ROAD ’74

Today’s Mission Info

Traffic. Tape measure. SteelFactor.

You have 90 seconds to get through Lake Shore Drive traffic and reach the project site. Take your field measurements after you arrive.

This is our fictional Chicago mission: dodge traffic and potholes, then arrive ready to measure. The Lake Shore Drive setting is a playful local twist, not a historical route from the original arcade game.

Behind the Wheel

A quarter-mile back in time

Road ’74 tips its cap to Taito’s Speed Race (1974), designed by Tomohiro Nishikado. Midway brought it to North America as Wheels and Racer in 1975. There is a real Chicago-area connection: Midway’s 1975 sales flyer lists Schiller Park, Illinois.

Wikipedia reports 10,000 U.S. cabinets sold across Wheels and Wheels II combined, ranking them as 1975’s best-seller by cabinet sales. That is a combined sales figure, not a claim about coin-drop earnings.

Our Lake Shore Drive mission adds a fictional Chicago twist. Road ’74 is an original tribute, not the original game or an official Taito or Midway release.

Hold GAS and steer to pass traffic. Faster passes earn more points. Three car crashes end your run; potholes slow you down but do not count as crashes. Classic is a quieter road; Expert has more traffic.

Your best score and top five runs stay on this device. Finish all 90 seconds without a car crash to earn the Golden Tape Measure award. Potholes slow you down but never disqualify the award. Pause is on the left and sound is on the right. On supported mobile browsers, START ENGINE opens fullscreen. Leaving fullscreen pauses the race; browsers without fullscreen keep normal play.

SCORE 000000

TIME 01:30

ONE ROAD. NINETY SECONDS.

A quarter-mile
back in time.

90 seconds to get through Lake ShoreDrive traffic and reach the project site.Field measurements come after arrival.

Hold GAS + steer with ◀ ▶
Keyboard: arrows / A D + space · sound starts with play

GOLDEN TAPE AWARDS

Top 5 scores · this browser only

A quarter-mileback in time.

GOLDEN TAPE AWARDS

A quarter-mile
back in time.