from this recovered ring. As usual, I need to calibrate.” She closes her eyes again, and concentrates. “Now that there are four treasures recovered, we will need to calibrate with a four-player game. Mister Rose, please bring the gaming table.”

“No problem, your highness,” says Charlie, carrying over a large square table, and placing it in front of the Queen. The Queen gestures. “Mister Rose and I will be north/south if you two will be east/west. Let us begin.” She closes her eyes in meditation, and digital cards start to fly out of her eyes to the four sides of the table.

“Melvin,” you whisper across the table. “What is this?”

“It’s Bridge,” replies Charlie. “If you don’t know how to play,” he smiles, “you will soon.”

You pick up your cards, slightly confused, and realize that you need to bid.

Place the Bridge cartridge into your Atari 2600. Set difficulty switches to b. Use game select 1. Play until you can win two matches in a row. Post a link to a video in the comments section of yourself completing the challenge.