Tag Archives: apple ii

Unearthed: Kirschen’s independent Apple II projects

Screenshot of a title screen for the Apple II game "You ... and Doc Possum" running in the Microm8 emulator.

Screenshot of a title screen for the Apple II game “You … and Doc Possum” running in the Microm8 emulator.

Is “Doc Possum” a lost Learning Company game?

After the end of Yaakov Kirschen’s partnership with the Gesher organization, he had an idea for a secular educational game for the Apple II, which he pitched to The Learning Company. Around the same time he also made a few independent demos and experimental software.

Keep reading for more background on Kirschen and The Learning Company, as well as details about each of these programs.

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Unearthed: Kirschen’s Apple II games for Gesher

Screenshot of a title screen for the Apple II game "Nosh Kosh".

One of several title screens for the Apple II game “Nosh Kosh”.

Ever wonder what the Jewish version of Pac-Man might look like?

In the early 1980s, video games were exploding in popularity with kids and microcomputers were becoming available Israel. The Gesher organization saw potential in developing educational software specifically for Jewish students. From 1982 to 1984, Yaakov Kirschen worked with them on four games:

Keep reading for more background on Gesher and Kirschen, as well as details about each of the games.

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Bringing dry bones back to life: The Kirschen software collection

Yaakov Kirschen works on "The Goldberg Variations" in 1983.

Yaakov Kirschen works on “The Goldberg Variations” in 1983.

It’s time to bring some dry bones back to life.

In coming days, I will publish a curated collection of lost software developed by the Israeli cartoonist Yaakov Kirschen together with programmers from Gesher Educational Affiliates as well as from his own studio, LKP Ltd.

The collection includes ten games, demos, and experiments in artificial personality and artificial creativity. The software was developed between 1983 and 1989 for various platforms including the Apple II, Atari ST, and IBM PC.

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Appreciating the physicality of floppies

As I continue imaging and curating a collection of Apple II software I received last year, I have an increased appreciation for the importance of preserving physical floppy disks.

Multiple labels and overwriting are visible in this scan of an old 5.25″ floppy disk.

I have a floppy which contains a copy of a game called “Nosh Kosh.” To preserve the game digitally, Keith Hacke created a “disk image”, which in this case is a .DSK file that can be played in Apple II emulators.

Hopefully these digital disk images will endure online and in archives long after the last magnetic particles have flaked off the original physical floppy.

But the floppy still has important physical artifacts, particularly the labels.

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