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Anyone know where to get hold of this fantastic lost ZX81 game?

Posted: Sun Oct 21, 2018 12:23 am
by JohnsBargs
I've always loved the arcade game The Pit, and was super-excited to discover a great ZX81 version apparently existed, called Caverns.

caverns.jpg

Thing is, I can't find a download of it anywhere. You can play it in a browser here:

http://www.zx-gaming.co.uk/games/caverns/default.htm

but the original seems to have vanished from the face of the Earth. It was written by a guy called Martin Ruffe and I managed to track down an archived version of a page here:

https://web.archive.org/web/20090729060 ... verns.aspx

The download there is of his PC browser remake, though. Anyone track down the original?

Re: Anyone know where to get hold of this fantastic lost ZX81 game?

Posted: Sun Oct 21, 2018 8:36 am
by Lardo Boffin
I’m not near a PC to download and test but what about this?

https://romsmania.cc/roms/sinclair-zx81 ... -nl-250643

Re: Anyone know where to get hold of this fantastic lost ZX81 game?

Posted: Sun Oct 21, 2018 9:30 am
by JohnsBargs
Nope, found that one in TOSEC too but it's not it :(

Re: Anyone know where to get hold of this fantastic lost ZX81 game?

Posted: Sun Oct 21, 2018 12:55 pm
by krowne
JohnsBargs wrote: Sun Oct 21, 2018 12:23 am I've always loved the arcade game The Pit, and was super-excited to discover a great ZX81 version apparently existed, called Caverns.


caverns.jpg


Thing is, I can't find a download of it anywhere. You can play it in a browser here:

http://www.zx-gaming.co.uk/games/caverns/default.htm

but the original seems to have vanished from the face of the Earth. It was written by a guy called Martin Ruffe and I managed to track down an archived version of a page here:

https://web.archive.org/web/20090729060 ... verns.aspx

The download there is of his PC browser remake, though. Anyone track down the original?

Hi John Try and contact through his current photography website;
http://www.martinruffe.co.uk/

Brian

Re: Anyone know where to get hold of this fantastic lost ZX81 game?

Posted: Sun Oct 21, 2018 1:19 pm
by JohnsBargs
Yup, have already dropped him a line via Twitter, fingers crossed :)

Re: Anyone know where to get hold of this fantastic lost ZX81 game?

Posted: Sun Oct 21, 2018 9:55 pm
by JohnsBargs
Martin very kindly got back to me and had a chat today, but sadly it's bad news - the tapes are long gone and he doesn't have a digital version of the game. Although he said he might try to recode it one day :)

Re: Anyone know where to get hold of this fantastic lost ZX81 game?

Posted: Mon Oct 29, 2018 7:23 am
by castiglione
I got curious, tried to play the game on the browser and now I've got a big question:

How do you get by the "X" without getting killed? I can't seem to get by them. I tried shooting them (no worky). Given how many of those are on the map, if you can't get by them, you're basically stuck.

Re: Anyone know where to get hold of this fantastic lost ZX81 game?

Posted: Mon Oct 29, 2018 5:37 pm
by castiglione
n/m - figured it out. You just have to run like a manic and do a "hero run".

Pretty fun and addictive.

Re: Anyone know where to get hold of this fantastic lost ZX81 game?

Posted: Sat Jan 26, 2019 11:17 pm
by GCHarder
The original programmer has uploaded this video, for those interested.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEy5sDJWLnM

Regards;

Greg