Desert Isle

It sounds peaceful, doesn't it? Lonely, even. Imagine just yourself on a desert isle in the middle of the ocean. Just you and the palm trees -- and the coconuts. This game is about you and the coconuts. The wind has picked up and the coconuts are falling. You must race across the island while dodging falling coconuts, which stream down from the top of the screen, exactly where you are trying to guide your 10-pixel avatar. If you're fast, you make it through, gain 100 points, and start again at the bottom. If you're unlucky, you meet a coconut at the very top, with no chance to dodge, or at the bottom just when you enter again in middle of the windstorm.

Five knocks on the head and the classic "Game Over". The single-screen layout is typical arcade as well, showing your score and "men" on the right side, with the graphical playing field on the left. Speed, however, is what the game showcases with its machine-language code. Of the four game speeds available, the slowest is a walk in the park, still challenging because your avatar is in no hurry, either. The fastest speed, though, caters to suicidal mania as pixels barely light before they are blanked and each trip up the screen takes about one second, unless you meet a coconut.