Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

The player assumes the role of Indiana Jones as he infiltrates the lair of the evil Thuggee cult, armed only with his trademark whip. The player's ultimate goal is to free the children the cult has kidnapped as slaves, recover the stolen relics known as "Sankara Stones," and escape from the titular temple. Throughout Temple of Doom's several modes of gameplay, Indy can only take one "hit" (sustaining physical contact with enemies or other hazards) before losing a life.

After choosing a difficulty level, the player begins the game, initially composed of three levels, each based on specific scenes from the film.
First Level: Subterranean Mines

The first level takes place within the Thuggees' subterranean mines. Crossing mountainous peaks and conveyor belts, Indy must find the cages that hold children around the mine, and destroy their locks with his whip. The whip also serves as Indy's only means of defense; while it destroys the killer bats that float around the mines, it only stuns the Thuggee guards that chase after him. However, these enemies can be knocked into such hazards as lava pits and flaming gasoline cans, which will dispose of them permanently.

If Indy delays in rescuing children, or remains in one area for too long, Thuggee leader Mola Ram will appear and throw a flaming heart at him. The heart may be whipped away, but Mola Ram will continue to reappear until the player takes action.

The level ends when Indy reaches a mine shaft accompanied by a cart. Though there is no penalty for completing the level without freeing all of the children, no bonus will be awarded.
Second Level: Minecart Chase

In the second level, Indy must ride the minecart in a high-speed race to the temple's entrance. He must avoid dead ends and missing rails by tilting his minecart along the tracks appropriately; he must also outrun or overturn carts controlled by Thuggee guards, who force themselves into collisions with his cart.

The level ends when Indy reaches the end of the track unscathed. In order to brake, Indy must slow the cart, which the computer will perform automatically as it reaches the temple entrance. However, Indy cannot use his whip while braking, and his cart is still in danger of crashing if an enemy cart catches up. The faster the player presses the "whip" button, the faster Indy will exit the cart; if he can do so moments before an enemy crashes into him, the game will announce "CLOSE CALL, INDY!", and award bonus points.
Third Level: The Temple

The third level takes place in the Temple of Kali, where a single Sankara Stone is kept. While avoiding booby traps, guards and Mola Ram, Indy must recover the Stone and escape through one of four doors below the statue of Kali.

The game repeats through these three levels until all three Sankara Stones are recovered; the player must then traverse the first two levels a fourth time, after which the temple level is replaced by a bridge level.
Fourth Level: The Bridge

Crossing a narrow bridge, Indy's movement is reduced from two dimensions to one — left to right. From one end of the bridge, Thuggee guards will run across in an attempt to reach Indy. At the opposite end, Mola Ram awaits, throwing flaming hearts with increasing speed. Indy must cross the bridge safely within the span of a single life; if he can reach the stolen Sankara Stone at the end of the bridge, the game will enter a cut scene similar to the climax of the film: Indy cuts the ropes supporting the bridge, sending Mola Ram to his death as Indy climbs to safety to reach Willie and Short Round.
Fifth Level: Challenge Round

Although the game ends from a linear perspective after the bridge level, it continues on into the "challenge round," once again taking place in the subterranean mines. Indy is instructed to collect golden idols that are hidden throughout the mines, again chased by guards and bats, along with the Prince of Pankot, who stuns Indy with his voodoo doll. After collecting an idol, another one appears elsewhere on the map within a preset time limit; the game will instruct the player when a new idol has appeared. Though this is the final level, the game will continue to provide idols so long as the player still has lives.
Ports

The arcade game was later ported by U.S. Gold to the Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, MSX and ZX Spectrum (developed by Paragon Programming) in 1987. During the same year, Mindscape ported it to the Atari ST and the Commodore 64 (different compared to U.S. Gold's version). In 1989, Mindscape ported it to the Commodore Amiga and personal computers that use MS-DOS. The most well-known home console port is the one for the Nintendo Entertainment System. The NES version was ported by Tengen in December 1988.