Oink!

About

Oink! casts you as a trio of pigs defending increasingly sturdy homes from a relentless wolf. Each round you control one pig, racing to repair holes in their house by collecting and placing materials before the wolf forces entry. The game starts with a straw house, moves to sticks, then bricks, with the wolf’s attacks growing faster and fiercer as you progress. Gameplay is frantic and tactile, requiring quick reflexes to grab floating supplies and patch gaps in real time. Single-player or two-player alternating turns, the goal is to survive as long as possible without all pigs being caught. Released in 1983 for the Atari 2600, Oink! leans into the hardware’s simplicity with chunky graphics and buzzy sound effects. Its charm lies in the escalating tension and the way it recontextualizes a familiar story into a game of frantic survival. While not complex by modern standards, it’s a brisk, replayable challenge that rewards precision under pressure. A small but vocal retro gaming crowd praises its straightforward fun, often citing the third pig’s brick-house climax as a tense finale.