Boulderdash

Publisher: First Star Software

Designer: Peter Liepa

Type: Puzzle

Platform: C64

Release: 1984

Rating:

I remember that this was a favourite game of my family back in the days, and honestly, it certainly has a unique quality about it. I would basically describe it as a puzzle game, namely because you are given a level and your job is to collect the correct number of diamonds (or more) without getting killed. Getting killed comes about through a number of ways, the major one being a boulder falling on top of you. However, you also have butterflies (which explode into diamonds when killed) or fireflies (which just explode), and while they initially seem to be something to avoid, it becomes pretty obvious, pretty quickly, that you need to use these things to complete the level.

Yeah, this game turned out to be pretty challenging, and of course the levels get progressively harder as you move through them. Not only that but you also have a time limit, which means you simply can’t really dawdle through these levels. Oh, and I should also mention that it can be pretty easy to ‘snooker’ yourself in this game, and one minor mistake can result in you not being able to complete the game.

Initially there were two games released, but then I remember another version appearing that was basically 16 games, which meant hundred of levels that would no doubt keep the most avid fan occupied for years. Of course, I’m not really one of those ‘most avid fans’ but in my mind the game is still pretty fun. Oh, I probably should also mention that this game was ripe for a construction set, which means that I shouldn’t have be all that surprised that so see so many levels appear afterwards in a collection that was no doubt put together by some keen programmer.

Oh, and I probably should also mention that it seems as if this game hasn’t died out over the years either, if the Wikipedia page, or the official website, is anything to go by. Then again, nothing beats the simplicity of the original. Oh, and if you are interested, there is a lot more information about the game on the C64-Wiki page as well.