Dodge Racer

Aka Dogdem
http://www.gamesdatabase.org/game/arcade/dodgem

I used to play SLOT RACER on the Atari game console, yeeeeears ago, and before I got my first Apple ][.

I admit I've never played this Dodge Racer, but it looks v similar to Slot Racer, AND appears to be an alternative to the numerous Pac-Man [tm] clones of the time.

Suffice to say, most people know "how Pac-Man works" -- complete each screen by gobbling up all the "wafers" without being caught by the roving ghosts.

Competitive Slot Racer on the Atari bid you collect similar on-screen blips, whilst not crashing your Racer - into a wall divider, or into your opponent who was working in the opposite direction.

It's a fair guess that Dodge Racer works the same way: collect all the blips, avoid oncoming traffic.

Part of playing this game is "luck", as to whether or not an oncoming vehicle, around the track, picks the same track you're going into -- making a crash "inevitable".

There was a "solution" to Atari's Slot Racer, which also involved 2-slot dodges sideways so as to avoid oncoming collisions.
The only other function you had (via the joystick button) was Speed Boost.

This kind of game rather sits well in the "Memorize the winning pattern" category of games. Once you've learned the winning pattern, it then becomes How Fast Can You Beat It? ;)