As we discussed last time, while BASIC Computer Games became a bestseller because of microcomputers, the games themselves dated back to timesharing systems using teletypewriters. As a result, a few of this first generation of BASIC games produced printed output as the primary purpose or as the game itself.
The most game-like of these was Amazing, which would generate a new, random maze that you could solve on the printout.
AMAZING PROGRAM CREATIVE COMPUTING MORRISTOWN, NEW JERSEY WHAT ARE YOUR WIDTH AND LENGTH? 10 ??? 10 .--.--.--. .--.--.--.--.--.--. I I I I :--:--: :--:--: : : : : . I I I I I I : :--:--: : :--: :--:--: . I I I I I I I : : :--:--:--:--: : : : . I I I I I I I : : :--: : : : :--: :--. I I I I I I I I : : : :--: : :--: :--: . I I I I I I I :--:--: :--:--:--:--: : : . I I I I I : :--:--: : : : :--:--:--. I I I I I : :--: :--:--:--:--:--:--: . I I I I I I :--: : : :--: : :--: : . I I I I I I :--:--: :--:--:--:--:--:--:--.
The Banner program would print a headline:
HORIZONTAL? 1 VERTICAL? 1 CENTERED? N CHARACTER (TYPE 'ALL' IF YOU WANT CHARACTER BEING PRINTED)? ALL STATEMENT?? BASIC SET PAGE? 1 BBBBBBBBB B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B BBB BBB AAAAAA A A A A A A A A A A AAAAAA S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S I I I I I I IIIIIIIII I I I I I I CCCCC C C C C C C C C C C C C
Bingo printed out a bingo card for you and the computer, then called out numbers randomly and asked you to keep track of each card.
And, finally, Calendar would produce a calendar; hardcoded for 1979.
CALENDAR CREATIVE COMPUTING MORRISTOWN, NEW JERSEY ** 0 ****************** JANUARY ****************** 365 ** S M T W T F S *********************************************************** 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 ** 31 ****************** FEBRUARY****************** 334 ** S M T W T F S *********************************************************** 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 ** 59 ****************** MARCH ****************** 306 ** S M T W T F S *********************************************************** 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 ** 90 ****************** APRIL ****************** 275 ** S M T W T F S *********************************************************** 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 ** 120 ****************** MAY ****************** 245 ** S M T W T F S *********************************************************** 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 ** 151 ****************** JUNE ****************** 214 ** S M T W T F S *********************************************************** 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 ** 181 ****************** JULY ****************** 184 ** S M T W T F S *********************************************************** 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 ** 212 ****************** AUGUST ****************** 153 ** S M T W T F S *********************************************************** 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 ** 243 ******************SEPTEMBER****************** 122 ** S M T W T F S *********************************************************** 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 ** 273 ****************** OCTOBER ****************** 92 ** S M T W T F S *********************************************************** 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 ** 304 ****************** NOVEMBER****************** 61 ** S M T W T F S *********************************************************** 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 ** 334 ****************** DECEMBER****************** 31 ** S M T W T F S *********************************************************** 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
You can give each of these a spin in this BASIC emulator (every program from BASIC Computer Games can be preloaded from the dropdown menu). Next time, we’ll look at the primitive visualization tools that were packaged as BASIC “games”.
Updated 2022-08-20. Added BINGO card, fixed BASIC emulator link, and added long-awaited visualization tools link.
