12 replies to this topic

[Rom Hunter]

http://www.digitpress.com/

[Wickeycolumbus]

Your link is to the home page

http://www.digitpres...ad.php?t=146086

Edited by Wickeycolumbus, Mon Jul 5, 2010 1:14 PM.

[Rom Hunter]

Thanks, Wicky.

Interesting discovery, isn't it?

I'm sure Leonard will be interested in this as well.

Edited by Rom Hunter, Mon Jul 5, 2010 1:46 PM.

[Wonder007]

The Impossible Game might not be so impossible to find......

- Wonder007

[Omegamatrix]

Wonder007, on Mon Jul 5, 2010 5:37 PM, said:

The Impossible Game might not be so impossible to find......

- Wonder007

So the truth is out there, I Wonder?  

[rolenta]

Just found this post. The link is no longer working.

[Rom Hunter]

Leonard,

The sticker can be seen here:
http://www.atarimani...oing_12092.html

and here:
http://www.atarimani...ame-_20491.html

It was found underneath a handwritten Soap Suds (Boing! WIP) label.

The cart itself used to be a Telesys Stargunner cart.


Having read your description of The Impossible Game on your site, I can only come to one conclusion: The Impossible Game was a very early WIP version of Boing!

Am I right, Leonard?

Edited by Rom Hunter, Sun Apr 15, 2012 2:59 AM.

[BioForceApe]

Plus, They ripped the Stargunner Board out of the cart to make way for the board for "The Impossible Game".

[Rom Hunter]

IMO it went something like this:

Telesys programmer Alex Leavens (programmer of a.o. Stargunner) was given the task to program a puzzle game that would be given the name The Impossible Game.

The game was shown at CES in Januari 1983, where Leonard Herman played the game.

He asked them for a copy, but they said they didn't have any copies to give out, although they had a playable copy at the show.

They also told him that the game would not be available in the United States, but that it was intended for the Far East.

For some reason, Telesys decided not to release the game (most probably because it was too boring or too difficult).

Alex, in the meantime, made a deal with First Star Software and programmed a Q*Bert style game (using game elements of The Impossible Game - the 6 levels and the 6x6 squares grid) together with Shirley Ann Russel.

While working together, both programmers used the pseudonym Shiralexann Wright  (Shir(ley) - Alex - Ann).

The game's title was changed into The Emphysema Game, featuring a pair of lungs trying to avoid a heart attack.

Not too attractive either, so it was changed into Soap Suds, Bubbles and finally into the Boing! as we know it, released by First Star Software.

Edited by Rom Hunter, Mon Apr 16, 2012 7:07 AM.

[rolenta]

Rom Hunter, on Sun Apr 15, 2012 2:26 AM, said:

Leonard,

The sticker can be seen here:
http://www.atarimani...oing_12092.html

and here:
http://www.atarimani...ame-_20491.html

It was found underneath a handwritten Soap Suds (Boing! WIP) label.

The cart itself used to be a Telesys Stargunner cart.


Having read your description of The Impossible Game on your site, I can only come to one conclusion: The Impossible Game was a very early WIP version of Boing!

Am I right, Leonard?

I don't see how. First, the games are totally unlike each other, aside from the 6x6 grid. Boing! doesn't have a preset pattern of squares that you have to navigate.

And when I saw the game (January 1983 as you state in the thread, although your site says Summer 1983), I was given preview copies of Ram-It, Demolition Herby, and StarGunner. Here was my copy of Stargunner: http://www.atarihq.c...ames/index.html (click on Stargunner prototype) which means that the labels were not yet printed when I saw The Impossible Game, so at the time at least, I didn't play the game that was in the Stargunner cart that you have posted.

Edited by rolenta, Thu Apr 19, 2012 11:57 AM.

[the.golden.ax]

Edit your first post. I got bored by all the bad links before I ever found one that works

[Rom Hunter]

Thanks for your feedback, Leonard.

Seems I jumped to conclusions on this one.

I corrected this in our database.

The overlap of the 6x6 grid and the six levels still puzzles me, though.

If The Impossible Game will be found, I would be very interested in a code similarity check with Boing!

Edited by Rom Hunter, Fri Apr 20, 2012 2:44 AM.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Rom Hunter, on Fri Apr 20, 2012 2:28 AM, said:

If The Impossible Game will be found, I would be very interested in a code similarity check with Boing!

For a start CloneSpy should then give a good indication.