101 BASIC Computer Games

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Nostalgia and role of the book

  • Many commenters learned to program from 101 BASIC Computer Games or related Ahl books as kids, often by painstakingly typing listings from the library or second-hand copies.
  • The appeal was less the game quality and more the magic of making a computer respond interactively, often on early home machines (C64, CPC, Microbee, TRS-80, Apple II, etc.).
  • Type-in culture is remembered fondly as formative: debugging typos, adapting code to incompatible BASIC dialects, and learning the machine’s quirks.

BASIC dialects and modern environments

  • Strong interest in recreating the “BASIC feel” today:
    • Suggestions include QuickBasic 4.5 via DOSBox-X, GW-BASIC, FreeBASIC, QB64, BASICA/GW-BASIC reimplementations like pcbasic and lighter clones.
    • Some prefer interpreters because compilation changes the “flavor”.
  • Alternatives and descendants: VB.NET still has some BASIC-style dynamism; AmigaBASIC and Blitz/AmiBlitz are praised as high points of structured but still “pure” BASIC.

Game quality and content differences

  • Some games are still regarded as good or influential: Game of Life, Lunar Lander variants, Hammurabi, Golf.bas, and especially Super Star Trek (with C and Python ports).
  • Others note most games are simple and not that memorable; the educational aspect mattered more.
  • Confusion between 101 BASIC Computer Games (DEC dialects, earlier set) and BASIC Computer Games (later, Microsoft-like dialect, changed lineup) is highlighted.
  • Repeated questions about missing QBasic-era games (gorillas.bas, nibbles) are answered: this collection specifically mirrors the 1975 DEC printing, so later QBasic examples aren’t included.

Line numbers and language mechanics

  • Line numbers were required in early BASICs for control flow (GOTO/GOSUB), ordering, and editing; you edited or deleted lines by number.
  • Pain points: inserting code when numbers ran out, renumbering, and losing mental associations with specific line numbers.
  • Some dialects had RENUM; conventions like numbering by tens helped.
  • Broader dialect differences (Dartmouth, HP, MS/BASIC-PLUS families) and implementation styles (tokenized storage vs p-code compilation) are discussed with curiosity about their design history.

Modern successors and culture

  • Multiple links to ports of the games in modern languages, browser-playable collections, and related HN threads.
  • The 10LINEBASIC competition is repeatedly recommended as a contemporary way to experience dense, elegant BASIC games.
  • Several people contrast the utopian, end-user-programmer vision of the BASIC era with today’s app/AI-dominated, less user-programmable computing world.