People's Computer Co.
Author of What to Do After You Hit Return: A Computer Games Book from People's Computer Company
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What to Do After You Hit Return: A Computer Games Book from People's Computer Company (1980) 8 copies, 3 reviews
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What to Do After You Hit Return Or P.C.C.'S First Book of Computer Games by People's Computer Company.
I am writing my review of this book in October 2008, more than thirty years after purchasing my copy of What To Do After You Hit Return.
My copy was printed in February 1977. It has a Hewlett-Packard Part Number "HP 36000-91005" printed on the back cover. The programs were written in timeshare BASIC on a Hewlett-Packard 2000F minicomputer. (According to the HP Computer Museum, the HP 2000F Timeshare System included a 7905 disc drive, a 7970B magnetic tape drive, and a 2748B paper tape reader, show more selling for $105K in 1974.) This means that the games in this book are text-only -- no graphics and no sound. Such was the life of a minicomputer gamer with an ASR-33 Teletype terminal connected to a timeshare computer via an acoustic modem at 110 baud.
This volume is an oversize 10.25" x 14.625" coffee-table book. It has become a collectible. A Google search revealed that sellers in October 2008 were asking more than $100 for used copies of the 1980 edition.
When my copy was published in 1977, if you didn't want to key-in its programs manually, there was an order form in the back of the book for ordering paper tapes. The tapes ranged in price from $4 for 2D Hide-n-Seek games (Hurkle, Mugwump, & Snark) to $22 for Business & Social Science Simulations (Hamrbi, King, Civil2, Market, Stock, Policy, & Polut). A great rendition of Star Trek could be purchased on paper tape for $9. This was the original Star Trek game, STTR1, that was written in 1972 by Mike Mayfield.
Personally, I liked Hunt the Wumpus, available on a $4 paper tape. I keyed the game in by myself, thank you. Wumpus was a hungry critter who lived in a cave with 20 caverns, 2 bottomless pits, and swarms of SuperBats. Instructions for the game can be found on pages 63-65. The complete program listing for Wumpus can be found on pages 163-164. Note: I had to wait for my Level I BASIC upgrade before I could run Wumpus on my TRS-80 Model I Microcomputer with 16K of RAM and a cassette tape drive.
Most of the games in this book appear to be aimed at children in grades 2 through 6. The games clearly have an educational intent. By good fortune, most of the games can be played without using a computer. Nevertheless, with or without a computer, the games were written to teach children how the BASIC programming language works. When a game is played without a computer, one of the children becomes the computer and must respond to instructions logically "as programmed." What a great way to teach programming in BASIC!
About PCC: The People's Computer Company, Menlo Park, California, was founded by Bob Albrecht and George Firedrake in the early 1970s. PCC was an early promoter of Tiny BASIC as seen in Dr. Dobb's Journal of Tiny BASIC Calisthenics and Orthodonti. Dr. Dobb's Journal continues today as a computer magazine. show less
My copy was printed in February 1977. It has a Hewlett-Packard Part Number "HP 36000-91005" printed on the back cover. The programs were written in timeshare BASIC on a Hewlett-Packard 2000F minicomputer. (According to the HP Computer Museum, the HP 2000F Timeshare System included a 7905 disc drive, a 7970B magnetic tape drive, and a 2748B paper tape reader, show more selling for $105K in 1974.) This means that the games in this book are text-only -- no graphics and no sound. Such was the life of a minicomputer gamer with an ASR-33 Teletype terminal connected to a timeshare computer via an acoustic modem at 110 baud.
This volume is an oversize 10.25" x 14.625" coffee-table book. It has become a collectible. A Google search revealed that sellers in October 2008 were asking more than $100 for used copies of the 1980 edition.
When my copy was published in 1977, if you didn't want to key-in its programs manually, there was an order form in the back of the book for ordering paper tapes. The tapes ranged in price from $4 for 2D Hide-n-Seek games (Hurkle, Mugwump, & Snark) to $22 for Business & Social Science Simulations (Hamrbi, King, Civil2, Market, Stock, Policy, & Polut). A great rendition of Star Trek could be purchased on paper tape for $9. This was the original Star Trek game, STTR1, that was written in 1972 by Mike Mayfield.
Personally, I liked Hunt the Wumpus, available on a $4 paper tape. I keyed the game in by myself, thank you. Wumpus was a hungry critter who lived in a cave with 20 caverns, 2 bottomless pits, and swarms of SuperBats. Instructions for the game can be found on pages 63-65. The complete program listing for Wumpus can be found on pages 163-164. Note: I had to wait for my Level I BASIC upgrade before I could run Wumpus on my TRS-80 Model I Microcomputer with 16K of RAM and a cassette tape drive.
Most of the games in this book appear to be aimed at children in grades 2 through 6. The games clearly have an educational intent. By good fortune, most of the games can be played without using a computer. Nevertheless, with or without a computer, the games were written to teach children how the BASIC programming language works. When a game is played without a computer, one of the children becomes the computer and must respond to instructions logically "as programmed." What a great way to teach programming in BASIC!
About PCC: The People's Computer Company, Menlo Park, California, was founded by Bob Albrecht and George Firedrake in the early 1970s. PCC was an early promoter of Tiny BASIC as seen in Dr. Dobb's Journal of Tiny BASIC Calisthenics and Orthodonti. Dr. Dobb's Journal continues today as a computer magazine. show less
What to do after you hit return : a computer games book from People's Computer Company by People's Computer Company.
shekay's wikipedia link was removed january 2, 2018. I don't know why.
Funny book though.
Funny book though.
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