Rainbow Roach is a type in game from the May 1983 issue of Rainbow magazine. It is loosely based on the arcade smash Frogger in that the player has to traverse rows of scrolling objects with their small roach character. Unlike Frogger, all the belts of objects look the same, with each second row going in the opposite direction. There are also some "safe zones" inbetween rows where the player will not get struck, but the spray can in the upper left will slowly empty if the player stays in these zones. If the can empties out all the way, the spray goes off and kills the player instantly no matter where on the gameboard they are, so this functions as a time. If they are riding the belts, the spray can level stays the same.
The game is a BASIC/ML hybrid and features 4 skill levels (which controls the speed of the belts of objects moving vs. the player movement, with 1 being the easiest). The belts are very packed with objects however, thus making the spaces that the roach can safely jump to very small and precise (there are few shapes that one can jump "in front of" or "in between"), but this generally makes the game much more difficult than the arcade original, even with the extra men the game gives you at the start. The game also features a high score with initials that players can compete against during each session. (It should be noted that the game's author, John Fraysse, also wrote Shuttle Simulator for Tom Mix Software).
Title: Rainbow Roach
Author: John Fraysse
Publisher: Rainbow
Released: May 1983 issue
Requires: Color Computer 1,2,3, 16K RAM, Extended BASIC, tape, joystick.