Popular games for platform Sinclair ZX81

An illustrated text adventure game for the ZX Spectrum and Sinclair ZX81.

Pinball recreates a pinball table where the aim is to keep hitting a ball to score as many points as you can with two flippers. The table is equipped with bumpers and letters spelling TIMEX, as well as two lanes that when entered give bonus points. There are also two outside lanes that when entered lose the ball and if the ball also passes the flippers then you lose one of five lives.

Tenseiryuu: Saint Dragon is a side-scrolling shoot 'em up video game originally released as a coin-op by Jaleco in 1989. It was converted to several home computer platforms by Storm Entertainment in 1990.

3D space shooter

You have five days to escape from the Oracle's Cave and gather as much treasure along the way as possible.

Traffic is a flick-screen game where you have to move across lanes full of various vehicles for as many points as you can. The vehicles move left or right across the screen and you have to move upwards through gaps while avoiding getting hit by the vehicles or it is game over. If you move downwards then your score decreases. There are 3 skill levels and you can choose the speed of the game (1-255) with 1 being the fastest.

The classic Defenders (Atari 2600 and other platforms) but then in a first person 3D perspective. This game is to be run with a 16K expansion module. You fly over a planet and have a proximity radar indicating where (left-right) an enemy is. Your radar can show false hits when meteorites fall down. The enemies go down and you get points (250) if you shoot them before they reach the ground. The enemies will shoot at you and you will have to try to prevent being hit. If an enemy reaches the ground and can fly up and away again you loose points (50). You have a shield which can take take 10 hits. With either one of the keys q-t moves you left-down. y-p right-down. a-g left-up, h-newline right up. z-m shoots the laser. Using two keys at once allows you to move non-diagonal.

First Steps with the Mr. Men is a Mr. Men video game for multiple platforms.

A unique platformer with twist. While being chased by a giant blob you need to gather fuel and a rocket on the right platform. After this you can fly, over water, to the left platforms to gather jewels. Given the capabilities of the ZX81 an wonderfull game in "high-res".

20 Years on from the Spectrum game Amusement Park 4000, the Zeddy gets a conversion of the 16K Spectrum follow-up Fun Park for Chroma-enabled ZX81s. So much has been crammed into this game; amazing colour and graphics courtesy of Jarrod Bentley, more visitors and options. There are more rides than Amusement Park 4000, and AI and strategy is more sophisticated than the 16K Spectrum version of Fun Park. You've never seen a ZX81 game that looks and plays like this.

Chess game developed for home computer Sinclair ZX81. Game code takes up only 672 bytes in memory, but implements all chess rules except for castling, promotion, and en passant, including a computer opponent. It was the smallest implementation of chess on any computer at the time.

An obscure compilation consisiting of six games for the ZX81.

Tournament Tennis is an early tennis game featuring or even creating many conventions that would become standard features in later tennis simulations. Matches can be played at quarter-final, semi-final or final level - winning at one level automatically moves the player to the next one. They can last for 3 or 5 sets, with a player requiring a 2-game lead to win a set, though a tie-break comes in at 6–6 in all but the final set.

Endurance is a motorcycle racing simulation game released in 1985 for the Amstrad CPC and Sinclair ZX Spectrum. Up to five players compete in turn-based races across various tracks, managing speed, endurance, and strategy. The game features alternating turns and was praised for its realism and challenge.

Asteroids (Software Farm) is a clone of the Arcade version which sees your craft in the middle of an asteroid field and you must destroy all the asteroids to survive. The asteroids start off large and when you shoot one then it splits into two, and shooting an asteroid this size splits it into two again before being destroyed with another shot. Occasionally an alien craft appears moving across the screen and this can be destroyed for extra points. If you are hit by an asteroid or the alien craft then you lose one of three lives. You are able to turn your ship 360 degrees as well as move forward. There are three skill levels (1-3) and four players can play with each player taking it in turn when the last player is killed.

Galaxians & Gloops is a double game pack that contains: Galaxians: Based on the arcade game, you control a craft at the bottom of the screen, moving left or right, blasting alien ships in formation above firing missiles at you. As you blast the aliens, some aliens will swoop down firing missiles as well. If you are hit by an alien or its missiles then you lose one of three lives. Before the game you have a number of options that can be selected and they are speed (0-9), firing rate (0-9) and how many swoop at one time (0-9). Gloops: A Pac-Man clone that has you moving about a maze eating all the dots to clear the maze. As you eat the dots, Gloops move around the maze as well and if you touch one then you lose one of three lives. There are power-pills and if you eat one then you can eat the Gloops for a short time. Before the game you have two options that can be selected and they are speed (0-9) and a choice of ten mazes.

Fantasy Games is a double games pack containing the following adventure games: Perilous Swamp: Deep in a Perilous Swamp, your quest is to find and rescue a Princess held captive by an evil Wizard before escaping out of the swamp. You are presented with a map of your surroundings and text tells you any objects you can see. As you move around the swamp you will encounter various creatures who you can fight, run from or bribe (if you have enough treasure). If you choose to fight then you decide how many combat strength points to use. Spells can be found and used to help you on your quest. Sorcerer's Island: Similar to Perilous Swamp, this time you are on an island and you must attempt to leave it. One difference is you can encounter people like the King of the Dwarves and the Grand Sorcerer himself to help you.

Game-Pac is a compilation of two games and a dice rolling program. Greed is a dice game played against an AI opponent. The objective is to get the highest score by rolling two dice and adding the result of each roll. The game is played in ten rounds and when the player chooses to stop the score is added to the one of previous rounds. Rolling the starting value a second time leads to a crap out and all points of the round will be lost. Brain Teaser is a puzzle game similar to the board game Lights Out. The player is presented with the numbers 1 to 9 shown on a 3 by 3 grid. Numbers are either normal or inverse and the goal is to get an inverse 5 and all others as normal. The player can choose to flip any number but then also all adjacent numbers will be flipped. Super Dice is a program that simulates dice rolls. The player can roll up to five six-sided dice or one four-, eight-, ten-, twelve- or twenty-sided die.

Maze Death Race is a Rally-X variant. The player controls a car and has to drive around a maze and collect a certain number of flags to complete a level. At the same time other cars chase the player's car and attempt to hit it. The number of cars are user defined in the ZX81 version and pre-defined in the ZX Spectrum version. In addition to chaser cars there are various traps on the roads that the player has to avoid hitting such as rocks, oil and ice. Unlike the original arcade game, in this version the player cannot use a smokescreen to confuse the chasers. Both versions allow the player to choose the speed of the AI cars. In the ZX81 version, it is also possible to choose if the car should have momentum while in the Spectrum version this is always the case.

QS Defender is a side scrolling shooter that although it is inspired by it, lacks many features of the arcade game Defender. This version is constantly scrolling left to right and there is no option to turn around and move in the opposite direction. The player can move up and down, fire and use thrust to increase the movement speed forward. There is only one enemy type and each one killed is worth 100 points. Enemies appear in waves. At the start there are just a few but as the player progresses it gets more hectic with up to eight enemies on the screen at once. The player has nine ships. When getting hit the screen goes black for a few seconds before it starts again with a clear screen and one ship less. Once all ships are lost the game has to be restarted through basic.

In what is possibly the most baffling text adventure ever devised, navigate a surreal landscape with the aid of the Pi-Man in an attempt to discover the (real world) location of a golden sundial. Originally published in 1982.