Original Design of Pontoon in United Kingdom

Anything Sinclair ZX Basic related; history, development, tips - differences between BASIC on the ZX80 and ZX81
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zealot_girl
Posts: 1
Joined: Mon Feb 09, 2015 2:03 pm

Original Design of Pontoon in United Kingdom

Post by zealot_girl »

Hi everyone,

I could use a bit of help. Does anyone know the name of the individual who created the original design of the game Pontoon probably on the ZX80 in Basic in the United Kingdom in 1980? This program would have been the first to teach the computer to play the game. I know there are many variations out there but who designed the computer version first.

Any ideas on this would be really helpful.

Thanks
Zane :geek:
rampagingcarrot
Posts: 1
Joined: Tue Jul 21, 2020 7:24 am

Re: Original Design of Pontoon in United Kingdom

Post by rampagingcarrot »

Hey Zane, I just found your post while researching, and if you are still curious 5 years later I believe I have an answer for you. Here
https://web.archive.org/web/20060924133 ... istory.doc
is a history of a company called "VORTEX Software", and in it describes how its founder Costa Panayi and his friend Paul Canter wrote Pontoon after acquiring the Sinclair ZX81, his first video game console, before VORTEX was even founded. They sent Pontoon, along with other creations Mastermind, Othello, and Awari, to Michael Orwin of Orwin software to sell.

-Carrot
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