Pimania
{{Short description|1982 video game}}
{{Infobox video game
| collapsible =
| state =
| italic title =
| title = Pimania
| image = Pimania cover.jpg
| alt =
| caption =
| developer = Mel Croucher
| publisher = Automata UK
| series =
| engine =
| platforms = BBC Micro, ZX Spectrum, Dragon 32, ZX81
| released = October 1982{{Cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/Computer_Video_Games_Issue_013_1982-11_EMAP_Publishing_GB/page/n83/mode/2up|title = Computer & Video Games - Issue 013 (1982-11)(EMAP Publishing)(GB)|date = November 1982}}
| genre = Adventure
| modes =
}}
Pimania is a text-and-graphics adventure game written by Mel Croucher and released by Automata UK in 1982 for the BBC Micro, ZX Spectrum, Dragon 32, and ZX81. It was the first real-life video game treasure hunt to be released.{{cite book |date=2008|title=Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition 2008|url= |location=Guinness World Records Ltd |publisher= |page=73 |isbn=978-1-904994-20-6|last1=Limited|first1=Guinness World Records}} It was inspired by the 1979 Kit Williams book Masquerade.{{Cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/Computer_Video_Games_Issue_013_1982-11_EMAP_Publishing_GB/page/n83/mode/2up|title = Computer & Video Games - Issue 013 (1982-11)(EMAP Publishing)(GB)|date = November 1982}} Automata gave a prize of a golden sundial worth £6,000 ({{Inflation|UK|6000|1982|fmt=eq|r=-2|cursign=£}}) for the first person to solve the various cryptic clues to its location that were hidden within Pimania.
Gameplay
File:Pimania screenshot (ZX81).png
The player negotiates a surreal landscape with the aid of the mysterious Pi-Man, Automata's mascot.[http://theconversation.com/how-punk-and-thatcherism-came-together-in-the-surreal-zx-spectrum-pimania-craze-74866 The Conversation: How punk and Thatcherism came together in the surreal ZX Spectrum Pimania craze] The B-side of the game cassette features a bizarre Pimania song played on a VL-Tone and vocals. The Pi-Man also starred in his own long-running, surreal, comic-strip, soap opera in the company's adverts on the back page of Popular Computing Weekly magazine and appeared in several subsequent games by the company of different kinds, such as Piromania and Piballed.
The sundial was eventually won in 1985 by Sue Cooper and Lizi Newman, who correctly worked out that it could only be found on 22 July (because π is sometimes rounded to 22/7) at the Litlington White Horse on Hindover Hill near Litlington, East Sussex.{{Cite journal|author= |date=October 1985 |title=PiMania – The sundial is revealed! |url=https://worldofspectrum.org/hardware/piwin.html |journal=Computer and Video Games |access-date=21 November 2020}}
Legacy
The BASIC source code listing of the game is available online.[http://www.zx81stuff.org.uk/zx81/tape/Pimania Pimania] on ZX81stuff.org (2005)
In 2010 Feeding Tube Records, a small label in the United States, released "Pimania: The Music of Mel Croucher & Automata U.K., Ltd.", a deluxe vinyl LP album of the musical B-Sides to the Pimania games, as well as tracks from other Automata releases. The album came with extensive liner notes by Croucher and Caroline Bren, as well as a large poster featuring selections from the original Automata print campaigns and was issued in a one time edition of 500 copies.[http://www.feedingtuberecords.com "Pimania: The Music of Mel Croucher & Automata U.K., Ltd."] LP on feedingtuberecords.com
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{WoS_game|id=0003714}}
- [http://www.worldofspectrum.org/hardware/pi.html Information and the solution to the game]
- [http://www.feedingtuberecords.com "Pimania: The Music of Mel Croucher & Automata U.K., Ltd." LP]
- [http://www.zx81stuff.org.uk/zx81/tape/Pimania Pimania] ZX81 Collection entry with the original inlay scan and program listing. An emulator is available on the site to play the game online.
Category:BBC Micro and Acorn Electron games
Category:Commercial video games with freely available source code