A downloadable game

This is a Sinclair ZX81 8-bit retro game.

Your are in command of the USS Sinclair, a Federation scout ship. 

You are on a routine patrol mission with your starship when you respond to an emergency signal. The last thing you remember is that another ship opens fire. You can only think “Ambush!”, then everything goes dark...

Your goal for this game is to come out alive of the situation you find yourself in! There are multiple ways of beating (and also for losing) the game - can you find them all? 

Good luck!

More information

Download

Download
COTB_GAME_EP01_RELEASE.TZX 15 kB

Install instructions

There are several options how you can play the game, even without owning the actual 8-bit computer hardware. 

Installing an emulator

  1. Download the TZX tape image file
  2. Download and install an emulator on your computer (e.g. EightyOne for the ZX81)
  3. Run the emulator and check whether it is set to the minimum amount of memory required by the game (e.g., 16K for the ZX81)
  4. Load the tape image into the emulator.
  5. Load and start the game by entering LOAD "" and pressing ENTER (NEWLINE). To get the LOAD command in ZX81 Basic, press the 'J' key once - do not actually type LOAD!

Using an online emulator

  1. Download the TZX tape image file
  2. Go to a website that provides an online emulator allowing a file upload (e.g., this one for the ZX81)
  3. On the emulator website, select the downloaded tape file as the one to load
  4. Start the emulation on the website.
  5. Load and start the game by entering LOAD "" and pressing ENTER (NEWLINE). To get the LOAD command in ZX81 Basic, press the 'J' key  once - do not actually type LOAD!

Gameplay instructions

Here is also a little booklet with 1980s style instructions.


Development log

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