PiDP-8/I Software

These demos in BASIC can be found in the (under development, new) OS/8 RK05 system packs in the RKB0: partition.

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. A quite readable preserved version of the 1975 edition can be found online at: http://bitsavers.trailing-edge.com/pdf/dec/_Books/101_BASIC_Computer_Games_Mar75.pdf. If a demo is from this book it is designated -101- instead of ----- below. If the demo from the book, there will be a page or two of useful lore, and a sample run provided.

BINGO .BA -101- Computer generates bingo card for you and itself and randomly calls out numbers at random.

BLKJAC.BA -101- Play the card game of 21 against the computer.

BLKJAK.BA -101- Version of 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. 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 found in 101 BASIC Computer Games.

FOTBAL.BA -101- The second of two football simulations found in 101 BASIC Computer Games. Written 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, written in BASIC by Clark Baker, Project DELTA, Delaware School Auxilliary Association, Newport, Delaware.

LIFE2 .BA -101- Two players place pieces on the board and the rules of Conway's game of life determines who survies. Written by Brian Wyvill, Bradford University, Bradford, Yorkshire, England.

MONPLY.BA -101- Simulation of the board game, Monopoly, 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. CPM User Group posting had missing bits, and a couple constructs OS/8 BASIC didn't like.

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 some the ON ERROR GOTO stuff that was added to the RSTS version but 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. Recoverdd from Dave Gesswein's Archive

SIGNS .BA -- Program to print posters by Daniel R. Vernon, Butler High School, Butler PA. When I tested the program under OS/8 BASIC I kept getting 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- Written by Bob Dores, Milton, MA. A battle with 72,000 soldiers you deploy to Army, Navy, and Air Force against the computer.

WEKDAY.BA -101- Input a birth date and learn fun facts like how many years have been spent sleeping 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. Quite an elaborate and comprehensive implementation.

Also on the SYS: partition is:

RESEQ.BA ----- Re-sequence line numbers of a BASIC program.

License

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