Hunt the Wumpus
Mathijs Panhuijsen
Through various sources, I've come to learn about the primitive computer
game "Hunt the Wumpus". I wonder if anybody in this ng can answer any or
all of the following questions:
- Who made this program?
- When was it first programmed?
- On what system was it first implemented?
- Where does the word 'wumpus' come from?
- Is there any reasons why the game used to be so popular?
Just curious.
--
Mathijs Panhuijsen
Please remove "nospam" from my email address when you reply.
Bezoek Mathijs' filmpagina's:
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-----------
"Need a little love to ease the pain..." --Massive Attack, "Dissolved
Girl"
Paul Wexelblat
Mathijs Panhuijsen wrote:
--
...wex
AutismUK
<m.panh...@nospam.wxs.nl> writes:
>Through various sources, I've come to learn about the primitive computer
>game "Hunt the Wumpus". I wonder if anybody in this ng can answer any or
>all of the following questions:
>- Who made this program?
>- When was it first programmed?
>- On what system was it first implemented?
>- Where does the word 'wumpus' come from?
>- Is there any reasons why the game used to be so popular?
I've a 1977 "Best of Creative Computing Volume 1" which has
what claims to be the original Wumpus program.
Author : Gregory Yob
Written : 2 years before undated article - at a guess 1974-5 ish
System : Seems to be a standard MS type Basic
Origin : He refers to a game "Mugwump", but basically meditation :)
Popularity : Part of the drive was away from grid games, HTW being
Dodecahedron based.
Paul Robson (auti...@aol.com)
Eric Fischer
> Through various sources, I've come to learn about the primitive computer
> game "Hunt the Wumpus". I wonder if anybody in this ng can answer any or
> all of the following questions:
>
> - Who made this program?
It was written by Gregory Yob, who was later one of the columnists
for Creative Computing magazine.
> - When was it first programmed?
The Seventh Edition Unix manual says that it appeared in the November,
1973 issue of People's Computer Company magazine, volume 2, number 2.
The Chicago public library has microfilm copies of PCC, so given time I
could verify this. A web page at http://www.acekids.com/wumpus.html
makes a different claim, that its first appearance was in the September-
October 1975 issue of Creative Computing. Meanwhile, the Jargon File says
that the game originated on the Dartmouth Time-Sharing System in 1972.
I'm not sure who to believe. It definitely appears in the Creative
Computing _More Basic Computer Games_ book and in the PCC compilation
_What to Do After You Press Return_.
eric
Brendan Hahn
>Meanwhile, the Jargon File says
>that the game originated on the Dartmouth Time-Sharing System in 1972.
I've heard an alternate version that has it developed at the University of
Massachusetts at Dartmouth (the town), not Dartmouth College. I'm inclined
to believe the latter, just because I used DCTS occasionally at Dartmouth
about a decade ago, and I don't recall anything about wumpus in connection
with it. Memory's pretty hazy, though. The PCC reference sounds like the
best source of info.
bh...@transoft.mangle.net <-- unmangle to reply
Howard S Shubs
bh...@transoft.mangle.net (unmangle address to reply) wrote:
>I've heard an alternate version that has it developed at the University of
>Massachusetts at Dartmouth (the town), not Dartmouth College.
VERY unlikely to have been created at UMass Dartmouth, as that didn't get
that name until the very late 80s, and I'd already heard of Wumpus in the
late 70s.
--
Howard S Shubs hsh...@mindspring.com hsh...@bix.com
The Denim Adept Is this the right room for an argument?
SPAM: u...@ftc.gov postmaster@[127.0.0.1] abuse@[127.0.0.1]
Richard A. Cini
Books. pp.107). It was adapted to the KIM by Stan Ockers, co-author of the
book.
Rich
-----------------------------------
[ Rich Cini/WUGNET
[ ClubWin!/CW7
[ MCP Windows 95/Windows Networking
[ Collector of "classic" computers
[ http://highgate.comm.sfu.ca/~rcini/classiccmp/
<---------------------------- reply separator
Eric Fischer <e...@pobox.com> wrote in message
news:FF6oG...@midway.uchicago.edu...
> Mathijs Panhuijsen <m.panh...@nospam.wxs.nl> wrote:
>
> > Through various sources, I've come to learn about the primitive computer
> > game "Hunt the Wumpus". I wonder if anybody in this ng can answer any or
> > all of the following questions:
> >
> > - Who made this program?
>
> It was written by Gregory Yob, who was later one of the columnists
> for Creative Computing magazine.
>
> > - When was it first programmed?
>
> The Seventh Edition Unix manual says that it appeared in the November,
> 1973 issue of People's Computer Company magazine, volume 2, number 2.
> The Chicago public library has microfilm copies of PCC, so given time I
> could verify this. A web page at http://www.acekids.com/wumpus.html
> makes a different claim, that its first appearance was in the September-
> October 1975 issue of Creative Computing. Meanwhile, the Jargon File says
> that the game originated on the Dartmouth Time-Sharing System in 1972.
Dennis Ritchie
> The Seventh Edition Unix manual says that [HTW] appeared in the November,
> 1973 issue of People's Computer Company magazine, volume 2, number 2.
> The Chicago public library has microfilm copies of PCC, so given time I
> could verify this. A web page at http://www.acekids.com/wumpus.html
> makes a different claim, that its first appearance was in the September-
> October 1975 issue of Creative Computing. Meanwhile, the Jargon File says
> that the game originated on the Dartmouth Time-Sharing System in 1972.
> I'm not sure who to believe. It definitely appears in the Creative
> Computing _More Basic Computer Games_ book and in the PCC compilation
> _What to Do After You Press Return_.
The Seventh Edition source has
/*
* wumpus
* stolen from PCC Vol 2 No 1
*/
so be sure not to look only at No 2.
The binary for the game (not the source), also
appears in the Fifth Edition (June, 1974).
Dennis
Eric Fischer
> I've heard an alternate version that has [Wumpus] developed at the
> University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth (the town), not Dartmouth
> College. ... The PCC reference sounds like the best source of info.
I haven't made it to the library to look up the People's Computer
Company article, but I do now have a copy of The Best of Creative
Computing volume 1 in front of me, which contains some information
about Wumpus's history. Some excerpts from the article:
Two years ago I happened by People's Computer Company (PCC) and saw
some of their computer games -- such as Hurkle, Snark, and Mugwump.
My reaction was: "ECCH!!" Each of these games was based on an 10x10
grid in Cartesian co-ordinates and three of them was too much for me.
I started to think along the lines of: "There has to be a hide and
seek computer game without that (exp. deleted) grid!!" In fact, why
not a topological computer game -- Imagine a set of points connected
in some way and the player moves about the set via the interconnections.
That afternoon in mediatation the phrase "Hunt the Wumpus" arrived,
and Wumpus was born. ...
I wrote Wumpus and dropped it off at PCC. Then I went home and
dreamed up Wumpus II which will be covered in the next issue of
Creative Computing.
Around a month later I went to the Synergy conference at Stanford,
where many of the far-out folk were gathered to share their visions
of improving the world. PCC had a few terminals running in a conference
room and I dropped by. To my vast surprise, all of the terminals were
running Wumpus and scraps of paper on the floor with scrawled numbers
and lines testified that much dedicated Wumpus-hunting was in progress.
I had spawned a hit computer game!!
Later, PCC published Wumpus in its newsletter (If you haven't seen it,
write them for a subscription: P.O. Box 310, Menlo Park, Cal. 94025),
and Wumpus appeared in all sorts of unlikely places. I have reports
of Wumpus written in RPG, a listing of one in FORTRAN, a rumor of a
system command of `to Wumpus' on a large corporation's R&D computer
system and have even seen an illustrated version of the Hazeltine
CRT terminal!!
I can be found at
Gregory Yob
PO Box 354
Palo Alto, Calif. 94301
Paper tapes of Wumpus, Wumpus 2 and Wumpus 3 are available and cost
$5.00 each.
May your arrows remain straight.
(Gregory Yob, "Hunt the Wumpus," in David H. Ahl, ed., The Best
of Creative Computing, volume 1, second edition, Creative Computing
Press, 1976, pp. 247-250, ISBN 0-916688-01-1)
This account doesn't give any reason to believe that Dartmouth, either
college or town, was involved at all in the development. John Kemeny
did, however, write one of the other games (Batnum) that appeared in
the PCC games book.
To address the earlier question of what computer Wumpus was originally
written for, all the PCC games, including Hunt the Wumpus, are written
in Hewlett-Packard 2000F BASIC. The HP BASIC version was the one
published in Creative Computing but by the time of _More BASIC Computer
Games_ it had been modified for Microsoft BASIC.
eric
Paithan
: Brendan Hahn <bh...@transoft.mangle.net> wrote:
: Later, PCC published Wumpus in its newsletter (If you haven't seen it,
: write them for a subscription: P.O. Box 310, Menlo Park, Cal. 94025),
: and Wumpus appeared in all sorts of unlikely places. I have reports
: of Wumpus written in RPG, a listing of one in FORTRAN, a rumor of a
: system command of `to Wumpus' on a large corporation's R&D computer
: system and have even seen an illustrated version of the Hazeltine
: CRT terminal!
Im wondering... Anyone got the source? Or the sources for the whole trilogy?
If someone got the sources please point me in the right direction or post it.
Best regards,
Paul Rene Jørgensen
- Web app programmer -
Anders Thulin
Paithan <p...@studparl.hials.no> wrote:
>Im wondering... Anyone got the source? Or the sources for the whole trilogy?
>If someone got the sources please point me in the right direction or post it.
The original Wumpus source was in Basic. Some versions of it can be found
through http://ftpsearch.lycos.com.
Other pointers have probably been given already: Best of Creative
Computing, vol. 1, and PCC. I would guess that Dave Ahl's Computer Games in Basic
might have the source as well.
There is a C-translation of it in the games section of the FreeBSD
and Linux distributions, at least.
The game is more remarkable for being a precursor to Adventure than
for anything else. Well, perhaps the crooked arrows are remarkable as
well.
--
Anders Thulin Anders....@telia.se 013-23 55 32
Telia ProSoft AB, Teknikringen 6, S-583 30 Linkoping, Sweden
Ryan Kusnery
Paithan wrote:
> Eric Fischer (e...@pobox.com) wrote:
> : Brendan Hahn <bh...@transoft.mangle.net> wrote:
>
> : Later, PCC published Wumpus in its newsletter (If you haven't seen it,
> : write them for a subscription: P.O. Box 310, Menlo Park, Cal. 94025),
> : and Wumpus appeared in all sorts of unlikely places. I have reports
> : of Wumpus written in RPG, a listing of one in FORTRAN, a rumor of a
> : system command of `to Wumpus' on a large corporation's R&D computer
> : system and have even seen an illustrated version of the Hazeltine
> : CRT terminal!
>
> Im wondering... Anyone got the source? Or the sources for the whole trilogy?
> If someone got the sources please point me in the right direction or post it.
>
> Best regards,
> Paul Rene Jørgensen
> - Web app programmer -
Here it is, with the minimum of modifications necessary to make it run in
Microsoft QBasic:
(note: QBasic uses the apostrophe as a comment character)
DEFINT A-Z
RANDOMIZE TIMER
10 REM- HUNT THE WUMPUS
15 REM: BY GREGORY YOB
20 PRINT "INSTRUCTION (Y-N)";
30 INPUT I$: I$ = UCASE$(I$)
40 IF I$ = "N" THEN 52
50 GOSUB 1000
52 REM- ANNOUNCE WUMPUSII FOR ALL AFICIONADOS ... ADDED BY DAVE
54 PRINT
56 PRINT " ATTENTION ALL WUMPUS LOVERS!!!"
58 PRINT " THERE ARE NOW TWO ADDITIONS TO THE WUMPUS FAMILY";
60 PRINT " OF PROGRAMS."
62 PRINT
64 PRINT " WUMP2: SOME DIFFERENT CAVE ARRANGEMENTS"
66 PRINT " WUMP3: DIFFERENT HAZARDS"
67 PRINT
68 REM- SET UP CAVE (DODECAHEDRONAL NODE LIST)
70 DIM S(20, 3)
80 FOR J = 1 TO 20
90 FOR K = 1 TO 3
100 READ S(J, K)
110 NEXT K
120 NEXT J
130 DATA 2,5,8,1,3,10,2,4,12,3,5,14,1,4,6
140 DATA 5,7,15,6,8,17,1,7,9,8,10,18,2,9,11
150 DATA 10,12,19,3,11,13,12,14,20,4,13,15,6,14,16
160 DATA 15,17,20,7,16,18,9,17,19,11,18,20,13,16,19
'170 DEF FNA (X) = INT(20 * RND(0)) + 1
'180 DEF FNB (X) = INT(3 * RND(0)) + 1
'190 DEF FNC (X) = INT(4 * RND(0)) + 1
170 DEF FNA (X) = INT(20 * RND) + 1
180 DEF FNB (X) = INT(3 * RND) + 1
190 DEF FNC (X) = INT(4 * RND) + 1
200 REM-LOCATE L ARRAY ITEMS
210 REM-1-YOU,2-WUMPUS,3&4-PITS,5&6-BATS
220 DIM L(6)
230 DIM M(6)
240 FOR J = 1 TO 6
250 L(J) = FNA(0)
260 M(J) = L(J)
270 NEXT J
280 REM-CHECK FOR CROSSOVERS (IE L(1)=L(2),ETC)
290 FOR J = 1 TO 6
300 FOR K = J TO 6
310 IF J = K THEN 330
320 IF L(J) = L(K) THEN 240
330 NEXT K
340 NEXT J
350 REM-SET# ARROWS
360 A = 5
365 L = L(1)
370 REM-RUN THE GAME
375 PRINT "HUNT THE WUMPUS"
380 REM-HAZARD WARNINGS & LOCATION
390 GOSUB 2000
400 REM-MOVE OR SHOOT
410 GOSUB 2500
'420 GOTO O OF 440,480
420 ON O GOTO 440, 480
430 REM-SHOOT
440 GOSUB 3000
450 IF F = 0 THEN 390
460 GOTO 500
470 REM-MOVE
480 GOSUB 4000
490 IF F = 0 THEN 390
500 IF F > 0 THEN 550
510 REM-LOSE
520 PRINT "HA HA HA - YOU LOSE!"
530 GOTO 560
540 REM-WIN
550 PRINT "HEE HEE HEE - THE WUMPUS'LL GETCHA NEXT TIME!!"
560 FOR J = 1 TO 6
570 L(J) = M(J)
580 NEXT J
582 PRINT "PLAY AGAIN (Y-N)";
585 INPUT I$: I$ = UCASE$(I$)
587 IF I$ <> "Y" THEN 5000
590 PRINT "SAME SET-UP (Y-N)";
600 INPUT I$: I$ = UCASE$(I$)
'610 IF I$#"Y" THEN 240
610 IF I$ <> "Y" THEN 240
620 GOTO 360
1000 REM-INSTRUCTIONS
1010 PRINT "WELCOME TO 'HUNT THE WUMPUS'"
1020 PRINT " THE WUMPUS LIVES IN A CAVE OF 20 ROOMS. EACH ROOM"
1030 PRINT "HAS 3 TUNNELS LEADING TO OTHER ROOMS. (LOOK AT A"
1040 PRINT "DODECAHEDRON TO SEE HOW THIS WORKS-IF YOU DON'T KNOW"
1050 PRINT "WHAT A DODECAHEDRON IS, ASK SOMEONE)"
1060 PRINT "press enter"; : INPUT z$
1070 PRINT " HAZARDS:"
1080 PRINT " BOTTOMLESS PITS - TWO ROOMS HAVE BOTTOMLESS PITS IN THEM"
1090 PRINT " IF YOU GO THERE, YOU FALL INTO THE PIT (& LOSE!)"
1100 PRINT " SUPER BATS - TWO OTHER ROOMS HAVE SUPER BATS. IF YOU"
1110 PRINT " GO THERE, A BAT GRABS YOU AND TAKES YOU TO SOME OTHER"
1120 PRINT " ROOM AT RANDOM. (WHICH CAN BE TROUBLESOME)"
1130 PRINT "press enter"; : INPUT z$
1140 PRINT " WUMPUS:"
1150 PRINT " THE WUMPUS IS NOT BOTHERED BY THE HAZARDS (HE HAS SUCKER"
1160 PRINT " FEET AND IS TOO BIG FOR A BAT TO LIFT). USUALLY"
1170 PRINT " HE IS ASLEEP. TWO THINGS CAN WAKE HIM UP: YOUR ENTERING"
1180 PRINT " HIS ROOM OR YOUR SHOOTING AN ARROW."
1190 PRINT " IF THE WUMPUS WAKES, HE MOVES (P=.75) ONE ROOM"
1200 PRINT " OR STAYS STILL (P=.25). AFTER THAT, IF HE IS WHERE YOU"
1210 PRINT " ARE, HE EATS YOU UP (& YOU LOSE!)"
1220 PRINT "press enter"; : INPUT z$
1230 PRINT " YOU:"
1240 PRINT " EACH TURN YOU MAY MOVE OR SHOOT A CROOKED ARROW"
1250 PRINT " MOVING: YOU CAN GO ONE ROOM (THRU ONE TUNNEL)"
1260 PRINT " ARROWS: YOU HAVE 5 ARROWS. YOU LOSE WHEN YOU RUN OUT."
1270 PRINT " EACH ARROW CAN GO FROM 1 TO 5 ROOMS. YOU AIM BY TELLING"
1280 PRINT " THE COMPUTER THE ROOM#S YOU WANT THE ARROW TO GO TO."
1290 PRINT " IF THE ARROW CAN'T GO THAT WAY(IE NO TUNNEL) IT MOVES"
1300 PRINT " AT RANDOM TO THE NEXT ROOM."
1310 PRINT " IF THE ARROW HITS THE WUMPUS, YOU WIN."
1320 PRINT " IF THE ARROW HITS THE YOU, YOU LOSE."
1330 PRINT "press enter"; : INPUT z$
1340 PRINT " WARNINGS:"
1350 PRINT " WHEN YOU ARE ONE ROOM AWAY FROM WUMPUS OR HAZARD,"
1360 PRINT " THE COMPUTER SAYS:"
1370 PRINT " WUMPUS- 'I SMELL A WUMPUS'"
1380 PRINT " BAT - 'BATS NEARBY'"
1390 PRINT " PIT - 'I FEEL A DRAFT'"
1400 PRINT "press enter"; : INPUT z$
1410 RETURN
2000 REM-PRINT LOCATION & HAZARD WARNINGS
2010 PRINT
2020 FOR J = 2 TO 6
2030 FOR K = 1 TO 3
2040 IF S(L(1), K) <> L(J) THEN 2110
2050 ON J - 1 GOTO 2060, 2080, 2080, 2100, 2100
2060 PRINT "I SMELL A WUMPUS!"
2070 GOTO 2110
2080 PRINT "I FEEL A DRAFT"
2090 GOTO 2110
2100 PRINT "BATS NEARBY!"
2110 NEXT K
2120 NEXT J
2130 PRINT "YOU ARE IN ROOM"; L(1)
2140 PRINT "TUNNELS LEAD TO"; S(L, 1); S(L, 2); S(L, 3)
2150 PRINT
2160 RETURN
2500 REM-CHOOSE OPTION
2510 PRINT "SHOOT OR MOVE (S-M)";
2520 INPUT I$: I$ = UCASE$(I$)
2530 IF I$ <> "S" THEN 2560
2540 O = 1
2550 RETURN
2560 IF I$ <> "M" THEN 2510
2570 O = 2
2580 RETURN
3000 REM-ARROW ROUTINE
3010 F = 0
3020 REM-PATH OF ARROW
3030 DIM P(5)
3040 PRINT "NO. OF ROOMS(1-5)";
3050 INPUT J9
3060 IF J9 < 1 OR J9 > 5 THEN 3040
3070 FOR K = 1 TO J9
3080 PRINT "ROOM #";
3090 INPUT P(K)
3095 IF K <= 2 THEN 3115
3100 IF P(K) <> P(K - 2) THEN 3115 'here it was NOT a # in the original
3105 PRINT "ARROWS AREN'T THAT CROOKED - TRY ANOTHER ROOM"
3110 GOTO 3080
3115 NEXT K
3120 REM-SHOOT ARROW
3130 L = L(1)
3140 FOR K = 1 TO J9
3150 FOR K1 = 1 TO 3
3160 IF S(L, K1) = P(K) THEN 3295
3170 NEXT K1
3180 REM-NO TUNNEL FOR ARROW
3190 L = S(L, FNB(1))
3200 GOTO 3300
3210 NEXT K
3220 PRINT "MISSED"
3225 L = L(1)
3230 REM-MOVE WUMPUS
3240 GOSUB 3370
3250 REM-AMMO CHECK
3255 A = A - 1
3260 IF A > 0 THEN 3280
3270 F = -1
3280 RETURN
3290 REM-SEE IF ARROW IS AT L(1) OR L(1)
3295 L = P(K)
3300 IF L <> L(2) THEN 3340
3310 PRINT "AHA! YOU GOT THE WUMPUS!"
3320 F = 1
3330 RETURN
3340 IF L <> L(1) THEN 3210
3350 PRINT "OUCH! ARROW GOT YOU!"
3360 GOTO 3270
3370 REM-MOVE WUMPUS ROUTINE
3380 K = FNC(0)
3390 IF K = 4 THEN 3440
3420 PRINT "TSK TSK TSK- WUMPUS GOT YOU!"
3430 F = -1
3440 RETURN
4000 REM- MOVE ROUTINE
4010 F = 0
4020 PRINT "WHERE TO";
4030 INPUT L
4040 IF L < 1 OR L > 20 THEN 4020
4050 FOR K = 1 TO 3
4060 REM- CHECK IF LEGAL MOVE
4070 IF S(L(1), K) = L THEN 4130
4080 NEXT K
4090 IF L = L(1) THEN 4130
4100 PRINT "NOT POSSIBLE -";
4110 GOTO 4020
4120 REM-CHECK FOR HAZARDS
4130 L(1) = L
4140 REM-WUMPUS
4150 IF L <> L(2) THEN 4220
4160 PRINT "... OOPS! BUMPED A WUMPUS!"
4170 REM-MOVE WUMPUS
4180 GOSUB 3380
4190 IF F = 0 THEN 4220
4200 RETURN
4210 REM-PIT
4220 IF L <> L(3) AND L <> L(4) THEN 4270
4230 PRINT "YYYIIIIEEEE . . . FELL IN PIT"
4240 F = -1
4250 RETURN
4260 REM-BATS
4270 IF L <> L(5) AND L <> L(6) THEN 4310
4280 PRINT "ZAP--SUPER BAT SNATCH! ELSEWHEREVILLE FOR YOU!"
4290 L = FNA(1)
4300 GOTO 4130
4310 RETURN
5000 END
jmfb...@aol.com
How many lines was the binary (to the nearest 100 lines)?
It sounds like that would have been a PITB to proofread :-).
/BAH
Subtract a hundred and four for e-mail.
Corey Thompson
I was told first hand that Wumpus was originally created by Ken
Thompson for an early version of UNIX, in order to give his son
something to play with on the computer. I suspect it was written
around 1974. The idea came from a children's magazine, which had a
similar pencil-and-paper game.
I have heard that Gregory Yob created Wumpus c. 1972 at either
Dartmouth or U. Mass, however I have not been able to confirm or deny
this. I suspect he was one of the first to port the UNIX version.
Corey Thompson (the son)
cat...@ucdavis.edu
jsa...@ecn.ab.ca
: Created by Mr Yob after he saw the PCC games Hurkle, Snark and Mugwump. He
: didn't like the 10x10 grid that these used so he wrote Wumpus 1. It was later
: printed in the PCC newsletter Sep/Oct 1975.
: He also wrote Wumpus II.
Yes, Gregory Yob created Hunt the Wumpus.
And, ironically, I remember purchasing a tiny handheld "Dungeons and
Dragons" game, which turned out to be a dragon-hunting game very similar
to Wumpus, but played...
on a 10x10 grid.
John Savard
Xmal
:>And, ironically, I remember purchasing a tiny handheld "Dungeons and
:>Dragons" game, which turned out to be a dragon-hunting game very similar
Hah! That brings back memories. When I was little one of my cousins
visited from out-of-state, sporting one of those. It was a shade of red,
about the size of an audio cassette tape, a little smaller. He acidently
left it behind when he left. I was young enough to make the gameplay very
exciting. I wonder what happened to that thing? I wonder if there was only
one version of it? I'd love to see one of those again.
--
/* xm...@martnet.com 215-4T */
Peter Seebach
Xmal <xm...@martnet.com> wrote:
>Hah! That brings back memories. When I was little one of my cousins
>visited from out-of-state, sporting one of those. It was a shade of red,
>about the size of an audio cassette tape, a little smaller. He acidently
>left it behind when he left. I was young enough to make the gameplay very
>exciting. I wonder what happened to that thing? I wonder if there was only
>one version of it? I'd love to see one of those again.
There were dozens. My H89 had one called "DND" which was an arbitrarily
large dungeon. It had a design flaw. You would face weaker or tougher
monsters on two axes: First, there was monster type; you fought tougher
types of monsters as you got deeper. Second, there was monster level; you
fought higher level monsters as you got higher level.
The bug? Monster level was calculated mildly-at-random, but involved
your level / dungeon level
which meant that, if you got tough, you could *only* survive a couple levels
down; the first level monsters were *amazingly* tough, but the second and
third levels were much, much, more survivable.
It was about 90k of BASIC code. It wasn't Benton Harbor basic, I don't recall
what the other one on the H89 was.
-s
--
Copyright 1999, All rights reserved. Peter Seebach / se...@plethora.net
C/Unix wizard, Pro-commerce radical, Spam fighter. Boycott Spamazon!
Will work for interesting hardware. http://www.plethora.net/~seebs/
Visit my new ISP <URL:http://www.plethora.net/> --- More Net, Less Spam!
John Savard
>>Hah! That brings back memories. When I was little one of my cousins
>>visited from out-of-state, sporting one of those. It was a shade of red,
>>about the size of an audio cassette tape, a little smaller. He acidently
>>left it behind when he left. I was young enough to make the gameplay very
>>exciting. I wonder what happened to that thing? I wonder if there was only
>>one version of it? I'd love to see one of those again.
>There were dozens. My H89 had one
No, he's talking about a physical object: a game with its own custom
LCD screen and little computer chip, that ran off a couple of
batteries.
John Savard ( teneerf<- )
http://www.ecn.ab.ca/~jsavard/crypto.htm
Peter Seebach
John Savard <jsa...@tenMAPSONeerf.edmonton.ab.ca> wrote:
>No, he's talking about a physical object: a game with its own custom
>LCD screen and little computer chip, that ran off a couple of
>batteries.
Oh, wow!
Kragen Sitaker
Good lord! Are you sure? That's 180 sectors, nearly a whole
200-sector HS SS SD disk.
> It wasn't Benton Harbor basic, I don't recall
>what the other one on the H89 was.
Microsoft BASIC. The only thing I ever saw written for Benton Harbor
BASIC was the H89 demo program, which IIRC would also run under
Microsoft BASIC.
I always used MBASIC; can't remember whether it was lots better or just
more familiar.
The H89 was my first computer; I started with it (playing INVADERS and
SEABATTL and writing FOR loops) in 1980, when I was 4. Now I have an
Apple //e -- a much nicer machine -- and am studying 6502 assembler.
(Oh, and I have a Linux box too.)
Kragen
--
<kra...@pobox.com> Kragen Sitaker <http://www.pobox.com/~kragen/>
Tue Sep 14 1999
55 days until the Internet stock bubble bursts on Monday, 1999-11-08.
<URL:http://www.pobox.com/~kragen/bubble.html>