Playable Vectrex game
About Bedlam
Defend the center of shifting geometric sectors in Bedlam, a Vectrex shooter designed by Tom Sloper and credited to Bill Hawkins and Lenny Carlson.
- Collection
- Games
- Classification
- Official library
- Catalog year
- 1983
- Programmed by
- William “Bill” Hawkins, Lenny Carlson
- Designed by
- Tom Sloper
- Publisher
- GCE / Milton Bradley
- Genre
- Multidirectional shooter
- Players
- 1–2 players, alternating
- Research confidence
- verified
- ROM editions
- 1
- Browser controls
- Keyboard, joystick, or gamepad
Development and history
Bedlam arrived during the original Vectrex period, with sources variously using 1982 and 1983 dating. The Vectrex Game Database credits William Hawkins and Lenny Carlson, while developer recollections identify Tom Sloper as the designer.
The game is often described as “Tempest in reverse”: instead of circling the outer edge and firing inward, the player occupies the center while enemies enter along the points of a changing geometric field. That inversion makes Bedlam feel purpose-built for vector display rather than merely adapted to it.
This page uses one stable canonical URL for the title and loads its embedded ROM directly into the emulator after the Vectrex BIOS is ready.
Gameplay and background
Rotate the central cannon, fire down the sector lanes, use fast rotation to answer threats from the opposite side, and save the screen-clearing zap for emergencies. Later stages animate or rotate the surrounding geometry, changing both timing and approach angles.
How to play in Vectrexia
- Move with the Arrow keys or WASD. Compatible controllers can use the left analog stick or D-pad.
- Vectrex buttons 1–4 map to Z, X, C, and V, and to the standard face buttons on most gamepads.
- Press a controller button after connecting it so the browser can expose the gamepad to the page.
Audio may begin after the first click, key press, or controller input because browsers can restrict autoplay.
Research sources
Available editions
Alternate dumps and revisions share this canonical page to avoid duplicate search pages. Choose a specific edition from the in-app Library.