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Summary

MotoRace USA (also called Traverse USA or Zippy Race) drops you onto a motorcycle that darts between traffic as you race from Los Angeles to New York. The cabinet’s joystick feels surprisingly like a real throttle and brake, and the screen flips from a top‑down map—where you can spot fuel cans, wheelie strips and jump icons—to a behind‑the‑bike view that shows the skyline of the city you’re approaching.

A tiny scoreboard on the right tracks your remaining fuel, speed in miles per hour, distance to the next city and your current rank. Hitting gas‑can icons or the occasional "wheelie" strip adds both points and a splash of extra fuel, while crossing a bridge‑jump or squeezing through a narrow path nets bonus scores. Crashing into cars, trees or water drains fuel and can even drop your rank, so each collision feels costly.

When you finally roll into a city, the game tallies a bonus based on your rank—up to 20,000 points for the top spot—and refuels you for the next leg. The arcade cabinet, painted by Larry Day and Bruce Schafernak, became a hit in Japan’s July 1983 arcade charts and later made its way onto the SG‑1000 and Family Computer consoles.

Storyline

MotoRace USA puts you in the seat of a motorcycle racer racing coast‑to‑coast across the United States. You launch from Los Angeles, zip past palm‑lined freeways, then make refueling stops in Las Vegas, Houston, St. Louis and Chicago before aiming for the final stretch to New York City.

Along the way the game peppers the ride with classic arcade hazards: oncoming cars, trees, puddles, rivers, sharp bends, rocks, and even trucks that drop barrels. Each region is signposted by its own visual cue – towering palms in California, towering cacti in Nevada, and postcard‑like city skylines that appear on the horizon as you near each stop.

When you finally roll into New York, a flashing "VIVA N.Y." banner appears, the Statue of Liberty waves, and "The Star‑Spangled Banner" blares. Reaching the city awards a rank‑based bonus to your score and refills your fuel tank. The game then restarts from Los Angeles with a faster bike and a full tank, inviting you to beat your previous time.

Edited by Maya Carter