 Falling into the fire pit removes one or more points.The game's display has an eight-pointed direction selector to choose which way to move, and a stats area showing the player's condition and that of the opponents.In response to offers in computing magazines promising "up to $1000 for your programs," friends Steve Kropinak and Al Johnston created "Arena of Octos" and submitted it in 1981 to "SoftSide", a magazine which published user-submitted programs for the TRS-80, Apple II, and Atari 8-bit platforms.