Inside the Centipede Cabinet
TL;DR: Shoot the centipede segment by segment as it snakes down through the mushrooms. Expect crowd control under pressure at a pace that's splitting segments multiply the chaos.
Centipede drops you into a garden that wants you dead. A long centipede winds down through a field of mushrooms, hooking a row lower at every one it touches, and your job is to shoot it apart before it reaches your strip at the bottom of the screen.
Here is the twist that makes it brilliant: hit a middle segment and you now have two centipedes, each with its own plans. Meanwhile a spider bounces through your zone, fleas rain down planting fresh mushrooms, and a scorpion poisons the field so the centipede stops weaving and dives straight at you.
You can move up, down, and sideways inside the bottom zone - This is a shooter where dodging is half the job. Our version pairs mouse-smooth aiming with touch controls, a daily seeded garden that is identical for every player, and leaderboards to settle who really owns the bug-blasting crown.
Cabinet Specs
| Mission | Shoot the centipede segment by segment as it snakes down through the mushrooms. |
|---|---|
| Row | Space Shooters |
| Skill curve | Crowd control under pressure |
| Tempo | Splitting segments multiply the chaos |
| Lineage | 1981 (Atari) |
| Original | Centipede - Atari, 1981 (full history) |
| Daily run | Seeded challenge, resets midnight UTC |
| Scoreboard | Global top 50, score-ranked |
Learn Centipede in Five Moves
Roam the bottom zone
You are not pinned to one row. Glide freely inside the strip at the bottom of the screen - Up, down, and sideways - With the mouse, arrow keys, or your finger. Dodging matters as much as shooting.
Shoot the centipede apart
Every segment you hit turns into a mushroom on the spot. Hit the head for extra points; hit the middle and the back half sprouts a new head and splits off on its own route.
Manage the mushroom field
Mushrooms are the maze: each one the centipede touches bends it down a row. Mushrooms take several shots to clear, so tidy the rows near your zone before the traffic arrives.
Track the supporting cast
The spider zigzags through your zone eating mushrooms, the flea drops straight down planting a fresh trail whenever your field gets too clean, and the scorpion crosses the screen poisoning every mushroom it touches.
Answer the poison dive
A centipede that touches a poisoned mushroom stops weaving and plunges straight down at your zone. Shoot it on the way in or clear out of its lane - Hesitating does neither.
Score Higher at Centipede
Keep the bottom rows clean. Every mushroom near your zone is a hairpin the centipede can use to hook down at you - Spend quiet moments clearing the lowest rows, and the frantic moments stay survivable.
- Take heads, not tails. A head is worth ten times a body segment, and every mid-chain hit just mints another head - Start from the front whenever the field gives you the angle.
- Shoot the spider up close, on your terms. Its bounty scales with how near it is when it dies - 300, 600, or 900 points - But only take the gamble when you have open floor to dodge through.
- Kill scorpions on sight. One poisoned row converts every later centipede into a diving missile, and poison stays until the mushroom is destroyed - the cheapest fix is never letting it happen.
- Finish the flea in two quick shots. The first hit makes it fall faster, not slower - Snap the second shot immediately or step out of its column and let it plant its trail.
- Leave a mushroom ladder at one edge. A dense column makes the centipede stair-step down a predictable lane, where your shots are already waiting - controlled descent beats random weaving.
- Never stop drifting. A moving blaster survives the spider; standing still in one column is how good runs end the moment a flea and a poisoned diver arrive together.
House Rules & Spin-Offs
Millipede (1982)
Ed Logg's official sequel adds DDT bombs you can detonate, plus bees, earwigs, dragonflies, and inchworms swarming a busier, faster field.
Centipede (1998 remake)
Hasbro's 3D reimagining wrapped the classic shooting into a full adventure mode with worlds to liberate, alongside a faithful arcade mode.
Centipede: Recharged (2021)
A neon modern remake with power-ups like railguns and slow-motion, 44 challenge levels, and co-op play on one screen.
Home console ports (1982 onward)
Atari 2600 and 5200 versions traded the trackball for joystick rules - while the 5200's optional Trak-Ball controller restored the arcade feel in the living room.
Centipede Questions, Answered
Why does the centipede split in two?
What do the mushrooms actually do?
What are the spider, flea, and scorpion for?
What is a poisoned mushroom?
How does spider scoring work?
What happens when I lose a life?
Is the daily Centipede garden the same for everyone?
How does Centipede play on a touchscreen?
Still warming up? Browse the whole space shooters row for more like Centipede, decode the lingo in the arcade glossary, or check the player FAQ for how scores, dailies and accounts work. Guide last tuned 2026-07-06.
