BASIC Games and Demos

When this package is installed, the files are found on the DSK: partition of the bootable image.

Many of them were ported to OS/8 BASIC by DEC employee Kay R. Fisher. Most were published in the DEC publication, 101 BASIC Computer Games. That book describes itself as follows:

It is the first collection of games all in BASIC. It is also the only collection that contains both a complete listing and a sample run of each game along with a descriptive write-up.

The first printing was in 1973. Apparently the original version of the programs were in PDP-11 RSTS BASIC, so porting to the OS/8 BASIC dialect would often be needed. A quite readable preserved version of the 1975 edition can be found online. If a demo is from this book, it is designated -101- instead of ----- below. The book provides a page or two of useful lore, and a sample run.

This file provides usage, history, and ongoing curation information about the items in this package. (An HTML table is used instead of a markdown table to take greater control of the display of the information.)

File name	Src	Description
BINGO .BA	-101-	Computer generates bingo card for you and itself and calls out numbers at random.
BLKJAC.BA	-101-	Play the card game of 21 against the computer.
BLKJAK.BA	-101-	Blackjack written for PDP-8 Edusystem 30 BASIC by Tom Kloos, Oregon Museum of Science and Industry.
BUNNY .BA	-101-	Prints the Playboy rabbit as typewriter art.
CALNDR.BA	-101-	Perpetual calendar program, by Geoffrey Chase, OSB, Portsmouth Abbey School. Usage: You must modify line 160 to name the day of the week for January 1 of your year. (0 for Sunday, -1 for Monday, etc.). You also need to modify lines 360 and 620 for leap years: Change the number 365 on line 360 to 366, and change the third element of the array in line 620 from 28 to 29.
CHECKR.BA	-101-	Written by Alan J. Segal. Play checkers against the computer.
CRAPS .BA	-----	The dice game of craps. Surprisingly it's not the version from 101 BASIC Computer Games.
DICE .BA	-101-	Simulates rolling of dice, and prints the distribution of values returned.
FOOTBL.BA	-101-	The first of two football simulations from 101 BASIC Computer Games.
FOTBAL.BA	-101-	The other football game from 101 BASIC GAMES by Raymond W. Miseyka, Butler Sr. High School, Butler, PA.
GOLF .BA	-----	A not so great golf simulation. The one in 101 BASIC Computer Games looks a lot better.
HELLO .BA	-101-	Simple conversation program where Petey P. Eight gives advice.
HOCKEY.BA	-101-	Simulation of regulation hockey game. Written by Charles Buttrey, Eaglebrook School, Deerfield, MA .
KING .BA	-101-	Land management simulation by James A. Storer, Lexington High School, Lexington, MA. Missing a bit of the text output in the game published in the 1975 edition of 101 BASIC Computer Games, but functionally equivalent.
LIFE .BA	-101-	Conway's game of life by Clark Baker, Project DELTA, Delaware School Auxiliary Assoc., Newport, Delaware.
LIFE2 .BA	-101-	Two players put pieces on the board. Rules of Conway's game of life determines survivor. Written by Brian Wyvill, Bradford University, Bradford, Yorkshire, England.
MONPLY.BA	-101-	Monopoly board game simulation, by David Barker, Southeastern State College, Durant, OK. Ported to OS/8 BASIC by Kay R. Fisher who eliminated the original RSTS-E virtual files.
POKER .BA	-101-	Play poker against the computer. Original author: A. Christopher Hall, Trinity College, Hartford, CT. Re-ported to OS/8 BASIC from CPM Users Group POKER.BAS source by Bill Cattey fixing constructs OS/8 BASIC didn't like.
RESEQ.BA	-----	Re-sequence line numbers of a BASIC program. Not from the DEC BASIC book.
ROCKET.BA	-101-	Lunar lander simulation. Written by Jim Storer, Lexington High School. Ported from Focal by David Ahl, Digital. Lost for a while due to bad disk bits. Using a partial copy from Dave Gesswein's Archive, a RSTS-11 version was found at pdp-11.trailing-edge.com and re-ported to OS/8 by Bill Cattey, converting RSTS BASIC constructs to OS/8 constructs, and eliminating ON ERROR GOTO that does not exist in OS/8. This code diverged significantly from the version appearing in 101 BASIC Computer Games, but is functionally equivalent.
ROCKT1.BA	-101-	Another Lunar Lander Simulator. Written by Eric Peters, Digital. Thought lost. Recovered from Dave Gesswein's Archive.
ROULET.BA	-----	European Roulette Wheel game. Written by David Joslin. Converted to BASIC-PLUS by David Ahl, Digital. Ported to OS/8 BASIC By Kay R. Fisher, DEC. Thought lost. Recovered from Dave Gesswein's Archive.
SIGNS .BA	-----	Program to print posters by Daniel R. Vernon, Butler High School, Butler PA. Usage: When tested the under OS/8 BASIC we get SU AT LINE 00261 which is a Subscript out of Bounds error.
SNOOPY.BA	-----	The old Curse You Red Barron Snoopy poster.
SPACWR.BA	-101-	Space war game based on classic Star Trek. Game written by Mike Mayfield, Centerline Engineering.
TICTAC.BA	-----	Play tic-tac-toe with the computer. Simple version. Thought lost. Recovered from Dave Gesswein's Archive.
WAR.BA	-101-	Play the game of war against the computer. Was thought lost. Recovered from Dave Gesswein's Archive. However, that port to OS/8 BASIC contained a bug and could never run. Line 230 defines the array for the cards. In OS/8 BASIC the maximum string size needed to be specified, as well as the number of strings. 230 DIM A$(52,3),L(54) will not accomodate the 10-value card. The 3 needed to be a 4. Program fixed and run-tested.
WAR2.BA	-101-	Deploy 72,000 soldiers to Army, Navy, and Air Force against the computer. Written by Bob Dores, Milton, MA.
WEKDAY.BA	-101-	Input a birth date and learn fun facts about happenings in the elapsed time. Written by Tom Kloos, Oregon Museum of Science and 'Industry.
WUMPUS.BA	-----	Hunt the wumpus.
YAHTZE.BA	-101-	Dice game of Yahtze. Author unknown. Said in the book to be "Quite an elaborate and comprehensive implementation." However testing has shown some defects. For example, taking three of a kind never tests for a valid collection of 3 sames. The test for 4 sames in taking four of a kind isrelies on an ordering of the dice that is not enforced, so frequently valid four of a kind collections are ruled illegal. So it's a fun, but flawed artifact.

License

Copyright © 2017-2020 by Bill Cattey. This document is licensed under the terms of the SIMH license.