Atari Program Exchange

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Atari Program Exchange (APX) was a division of Atari, Inc. that existed from 1982 through 1984. When Jack Tramiel took over Atari, this was one of the divisions they shut down.

APX was a mail-order catalog of user-written software for the Atari 8-bit family of home computers. APX allowed all programmers, not just professionals, to submit their programs for commercial distribution. If selected, that program was added to the catalog along with the credit to that programmer (unlike Atari's own mainstream software). Many APX programs were games, but also included a wide variety of applications, utilities, programmers' tools, and educational software. The APX catalog was published quarterly.

APX typically featured programs too specialized to be distributed in Atari's main line of software distribution (such as utilities), but there were several hits including Chris Crawford's Eastern Front (1941), Caverns of Mars, and Dandy. Both Eastern Front and Caverns of Mars were later released on cartridge as official Atari products, while Dandy became Dark Chambers as well as serving as the inspiration for the hit arcade game, Gauntlet.

APX ran an award program for the best submissions, the APX Star Award. The first winner, My First Alphabet, garnered the author, Fernando Herrera, a $25,000 reward from Atari. He used the money to start First Star Software, which would later develop the successful Boulder Dash and Spy vs. Spy franchises.

After the demise of APX, Antic magazine published some APX titles as APX Classics from Antic and continued soliciting new software as Antic Software. Antic Software was bound into issues of Antic.