Guess | Classic retro game for the Commodore PET Computer (1978)

GUESS is a number-guessing game with a twist: you choose a range of numbers, and the computer will tell you whether the mystery number is within the range, lower than your range, or higher than your range. Fisher adds a grid display that covers up any numbers you eliminate.

This program is similar to TRAP, which appeared in BASIC Computer Games, edited by David H. Ahl (Creative Computing, 1978). TRAP also appeared in an earlier version of this book, 101 BASIC Computer Games (Digital Equipment Corporation, 1973), credited to Steve Ullman, with a date of August, 1972. I don't think Fisher stole this program as such, but rather it was just one of those ideas that was floating around and easy to implement. I must have seen dozens of BASIC variants of TRAP and other guessing games like Jotto (a word game) and Bagels (a number guessing game similar to the board game Mastermind). Fisher's slick PETSCII displays add value to the basic concept.