Spectrum Computing

Is this a MIA?



https://planetasinclair.blogspot.com/20 ... x-mia.html

Probably MIA.

It could be this game but I'm not sure
https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... 6&id=19827

Interesting, I thought the same but it seems odd to have no mention of the author, and this one is prefixed with 'mini'.

Pity it never looks to have been reviewed in the magazines.

Ralf wrote: ↑Wed Oct 31, 2018 6:42 pm It could be this game but I'm not sure
https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... 6&id=19827

I think it probably is. They are both (presumably unlicensed) replicas of this board game by Waddington:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Box_(game)

PeterJ wrote: ↑Wed Oct 31, 2018 7:34 pm Interesting, I thought the same but it seems odd to have no mention of the author, and this one is prefixed with 'mini'.

Pity it never looks to have been reviewed in the magazines.

The advertised game is basically 1983 homebrew sold in a classified ad. So I don't think we should be surprised by a lack of reviews, author details, etc.

Since classified ads were paid for by the word and the original board game was just called Black Box, the author may have decided to drop the "Mini" for the advert.

Good points [mention]Rorthron[/mention]

Unless it's a never heard of previously title (unlikely), it probably is Mini Black Box as you say.

I'm on my phone currently, but assuming it's in BASIC is there anything in the code?

There was also a version of this game as a listing in YS:

https://archive.org/details/your-spectr ... 3/page/n61
https://archive.org/details/your-spectr ... 7/page/n21

djnzx48 wrote: ↑Thu Nov 01, 2018 8:08 am There was also a version of this game as a listing in YS:

https://archive.org/details/your-spectr ... 3/page/n61
https://archive.org/details/your-spectr ... 7/page/n21

Good find! Would you be able to look at the code and see if it matches?

Interesting that type-in is not in the archive.

Rorthron wrote: ↑Thu Nov 01, 2018 7:53 am Since classified ads were paid for by the word and the original board game was just called Black Box, the author may have decided to drop the "Mini" for the advert.

The fact that the classified ad also shortens Black Box to Blackbox is consistent with the seller having an eye on the word count.

djnzx48 wrote: ↑Thu Nov 01, 2018 8:08 am There was also a version of this game as a listing in YS:

https://archive.org/details/your-spectr ... 3/page/n61
https://archive.org/details/your-spectr ... 7/page/n21

It's a different version, though: the author and screenshot are different.

The ad for Blackbox mentions a board printout facility. Does the recovered file have this? (I can't check myself right now.)

PeterJ wrote: ↑Thu Nov 01, 2018 8:28 am

djnzx48 wrote: ↑Thu Nov 01, 2018 8:08 am There was also a version of this game as a listing in YS:

https://archive.org/details/your-spectr ... 3/page/n61
https://archive.org/details/your-spectr ... 7/page/n21

Good find! Would you be able to look at the code and see if it matches?

Interesting that type-in is not in the archive.

It's in the archive, just under a different name: Mystery Box. It's not related to the MIA one either, it's another version of the same game.

Rorthron wrote: ↑Thu Nov 01, 2018 8:32 am The ad for Blackbox mentions a board printout facility. Does the recovered file have this? (I can't check myself right now.)

Not one that I can see from a quick look at the listing. The ad also mentions 16K Spectrums while this game seems to be 48K only (11175 bytes on tape).

Thanks for the information. I'm out and about today so hard to check myself.

djnzx48 wrote: ↑Thu Nov 01, 2018 8:54 am

Rorthron wrote: ↑Thu Nov 01, 2018 8:32 am The ad for Blackbox mentions a board printout facility. Does the recovered file have this? (I can't check myself right now.)

Not one that I can see from a quick look at the listing. The ad also mentions 16K Spectrums while this game seems to be 48K only (11175 bytes on tape).

Perhaps they're not the same game, after all.