Is Home Run on Steam?

No. Home Run 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 Home Run on?

Home Run is available on Atari 2600.

When did Home Run release?

Home Run was first released on December 31, 1978.

Home Run

Dec 31, 1978SportAtari 2600

Home Run — frequently asked questions

Is Home Run on Steam?: No. Home Run 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 Home Run on?: Home Run is available on Atari 2600.
When did Home Run release?: Home Run was first released on December 31, 1978.

About Home Run

This is the first of three iterations of baseball from Atari and is the most simple. The pitcher pitches and controls the direction of the ball. The batter hits and keeps running until he's made to stop. There are up to 3 defensive players that can try to get the batter out after he hits. All hits are grounders and defensive players can't throw the ball.

Summary via IGDB.

Home Run on Wikipedia

Home Run is a 1978 baseball video game developed and published by Atari, Inc. for the Atari 2600. It was the first baseball-themed game released for an Atari platform. The game received mostly negative critical reception due to its unrealistic portrayal of the sport. It was one of the games used by console competitor Mattel to show the quality improvement of Intellivision sports games over the Atari VCS.

Source: Wikipedia (text under CC BY-SA 4.0).

Game details

Platforms: Atari 2600
Developer: Atari
Publisher: Atari
Game modes: Single player, Multiplayer

Details via IGDB.

Reception

IGDB rating

40/100

from 8 ratings

Collector value & authenticity

Atari 2600 · PriceCharting sold data · Verified 2026-10-06

Loose

Complete

$10

Sealed

$43

Label variants

Release	Loose	Complete	Sealed
Text Label	$7	$11	$16
Gray Box	—	$67	—
Baseball [Tele-Games]	$5	$18	$28

Release record

Territory	Label	Catalog #	Rarity
North America Atari	Picture	CX2623	Common+
North America Atari	Text	CX2623	Common+
North America Sears	Text - 49-75108	99819	Common+
North America Sears	Text - 6-99819	99819	Common+
North America Sears	Picture	99819	Rare
North America Unknown	Taiwan Cooper	—	—
Europe Quelle	Short	—	—

Also released in South America by Polyvox.

Source: Catalog numbers, label types, rarity, controllers and player counts: AtariAge 2600 software database

Region: NA
Released: 1978
Controller: Atari Joystick
Players: 1 - 2
Authenticity: Low

Not in Atari 50 — other compilations and plug-and-plays are not tracked hereLow counterfeit risk

Atari 2600 prices, all games & how to spot a fake

Atari's first baseball game, poorly reviewed then and now, but cheap and collectable for its labels.

Home Run is Atari's 1978 baseball game, credited to Bob Whitehead and David Rolfe, and the first baseball game released on an Atari platform. Critics were mostly negative about its unrealistic take on the sport, and Mattel used it as one of the games that showed how much better its Intellivision sports games were.

Atari replaced it with RealSports Baseball in 1982. Sears sold it as Baseball.

How it was made

Programmed by Bob Whitehead and David Rolfe and released by Atari in October 1978. Sears sold it as Baseball.

What the press said at the time

“Home Run is unique in one respect: It's the only videogame baseball cartridge that can be played solo. Its lack of the "feel" of real sports action, however, ultimately relegates it to a benchwarmer's role on this team of all-star sports videogame cartridges.”
— Electronic Games, June 1982

“We found Home Run to be nothing like real baseball. … The graphics are equally primitive; the players are small and boxy. We'll pass on this cartridge.”
— JoyStik, December 1982

“This should be titled Home Run Derby. You can play against the computer, but what's the point when the only way to make it fun is to see if you can blank the machine or score 100 runs? There're only three fielders, so the action's not exactly electric.”
— Vidiot, August/September 1983

Cartridge & preservation record

Program size 2 KB, measured from the preserved dump.

Catalogue number as recorded for the physical release.

Worth knowing

Dropped from catalog, 1983. The Video Game Update reported in February 1983: "Several older games have been dropped out of the catalog. Among those are GOLF, HANGMAN, BASIC PROGRAMMING, HOME RUN, OTHELLO, OUTLAW" and Human Cannonball.
Club price cut, 1982. By summer 1982 the Atari Club's Cartridge Checklist had already cut this launch-era cartridge to $12.95, while most other basic titles stayed at $22.95.
1981 dealer price. Atari's confidential retailer price list for January 1 to June 1, 1981 lists Home Run (CX2623) in its basic tier: dealers paid $14.00 against a suggested retail price of $22.95.

Before you buy

Low risk. Four listings are priced: the standard cart, a Text Label cart, the Sears Baseball [Tele-Games] cart, and a Gray Box variant priced only as a complete copy. Loose copies of every version are cheap. The Gray Box is collected for the packaging, and complete copies in it cost several times more than standard boxed copies, so check which box a listing shows before comparing prices.