A Day At The Animal Races is a BASIC 10 liner version for the Sinclair ZX Spectrum 16/48K computer of the VIP Animal Race gambling videogame / races simulator.
The original game was programmed by Brian Astle for the CHIP-8 interpreter running on the COSMAC VIP computer and published in the RCA COSMAC VIP Game Manual in 1978. In this video, you can see it in action on the Sinclair ZX Spectrum Next, running in my CHIP-8 virtual machine.
A Day At The Animal Races is my second (here’s the first) entry to the 12th edition (2023) of the BASIC 10 Liner Contest, PUR-80 category. You can either download it or play it online by surfing to the game page on retrobits.itch.io. The download includes the program listing and documentation.
How to play
Five different animals race against one another and you have the chance to test your expertise at picking the winner.
Wait until the animals are ready to start, then select an animal and decide how much you want to bet (up to a limit of $9). After the race is over, your winnings or losses will be computed and the new total displayed. You can win the game by accumulating $256 or more.
All animals move at approximately the same speed, but they start from different positions. The odds for each animal are related to the starting position but include a random element. Some races favor the player and you should bet up to the limit on these. Some races are unfavorable and you should bet carefully on these.
Links and references
- Download or play A Day At The Animal Races online on retrobits.itch.io
- Watch the gameplay video on YouTube
- Surf to the BASIC 10 Liner Contest official site
- Surf to the BASIC 10 Liner Contest on itch.io
- Read about the original VIP Animal Race on the RCA COSMAC VIP Game Manual
Love animals!
