Sinclair BASIC

Begin with a story

The Meet BASIC lessons grow through four small projects. Enter a greeting, store and edit a program, ask for words, then finish a story you can save and share. Build Lucky Number with clues, chance and another round; give Oracle Stone a rhythm and a shared routine; then compare two ways to steer a marker.

The current course

Explore groups of related games, from first programs to moving and hidden worlds. Follow the games in order or join one that interests you; each explains the BASIC it uses. The groups organise related ideas without adding entry requirements. Story Builder, Lucky Number and Oracle Stone are part of Meet BASIC.

01

First programsMake small programs respond, then remember and repeat a sequence.

2 modules

Meet BASIC

Stories, guessing, a playful oracle and a marker you can steer.

Keyword entry and editingPRINT, LET and INPUTStrings and readable outputSaving and recovering a program

15 of 15 units published

Bright Spark

Remember the signals, repeat the order, complete sixteen rounds

Strings as growing sequencesSTR$ / VAL / LEN / indexingThe flash (BRIGHT + BEEP)The game loop (show, repeat, check, grow)

7 of 7 units published

02

Movement and controlKeep a ball in play, then control a falling craft.

2 modules

Volley

Keep the ball in play, then improve how the court is drawn

Continuous movement and keyboard pollingDirection, boundaries and paddle contactScore, serve and retryPAPER shapes and selective redrawing

8 of 8 units published

Touchdown

Brake a fall, steer over a ridge and land gently on the pad

Position, velocity, gravity and thrustFuel and simultaneous keyboard controlsTerrain arrays and contact checksCustom characters and consecutive erase/redraw

11 of 11 units published

03

Boards and deductionRead hidden positions and words, plan pushes, combine clues and examine an opponent’s decisions.

5 modules

Sonar

Choose probes, combine clues and discover a hidden object

Two-dimensional arrays and recorded knowledgeCoordinate validation and distance bandsRepeated probes and redraw from stateRandom rounds, retry and tape saving

10 of 10 units published

Crates

Make space, plan a push and deliver every crate

Four-character tiles and a separate player overlayGrid-based movement and safe two-cell pushesTarget preservation and completion countsReadable maps, validation and room progression

11 of 11 units published

Locksmith

Combine clues to crack a hidden four-digit code

Editable input and numeric arraysExact positions and repeated-digit countsRetained clues and deductionHidden codes, endings and replay

9 of 9 units published

Three in a Row

Build an opponent and discover what its rules miss

A numbered board stored in an arrayWinning triples in DATAOrdered rules and visible move reasonsForks and the limits of one-move decisions

11 of 11 units published

Cipher

Reveal a hidden word and remember what each guess tells you

Strings, character positions and slice assignmentKey validation and free repeat guessesStored alphabet and selective screen updatesDATA word lists, random selection and replay

7 of 7 units published

04

Worlds that keep movingSteer, aim and plan while the game continues around you.

4 modules

Tail Chase

Steer a growing snake and leave room for the next turn

Clocked movement and queued turnsOrdered positions and circular storageGrowth and grid-based occupancyRandom food, completion and replay

10 of 10 units published

Brick Bash

Catch the ball, choose its return and clear the wall

Pixel and character coordinatesRectangle overlap and axis-by-axis contactStored bricks and regular-wall lookupPaddle aiming, completion and replay

10 of 10 units published

Drift

Turn, thrust and bring a drifting ship gently into dock

Direction tables and rotating vector artworkSeparate position, heading and velocityThrust, coasting and counterthrustReadable motion and geometric docking

9 of 9 units published

Quickstep

Read six lanes of traffic and plan the next gap

Cyclic positions and rotating character stringsIndependent lane countdownsContact before and after movementBuffered input and route planning

10 of 10 units published

05

Hidden worldsExplore connected places, read a guard’s sight and manage choices that carry into later turns.

3 modules

The Caverns

Read the clues and bring three treasures home

Named rooms and a table of connectionsChanging treasure flags and directional cluesAn independent patrol and an escape turnUpdate order and useful warnings

11 of 11 units published

Yearfall

Feed a settlement and live with the next year's consequences

Shared resource budgets and fed-worker limitsDraft plans, number editing and validationYearly accounting, population and land tradingTraveller choices and continued state across decades

14 of 14 units published

Night Patrol

Read the patrol, use cover and escape with the file

Facing and predictable patrol routesMap-based collision and wall-blocked sightlinesVisible danger, cover and a return objective

10 of 10 units published

BASIC reference

Look up commands, graphics, sound, saving and debugging in the Sinclair BASIC reference lessons. Use them when a question arises; they are not an extra course to complete first.

Explore an idea further

Maths for Games includes Dice Roller, a five-lesson probability experiment in Sinclair BASIC. Watch samples form and compare their counts and shares.

The Craft develops game-design questions such as feedback, challenge and player choices. Foundations explores programming concepts. Z80 assembly offers another way into the Spectrum, where you work directly with processor instructions and memory.