Happy 40th Birthday 🎉

[flatduckrecords]

Since rediscovering my love for the Spectrum a couple of years ago, I’ve also rediscovered the unique joy of Saturday mornings and flicking through an archived issue of Crash or Your Sinclair, loading up a real cover tape to maybe discover something new.

And watching @PaulJ’s The Spectrum Show with a big bowl of Coco-Pops has become another monthly Saturday tradition of course!

But on this particularly auspicious Saturday the old Rubber Keyed Wonder celebrates the big Four-Oh. What will you be doing today? (Rainbow themed cake anyone??)

Me, I’ve some programming I want to do (I might be putting something together for CSSCGC…) but I also need to catch up with more of the games from @Quantum Sheep’s lovely charity bundle.

So happy birthday Speccy. Here’s to 40 more years of fun and coding and learning and sharing and all that good stuff. Cheers!

[Alessandro]

40 years! Woohoo!!

I am in Rome today, for a very special event

[PeterJ]

Happy 40th ZX Spectrum!

Thanks for all the enjoyment you have given me, guiding me in career choices, and making me a tinkerer for all things technology.

The software and hardware scene seem to be stronger than ever. Long may it continue.

Finally, thanks to all of you for supporting SC and making it such a great community and a relatively short period of time. Virtual hugs and handshakes to you all!

I'm spending the day browsing through Sinclair User and Crash whilst sitting in the sunshine.

I approve of the emoji @flatduckrecords!

[Swainy]

Happy 40th birthday Spec-Chums! Without this little rubber keyed wonder, our lives simply wouldn’t have been the same.

[Juan F. Ramirez]

Happy birthday!

I can't believe our beloved little machine is 40 years old. I feel old!

I am proud of belonging to this marvellous comunity full of good chaps!

[spider]

Happy Birthday

[oblo]

Happy birthday and long life to ours Spectrums!

[Ralf]

Happy Birthday to our beloved little machine!

Without it we wouldn't be the people who we are now.
And Speccy is actually still kicking and quite alive Remember, nowadays 40 years is actually a young age, not an old one

All the best to all of us!

[Juan F. Ramirez]

Remember, nowadays 40 years is actually a young age, not an old one

The Speccy is getting into its midlife crisis!

[PeteProdge]

Wow, everyone is out partying today. Blokes dressed as knights (because of Knight Lore); people in England football tops (because of International Match Day) singing 'Jerusalem' (because of this game), massive displays of dragons (definitely showing their love of Thanatos) and the Royal Family (didn't realise there was so much love for Flunky).

Someone tried to correct me, saying that the day is also dedicated to something else. And they do have a point, for today is also Record Store Day. I'm going to buy Manic Miner on limited edition vinyl. I know it's three minutes of screeching noises and therefore easy to get mistaken for a Little Mix single.

And another person suggested I wear red and white today. Well, I'm happy to oblige...

[Ivanzx]

Happy Birthday ZX Spectrum! Unbelievable! 40 years, how time flies, can´t believe it. I thhought it was really crazy when the Speccy turned 30, and now 10 more! and more alive than in 1992

[arkannoyed]

Unbelievable! I’ve spent most of my childhood and much of my adult life idolising this beautiful little wonder of a machine. Very nostalgic feeling in the air today!

[arjun]

Happy b'day to the speccy! May you keep living on in our heart and mind!

[luny]

Never again will we experience such a life changing event as the release of the ZX Spectrum.

[TMD2003]

Happy birthday, Spectrum, and cheers for being there for me even when I didn't realise I needed it.

I would say "allow me to spin a yarn with only the mildest of apologies for those who have heard it all before, or who might read it on any other Sinclair-related forum"... but I re-read it and it looked so self-indulgent that it's probably best not posted in public, or at least hidden where only those who want to see it can see it. Plus, it has a dreadful confession for which today is about the least appropriate day to do so.

So I'll just stick with this FUN FACT: I was 1001 days old when the Spectrum went on sale.

And other than that, I'll crack open a celebratory bottle of elderberry wine this evening. I was going to do that tomorrow, over (Channel 4's cut-down re-run of) the Grand Prix, but as there's (Channel 4's cut-down re-run of) a sprint race this evening, I can justify it that way as well. And I'll have a celebratory curry, though that shouldn't be taken as an endorsement of Chris Curry, nor him having a punch-up with Our Glorious Departed Creator in the Baron of Beef.

Tonight I'll get some of my favourite games out for a spin on the actual machine. It would be rude not to. It won't be on my original +2 - something's wrong with the RGB socket that makes the picture jump around left and right with the Retro Computer Shack lead - so it'll have to be one of the +2Bs. I only have Amstrad-built models, but so be it. I don't have endless storage space. My collection of Spectrum stuff takes up half a wardrobe that normal people would put clothes in.

Maybe tonight I'll actually get through Jetpac. That'd be a thrill. All together now: "We bought it to help with your homework..."

And not to sound heretical - any more than is intended, which is not at all - but there are other computers that will also turn 40 this year, not least the Commodore 64, on a non-specific date in August. I wonder if there will be similar levels of celebration in Commie-land, or in the wider world? Will there be an issue of Retro Gamer dedicated to it? RG is a British magazine, so it's understandable they'd focus on the Spectrum (and you'll be hearing no complaints about that from me) - but if there's an American equivalent, will they be having a Transatlantic knees-up about four decades of the (second) Bread Bin, or will it get drowned out in a sea of Apples, Ataris, Trash-80s, TI-99s and "dude, we preferred consoles anyway"?

Cheers and many hails to the computer that's been part of my life for 80.315% of its length - and it was already north of its fifth birthday by the time I found it.

[R-Tape]

Yep Happy 40th Speccy! You have earned your place in history, and with all the preservation work, new software (not least things like the Bearsden Primary project) and hardware, you still have a future.

My earliest memories of the Speccy were of mucking about with BASIC and and weighing up which type in to attempt*. Thankyou Speccy for being such a funky little box, with the best BASIC manual and User Guide EVER, that enabled us to make things like this and feel like gods for doing so:



*a complicated formula of a-how long is it, b-is there a screenshot, c-are there any keyboard shortcuts I can't do and d-how good is the cartoon.

Cheers!

[Pegaz]

Happy Birthday Speccy!
Like a wine, you get better with age.

[R-Tape]

So I'll just stick with this FUN FACT: I was 1001 days old when the Spectrum went on sale.

You could reload your brilliant phrase from your website with the right number!

My further tribute to the computer made by men in sheds from a small, rain-lashed island in north-western Europe that took on the corporate might of the Americans and the Japanese, taught a generation how to code, and is still enjoyed and revered 35 years after its launch.

[+3code]

Yeah, happy 101000.

[spider]

Happy 40th Spectrum!

A short story with pics:

It was 10/10/84 when I got my first Spectrum although I had used one before. A rubbery keyed model (all that was available then and even now I prefer that over the + but that is just me lol) from the local Co-Op, using my own savings ( ! ). Obviously Horizons was in the box along with an RF lead, a tape lead and a power supply with no mains plug as was quite normal back then...

It came with this 'pack' too:



Turned out that was standard fare for Co-Op at least, other stores varied a bit. One of the very first things I saw was this... I can remember the erm 'excitement' of it drawing the rainbow for the first time look, colour!







So, thank you and Happy Birthday!

EDIT... Small typo fix.

[R-Tape]

Yeah, happy 101000.

Your Octal is a ten years out...

[cmal]

Happy Birthday ZX Speccy!! How lucky we were to be born when we were to experience this charming machine.

[Ast A. Moore]

Sounds unbelievable, but it’s been forty years. Forty years, gentlemen! And yet, whenever I fire her up, I feel like a teenager again. Not quite the Fountain of Youth, but there’s definitely something magical about the Speccy.

No matter what I do or where I am, the Spectrum will always be an important part of my life. Long live the Speccy and all the specchums!

[Cosmium]

Happy Birthday ZX Speccy!! How lucky we were to be born when we were to experience this charming machine.

Agreed! It was the combination of being alive at our impressionable ages to experience the introduction of this wonderful machine - with its seemingly magical abilities, and at such a relatively accessible price - that made it feel so special then. And I think that combination also explains why it feels so special now.

When my 16K Spectrum first arrived by post in the summer of 82 it transformed my world. No need to buy any more "limited" Entex electronic games to get my arcade fix - I could make any arcade game I wanted, in colour and with sound. And so I began my absorbing journey doing so.

And in recent years that dormant 8bit passion has been reawoken thanks to great sites like this and a thriving community. Fantastic!

Happy 40th little one!

[DAV83]

I am so grateful for the Speccy. If it wasn't for it I would not be the gamer I am today.

Happy 40th Spectrum! Here's to the next 40 years of cherished memories!