- The Sumerian Game 2.0 (and The Sierra Leone Game) - 24 April 2025
Dear players, As promised, The Sumerian Game 2.0 is finally here! With this update, you’ll find so many new features that The Sumerian Game on Steam will feel like an entirely new experience. There are new game modes (lesser-known, yet still important versions and iterations of the original game), new achievements, fewer bugs, and a more responsive interface that should feel more comfortable than the previous version. But that’s not all! Among all the new content, you’ll also discover a completely new game – another “missing in action” title, thought to be lost for years. It’s The Sierra Leone Game, a lesser-known and less influential game compared to The Sumerian Game, but nonetheless significant. It is the first game in history to feature a multimedia introduction (with slides and audio), player tooltips, and even a tutorial complete with a final quiz and a chance for promotion. Until…
- The Sumerian Game 2.0 Preview - 9 April 2025
Dear players, as promised, we’ve been working hard on a new version of the game. There are so many improvements that we decided to completely rewrite the entire program — not only to fix some pesky bugs, but above all to make it easier to use, with a responsive GUI that adapts smoothly to 1920x1080 resolutions and above, without graphical glitches. And while we were at it, we also expanded the gameplay experience: we included more versions of The Sumerian Game and its derivatives, added a greater amount of educational content, and — hopefully — made everything more engaging with a large set of achievements. Here are a few screenshots from The Sumerian Game 2.0! The main menu has been completely redesigned with a small infographic that not only shows all versions of the game, but also arranges them in chronological order. It displays the technologies used to create each one (FAP on IBM,…
- The Sumerian Game: A Digital Resurrection released! - 1 March 2025
Hello! We are proud to finally announce that The Sumerian Game: A Digital Resurrection in its complete edition is now available in digital format as a bonus reward for supporters who purchased the Supporter Pack. The Sumerian Game: A Digital Resurrection is divided into five major sections: the first narrates the story of one of the very first known computer games in history; the second provides a detailed analysis of the known versions of The Sumerian Game (which supporters can also play in its digital reconstruction); the third section explores in detail the successors of The Sumerian Game, explaining how they were programmed and how they functioned. This is followed by a chapter dedicated to the surviving slides, with commentary on the sources Mabel Addis used to write The Sumerian Game, and finally, a lengthy appendix containing biographies of all the individuals involved in the gam…
- Get now your copy of The Sumerian Game: A Digital Resurrection - 14 October 2024
The project to reconstruct The Sumerian Game and release it on Steam, allowing everyone to play it, began several years ago, between 2018 and 2019. The more I studied The Sumerian Game, the more I realized that not only was it possible to rebuild it, but it would also be a tremendous challenge and a unique endeavor in its own right. Five years later, here it is: The Sumerian Game! I hope you've enjoyed this journey through time. For the curious, the collectors, the video game history enthusiasts, and those who want to support this project (which is just the first in a series I’m already working on... stay tuned because there’s more to come!), for the hundreds of individuals who have already added The Sumerian Game Supporter Pack to their wishlist, now is the ideal moment! In four days, the crowdfunding campaign to fund the English translation and publication of my latest two books will…
- The lost revision of the lost game - The Sumerian Game Sum9rx is back! - 23 August 2024
Dear players, First of all, I want to thank you for your support. Exactly 100 of you chose to purchase the supporter package to fund this and other initiatives. Yes, because the restoration of The Sumerian Game is just the first of the adventures we can embark on, and I’m already working on the next exploration back in time, going even further, all the way to the 1950s. But for now, I won’t say more. Let’s focus on the updates for this project. The version of The Sumerian Game you’ve played over the past few weeks was named Suilxr by its developers (it was the filename of the code saved on tape and loaded by the technicians before the game). As you already know, the source code didn’t survive, but some game printouts did, including the one I’ve called “Scott’s game” in honor of the student who was playing. Thanks to the printout of Scott’s game and Richard Wing’s notes, it was possible…
- Version 1.0 released! - 4 August 2024
With this update, version 1.0 of the Sumerian Game has finally been released, which includes four games in one: Suilxr: The Sumerian Game extracted from Scott's game listing. Suilxr Revised: The Sumerian Game as it was presumably played by students, with slides and questions for the player. This version is available only to owners of the DLC Supporter Pack. King of Sumeria: The game written in FOCAL by Douglas Dyment, based on the description given to him of the Sumerian Game (presumably the Suilxr version). Hamurabi: The version written in BASIC by David Ahl, based on Dyment's King of Sumeria. For any questions, to report bugs, or anything else, contact me directly or write below. Have fun and remember to call the teacher if you run out of population ;)
- Major update! Released version 0.9 - 26 July 2024
Dear players, I am very happy to announce that a new version of The Sumerian Game has just gone live. In addition to some bug fixes, there are many new features, including a complete overhaul of the graphics and game interface and the addition of a new mode that includes (drum roll) the famous slides from 1964 and the questions. Since the mechanics of how the slides were implemented in the 1964 game and all the questions the program asked the player (one every two turns to see if they had studied and understood the lesson) are not known, I had to think long and hard about how they could be reinvented and I had to create new questions. This version of the game – available only to those who have purchased the DLC – is not historically accurate, although it is based on the available data, which is unfortunately too scarce. There might – actually, there certainly will be! – bugs and malfunc…
