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Wikipedia / BASIC Computer Games

BASIC Computer Games is a compilation of type-in computer games in the BASIC programming language collected by David H. Ahl. Some of the games were written or modified by Ahl as well. Among its better-known games are Hamurabi and Super Star Trek.

Originally published by DEC in 1973 as 101 BASIC Computer Games, the book was so popular that it had two more printing runs, the last in March 1975. The programs in these books were mostly written in the BASIC dialect found on Digital's minicomputers, although some could not be converted and appeared in different dialects like Dartmouth BASIC.

In 1974, Ahl left DEC. He purchased the rights to the book and republished it under the new name. With the release of the first microcomputers, and Microsoft BASIC soon after, the collection added several new games, removed some, and those that remained from the original were ported to this dialect. By the early 1980s, with tens of millions of home computers in the market, it had become the first computer book to sell a million copies.

History

Around 1971, Ahl ported two popular early mainframe games from DEC's FOCAL language to BASIC: Hamurabi and Lunar Lander. He published the BASIC versions in DEC's educational newsletter, EDU, which he edited. Their popularity was such that he called for more submissions for future editions of the newsletter, and quickly gathered many, with a considerable group of them coming from high school students.

The wide availability of BASIC on various platforms, notably the Data General Nova and HP 2100 series, led to considerable porting effort to and from the DEC platform. In July 1973, Ahl published a selection of these submissions as 101 BASIC Computer Games, which quickly sold out. This led to two further printing runs in April 1974 and March 1975. Ahl later noted that number "was far more books than there were computers around, so people were buying three, four, five of them for each computer."

In 1974, Ahl left DEC to start Creative Computing magazine. The next year saw the launch of the first microcomputers and 101 became quite popular with the owners of these machines. The release of the "1977 Trinity" machines (Apple II, Commodore PET, and TRS-80) was soon followed by a great many new competing microcomputer platforms featuring BASIC, along with the userbase to go with them, and demand for the book led to a second edition in 1978. This version removed non-DEC games, replaced them with some of the many submissions he had over the years, and ported those that remained into MS-BASIC format. By 1979, it had sold over 1 million copies, the first computer book to do so.

Sales remained strong for years, and spawned similar collections in More Basic Computer Games (1979), and Big Computer Games (1984) and Basic Computer Adventures (1984), with translations into six languages.

Games

Reception

The first version, 101 went into a second printing and eventually sold 10,000 copies. Ahl later noted that “was far more books than there were computers around, so people were buying three, four, five of them for each computer.”

The second version, BASIC, was re-printed many times and was the first computer book to sell a million copies. Harry McCracken called it "The single most influential book of the BASIC era".

Legacy

Using Vintage Basic, the games can be run on Microsoft Windows, macOS, and Linux. The source code for the book is provided (with permission of David H Ahl) on the Vintage Basic's Basic Computer Games page.

A Microsoft Windows machine with the GW-BASIC interpreter can also run the games.

The games are also compilable and playable with the Microsoft Small Basic development environment for children. Computer Science for Kids has released a 2010 Small Basic Edition of the classic Basic Computer Games book called Basic Computer Games: Small Basic Edition.

A project started on GitHub in 2021 to port the games in these books to modern languages.

Program listings from the second ("microcomputer") edition, and from More Basic Computer Games, can be run by the open-source Brassica interpreter in R or Python.

With the BASIC to Javascript compiler, the original 101 games can be run in a web browser.

References

—No general credit for Ahl as editor (or to any individual for anything) in the book itself. (He does appear in the credits for individual games.) This edition does not appear to have any ISBN or LCCN. The link is to a scan of the March 1975 third printing, which has a different cover and an updated copyright notice The original edition. All programs are written in one of a variety of pre-microcomputer BASICs. All program titles are SIXBIT-compatible. By 1975 two supplements had been published (both crediting Ahl as author): A teacher's guide and resource book for 101 BASIC Computer Games An introduction to computing for children, guiding the reader through interactions with a number of BASIC programs, most from 101 BASIC Computer Games One general revision of 101 BASIC Computer Games was published: —A trade edition, LCCN 78017624, credits Workman Publishing of New York as publisher. There are some significant changes to the text of the Microcomputer Edition between different printings (and perhaps between the Workman and Creative Computing editions?). Compared to the fourth Workman printing and the seventh Creative Computing Press printing, the fourteenth Workman printing has no "And Finally...." section about conversions and bugs (and no ad for Creative Computing on the copyright page), but has a longer BASIC tutorial and a new note about compatibility and conversion on the copyright page. Two variant editions have ported the listings to another BASIC dialect: —The ISBN for this book was, incorrectly, reused for 1984's Big Computer Games (see below), and all ISBN databases now seem to associate it with that book only. The copyright page states that the book was published for Radio Shack —Neither full library data nor the book itself seem to be available from the publisher page Foreign language translations A partial translation (using parallel text in places) adapted from the plates (cover and interior) of the first Creative Computing printing illustrated by Sandy Dean. Only seventy of the games are included. The Danish edition was published in three volumes: —Bibliotek.dk number 06385184 —Bibliotek.dk number 06385192 —Bibliotek.dk number 06385206 Bibliotek.dk page for the series —Another distinct edition with Workman as the publisher exists (LCCN 80057619, OCLC 6487883). Ports —The first printing gives the title as BASIC Computer Games Volume II : TRS-80™ Edition; adapts the cover design of BASIC Computer Games TRS-80 edition with its Sandy Dean illustration (though the interior art is Becker's); and again says on the copyright page that the book was published for Radio Shack Foreign language translations Again uses Sandy Dean illustrations. Only 70 of the 84 games reproduced. —The ISBN for this book was, incorrectly, reused from 1979's BASIC Computer Games : TRS-80 Edition (see above)Ahl identifies this as part of the BASIC Computer Games series in the preface (and all of the games are indeed in BASIC). —The hardcover has

Somewhat similar to Big Computer Games in particular, but not identified as part of the BASIC Computer Games series. All programs were written for the book by Ahl.