In 1981, in the wake of its immensely successful Pac-Man arcade game, Namco started the development of a new game that yet again aimed to break away from the overused space action concepts of the time. Pac-Man had filled a void in the market with its non-violent addictive gameplay and cute, loveable, and very recognizable dot-eating character. In February 1982 Namco’s new game, Dig Dug was ready and released in Japan where it went on to become the second highest-grossing arcade game that year. As part of a licensing deal, Atari, Inc. got the distribution rights to the North American market and released Dig Dug in April 1982.

Dig Dug was well-received by critics and went on to become a global success, prompting numerous ports and spin-offs for home video consoles and personal computers. The first home conversion was done in 1983 by Atari for its Atari 2600 video console. One of the many developers that followed suit was Datatsoft which released versions for the Atari 8-bit, Apple II, and IBM PC in 1984.

Datasoft published Dig Dug, in its Premier Arcades series, for the Apple II in 1984

The Apple II version was faithful to the original but the gameplay was somewhat chunky, a result of the now seven-year-old hardware in the Apple II.
Control Dig Dug to defeat all enemies on the level by either inflating until they burst or crushing them underneath rocks