Is Checkered Flag on Steam?

No. Checkered Flag is not distributed on Steam, so there is no Steam Charts or SteamDB player count for it. Its live popularity is tracked here via Twitch viewership instead.

What platforms is Checkered Flag on?

Checkered Flag is available on Atari Lynx.

When did Checkered Flag release?

Checkered Flag was first released on December 31, 1991.

Checkered Flag

Dec 31, 1991RacingArcadeAtari Lynx

Checkered Flag — frequently asked questions

Is Checkered Flag on Steam?: No. Checkered Flag is not distributed on Steam, so there is no Steam Charts or SteamDB player count for it. Its live popularity is tracked here via Twitch viewership instead.
What platforms is Checkered Flag on?: Checkered Flag is available on Atari Lynx.
When did Checkered Flag release?: Checkered Flag was first released on December 31, 1991.

About Checkered Flag

Checkered Flag for the Lynx is a racing game employing open-wheel racing cars (either Formula 1 or Indy-style depending on whether the box or the instructions are believed). The game features 18 tracks located in the American countryside or cities. Game modes include Practice, Single Heat and a 8-race Tournament. The start position can be set randomly or determined in a qualifying lap and the length of a race can be set between 1 and 50 laps. Also customizable are color of the car and the gender of the driver, both having only cosmetic effect. Gameplay is Pole Position style, with the own car seen from behind, a perspective view of the track, and cars and roadside obstacles displayed as sprites. A graphical representation of the track, lap times, speed meter and rear view mirrors are always in display. One button accelerates, another brakes. Left and right on the joypad steers while up and down shifts gears if manual transmission (either 4 or 7 gears) has been selected beforehand. Crashing into other cars sends the own car into a spin while hitting roadside obstacles (trees, bushes, rocks or animals) reduces speed to zero. The game can be played by up to six players via a ComLynx connection. If fewer players race, remaining slots can be filled by AI-controlled drivers for a maximum of 10 cars per race.

Summary via IGDB.

Game details

Platforms: Atari Lynx
Developer: Atari Corporation
Publisher: Atari Corporation
Game modes: Single player, Multiplayer
Themes: Non-fiction
Series: Formula 1

Details via IGDB.

Collector value & authenticity

Atari Lynx · PriceCharting sold data · Verified 2026-08-07

Loose

$20

Complete

$42

Sealed

$84

Region: NA+EU
Released: 1991
Authenticity: Low

On Evercade + PC (The Lynx Collection / Epyx Collection: Handheld) — the cartridge is now a collectibleLow counterfeit risk

Atari Lynx prices, all games & how to spot a fake

The 1991 Lynx racer — a different game from the 1994 Jaguar one that shares its name, and much the better received of the two.

Atari Corporation developed and published both, three years apart, and they are not the same game. The Lynx version came first, uses the hardware's scaling for its road, and supports ComLynx racing. The Jaguar version that followed is one of that platform's more criticised releases.

Sellers and databases conflate them constantly. It is on Evercade and on PC today, which makes it easy to try before you buy the cartridge.

How it was made

Programmed by Eric Ginner and Jerome Strach. An Atari Explorer interview in 1992 names the pair as the programmers behind Ms. Pac-Man, Checkered Flag, Shanghai and — at that point most recently — Rampart, before they moved on to Batman Returns. Five Lynx titles from one programming partnership.

What the press said at the time

“The soundtrack is crucial. The mounting roar of the engine as your speed increases, and the whine telling you it's time to switch gears, are much more useful, in reality, than the dashboard. The sounds allow you to keep your eyes on the road.”
— Atari Explorer, September 1991

Cartridge & preservation record

Cartridge ROM capacity 2 megabit (256 KB), measured from the preserved cartridge image.

Catalogue part number PA2053

Cartridge data from the No-Intro preservation database (metadata only — names, sizes and checksums, no game data).

Worth knowing

Eighteen tracks, six players, and the game asks your sex. Atari Explorer's 1991 review records a field of up to ten cars across eighteen tracks — Skull Valley, Woodland and Miami cityscapes — with automatic, 4-speed or 7-speed transmissions and ComLynx for up to six players. Setup asks you to choose your car's colour and to "let the judges know what sex you are (yes, it matters in the end)".

Before you buy

Confirm which Checkered Flag you are buying — our Jaguar library lists the 1994 cartridge separately, and they price differently. Sealed Lynx copies run to roughly four times loose, the usual packaging premium.