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ADAM Computer Game of the Week #19


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Jeopardy



Coleco Electronics (1984)

 

Jeopardy is the second ADAM software title based on a popular T.V. game show... the first being the commercially released Family Feud. However, Jeopardy was never officially released, so full instructions detailing different play elements are not available and you will have test what different keypresses will do. I have included some of the known keypresses as well as an Easter Egg to try out.

 

Jeopardy for the ADAM Computer is in fact a finshed product which was copyrighted 1984, but for whatever reason (probably completed just prior to Coleco's announcement in Jan. '85 that they were abandoning the ColecoVision and ADAM), Coleco decided not to release it commercially. They instead made it available to ADAM Users Groups circa 1985/1986 to share with the ADAM Community with the requirement that all copyright information would be removed from the program. Because of this requirement by Coleco, you will see multiple versions of Jeopardy available for download that have been hacked to change two title screens. This hacking actually eliminated the first title screen and then replaced the copyright information on the second.

 

When the original Jeopardy program was copied from data pack (256K max size) to disk (160K max size) a portion of the program that contained game play data/questions was lost to the ages. This disk version which floated around for a while would eventually crash due to the missing data, but this was later patched by Walters Software Co.'s Jim Walters to recycle to the beginning of the questions. The DDP and 160K disk images included in the downloadable file are the fixed versions with the original title screens intact.

 

In 1992, a member of NIAD had the tremendous fortune to come in contact with a former Coleco employee who was looking to sell off his entire lot of ADAM gear... a number of never before seen hardware and software protos included. In this lot was the originally planned External 1200 Baud ADAMnet Modem, a modified Expansion Module #3 Memory Console used solely for formatting Data Packs that did not require a TV/Monitor and was powered by a ColecoVision Power Supply, an external Dual 3 1/4" Disk Drive enclosure with one 3 1/4" Drive and disks (yes 3 1/4", not 3 1/2"), 2-disk version of Richard Scarry's Best Electronic Word Book, other software and a 2-disk version of Jeopardy. I have not tested this 2-disk version thoroughly, but it does seem to work properly and should be the version that you use as more than likely it is the complete version that would have been released for commercial sale. Being that I haven't played it enough, I don't know if the program asks you for the second disk once all questions are used on the first disk or if the second disk is just a separate question pack. I have answered YES to the "are you using a question pack" question in the program and proceeded to place the second disk in the drive and this did work.

 

Here are some of the known keyboard commands as well as the Easter Egg that I previously mentioned:

 

:arrow: CONTROL+V - Toggles background music

:arrow: STOTE/GET - Load/Save in progress games

:arrow: UNDO - Takes one back to previous menu

:arrow: WILDCARD - Toggles view

 

Quiz about the game designers Easter Egg:

 

CONTROL+UP ARROW, CONTROL+RIGHT ARROW, CONTROL+DOWN ARROW, CONTROL+LEFT ARROW

 

when asked if using a question pack

 

Enjoy!

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Jeopardy (1984) (Coleco) (Prototype).zip

Edited by NIAD
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Thanks for putting the easter egg up there. I couldn't remember it for the life of me.

 

Also, in the screenshots, I know it says "PUCK" but because of the way the ADAM outputs the display, I swore it said something else...

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It looks like the 3 1/4" Drive in this picture from the 1983 Coleco annual report. Pic originally posted here.

 

 

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The drive pictured is actually the original design of the 5 1/4" 160K Floppy Disk Drive. Thank heavens Coleco decided to go with the design/case that we know as the one pictured looks pretty large... can you imagine having two of them.

 

BTW, pictured to the right and a little behind the disk drive is the external modem, but I can't say for sure if this was the 1200 baud ADAMnet version.

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This may be a little off topic, but what is, or was NIAD. I've seen you mention it numerous times in other topics, as something from the 1980's. I tried googling, with no results. Was it a company?

N.I.A.D. (Northern Illiana ADAM Users Group) was founded in late 1984 by Lyle Marschand and was, of course, a Users Group dedicated to the support of the ColecoVision and ADAM. We published a newsletter 10 times a year up until 1993 (the last year or so it went bi-monthly) and also ran a mail-order business for all things Coleco and ADAM up until early 1994... when we finally closed shop.

 

Originally everything was run out of Lyle's basement, but then in late summer 1987 he opened a computer store that carried PC Clones, software for numerous OTHER systems and Sega videogame systems, as well as running NIAD out of this location in Lisle, Illinois. Probably the only store in the world, by this time, where you could walk in and see an ADAM setup with all sorts of products available on display to purchase.

 

In April of 1988, I was offered a job at Lyle's store after being a member from shortly after the beginning and proceeded to take over the store's and the users group's day-to-day operations as, unfortunately, Lyle had a full-time job and growing family that kept him very busy. The store closed-up in the summer of 1992 so I relocated NIAD to my house and continued on for a couple more years before membership really diminished and my time was serverly impacted by a full-time construction job that I was and still am working at.

 

At our height, we had a current membership of just over 3,000 (those where long days mailing out the newsletters) and throughout the years, if I recall correctly, we had about 10,000 different ADAM owners join the group.

 

Looking back now, I wish I would have kept NIAD going, even in a scaled back form, as the big Internet explosion was just starting and would have served as the perfect vehicle to continue on.

 

BTW, follow the ADAM Computer link in the footer of my message to a friends site that has all 96 issues of the newsletter available in PDF format as well as a couple other very good newsletters from back in the day.

Edited by NIAD
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