Prisoner

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs

GAME DESIGNER:Jim Bates
GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware
GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware
Copyright 1988, Jim Bates

Prisoner is a fun and (at first) rather difficult puzzle game. It was written by Jim Bates in 1988, and was done as an experiment with EGA graphics, then released as a Christmas present for The POWER Tower Bulletin Board which Bates ran in those days. It’s basically a PC version of one of those slider games where you slide squares of varying sizes around a board with only two open spaces. The object of Prisoner is to get the large 2×2 tile (done as a jail cell with a poor sap inside, tugging at the bars and begging for release, Jim Bates or his mother) from the left of the board to the right, where there’s a key to free him. It’s also harder than it looks.

As the only video game my father ever took a liking to, I can safely recommend the game to anyone with some spare time to kill and a desire for masochism.