Old-school gaming at its near best!
This little ditty was incredibly simple, highly addictive and horribly frustrating. And that was just in the first three minutes of playing it.
That smug burglar/thief/general bad guy would sneer down at you, with that smarmy look on his face, hurling an endless array of bombs your way ever quicker, hoping that your water buckets wouldn't be able to match his speed. Obviously, you can't win this game but you could see how high of a score you could muster and there were also contests [sponsored by Activision no less!] to see who was the ultimate Kaboom!-er and I remember as a kid reading in my Atari Age magazine and seeing the photo submissions from those that did a stellar job and got a top score in this game. They got a T-shirt or a pin - something like that. Probably worth $4 on eBay now.
Before there was ever a GameGenie, GameShark or the like, you had to improvise. The 2600 was an easy rig to trip-up, usually by quickly flipping the on/off switch on the console which would result in a game that would be "hacked" in one way or another until you power-cycled it once more. In my attempts, nearly 25 years ago, I managed to get the bomber to sit completely still, yet throw bombs endlessly straight down. I slapped some black tape on the paddle's action button, walked away and a few hours later I had my own all-time high score :) Lame, but I finally laid the smack down on him and his bomb throwing ways. I won, if only for a single instance.
Think you're just the best gamer ever? Got a gaming ego that's bigger than the Grand Canyon? There's a 25 year-old 4-bit bomber waiting to promptly disgrace you. He's not rude, however - he'll smile a "Have A Nice Day" when he's done with you.