Inside the Missile Command Cabinet
TL;DR: Detonate counter-missiles in the path of incoming warheads to save your cities. Expect aim where they will be, not where they are at a pace that's waves escalate fast.
Missile Command puts you on the last line of defense: six cities, three missile silos, and a night sky slowly unzipping with enemy warheads. You never shoot the missiles directly - You aim at a point in the sky, launch, and leave a blossom of explosion exactly where a warhead is about to be. Every intercept is a small prediction.
Ammo is limited, silos can be blasted into silence, and smart bombs jink around your fireballs like they have read your plan. Between waves you count survivors, because cities lost here stay lost. The 1980 original ran on a trackball; our version maps that same sweep to your mouse or fingertip, so aiming feels instant instead of retro.
Hold out through the endless waves, then take on the daily seeded barrage - The identical attack for every commander on Earth - And see whose cities outlast everyone else's on the leaderboard.
Cabinet Specs
| Mission | Detonate counter-missiles in the path of incoming warheads to save your cities. |
|---|---|
| Row | Space Shooters |
| Skill curve | Aim where they will be, not where they are |
| Tempo | Waves escalate fast |
| Lineage | 1980 (Atari) |
| Original | Missile Command - Atari, 1980 (full history) |
| Daily run | Seeded challenge, resets midnight UTC |
| Scoreboard | Global top 50, score-ranked |
Learn Missile Command in Five Moves
Aim at the sky, not the missile
Move the crosshair with your mouse or finger, then click or tap to launch. Your counter-missile flies to that exact point and detonates there - The expanding blast is what does the destroying.
Lead the incoming warheads
Enemy missiles crawl down straight, predictable trails. Put your explosion on the trail a beat ahead of the warhead and let it fly into the fireball on its own.
Fire from the right silo
You command three silos - Left, center, and right - Each with its own limited stock. Press 1, 2, or 3 to choose, and remember the center silo's missiles fly fastest for emergencies.
Guard the cities and the silos
Warheads target both. A hit city is rubble for the rest of the run, and a hit silo takes all of its remaining ammo with it. Losing your launchers hurts as much as losing what they protect.
Bank the wave-end bonus
When the sky finally clears, you score bonus points for every unused missile and every standing city, then a fiercer wave begins. The run ends only when all six cities are gone.
Score Higher at Missile Command
Fire early and let the blast wait. An explosion lingers in the sky, so a fireball already blooming on a warhead's trail is a guaranteed kill - While a last-second snapshot is a coin flip with a city on the table.
- Shoot the split before it happens. One intercept high in the sky erases a missile that would have forked into three or four warheads lower down - altitude is ammo efficiency.
- Aim where trails converge. A single well-placed blossom can swallow two or three warheads crossing the same patch of sky, and every missile you save early is a missile alive for the late chaos.
- Put shots directly on smart bombs. They sidestep fireballs detonating at a distance, but they cannot dodge a blast placed right on top of them - One deliberate close shot beats three hopeful ones.
- Spread your spending across silos. Draining one base early leaves a dead zone the enemy will find; alternate launches and hold the fast center silo as your emergency answer.
- Triage without mercy. When more warheads fall than you have ammo, choose the cities you can actually save and let the rest go - A defended pair beats six half-defended ruins.
- Keep scoring even when you are safe. Every 10,000 points banks a bonus city that rebuilds a ruin between waves, and that is the only healing this game will ever offer you.
House Rules & Spin-Offs
Atari 2600 Missile Command (1981)
Rob Fulop's home port trimmed the defense to a single silo and simpler skies - And became one of the console's all-time best sellers.
Super Missile Attack (1981)
An unauthorized arcade enhancement kit from General Computer Corporation that sped up the waves and added a UFO - And triggered a landmark Atari lawsuit over game modification.
Missile Command 3D (1995)
The Atari Jaguar revival bundled the faithful original with a fully 3D mode that put you behind the crosshair in a rendered battlefield.
Missile Command: Recharged (2020)
Atari's neon modern remake adds power-ups, upgradeable silos, and global leaderboards while keeping the aim-ahead heart of the 1980 design.
Missiles Questions, Answered
Do I shoot the missiles directly?
What are smart bombs?
How much ammo do I get?
Can I get destroyed cities back?
Why do some missiles split apart mid-air?
What happens when all six cities are destroyed?
Is the daily Missile Command barrage the same for everyone?
How does Missile Command work on a touchscreen?
Not done yet? The rest of the space shooters row is one click from Missile Command, the arcade glossary translates the slang, and the player FAQ covers scores, dailies and accounts. Guide last tuned 2026-07-06.
