Believe it or not, Frogger has been skipping his way across busy highways for 30 years now. And to celebrate his anniversary, Tyler DeAngelo created this updated version of the arcade classic that now has the frog dodging the real-time traffic on New York’s Fifth Avenue.
But don’t worry, this version of the game doesn’t have players dragging the arcade cabinet across the actual street, ala George Constanza. That would be game over in two minutes. Instead, the real-time footage from a webcam looking down at the street is processed, and the position and motion of the actual cars driving down Fifth Avenue is translated to the in-game vehicles.
The hacked version of the game also provides a split-screen view showing the player how the traffic in the game matches the traffic on Fifth Avenue in real life. But since it was built into an authentic Frogger cabinet, you can also switch back and play the classic version of the game. A nice addition for when you get the hankering to play in the wee hours of the morning, but the light traffic doesn’t provide much of a challenge. [5th Ave Frogger via Make]