| Atari Games' operators manual for the arcade cabinet (TM-326, second printing) carries a 1988 copyright line. It describes a cabinet with two monitors for two teams and up to four players, each with an 8-way joystick and a button: before a play the player picks it with the controls, and during it the joystick steers the robot. On offense the button throws the quarterback's passes and laterals; on defense it gives a player Turbo Defense, a quick burst of speed. | image 4, copyright pageimage 1, coverimage 33chapter 1, Game Play, Introduction (image 11, p. 1-3)chapter 1, Introduction (image 11, p. 1-3)chapter 1, Introduction (image 11, p. 1-3)chapter 1, Introduction (image 11, p. 1-3) | Manual |
| The arcade manual sets the game in 2022, when human football is history: Cyberball replaces the players with robots five times their size and the pigskin with an exploding ball. The rules are like football's, but the ball runs from cool through warm and hot to critical, and a critical ball explodes unless it is defused by carrying it over the 50-yard line or the goal line; an explosion turns over possession. The game has over 100 offensive and defensive plays: the offense picks a running, option, or pass play and the defense a short, medium, or long defense, and the computer offers four patterns of each, chosen by the ball's status and the yards to the defuse line or the goal line. A high-score table ranks players by the team funds awarded during play. | chapter 1, Introduction (image 11, p. 1-3)chapter 1, Introduction (image 11, p. 1-3)chapter 1, Play Mode (image 11, p. 1-3)chapter 1, Play Mode (image 11, p. 1-3)chapter 1, Play Mode (image 11, p. 1-3)chapter 1, Play Mode (image 11, p. 1-3)chapter 1, Play Mode (image 11, p. 1-3)chapter 1, Player Choices (image 11, p. 1-3)chapter 1, Player Choices (image 11, p. 1-3)chapter 1, Player Choices (image 11, p. 1-3)chapter 1, Player Choices (image 11, p. 1-3)chapter 1, High Score Table (image 11, p. 1-3) | Manual |
| In the arcade game one player can play against the computer, another player, or two other players, and two players can team up against the computer or another pair. A new player who starts a game on the other monitor challenges the players already there, who can accept or decline, and players can buy in at any time during the game. Each player buying in adds time for everyone. A complete game has six three-minute periods, and a tied game goes to a sudden-death period that the first team to score wins. | chapter 1, Introduction (image 11, p. 1-3)chapter 1, Auto-Challenge (image 11, p. 1-3)chapter 1, Auto-Challenge (image 11, p. 1-3)chapter 1, Play Mode (image 11, p. 1-3)chapter 1, Play Mode (image 11, p. 1-3)chapter 1, Play Mode (image 11, p. 1-3)chapter 1, Play Mode (image 11, p. 1-3) | Manual |