Merch for Games No One Plays

When my youngest was 8, I created a simple microgame for us to play instead of the classic card game of War: Melee in the Mines. We played it about 50 times, so I created a free PDF version to share with other people. (It’s light but with some decisions: it has an average rating of 5 out of 10, compared to 2 out of 10 for War.) It’s been downloaded less than 100 times, so imagine my surprise when I came across merchandise for it: Basically, TwiceTheTees.com has created […]

BASIC Microgames in 24 Lines

Growing up, I remember going to friends’ houses and typing in BASIC programs. We’d take turns entering the listing and double checking it, then play whatever game it was. Back then, everyone had a different microcomputer. I had a TRS-80 Model I, the library had an Apple II (too expensive for most of us back then), Ron had a VIC-20, Mark had a TI-99/4A, Mike had a Commodore 64, Chris an Amiga, and so on. Even the Bally Astrocade had a BASIC cartridge. The iOS app LowRes Coder returns us […]
Colossal Cave 101

Colossal Cave Adventure 101

Update: Advent 101: Streamlined, Randomized Colossal Cave Adventure When my 11-year old wanted to learn to program last spring, I got him a book on writing games in JavaScript. It had the source code for four games, but my son found it difficult. Four games?! A far cry from the 101 BASIC Computer Games that was my go-to (ahem) when I was his age, programming a TRS-80 Model I. So I looked at a number of different BASIC implementations for his iPod Touch, eventually landing on LowRes Coder, which turns an […]

The Cult of the New: Preferences for New Board Games

For an update analysis for 2024, see: U.S. Gamers Prefer the Familiar. The “cult of the new” is the obsession with new titles, which makes hobbyist gaming much like the movie industry. The online site, Yucata.de, offers free online games with human players. Here are the plays averaged across 111 games, relative to when each game was first introduced to the community. You can see that a new game peaks in 3 months, then gradually declines to half its peak after 2 years, dropping only slightly after that for the […]

Last Game Played – Board Game Survey Results

Researchscape conducted a series of one-question polls as background research to its survey of Kickstarter backers. In a poll conducted March 23, 2016, half the U.S. online consumers interviewed had played a game this year: 18% in the past week, 17% within the past month, and 16% earlier in the year. The other half had played in 2015 or earlier or couldn’t recall. How long has it been since you played a card game or board game? (In real life, not on an electronic device.) Option Response % Cumulative % Within past week […]
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Code Monkey Got Married

I curated a rock opera about the life and many loves of Code Monkey, drawn from Jonathan Coulton songs. You can listen to the playlist on Spotify or assemble it using your favorite music app: The Future Soon Code Monkey I Feel Fantastic Make You Cry You Ruined Everything Sticking It to Myself SkyMall Alone at Home Nobody Loves You Like Me When You Go Artificial Heart Today with Your Wife Glasses Shop Vac Chiron Beta Prime (The image is a screen cap of this video.)
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First Commercial Software for TRS-80 in a Decade: Perseus SurveySolutions for TRS-80

BRAINTREE, Mass.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–April 1, 1998–Perseus today announced the immediate availability of a new version of Perseus SurveySolutions written specifically for the Tandy/Radio Shack TRS-80 Model I. “When we realized that no new software had been developed for the TRS-80 Model I in at least a decade, we felt compelled to re-open the market window,” said Richard Nadler, President of Perseus Development Corp. “The TRS-80 is an exciting platform for us, given its installed base. While some software companies were started in the garage, we’re the first to develop software for […]

More Gymnastics with Onomastics

Mark Rosenfelder has edited and updated my articles and essays from the Model Languages newsletter and the former Langmaker.com website, assembling them into the book Langmaker: Celebrating Conlangs. Available now as a Kindle or paperback from Amazon! Here’s the third issue I ever published. From [email protected] Fri Aug 4 12:13:39 1995 Date: 03 Aug 95 23:48:12 EDT From: Jeffrey Henning To: BlindCopyReceiver: ; Subject: MODLANG 3 MODEL LANGUAGES The newsletter discussing newly imagined words for newly imagined worlds ———————————————————————— Volume I, Issue 3 — July 1, 1995 MORE GYMNASTICS WITH […]

Inventing a Language for Naming People and Places

Mark Rosenfelder has edited and updated my articles and essays from the Model Languages newsletter and the former Langmaker.com website, assembling them into the book Langmaker: Celebrating Conlangs. Available now as a Kindle or paperback from Amazon! Here’s the second issue I ever published. From [email protected] Thu Jun 8 15:10:19 1995 Date: 08 Jun 95 13:06:25 EDT From: Jeffrey Henning To: BlindCopyReceiver: ; Subject: Copy of: MODEL LANGUAGES, 6/1/95, 1 of 2 MODEL LANGUAGES The newsletter discussing newly imagined words for newly imagined worlds ———————————————————————— Volume I, Issue 2 — […]
Langmaker: Celebrating Conlangs book cover

An Introduction to the Hobby of Model Languages

Mark Rosenfelder has edited and updated my articles and essays from the Model Languages newsletter and the former Langmaker.com website, assembling them into the book Langmaker: Celebrating Conlangs. Available now as a Kindle or paperback from Amazon! Here’s the very first issue I ever published. From: Jeffrey Henning <[email protected]> Subject: _Model Languages_, 5/1/95 MODEL LANGUAGES The newsletter discussing newly imagined words for newly imagined worlds ————————————————————————– Volume I, Issue 1 — May 1, 1995 AN INTRODUCTION TO THE HOBBY OF MODEL LANGUAGES Some people build model airplanes, some craft model […]

The Curse of Crna Gora

History on his head He wore a black mountain kapa Black border, red blood center, white war braid Black for Kosovo Polje, swarming with Turks Red for Kosovo Polje, bleeding his fathers’ blood White for the wars and the strength of his cause A millenium halved in war A mountaineer in love with hate A warrior from Crna Gora Italians had swarmed over the border Had stolen the capitol of Cetinje Now he guides his men for the black mountain “A friend can cross the karst in 6 hours, a […]