In 1976, Atari created Breakout for the Arcade, a simple Pong-style ball and paddle game that expands on Pong by replacing the second paddle with a wall of bricks. The object of the game was to use your paddle to bounce the ball against the wall and break all the bricks. 3D Breakout expands on the original Breakout by tilting the board 90 degrees and giving you a 3D perspective.

The wall of bricks is at the bottom of a well with you at the top, looking down from a first-person perspective. Use the paddle (held in front of you) to bounce the ball down the well and break all the bricks. The ball bounces off the sides of the well before hitting the bottom where it ricochets back to you. If there's a brick where the ball hits the bottom, the ball breaks it before returning. The angles vary depending on where and how hard the ball hits the wall and how you move the transparent paddle, which allows you to see the ball and wall without blocking the view. If the ball gets past your paddle, it cracks the screen open and you start again with a new ball. You get three balls before the game ends. ~ Kyle Knight, All Game Guide