Game · Hardware · 2025
Route 22 Rampage
An Atari 2600 game about Pennsylvania's most unpredictable highway — written in 6502 assembly, pressed onto hand-assembled cartridges.
Route 22 Rampage started as an experiment in low-level programming and grew into a full Atari 2600 game inspired by Pennsylvania’s most unpredictable highway. It’s written in a mix of 6502 assembly and Batari Basic, pushing the 2600 to its limits inside a single 16 KB cartridge.
Every physical cartridge was built, tested, and assembled by hand in the Lehigh Valley. The limited run of 42 sold out in stores and online; the digital ROM lives on for flash carts and emulators.
The goal: race past Tower 22 five times and set the fastest time, dodging traffic, potholes, and the occasional parked car. On the title screen the joystick toggles the hazards — Pothole Mode, damage on/off, and no parked cars for extra chaos.
Programming & design by Matthew Blum. Box art & packaging by Lightly-Salted Productions. Thanks to Apport Used Books and Game Gallery Easton for stocking the cartridge.
In the news
- Lehigh Valley Press — “Matthew Blum got game with his ‘Route 22’ video game”
- WFMZ — “Allentown man creates Route 22–inspired Atari-style video game”
- Lehigh Valley News — “’80s flashback: a retro race down Route 22”
- LehighValleyLive — “Notorious Lehigh Valley highway inspires retro video game”
- Lehigh Valley with Love — “Route 22 Gets the Atari Treatment”