The game features amplified monaural sound and pixel graphics on a 19 inch CRT monitor. It uses an Intel 8086 central processing unit that operates at 5MHz. Q*bert is Gottlieb's fourth video game. The basic ideas were thought up by Warren Davis and Jeff Lee. The initial concept began when artist Jeff Lee drew a pyramid of cubes inspired by M. C. Escher. Lee felt a game could be derived from the artwork, and created an orange, armless main character. The character jumped along the cubes and shot projectiles from a tubular nose at enemies. Enemies included a blue creature, later changed purple and named Wrong Way, and an orange creature, later changed green and named Sam. Lee had drawn similar characters since childhood, inspired by characters from Mad magazine and by artist Ed "Big Daddy" Roth, as well as comics and cartoons. Q*bert's design later included a speech balloon with a string of nonsensical characters, "@!#?@!", which Lee originally presented as joke.

Warren Davis, a programmer hired to work on the action game Protector, noticed Lee's ideas, and asked if he could use them to practice programming game mechanics: randomness and gravity. Because Davis was still learning how to program game mechanics, he wanted to keep the design simple. He also felt games with complex control schemes were frustrating and wanted something that could be played with one hand. To accomplish this, Davis removed the shooting and changed the objective to saving the protagonist from danger. He continued to work on the game and added balls that bounced from the pyramid's top to bottom. As Davis worked on the game one night, Gottlieb's Vice President of Engineering, Ron Waxman, noticed him and suggested to change the color of the cubes after the game's character has landed on them. Davis decided to implement a unique control scheme; a four-way joystick was rotated 45° to match the directions of Q*bert's jumping. Staff members felt a more contemporary orientation used in other games would be better, but Davis reasoned that a standard orientation was nonsensical.

The Gottlieb staff had difficulty naming the game, and, aside from the project name "Cubes", it was untitled for most of the development process. The staff agreed the game should be named after the main character, but disagreed on the name. Lee's title for the initial concept—Snots And Boogers—was rejected, as was a list of suggestions compiled from company employees. Vice president of marketing Howie Rubin favored @!#?@!, although the rest of the staff felt it was unviable. Staff members argued it was silly and would be impossible to pronounce. A few early test models, however, were produced with @!#?@! as the title on the units' artwork. During a meeting, "Hubert" was suggested, and a staff member thought of combining "Cubes" and "Hubert" into "Cubert". Art director Richard Tracy changed the name to "Q-bert", and the dash was later changed to an asterisk. In retrospect, Davis wished the asterisk was changed to a different character; the asterisk prevented the name from becoming a common crossword term and it is a wildcard character for search engines.

As development neared the production stage, test models were built and placed in local arcades to gauge player responses and see how much the game earned. Gottlieb also conducted focus groups, in which the designers observed players through a two-way mirror. The control scheme received a mixed reaction during play testing; some players adapted quickly while others found it frustrating. Initially, Davis was worried players would not adjust to the different controls; some players would unintentionally jump off the pyramid several times, reaching a game over in about ten seconds. Players, however, became accustomed to the controls after playing several rounds of the games. The different responses to the controls prompted Davis to reduce the game's level of difficulty—something he regretted afterward.

Audio

A MOS Technology 6502 chip that operates at 894 kHz and a speech synthesizer by Votrax generates the sound effects and Q*bert's incoherent expressions, respectively. The audio system uses 128B of random-access memory and 4KB of erasable programmable read only memory to store the sound data and code to implement it. Like other Gottlieb games, the sound system was thoroughly tested to ensure it would handle daily usage. In retrospect, audio engineer David Thiel commented that such testing minimized time available for creative designing.

Thiel was tasked with using the synthesizer to produce English phrases for the game. However, he was unable to create coherent phrases and chose to string together random phonemes. Thiel also felt the incoherent speech was a good fit for the "@!#?@!" in Q*bert's speech balloon. Following a suggestion from technician Rick Tighe, a pinball machine component was included to make a loud sound when a character falls off the pyramid. The sound is generated by an internal coil that hits the interior of a cabinet wall. Foam padding was added to the area of contact on the cabinet; the developers felt the softer sound better matched a fall rather than a loud knocking sound. The cost of installing foam, however, was too expensive and the padding was omitted.

Q*bert was Gottlieb's only video game that gathered huge critical and commercial success, selling around 25,000 arcade cabinets. Cabaret and cocktail versions of the game were later produced. The machines have since become collector's items; the rarest of them are the cocktail versions. Author Steve Kent and GameSpy's William Cassidy considered Q*bert one of the more memorable games of its time. Author David Ellis echoed similar statements, calling it a "classic favorite".1UP.com's Jeremy Parish included Q*bert among the higher-profile classic games. In 2008, Guinness World Records ranked it behind 16 other arcade games in terms of their technical, creative and cultural impact.

Video game critics focused on the gameplay and visuals. Kim Wild of Retro Gamer magazine described the game as difficult yet addictive. Author John Sellers also called Q*bert addictive, and praised the sound effects and three-dimensional appearance of the graphics.Computer and Video Games magazine praised the game's graphics and colors. Cassidy called the game unique and challenging; he attributed the challenge in part to the control scheme.IGN's Jeremy Dunham felt the controls were poorly designed, describing them as "unresponsive" and "a struggle". He commented that despite the controls, the game is addictive. William Brohaugh of Creative Computing Video & Arcade Games described the game as an "all-round winner" that had many strong points. He praised the variety of sound effects and the graphics, calling the colors vibrant. Brohaugh lauded Q*bert's inventiveness and appeal, stating that the objective was interesting and unique.

The main character also received positive press coverage. Edge magazine attributed the success of the game to the titular character. They stated that players could easily relate to Q*bert, particularly because he swore.Computer and Video Games, however, considered the swearing a negative, but still felt the character was appealing. Cassidy believed the game's appeal lay in the main character. He described Q*bert as cute and having a personality that made him stand out in comparison to other popular video game characters.

Q*bert became one of the most merchandised arcade games behind Pac-Man and Donkey Kong. The character's likeness appears on various items including coloring books, sleeping bags, frisbees, board games, wind-up toys, and stuffed animals.

In 1983, Q*bert was adapted into an animated cartoon as part of CBS's Saturday Supercade, which featured segments based on video game characters from the golden age of video arcade games. Saturday Supercade was produced by Ruby-Spears Productions, and the Q*bert segments aired from 1983–1986. The show is set in a United States, 1950s era town called "Q-Burg", and stars Q*bert as a high school student. In the cartoon, Q*bert's design was altered to include arms and hands, as well as the ability to shoot black projectiles from his nose. Characters frequently say puns that add the letter "Q" to words. It also includes new characters, similar in appearance to Q*bert, and the game's other characters.

The game has been referenced in episodes of the television series South Park, Family Guy, Futurama, and The Simpsons. Obtaining the highest score for the game became a goal for players.Doris Self, credited by Guinness World Records as the "oldest competitive female gamer", set a record score for Q*bert in 1984 at the age of 58. Her record was surpassed, and she continued attempting to regain the record until her death in 2006. Creators Davis and Lee expressed pride at the longevity of the game's legacy; Davis is also surprised people still positively remember the game. In describing Q*bert's legacy, Jeff Gerstmann of GameSpot referred to the game as a "rare arcade success". Despite its success, the two creators did not receive royalties as Gottlieb had no such program in place at the time. The North American video game crash of 1983, however, depressed the market, and, by 1984, the game's popularity began to decline.

Q*bert, Coily, Ugg, Slick, and Sam appear in the 2012 Disney animated film Wreck-It Ralph. They start out as "homeless" characters living in Game Central Station after their game was unplugged and taken out of Litwak Arcade. Ralph gives them a cherry from Pac-Man as a gesture of kindness. After Ralph takes Markowski's uniform in Tapper's, he accidentally trips over Q*bert on his way to Hero's Duty. This leads Q*bert to go to Fix-It Felix Jr. to warn Felix that Ralph's "gone Turbo." At the end of the film, Q*bert, Coily, Ugg, Slick, and Sam are accepted into Fix-It Felix Jr. for a bonus level in the game where Q*bert assists Felix in fixing the Niceland Apartment while Coily, Ugg, Slick, and Sam help Ralph into wrecking it.

Remakes and sequels

Q*bert has inspired other games and been remade on different platforms. Several video games like J-Bird, Boingo, Mr. Cool, and Pogo Joe copied Q*bert's gameplay, while others like Flip Flop built upon it. Following its 1982 release, the game was ported to the Magnavox Odyssey², Texas Instruments TI-99/4A, Commodore VIC-20, Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Commodore 64, Atari 8-bit, and IBM PC. The different ports received mixed receptions. Many home versions poorly replicated the controls on game controllers. Davis considered the ColecoVision home version the most accurate port of the arcade. Upon its release, the Atari 2600 port of Q*bert was well received. Antic magazine's Brian Fung complimented the adaptation from the arcade to home format. Arthur Leyenberger of Creative Computing praised the gameplay and audio-visuals, and listed it as the second best arcade adaptation for the console. In 2008, however, IGN's Levi Buchanan rated it the fourth worst Atari 2600 arcade port, citing poor visuals and a technical problem that makes the game excessively difficult; a lack of animations for enemies while jumping between cubes made it impossible to know which direction they travel until they land. However, the "technical problem" actually allows the player to avoid the enemy by jumping to the square it was by jumping at the moment when the lack of animation occurs without colliding, making the port the easiest to master.

A remake with three-dimensional (3D) graphics was released by Hasbro Interactive on the PlayStation in 1999 and on the Dreamcast the following year. It features three modes of play: classic, adventure, and competitive multiplayer.Allgame's Brett Weiss praised all aspects of the game, while Parish called it a poor adaptation. Kevin Rice of Next Generation Magazine praised the game's graphics, but criticized the new level designs. He further commented that adventure mode was not enjoyable. In February 2007, Q*bert was released on the PlayStation 3's PlayStation Network, the first classic arcade game to do so. It features updated graphics, an online leaderboard for players to post high-scores, and Sixaxis motion controls. The game received a mild reception. Dunham and Gerstmann did not enjoy the motion controls and felt it was a title only for nostalgic players. In contrast, Parish considered the title worth purchasing, citing its addictive gameplay.

Sequels were released, but did not reach the same level of success as the original. The first, titled Q*bert's Qubes, was released in 1983. It was manufactured by Mylstar Electronics, and used the same hardware as the original. The game features Q*bert, but introduces new enemies: Meltniks, Soobops, and Rat-A-Tat-Tat. The player navigates the protagonist around a plane of cubes while avoiding enemies. Jumping on a cube causes it to rotate, changing the color of the visible sides of the cube. The goal is to match the cubes in a row; later levels require multiple rows to match. In 1984, Q*Bert's Qubes was ported to home consoles like the Colecovision and Atari 2600 by Parker Brothers. Konami's 1986 incarnation of Q*bert for the MSX is an original game based on this version. Another sequel, Q*bert 3, was released in October 1992 for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. It features gameplay similar to the original, but has larger levels of varying shapes. In addition to new enemies (Frogg, Top Hat, and Derby), enemies from the first game attempt to impede the player from changing the cubes' colors.

Gottlieb also released a pinball game, Q*bert's Quest, based on the arcade version. It features two pairs of flippers in an "X" formation and audio from the arcade. Gottlieb produced fewer than 900 units. Parker Brothers released a tabletop, electronic game adaptation that uses a VFD screen to emulate the arcade's gameplay. It has since become a rare collector's item. Feeling that the original game was too easy, Davis decided to develop Faster Harder More Challenging Q*bert (also known as FHMC Q*bert) in 1983, which is a same as the original except more difficult. The project, however, was canceled and the game never entered production. Davis later released FHMC Q*bert's ROM image for fans to play via MAME, an arcade emulator or via the arcade machine with the multi Q*bert board installed, which includes this game, the original game, Q*bert's Qubes and 8 other games.