Web designer Goran Fak was driving on Melbourne’s pothole-infested roads when he got the inspiration for his video game Melbourne Pothole Dodger, an addictive little number that challenges players to avoid not just divots in the road, but machete amnesty bins, too.

Free to play online with just a PC or mobile phone – you don’t need a games console like a PlayStation – Fak’s creation is styled after arcade racers from the ’80s and ’90s, with simple gameplay that features well-known stretches of bitumen like Sydney Road, Hoddle Street and Punt Road. 

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There’s no finish line; you just try to drive for as long as possible before the damage from hitting the potholes and bins ends the game. Other obstacles include a lollipop lady and cops chasing stolen cars, and you can refill your health bar by running over packs of cigarettes from an “illegal tobacco pickup” shop.

“I was driving my daughter to cheerleading and I was so focused on the road, trying to dodge all the potholes, that I felt like I was playing a video game,” Fak explained. “I wanted it to show how long a driver can survive on Melbourne’s terrible roads. You’re going to die in the end.”

The game’s website – which you can access here if you want to play – says Melbourne was chosen because “anyone who drives here plays a version of this game every day”. It adds: “The jokes are aimed at things locals will recognise: four seasons in one day, roadworks that never seem to finish, and a tobacconist on every corner.”

Pothole Dodger has been released shortly before the Victorian state election on November 28, with the condition of the state’s roads proving a hot-button topic in the lead-up to the poll. As Fak (pictured below) said, “The state of our roads is a real concern, and it’s something we have to address.”

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Last month it emerged that the Victorian state government had broken its promise to fix 500,000 potholes by January, after contractors warned the target could not be met. The date for completion has now been shifted back to next June.

A motorcyclist died on the Western Highway on September 13 after reportedly losing control due to a pothole near Trawalla. Peter Mason, 71, died at the scene, and thousands of angry motorcycle riders staged a protest outside Victoria’s Parliament House on October 4, with rain in the lead-up to the rally resulting in more potholes in the state.