Robert Erskine ZX81 Battle of Britain

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Gagarin
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Joined: Sun Dec 16, 2018 9:41 pm

Robert Erskine ZX81 Battle of Britain

Post by Gagarin »

I seem to remember playing this game on my ZX81
It was a text only game simulating the Battle of Britain and you had to use an actual map of South east England using the A to Z / 1 to 9 co-ordinates provided by the program.
I have searched everywhere on the internet for this game but cannot find it
Can anyone provide the listing for this game?
with thanks
Last edited by Gagarin on Thu Jan 17, 2019 9:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Lardo Boffin
Posts: 2160
Joined: Sat Nov 26, 2016 2:42 am

Re: Robert Ersine ZX81 Battle of Britain

Post by Lardo Boffin »

Even the ZX81 stuff guy has that one listed as MIA!

He does have a magazine scan of the advert:-

http://www.zx81stuff.org.uk/zx81/publis ... 100039.jpg
ZX80
ZX81 iss 1 (bugged ROM, kludge fix, normal, rebuilt)
TS 1000 iss 3, ZXPand AY and +, ZX8-CCB, ZX-KDLX & ChromaSCART
Tatung 81 + Wespi
TS 1500 & 2000
Spectrum 16k (iss 1 s/n 862)
Spectrum 48ks plus a DIVMMC future and SPECTRA
Gagarin
Posts: 8
Joined: Sun Dec 16, 2018 9:41 pm

Re: Robert Erskine ZX81 Battle of Britain

Post by Gagarin »

Yes
That is the one
Last edited by Gagarin on Thu Jan 17, 2019 9:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Gagarin
Posts: 8
Joined: Sun Dec 16, 2018 9:41 pm

Re: Robert Erskine ZX81 Battle of Britain

Post by Gagarin »

There is a readily available ZX Spectrum of this game and it is very similar but it provides an in game map and graphics
Lardo Boffin
Posts: 2160
Joined: Sat Nov 26, 2016 2:42 am

Re: Robert Erskine ZX81 Battle of Britain

Post by Lardo Boffin »

Gagarin wrote: Thu Jan 17, 2019 9:06 pm There is a readily available ZX Spectrum of this game and it is very similar but it provides an in game map and graphics
Yes - saw that on World of Spectrum. Good luck with the ZX81 version. Someone may have a copy on here.
ZX80
ZX81 iss 1 (bugged ROM, kludge fix, normal, rebuilt)
TS 1000 iss 3, ZXPand AY and +, ZX8-CCB, ZX-KDLX & ChromaSCART
Tatung 81 + Wespi
TS 1500 & 2000
Spectrum 16k (iss 1 s/n 862)
Spectrum 48ks plus a DIVMMC future and SPECTRA
Microgame
Posts: 1
Joined: Fri Feb 22, 2019 3:07 pm

Re: Robert Erskine ZX81 Battle of Britain

Post by Microgame »

Hi, I stumbled upon this thread during some nostalgic research. I am the original game designer, Robert Erskine's son, and did ask if he had a copy for the ZX81.

To paraphrase; a working original will be hard to come by as digital cassette tapes don't wear well. At the time it was difficult supplying Boots, Smiths, etc. with reliable copies, as the mass production technology was still fairly crude, and geared to audio. He spent weeks with commercial tape engineers in London getting it right but most of the problem was with the ZX81 itself.

While it's not the same thing as having the original it is possible to run the game on a pc with a ZX Spectrum emulator;

http://www.worldofspectrum.org/infoseek ... id=0000455

Good luck in finding an original copy for the ZX81.
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