Actions
Engagement
  • Author Author: tariq.ahmad
  • Date Created: Date Created
  • Last Updated Last Updated:
  • Views 15608 views
  • Likes 7 likes
  • Comments 587 comments
Related
Recommended

Winner Announcement: Ben Heck's Portable ZX Spectrum!

image

element14's The Ben Heck Show

Join the Ben Heck team every week for amazing hacks! Watch them build and mod community-inspired projects using electronics!

Back to The Ben Heck Show homepage image

Connect with TBHS
Featured Bonus Materials
See All Episodes

 

Congratulations to and !

 

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

image

image

image

 

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
imageimage

 

 

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:
imageGiveaway_TC.pdf

  • I am new to the ZX Spectrum life, but I am an amateur collector. I would love to have this piece in my collection, and I would love to play on this thing!

  • ZX Spectrum 48K was my first computer. It was with that I started programming, first Basic but then with assembly language to make programs faster and to access the hardware.

    I built a lot of devices to it, including the I / O modules for electronic experimentation, programmable joystick interface, motor controller, audio sampler and speech synthesis. It also got a new case with a more normal "click" keyboard.

    Using these new skills I then built a own computer with Z80CPU for my first home automation projects ( HEX keyboard and LED display ) . With that I controlled lights, music and more with time control and a homemade IR remote.

    Soon after that I got a job repairing computers ( mostly Commodore  … ), and the rest is history …

     

    ZX Spectrum was a really good start for all my further experiments and work with electronics and computers.

     

    It would be really fun to win and revive Spectrum memories and play Manic Miner again !

     

    Attached is a picture of my Spectrum case with keyboard, but without any of my expansion modules.

     

     

     

    image

  • One best things when i was a kid i my dad was proud have one and i played on it a lot and well just some of those days then seeing tech advance it is beautiful to still have classics

  • I had never heard of the Spectrum.  The first game/programming I done was with the white Intellivison and the keyboard you could get with it.  Once I has exhausted all the different sprite animation I could do with it I got a tan/brown Commodore 64 with a tape drive.  I spent many hours typing in the games you found in the Commodore magazines.  Also, does anyone remember GEOS graphical interface... Those where fun times.

  • Hi I am game collector and a twitch streamer. I love to play and collect old systems. My oldest is my in the box ColecoVision. I would love to add one to my setup. And give it shine as well as much play..unlike others this means more than just a free item it means one step closer to my goal of owning one of every system.

  • I've never actually owned a ZX Spectrum, but I do still have two Radio Shack/Tandy Color Computers (2&3) that are still working after all these years.  The CoCo2 is what really got me into computers and programming many years ago, and digging into the history of the PC industry I find so many of the early models absolutely fascinating.  I would so love to have a ZX to play and learn with, as it's a peek back into the glory days of do-it-yourself home computing, way back before Apple and Microsoft started telling everyone what they need rather than giving everyone the tools to make it on their own.

  • The ZX Spectrum was the best retro computer I had as a kid, my father had one from when he was a kid and past it down to me. At times the ZX Spectrum was a life saver for projects. thats my story.

     

    - Jeremie

  • I do not want this ZX Spectrum for myself, although I would like it for myself, I want this as a present for my Dad. He grew up in Britain in the 80's and has many fond memories of the many personal computer systems from the time, and has recently started to reassemble his collection of all things retro. He's the hardest man in the world to buy gifts for, so I think this would be a really cool and unique thing to be able to give to him. I was brought up with his love for retro gaming on the Spectrum and would love to be able to give this to him as a thank you for introducing me to all kinds of cool stuff.

     

    Btw, I came here from the Nintendo-Playstation repair video, what a cool thing to work on! Not jealous at all...

  • in reply to spannerspencer

    Thank you for the correction... I believe I must have the tape somewhere around, maybe I should remind myself how simplistic and fun was to play on my old Speccy image

  • in reply to e14 Contributor

    I also had a +2 (followed by a +2A after the +2 packed in), and you had great taste in games! IK+ was amazing, and Yie Ar Kung Fu (which means 1,2, Kung Fu! in Chinese -- I LOVE that name image ) was soooo good!

     

    What's the Best ZX Spectrum Game... Ever!