Prehistory XIV: 1Queen

Release Date: August, 1970

Platform: Unspecified mainframe

Genre: Puzzle

Developer(s): Original developer unknown; modifications made by Richard Hart and T. Edwards

Publisher(s): DECUS

Now it's time to enter the 1970s. This is a tumultuous yet crucially formative decade for video games; from the birth of the arcade and console industries, to the continued experimentation in computer games and the arrival of the first generation of home computers. It's quite a foreign and often bizarre time to look at by contemporary standards, as much of it seems like a chaotic free-for-all. Nothing was standardised, so many strange, obscure consoles, companies and computers appeared, vying for a market share of the burgeoning industry.

As for 1970 as a year, there's still no commercial industry, so all there is to look at are computer games - mostly BASIC software. The range of ideas and concepts being implemented is expanding, which is mostly good, but I expect will lead to a lot of strange and outright terrible software. Hopefully there will be a couple of gems within the 1970 list, but judging by what's coming up, I'm not getting my hopes up. 

I've already chosen to rule out Stock: Stock Market Simulation for effectively being a non-game. It's just an RNG simulator, and I therefore really don't have anything to say about it.

That brings us to 1Queen, or Queen as it's put by 101 BASIC Computer Games. This is a puzzle game apparently based on Chess rules. I think I'd consider this the first real puzzle game I've played on the blog. The original author of 1Queen appears to be unknown, as MobyGames and Arcade-History don't list an author - only a "modifier": Richard Hart. We don't have info on what system it was originally written on, either. BASIC Computer Games gives no insight, either, as it doesn't even bother listing a source - let alone an actual author. MobyGames lists this as Hart's only game. MobyGames also lists a T. Edwards as having converted the game to "U1106". I have no idea what U1106 is, and internet searches provide no help with this.

1Queen's page from BASIC Computer Games, 1978 edition.

The game's instructions do a fairly good job of explaining how the game works. It claims to be based off of the rules of Chess, but I only see a vague resemblance. You play against the computer, with the aim of being the one to move the lone queen on the board into the bottom left corner. The chess board is represented by numbers. You take turns with the computer in moving the queen, but the only directions it can be moved in are down, left, and diagonal down-left. 

The in-game instructions are pretty good.

You go first, and your first move must be to place the queen somewhere on the top row or rightmost column. Despite the game's decent instructions, I was still confused, and on my first game I placed the queen on 11, only for the computer to move it immediately to the parallel leftmost corner (158) for the win. Whoops. I tried again immediately afterwards, but the game kept calling me a cheat for trying illegal moves. I didn't record this part of my gameplay, which I played yesterday, but I eventually realised I didn't read the instructions properly, and promptly re-read them. Then it finally clicked. At that point I stopped playing, deciding to come back today.

I came back to 1Queen today with a simple, systematic plan to beat it. I would try every starting square (except for the corners that would cause an immediate loss). I knew 71 wouldn't work either, so in my first attempt I chose 61. The computer chose 127, and at that point I knew I'd lost. I had no choice but to move it to a square adjacent to 158, allowing the computer to take the win on its next turn.

A loss was inevitable from the start...

I started to realise what the key to winning was at this point: I needed to force the computer into that same situation it forced me into, where its only available moves would allow me to win on my next turn. So I went down the line, trying all the starting points to find out which one would work. 

51 didn't work; the computer moved to 73, and from there no moves I could make would allow me to win. For some reason I tried it again, with the same result occurring. With 41, the computer just moves to 51 and it's the same story all over again. Looking back on this now, I realise that I had a potential win scenario here if I had moved to 73 as the computer had done previously. Ugh. I was not paying much attention while playing, clearly.

Starting on 31 and 21 end the same way; the first move the computer makes puts me into unwinnable scenarios. At the time I thought that wrote off the entire top row, but I now know that starting on 41 is the only spot where a win is possible.

I realised that 22 and 77 wouldn't work on the right column, so I started with 33 there instead. The computer moves to 73, and a loss in inevitable once again.

Next was 44. The computer moves to 65, and I stop for a bit and think. I might have a chance to win here, if I make the right move. I take some time to consider the possible moves, and then I choose 75 as my next move. The computer moves to 96. Got 'em. I move to 126, and the game's over. The computer can only move to 147, and I thus take the win!

And thus the puzzle is solved.

That takes care of that. 1Queen is an mildly interesting little puzzle, but that's all it is - a little puzzle. Once you figure out the solution, you're basically done with it. It did receive a couple of ports, one to the Sol-20 in 1981 courtesy of Ralph E. Hopkins, and another, more curious port in 1976 to the HP line of programmable calculators. I honestly forgot games on calculators were a thing before looking into this, and I'm honestly not sure how to deal with them. I briefly looked into emulation for the HP calculators, and it seemed needlessly complicated. I haven't looked into other calculators, so I'm not sure how they fair. Will cross that bridge when I get to it.

Now, on to the scores. Sound and Story are N/A.

Time Played: 15 minutes

Difficulty: 2/10

It's not a terribly hard puzzle to figure out, since it's confined to such a small board with such simple, strict rules.

Game Design: 4

I don't so much have an issue with the puzzle - as basic as it is - but rather how it's presented. I dislike the choice of numbers, how it's a mix of 2-digit and 3-digit numbers. It causes the board to become crooked and hard to read properly. That's a significant oversight for me; the board really needed to be only 2-digit or only 3-digit numbers. 1Queen also feels like a bit of a throwaway, one-and-done type of game; more like someone's coding practice than a proper game.

Controls: 10

Same as all the other text-based games so far; simple inputs that are just numbers.

Visual: 2

Again, seriously disliking the board. It's crooked, and it annoys the stuffing out of me. The text formatting is fine, otherwise, and the writing has some personality to it.

Functionality: 4

Only taking a point off for the dodgy formatting of the chess board.

Accessibility: 3

Still a text-based game, but a much simpler and easier one to pick up and understand.

Fun Factor: 4

It was decent for what it is. Figuring out the solution was satisfying to some extent, but I'm done with the game once I figure that out, and I see no reason to go back.

So that gives 1Queen a score of 27/70 (38.57%). That puts it at the top of the E tier, which is fair. It's a throwaway game, but a moderately decent one.

[Add.] Upon completing the rescore project, 1Queen dropped a few points, down to 22/70 (31.42%)

Not sure what is coming up next. Apawam is next (despite the strange name, it's actually a Golf game), but I'm unsure if it's lost. Otherwise, Digits is next after that.