Pixel was a Greek computer magazine published in Athens by Compupress from October 1983 to June 1996. Its first issue explained exactly why it existed. Compupress already published Computer για Όλους (Computer for Everyone), and the questionnaire in that magazine’s fifth issue had found that a large share of readers wanted more ready-made programs. Pixel was the result: a magazine of type-in listings for the home computers on sale in Greece.
Commissioned by a questionnaire
The publisher, Nikos Manousos, set it out in a letter on page three of the first issue:
“Η ανάγκη για τη δημιουργία ενός τέτοιου εντύπου εντοπίσθηκε στο ερωτηματολόγιο του 5ου τεύχους του Computer για Όλους, όπου διαπιστώθηκε ότι ένα μεγάλο ποσοστό αναγνωστών ζητούσαν περισσότερα έτοιμα προγράμματα.”
The need for such a publication was identified in the questionnaire in the fifth issue of Computer για Όλους, where a large proportion of readers asked for more ready-made programs. Manousos called Pixel “the first Greek magazine” to deal exclusively with program listings for the most popular micros on the Greek market. Every listing, he added, had been checked by the magazine’s contributors to be “bug-free”, so readers could type it in “άφοβα”, without fear.
The first issue covered October to December 1983, and the plan was to publish quarterly, “with the prospect of the editions becoming more frequent in future”. It listed the twelve machines it had programs for, and noted that they were presented in order of price:
- Sinclair ZX81
- Jupiter Ace
- Sinclair ZX Spectrum
- Oric 1
- Texas Instruments TI-99/4A
- TRS-80 Color Computer
- Commodore VIC-20
- NewBrain
- BBC Model B
- Epson HX-20
- Apple IIe
- Osborne 1
The programs ranged from games such as Star Trek, Breakout and a flight simulator to a Greek alphabet for the Jupiter Ace, a text editor and a telephone directory. A competition, “Pixelmania”, offered a Jupiter Ace as the prize.
From quarterly to monthly
The next issue did not appear until May 1984, and called Pixel a “Διμηνιαίο Περιοδικό”, a bimonthly, at 150 drachmas. In July 1984 the editor-in-chief, Grigoris Zorzos, introduced a set of new columns. “Parallel Roads” would print one program translated into every dialect of BASIC spoken by the popular micros in Greece. “Interventions” gave readers the means to change successful games, with “infinite lives” and redesigned levels. Others covered chess programming, with the dream of a Greek chess program fit for computer tournaments, and programs to beat the football pools. “Greek Programs” would show new Greek software, “so that we stop waiting for everything from abroad”. The editorial ended with a question: “what would you say to a MONTHLY magazine?”
Pixel went monthly with its sixth issue, in January 1985. From 1986 one issue covered July and August, so eleven issues appeared each year.
A party at the football ground
The magazine’s readers entered its competitions in large numbers. On 20 June 1987 Pixel held a party at the Panathinaikos football ground in Athens for the prize draw of its third Grand Prix competition, with live music from Loukianos Kilaidonis, Giannis Miliokas and Agni and a draw for an Amiga 1000. The July issue reported a crowd of about 15,000 and 14,000 competition entries; the top prizes included an Amstrad PC 1512 and an Apple IIGS. Nine years later the publisher remembered it as perhaps the high point of the magazine’s popularity, with more than 25,000 people.
Game Over
As home computers gave way to PCs, Pixel followed its readers, adding PC compatibles, MS-DOS, Windows and PC game reviews. In the last issue, number 133 in June 1996, Manousos described what happened next. Readers who moved to PCs turned to Compupress’s “sister” magazine PC Master, and many of Pixel’s contributors had already moved there as writers. Left with little more than game reviews “and memories”, Pixel shrank and its circulation fell. An attempt to renew it with give-away disks for PC and Amiga users did not work, and so, he wrote, at the 133rd issue it reached the inevitable “Game Over”.
He ended with what he still heard from young professionals he met: “I’m an old Pixel reader! Pixel led me to my first steps in computers.”
Sources
- Pixel issue 1, October–December 1983: cover and contents; publisher’s letter, pp. 3–4 (origin, the claim to be first, frequency, machines in order of price, checked listings); “Pixelmania” competition; masthead.
- Pixel issue 2, May–June 1984: cover (price) and masthead (“Διμηνιαίο Περιοδικό”; publisher Νίκος Μανούσος).
- Pixel issue 3, July–August 1984: editorial on the new columns, signed by the editor-in-chief; masthead (Γρηγόρης Ζώρζος).
- Pixel issue 6, January 1985: cover; issue 24, July–August 1986: cover.
- Pixel issue 34, June 1987: editorial announcing the party of 20 June 1987.
- Pixel issue 35, July 1987: report of the party and prize draw.
- Pixel issue 133, June 1996: farewell editorial by Ν.Ο. Μανούσος.