On a quiet serene evening the Cosmic Space Patrol sets out for the usual night cruise through the boulevards of space. This beat was always the same; calm, no action and no excitement. For some reason this night feels different. Shortly before 0200 hours some form of intergalactic material is sighted through the visual particle counter. The material is too large a mass to measure. It's drifting closer. Lookout, it's a giant asteroid boulder and it's headed straight for the Cosmic Spacecraft. The only chance for survival is to dodge the boulder or destroy it. Destroying it doesn't mean just breaking it up, it means vaporizing it. Small asteroid boulders are equally as fatal as large ones.

Whew, the boulder just missed colliding with the Cosmic Spacecraft, but suddenly the Cosmic Space Patrol find themselves surrounded by thousands of the deadly asteroids. The Cosmic Space Patrol must act quickly to save their spacecraft and spare their lives. The spacecraft is equipped with photon torpedoes, hyperspace, shields, and flip control.

The Cosmic Space Patrol is highly trained to handle this situation. Could you do as good a job as the Cosmic Space Patrol? How would you protect yourself if you were caught in a deadly asteroid belt? This is your big chance to fly throughout the demensions of space and fend against asteroid boulders. The longer you survive, the more space hazards you'll encounter.

The object of the game is to destroy as many asteroid boulders as possible and keep your ship in space as long as possible. Use your Joystick Controller to maneuver your ship through space and press the red controller(fire) button to shoot photon torpedoes at the asteroid boulders. When an asteroid is hit, it may just break up into smaller boulders, or it may be completely pulverized. In some game variations you'll face additional space hazards such as satellites and UFOs (Unidentified Flying Objects); both of which may be firing torpedoes at you.

(credit: Atari; direct excerpt from original instruction manual)