Remarkable 10 line Basic programs (chess, Basic interpreter, many more)

Discussions
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The BASIC 10Liners 2025 competition results are in, and two entries in particular caught my eye.

First, a remarkably competent Chess program by Alci, in 10 lines of BBC Basic:

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(You can play this in your browser)

Second, a mini Basic interpreter, by Matthew Begg, in 10 lines of ZX Spectrum Basic:

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Both of these placed well in the EXTREM-256 category. Purists might look instead to the PUR-80 category. (Edit: oops, the Basic interpreter is a WILD entry, not EXTREM-256… Edit, oh I’m not even sure. But anyway, it’s very impressive. Here’s a sped-up video of it running the christmas star.)

via TwoStopBits

A previous discusion
10th Edition of BASIC 10 Liner Contest

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That is really cool. I’m playing a game against it. It’s not good. :wink: But it’s amazing!

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I wonder how it would play against Microchess?

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The PDP-8 plays chess as well.

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I had a quick try - Jennings’ page links to a portable command-line C version of Microchess, so playing the two against each other is merely slightly tedious. I tried, but stumbled, partly because of difficulty reading the boards and swapping between the notations. I note with a little surprise that Microchess has a number of book openings, which might well help, although I’d expect it to be weaker.