BASIC || BBC Micro BASIC || IBM PC BASIC || Apple II BASIC || Color BASIC
Mine-Sweeper - Game Overview
Mine-Sweeper was written in BASIC in 1983 by Neal Cavalier-Smith.
The original 1983 game, published in 1984, was called Minefield for the BBC Micro. Your tank must cross a 18x27 minefield with 100 mines from left to right using a mine detector. Mines are counted in all 8 directions. The number is displayed in the bottom right corner of the screen. Your tank (a square) turns black for 0, red for 1, green for 2, blue for 3 and magenta for 4 or higher. After each game you can keep playing but another mine is added each time. You are awarded a score based on the number of finished levels and moves taken.
The game was updated in 1984 and published in 1985 for the IBM PC. It was renamed Mine-Sweeper and you clear mines from a strait so oil tankers can sail through. The grid is 15x10 and your current location displays the number of adjacent mines. After each game you keep playing but another mine is added each time. You are awarded a score based on the number of finished levels and moves taken.
The game was re-published as Mine Sweeper in 1985 for the IBM PC and Apple II computers, both using Microsoft BASIC. These "stripware" games came with an encoded piece of paper that could be read with a special Cauzin strip reader. Luckily, the books also include the original code!
Neal confirmed to this website that he wrote Minefield in 1983 when Tim Hartnell was compiling the Giant Book Of Games For Your BBC Micro (April 1984). The game was included the following year in the Second Giant Book of Computer Games.
Version History
A list of all known versions sorted by platform then version. Email admin@ if you have more! See the Downloads section for available files.
