Attract mode

An arcade game's attract mode is the display it shows when nobody is playing the game. The purpose of the attract mode is to attract passers-by to play the game.

An attract mode usually displays the game's title screen, the game's story (if it has one), its high score list, and the message "Game Over" or "Insert Coin" over or in addition to a computer-controlled demonstration of gameplay.

A few arcade games contain bugs which allow a person to play them during the attract mode without paying for a game. Two examples of this are Galaga and Tempest.

In Atari home computer and video games of the 1970s and 1980s, the term "attract mode" was sometimes used to denote a simple screensaver that slowly cycled the display colors to prevent phosphor burn-in while the game was not being played.

Attract modes demonstrating gameplay are common in current home videogames. In some games, such as "", the demonstration may include the solution to an in-game puzzle.

Sometimes the automated gameplay shown in the attract mode depicts events that would not occur during actual gameplay. For instance, in , your character is able to grab a machine gun very early in the game, whereas he would have had to wait a while longer before that opportunity arose in the real game. Such alterations may be designed to increase the perceived excitement of the game and demonstrate features.