Winner Announcement: Ben Heck's Portable ZX Spectrum!

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Congratulations to Workshopshed and paulpsomiadis!

You have been selected as winners of Ben's ZX Spectrum Portable!

We're giving away two Portable ZX Spectrum builds from the Ben Heck Show. Tell us what the ZX Spectrum means to you in the comments below for a chance to win.

The ZX Spectrum, an 8-bit personal computer from Sinclair Research Ltd., is a beloved retro computer from the 80s. While it didn't gain a lot of traction outside of the UK, especially in places where it was undercut by the Commodore 64, it did more to define British gaming culture than any dedicated gaming console. Much like the color used in Apple's old logo, the word Spectrum highlights the machine's color display.

Since launch, over 24,000 software titles have been released for the ZX. Not including clones, it sold in excess of 5 million units worldwide.

{gallery} ZX Spectrum Slideshow

In 1983, the video game bubble formed during the golden age of gaming burst as the market became flooded with too many consoles and poorly designed games. Atari, the most popular video game console before the crash, reported $537 million in losses for 1983. Atari had the dubious distinction of releasing the poster child for this era when it rushed to market the highly anticipated E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial game. It's widely regarded as one of the worst games ever and is frequently cited as a contributing factor to the video game crash of 1983. The game was so bad, all remaining unsold versions of it got buried in the New Mexico desert.

Around the time dedicated gaming consoles became widely regarded as a passing fad, home computer gaming continued to thrive. Low cost machines like the Commodore 64 and the ZX Spectrum proved to be popular alternatives to dedicated gaming consoles. While it didn't have the same impact outside the UK, its influence on gaming in the UK is undeniable. In its day, a British game publisher would develop for the ZX Spectrum and begrudgingly port to other machines later.

The low cost of the machine, a catalog including thousands of games, and cheap distribution of games thanks to cassette tapes factored into its continuous popularity in the UK. The ZX Spectrum was widely adopted as a gaming platform despite its lack of built-in joystick ports, primitive sound generation, and color support that was not optimized for text display.

Ben Heck's ZX Spectrum Part 1	Ben Heck's Portable ZX Spectrum Part 2

Enjoy games on the ZX Spectrum?

Tell us what the ZX Spectrum means to you.

If you were influenced by the ZX Spectrum let us know what makes the ZX Spectrum special. Tell us about what games you enjoyed or what made the system stand out. Feel free to share images, an achievement such as a high score, or anything you can think of related to the ZX Spectrum.

If you haven't had a chance to experience the ZX Spectrum then feel free talk about a rival system such as the Commodore 64 instead.

Directions:

Step 1: Log in or register on element14, it's easy and free.

Step 2: Post in the comments section below and share your experience with the ZX Spectrum. Videos, pictures and text are all welcomed forms of submission.

Step 3: Sit back, relax, and enjoy the show! We will accept entries until 3:00pm CDT Aug 1st, 2016 and announce our winner August 5th 2016. If you need something to do between now and then make sure to check out what is happening This week on element14 Community, or watch more Ben at element14.com/TBHS.

Attachments:

Giveaway_TC.pdf

Top Comments

nicolaoscon96 over 10 years ago

I never had a ZX Spectrum but when i saw the Ben Heck Show i like it and i love it......and i am looking for one
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e14 Contributor over 10 years ago

I have such vivid memories of the Spectrum. I was a little too young to have been a part of the heyday but when I was about eight the first computer my family ever bought was a ZX +3. It was the last Spectrum model they made. Amstrad had already taken over Sinclair and with the +3 they decided to tack on one of their own obscure 3 inch floppy drives instead of the tape deck they'd built into the +2. The two floppies it came with were the only ones I ever owned. They were never that easy to come by and besides, you could plug any old tape player in and by this time ZX tape games were so cheap they were basically free. I remember a friend of my dads coming over one day and literally handing me a plastic bag full of tape games. He'd moved on to the powerhouse that was the Amiga 500 and had been nice enough to think I might like them. The +3 had some compatibility issues with the earlier games so I spent the entire afternoon just seeing what would load and what wouldn’t.
To me, the best games were the arcade ports. Outrun, Bubble Bobble and Double Dragon III were three I remember spending a lot of time with. It's funny looking back at footage of these games running on the ZX Spectrum now. By this point the 90's were just about to start and the ZX hardware was archaic. They ran like absolute crap, but back then to me and my friends it didn’t seem to matter. Just being able experience these games at all was enough.
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e14 Contributor over 10 years ago

I found the ZX spectrum in my dad's belongings. He passes on October of 2014. I love it. It had a qwerty feel to it. It was simple to use and some games a bit of fun
. Lost it in a fire back in 2015 and would love to see one again.

Thanks Ben Heck
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e14 Contributor over 10 years ago

I love the ZX Spectrum. My Friends would be jealous when I brought it to their house. Sadly I lost it.
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e14 Contributor over 10 years ago

Well in the 80's my mother died. And that made me very depressed for a while. But then I Started to try to get my mind on other things. One of those things happened to be The ZX Spectrum. I started to learn how to use it and how to play games on it. It really helped to get me out of that depression. It's also the system that originally got me in to computers and helped me learn how to use them. I have no idea what happen to my Spectrum over the years it would be cool to have one of those again. To relive all the fun I had playing games on it.
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e14 Contributor over 10 years ago

My experience wasn't as extensive, as I only got to play around with my cousin's briefly, but I desperately wanted one of my own. Now would be an acceptable time to catch up, thank you.
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e14 Contributor over 10 years ago

i seen your videos before and there cool i would love to do the things that you can do with electronics
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e14 Contributor over 10 years ago

This is just amazing
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e14 Contributor over 10 years ago

Not at all familiar with the ZX. Would like to get to know it better.
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gamintank over 10 years ago

I've never owned a ZX Spectrum. I have seen videos of it and I was always curious to try one. I really like portable systems so this custom ZX Spectrum looks really cool.
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