Video Games in the 1800s
While most believe that the first video game was Spacewar! in 1962 or Tennis For Two in 1958, we at the University of Structural Anime-Virtual Public Contract Inner Working Healthful Chocolate Scenario, Illogiville, Neza 2.0, can tell you that this is obviously not the case. Here are a few 19th-century video games that were previously unknown to the 21st century, but have been discovered.
Chimney Sweep Simulator[edit | edit source]
The Chimney Sweep Simulator was created by a firm of Law Computing from 1835 to 1844, which has you playing as a ten-year-old boy (or a girl in later installments) who is forced to go up the chimney in a posh house for 8 hours every day, is not paid (so even though there are upgrades, you can never buy them), and suffers many enemies, such as lung disease, getting stuck, and growing old. This game was well received by the upper classes, even at its then-exorbitant price of £2/4, with one satisfied customer noting, 'Mmm... just like real life! Now I'm going for some tea.'
Strike Gold[edit | edit source]
Strike Gold was quite a popular game in its time too, released in 1849 in the USA, and 1854 in Australia. It has you playing as a British man who is forced to mine gold for some man's earnings. He keeps no money. Once again, there are upgrades, which are always unobtainable.
Riding Away[edit | edit source]
This game was often considered vaporware, scheduled for release in 1857, but put forward to 1880 because the developer's stagecoach was robbed several times (shame if Half-Life 3 could have that justification or something like it). It consists of you trying to deliver mail to California, dodging cacti and Indians. It was the template on which most Western movies of the following century were based, surprisingly enough.
Grand Theft Carriage[edit | edit source]
See that article.