Boulder Dash was originally released in 1984 for Atari 8-bit computers. It was developed and published by First Star Software, and spawned a series of sequels, re-releases, and spinoffs. It also did a great deal to establish and influence the mining genre of video games, which can be seen in modern games such as Minecraft, Spelunky, and Terraria.
Blow up sand dunes (doons) with your cannon!
Note the color of the doon loaded into your cannon, then use the joystick to position your cannon above the doons you want to clear, and press the trigger to shoot your doon. If you shoot your doon into doons of the same color, the doons will explode. Every now and then, a color-changing bomb will appear to the left of the playfield. If you move the cannon next to the bomb and shoot, it will explode all of the doons of the matching color. Keep playing until the doons overwhelm you!