Back when the Apple II was new, there wasn’t a lot of software available for it. On the earliest price list I’ve seen, April 1977, Apple listed the Apple I™ and several cassette tapes for it, and the then new Apple II™, but with no software available. The next iteration of the price list, October 1977, dropped the Apple I entirely, listing only the Apple II, but still with no software available. One thing that I found interesting about those two early price lists is they contain the only explanation I’ve seen for the coding system that Apple used for the things it sold. Here is the legend from the April 1977 price list (cropped from the scan made available by The Mothership):
So, if you’ve ever wondered about the A2M0003 on the disk drives, or the A2T0008X on cassettes, this was the rationale. A is for Apple (that’s good enough for me) and 2 is for the model, both of which are basically fixed after the April 1977 price list, since no mention was made of the Apple I after that. Until we get to the Apple ///, which did use the designator A3. The next letter indicated Tape, Literature (manuals), Module (external peripherals, which would include the Disk II, A2M0003, but also smaller things like memory and the Programmer’s Aid #1 chip), Component (like printer paper), Board (back when you could order the Apple II as just a board, and also including peripheral cards), System (board in a case with keyboard, power supply, speaker). Once disks appeared, the D designation for software on disk was used. For boards and systems, a three digit code indicating the amount of memory, and an X “for future use.” For things other than boards and systems, the four digit numeric code was a sequence number in essentially the order of release.
It’s a nice scheme, though they didn’t entirely stick to it. The three digit memory code turned into a four digit code, with the first digit distinguishing between standard Apple II (as of the introduction of the red label, the model number was printed on the bottom, with a “0” in the first digit, then the three digit memory code) and Apple II+ (where the first digit was a “1”). The “X” for future expansion was for some reason explicitly included as part of the model numbers printed on the cassettes, and it was used at the very tail end of the Apple II+ (model number A2S1048A). Apple “Special Delivery Software” had codes starting with “C” rather than with “A”, then a 2 or 3 (depending on whether it was for the Apple II or Apple ///), a sub code indicating Education, Home, Business, or Science, and then a sequence number basically counting up in the order of release.
The first price list where I found software listed for the Apple II was June 1978, at a time when the Disk II was still new and all of the software was on tape. Which brings me to A2T0008, new in the June 1978 catalog, containing Blackjack and Slot Machine.
The Apple tapes have an additional number on them, this one has 002-0011-00. It’s not entirely clear to me what these signify, but I expect that the 002 was originally designating software for the Apple II. Later on in the production of the tapes, they would use 600 here instead, with sequence numbers like 20xx, and my suspicion is that the 600 designation was for tapes that were included as a set with the computer. There are also a few tapes that have 685 here. So the Startrek/Starwars tape, while always being part number A2T0002X, exists at least as 002-0006-00 and 600-2013-00.
But that was all a kind of long-winded introduction to what was really intended to be a post about Blackjack and Slot Machine. I have done the audio imaging of the cassette, and the audio files (in WAV and AIFF format, the AIFF having been tested to load fine in Virtual II) and disk versions made to simplify use in emulators are below:
- Black Jack (AIFF) >LOAD
- Black Jack (WAV) >LOAD
- Black Jack (DSK)
- Slot Machine (AIFF) >LOAD
- Slot Machine (WAV) >LOAD
- Slot Machine (DSK)
Slot Machine is a simulation of a standard, quarter-taking slot machine, drawn in lo-res graphics.
The mode of interaction is kind of neat, you “pull the lever” by swiping the paddle (or horizontal axis of a joystick) from one side to the other. This may have been more effective with the original paddles that Apple included with the machine, which were essentially the paddles below from the Adversary console—they actually had a “paddle” form on a one-dimensional track. Spinning a standard later paddle wouldn’t have quite the same feel, though a joystick works well to recreate the effect (as long as you hold it turned 90 degrees).
All you do in the game is wiggle the paddle back and forth to spin the dials. You win some, you lose some, though the house gets killed. You win far more often than you lose, so you can walk away with as many virtual quarters as you have time to accumulate.
The Blackjack game on the other side of the cassette is quite a bit more interactive. You start by telling it how much money (in whatever your favorite denomination is, it’s only interested in the number) you wish to start with. As far as I can tell, this makes little difference to anything. The game doesn’t stop when you reach zero, it will happily continue playing when you are down. In fact, the game doesn’t stop at all.
On the play field, the dealer’s cards are shown in the top row, and yours in the second row. From here, you choose whether to hit, stay, double, or split.
If you bust, you lose your bet. Here I am, 470 drachma down.
You can win it all back the next time, though, if you’re lucky and skillful…
…or, if you cheat. If you’re worried about owing your Apple II hundreds of kroner, just bet a negative number and bust, and you’ll be doing fine.
