Get to know the whole game. Follow a manoeuvre into the maths, a design choice into the machine, or an imagined world into the people and culture that shaped it.
Original editorial illustration
Spacewar!
Two ships, one star, and a universe of things to discover about games.
PDP-1 · 1962 · Not yet fact-checked
Original editorial illustration
Adventure
A lamp, a cave, and a conversation that changed what a game could be.
PDP-10 · 1970s · Not yet fact-checked
Original editorial illustration
Wanted: Monty Mole
A little mole, a dangerous mine, and a game shaped by life above ground.
ZX Spectrum · 1984 · Not yet fact-checked
Original editorial illustration
Elite
A spaceship, a hundred credits, and a universe which leaves the next move to you.
BBC Micro · 1984 · Not yet fact-checked
Original editorial illustration
Manic Miner
Twenty caverns, a jump to commit to, and a very strange place to work.
ZX Spectrum · 1983 · Not yet fact-checked
Original editorial illustration
Lemmings
A few tools, a crowd that keeps walking, and the pleasure of getting everyone home.
Amiga · 1991 · Not yet fact-checked
Original editorial illustration
Boulder Dash
A jewel, a falling rock, and the pleasure of surviving your own bright ideas.
Atari 8-bit · 1984 · Not yet fact-checked
Original editorial illustration
M.U.L.E.
Four settlers, some unreliable robots, and a colony which needs everyone to keep playing.
Atari 8-bit · 1983 · Not yet fact-checked
Original editorial illustration
Pac-Man
A maze full of work, four different pursuers, and the moment the chase changes direction.
Arcade · 1980 · Not yet fact-checked
Original editorial illustration
SimCity
A few streets, a power station, and a place that begins to make demands of its own.
Amiga · 1989 · Not yet fact-checked
Each study connects to the Vault’s focused reference articles and to explanations elsewhere on the site. You can follow those threads without needing to write a program.