Popular games for platform Sinclair ZX81

Artic Computing's take on Reversi

ZX Compendium is a collection of six games and programs that contains: Alien Intruder: During a long space voyage to Earth, you have been woken from cryogenic suspension to find, to your horror, the rest of the crew devoured by an alien lifeform. To prevent yourself being the next item on the menu you have decided to collect enough essential supplies before escaping in a shuttle. The game is a text adventure with some graphics where the screen is split into two. The top half shows a map of one of the three levels of the ship with your location and the aliens if on the same level as you, a map showing your immediate surrounding area and any exits, and finally the supplies you need to collect which are oxygen, cells, water and food. The bottom half of the screen has text describing your current location and you type in commands with the keyboard to interact with each location. If you enter a location with the alien then you die but if the alien enters your location then you need to deal with the situation. Wumpus Adventure: A text adventure that allows one to four players to move around an area hunting for creatures called a Wumpus to kill. Before you start the hunt you have a number of options and they are, choice of caverns (Novice, Random Cave Pattern and Professional Hunter), number of players, and if you hunt to the death or kill a certain amount of Wumpus. The actual game sees text on the screen describing each location of a player and the current player types in commands to interact with their surroundings. Each player gets one move before the next player has a turn. The players are armed with five arrows but more can be collected, and as well as Wumpus there are other creatures like Goblins and giant serpents that need to be dealt with. Numerology: A program that allows you to enter your name and birth date to receive a reading about your personality and find out your lucky number, colour and day of the week. Hangman: Based on the pen and paper game, you can compete against the computer or another person as you try to guess a word without being hanged. A word is generated and you have to select a letter at a time to try to make the word. If you guess a correct letter then it appears in the word but get one wrong and a man being hanged on a scaffold starts to appear. The computer has two levels (1-2) to choose from. Hieroglyphics: You have to decipher 39 Hieroglyphics by placing a letter or a vowel combination under the correct symbol and the computer will give you a word to help you decipher them. You must be careful in your guesses though because each wrong guess sees trapped explorer Wullie Makeit's tomb slowly fill with sand. Movie Mogul: A management game where with a limited budget you have to buy a script and attempt to make a movie and make a profit with it. After buying a script you decide which type of movie to make as well as hiring a director, actor and actress. You decide on each day of filming how much money to spend on various options watching your budget levels decrease. Once you have completed filming you are given a final score as a profit or loss for the finished movie.

3D space shooter

A Pac-Man clone without the power ups.

Casca a Cobra is a strategy game where you need to chase a snake and eat its body up to the head.

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.

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

During the American Gold Rush you are digging for gold. While excavating gold you must be aware of giant rats and a vicious Gremlin which comes to infest the mine. Snakes can be used to eat the rats. This a 16K program which uses "high-resolution"graphics.

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.

An obscure compilation consisiting of six games for the ZX81.

Aeroporto 83 is an action shooter game developed by Renato Degiovani and published by the magazine Micro Sistemas, it is considered to be one of the first Brazilian computer games to be commercially released.

J.D. Arcades is a collection of three games that contains: UXB: You have to move around a maze to catch four tumblers, which are numbered and must be collected in the correct order. Once you have collected them all then you must get to the detonator before a fuse reaches it. If you collect the wrong tumbler or hit the fuse then it is game over. Strategic Invaders: A Space Invaders clone where you control a base moving left or right, blasting aliens who are above in formation, moving across the screen, slowly descending downwards dropping bombs. Between your base and the aliens are shields which lose parts every time you hit one or the aliens do. One unique feature is that each position on the screen your base is on, only has nine shots. It is game over if you get hit by an aliens bomb or you allow them to land. Laser Patrol: A side view shooter where you must move a spacecraft up or down to either avoid or blast asteroids that move across the screen from right to left. if you hit an asteroid then it is game over.

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.

Namtir Raiders is a fixed screen shoot 'em up. The objective is simply to shoot down as many enemy raiders as possible and save the earth. There are four waves of enemies and each wave has a different kind of enemy. The movement of the ship is a bit different from other shoot 'em ups. Rather than having keys for up, down, left and right, they here lead to diagonal moves (for example up and left, down and right). The player has five lives and earns more when all four waves have been completed. Once they have the game starts over with the first wave. A difficulty level between one and three can be chosen before the game begins. The higher levels run at a higher pace.

QS Asteroids is a fairly basic conversion of the original arcade game. The action starts immediately after loading (no title or options screens here) and players finds themselves in a space ship in the middle of the screen with numerous asteroids passing by. To control the ship, two keys are used for rotating it, one for shooting and another for thrusting it forward. Shooting can be done in eight directions. On an unmodified ZX81, the ship is represented by a number which changes with rotation (For example 0 means it's pointing up, while 4 is down) and the asteroids are o's, while users with a QS CHRS board get graphics more similar to the arcade original. The player starts with three ships and after 10,000 points a bonus ship is given. Asteroids appear in waves. The first one has two large ones and the number increases with each new wave.

Raider is a Scramble clone that has you flying over the surface of a planet before flying through a cavern bombing the installations and missile dumps. As you fly, missiles and aliens will fly towards you and you can either bomb them or use your laser. You are able to move your craft up or down, and left or right to avoid the missiles and aliens as well. If you hit a missile, alien or the planet's surface then you lose one of three lives. A fuel gauge decreases as you fly but you can increase it by bombing fuel dumps.

A space invaders clone. Plays the same as the original.

Bradford Walker-Smythe needs to find the perfect engagement ring to win the heart of his true love Tania when he asks for her hand in marriage. And so, to prove his devotion, he sets off to the Cornish mines in search of the perfect diamond...

Fortress of Zorlac is a shoot 'em up with some similarities to Yars' Revenge. The player's objective is to rid the galaxy of a dreaded alien called Zorlac. Zorlac is positioned on the right side of the screen and is protected by a fortress consisting of three rotating walls as well as four indestructible stationary guns. The player starts out at the left edge of the screen but can move around in all directions. To be able to hit the alien the player first has to blast a hole through the three walls. It is made harder by the constant movements of both the rotating walls and the alien. At the same time the player has to avoid being hit by the defense guns which automatically lock in on the player ship. As the game goes on the fortress slowly moves toward the player who gets less space to dodge the enemy fire. Once the player has been able to hit Zorloc, he gets enraged and the game moves on to the next level that's played at a higher speed. The player scores points by destroying the walls of the fortress and for hitting the alien. Points are awarded based on the skill level chosen before a game and the player's distance from the edge of the screen. Hitting the alien is worth fifty times more than destroying a block in the fortress. The player has access to five ships and once they have all been destroyed the game ends.

Piramide Inca is a game for the ZX81 where your mission is to explore one of the sacred pyramids of the Incas where, according to an ancient legend, one of their greatest chiefs was buried along with all their fabulous treasure.

Bob Smith's interpretation of Atari's 1979 arcade game 'Asteroids'.