Spectrum Computing

While my brother and I played my ZX Spectrum a lot, my parents were never that much bothered about it, or any other computer-based activity.

My dad never touched the Spectrum at all. My mum played Bubble Bobble with me, once, at that was at my insistence. She quite liked it, to be fair, but that was the only time she ever played a computer game. She believed computing was just a fad and would be gone in a few years. Hmm!

So... did any of your Spectrum games appeal to the rest of your family?

Our "computer room" was our dining room/kitchen table. Our entire family took it in turns to play through Arkanoid... We played it so much that everyone in the family was able to get through the entire game and beat the boss level.

My brother (older than me) were mainly interested in flight sims and strategy games. No arcades or adventures. Maybe also some sports ones.

Fighter Pilot, Dambusters, Fernando Martín B.M. or Mapsnatch were some of them.

Was just me and my younger brother on the Spectrum, parents didn't touch it. Wasn't until the Internet came along many years later that my mother used a computer

My parents never touched the Speccy.

A friend once agreed to sell me his MSX with Tasword and a printer. My Dad drove me there, paid for it, then set it up in his bedroom. I don't think he ever turned it on again. I found it in a box in the loft a few years ago just before he put the house up for sale, and chucked it in the boot of the car. Said it was the old Spectrum (which he'd actually thrown out years before). Thinking about it, I vaguely remember my Mum pulled the same stunt once with a teddy bear I found in a jumble sale...

My Mum learned to use a mouse on my ST. She seemed to most enjoy a simple kid's program where you clicked on numbered dots to draw a dot-to-dot picture, then used a simple colour palette and click-fills to colour it in however you wanted. Once they got a PC, she was into online shopping and ordering 24 packs of a dozen rolls (instead of 24 rolls) just like everyone else's parents!

My parents didn't want to go near the Speccy or Amiga, and me and bro didn't want them near it! It was an alien world that they felt was not for them, and that's only changed over the past few years.

I'm surprised to read 8bitAG's account of the whole family playing Arkanoid. It's nice to see some families bonded over it. Also I notice their speccy was on the kitchen table, so maybe they could have made use of BugBytes's computer cookbook.

A few years back, in a busybodying attempt to perk up a less mobile parent, I got my Dad to try Buzzsaw+ on a laptop. He didn't dislike it, but I can't see him ever being a specchum.

The only time my dad went near a computer pre-2000 was to play Tomahawk once on the Speccy, back in the day. After it had loaded, he decided to use the joystick, so he plugged in the joystick interface... That was the end of that Spectrum, and the end of my dad's (already miniscule) interest in computers.

Pretty much your average story here. Me and my older brother were up to our necks in the Spectrum (well, primarily, me). Our parents never took any interest in it aside from kicking us off when they needed to watch the TV.

Ast A. Moore wrote: ↑Wed Dec 04, 2019 9:00 am [...] Our parents never took any interest in it aside from kicking us off when they needed to watch the TV.

We were lucky as we had a 14-inch B/W TV in our bedroom so we didn't have that problem. But sometimes I tried to use the big colour telly when nobody were using it. Playing games with that TV was amazing! Big screen and coloured games!

SteveSmith wrote: ↑Wed Dec 04, 2019 8:16 am The only time my dad went near a computer pre-2000 was to play Tomahawk once on the Speccy, back in the day. After it had loaded, he decided to use the joystick, so he plugged in the joystick interface... That was the end of that Spectrum, and the end of my dad's (already miniscule) interest in computers.

Ouch! I guess you went mad at him? And was the Speccy promptly replaced?

R-Tape wrote: ↑Wed Dec 04, 2019 12:48 pm

SteveSmith wrote: ↑Wed Dec 04, 2019 8:16 am The only time my dad went near a computer pre-2000 was to play Tomahawk once on the Speccy, back in the day. After it had loaded, he decided to use the joystick, so he plugged in the joystick interface... That was the end of that Spectrum, and the end of my dad's (already miniscule) interest in computers.

Ouch! I guess you went mad at him? And was the Speccy promptly replaced?

Unfortunately, he went mad at me for not telling him that it was the golden rule never to plug something into the edge connector when it's turned on. Thankfully it was promptly replaced though.

I’d say this is grounds for replacing the dad. Promptly.

Before we had a Speccy we had a Dragon 32 and that was used by the whole family, well I say whole family but my sister was 14 so all she was interested in was Sisters of Mercy, Simple Minds, Killing Joke and Goth blokes. During the 8 months we had a Dragon 32 my mum, dad and me would spend ages playing adventure games with Mansion Adventure 1 being the one we spent hours and hours on, with the main issue working out how to open to door on the first screen. After several days we realised it was 'prise door with iron bar'. After 2 dead Dragons we got the money back from Boots and bought a 48k speccy. One of the first games we had was The Hobbit and again we spent ages on that, but, once my dad found out a bloke he worked with could supply a tape crammed full of 'backup' games I would write down my wish-list and get a tape once a month. This was the end of the family involvement until my sister was doing her O Levels and had the Revision Software of Merchant of Venice which really annoyed me as I was desperate to play Wanted:Monty Mole

SteveSmith wrote: ↑Wed Dec 04, 2019 8:16 am The only time my dad went near a computer pre-2000 was to play Tomahawk once on the Speccy, back in the day. After it had loaded, he decided to use the joystick, so he plugged in the joystick interface... That was the end of that Spectrum, and the end of my dad's (already miniscule) interest in computers.

I once removed a joystick interface from my brand new Spectrum +2 while it was still on. Nothing bad happened at all. Of course, NEVER DO THIS. I was clueless and extremely lucky that it was unscathed from my ignorance. I had no idea you shouldn't do that. A friend told me afterwards that it was a miracle my Speccy survived.

My dad and my uncle used to play Psion's Flight Simulation. Only serious stuff for them.

My sister used to play a couple of game: Conquestador/Las Tres Luces de Glaurung being her favourite.
She also wouldn't mind a go at Cobra, IIRC. Oh, and Zombie Zombie! We used to like to build stuff, a comfy home, instead of killing the zombies. And of course she probably tried Skool Daze too.

I had my mother playing Psion's Space Raiders with me a couple of years ago, testing my newly bought Grey +2. She was pressing the fire key.

Oh, I forgot: I had another uncle playing the ski event of some sport game, I don't remember which one. Has World Games a ski event? Anyway, he was a ski enthusiast, a skier and ski master (or bound to become one), so I had him try it, and he liked it.

8BitAG wrote: ↑Sun Dec 01, 2019 6:58 pm Our "computer room" was our dining room/kitchen table. Our entire family took it in turns to play through Arkanoid... We played it so much that everyone in the family was able to get through the entire game and beat the boss level.

SORRY I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT.

Or, I could believe it if you used "infinite lives".

My family gaming memories including everyone trying Manic Miner (and, bizarrely, chanting "Manic Miner" in time with the flashing loading screen$ as it loaded).

The real family time-hoover was Scrabble though. Thinking back, I don't know why we chose to play it on the speccy rather than just getting a physical copy!

WIWC wrote: ↑Tue Dec 17, 2019 8:05 am

8BitAG wrote: ↑Sun Dec 01, 2019 6:58 pm Our "computer room" was our dining room/kitchen table. Our entire family took it in turns to play through Arkanoid... We played it so much that everyone in the family was able to get through the entire game and beat the boss level.

SORRY I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT.
Or, I could believe it if you used "infinite lives".

Believe what you like, but our entire family... me, my sister, my mum and my dad... could all beat that game in the end.

I wouldn't even have known how to do POKEs back then.

uglifruit wrote: ↑Tue Dec 17, 2019 8:17 am
The real family time-hoover was Scrabble though. Thinking back, I don't know why we chose to play it on the speccy rather than just getting a physical copy!

Hey, dictionaries were expensive back then...

PeteProdge wrote: ↑Sun Dec 01, 2019 6:22 pm My dad never touched the Spectrum at all. My mum played Bubble Bobble with me, once, at that was at my insistence.

I'll play Bubble Bobble with you anytime Pete, but only the arcade version!

The only time my dad ever touched my Speccy was to unplug it if ever unattended (more than 30 seconds). He was the original 'like Blackpool illuminations in here', which is British for 'you are using too much electricity'. He finally learned to stop doing it after pulling the plug on a program I had just spent 2 hours putting into a rubber keyed 48k.

DouglasReynholm wrote: ↑Tue Dec 17, 2019 6:07 pm

PeteProdge wrote: ↑Sun Dec 01, 2019 6:22 pm My dad never touched the Spectrum at all. My mum played Bubble Bobble with me, once, at that was at my insistence.

I'll play Bubble Bobble with you anytime Pete, but only the arcade version!

Pfft, Bubble Bobble is one game where practically every conversion of it is damned good. I've never come across a bad version, and I've tried it on old consoles and all sorts.

Yeah, the Speccy only has 80 of the 100 levels, but still, it plays very much like the arcade.

Obviously, the arcade is king, but I can't find a version that sucks - unless it's when they try to 'update' it.

DouglasReynholm wrote: ↑Tue Dec 17, 2019 6:07 pmThe only time my dad ever touched my Speccy was to unplug it if ever unattended (more than 30 seconds). He was the original 'like Blackpool illuminations in here', which is British for 'you are using too much electricity'. He finally learned to stop doing it after pulling the plug on a program I had just spent 2 hours putting into a rubber keyed 48k.

I could get away with that by having the telly switched off. You forget how quiet a Spectrum is. Come the 1990s, with 'serious' computers, the fan made it clear it was definitely on.

PeteProdge wrote: ↑Tue Dec 17, 2019 7:02 pm Pfft, Bubble Bobble is one game where practically every conversion of it is damned good. I've never come across a bad version, and I've tried it on old consoles and all sorts.

Sorry to sort of get off topic momentarily, but yes and no. The conversions were mostly good at getting the base gameplay, (dare I say it) the C64 being 'best'. The problem was that some (caveat - I haven't played all the conversions, but a few, including the Spectrum) of the ports didn't get the feel of the original's 'if this then that' (edit: or 'state machine' if you will) specifically when it came to the current score, and the order of collection and placement of the special objects. Most the ports IIRC didn't get the source to work from (as we know, rare then anyway) and replaced quite a subtle gameplay system with something much more random. I've played a lot of the arcade and none of the ports I played truly hold a candle, solely for that reason.

Possibly the X68000 version might be most faithful? I know Taito have certainly lost the code since, but I don't know if any of the port developers back then got it anyway.

Sermon/rant over.. but to broadly bring this back on topic, I love playing the game with my son 33 years after I first played it just not on the Speccy

When my late father and I built the ZX81 he took an interest in BASIc. Those official manuals are just the best! We also got an input output card from Maplin again as a kit which we controlled some relays with.

Once I got the Spectrum he was not interested in it at all. I was the 'mistake' so my siblings were much older and not interested either. Dad was pleased that I enjoyed the Spectrum though.

Maybe surprise is a better word than mistake!

My brother and I once got two joysticks and a DK'Tronics interface for Christmas. Then later my brother had a strop and pulled the interface out while I was playing Sabre Wulf and said it was his (he got to unwrap it on Christmas morning). It locked up the Speccy, but fortunately it was alright after a reset. Close one.

Most exasperating was my Gran when she was with at Christmas one year. She gave me Jason's Gem as a present, then when I put the Spectrum on the telly to play it started complaining loudly for my Mum to hear, "Do we have to have this rubbish on?". I'm guessing now that Mum actually bought the game and Gran hadn't the faintest idea what it was she had actually given me that year.

I remember my Dad became obsessed with a budget Choplifter type of game. I don't remember the name of it but it scrolled left and right, had a helicopter and I think you were flying over a landscape with sand and palm trees. I would like to know the name of it to be honest. Then, when I had moved on the Master System he developed an obsession with Out Run (best 8-bit version I think).