2026-07-27 · retro-review
Boulder Dash (1984) — Two Men Who Turned a Falling Rock Into a Rule
In March 1984, First Star Software released Boulder Dash for Atari 8-bit computers: an action puzzle in which Rockford tunnels through cave dirt to collect diamonds while gravity itself turns against him. Remove the dirt beneath a boulder and it falls; drop a rock on a butterfly and it turns to diamonds. This simple physics rule carried a lineage through Emerald Mine (1987), Supaplex (1991), and Rocks'n'Diamonds (1995), and it has survived more than forty years. This article traces the history behind a board written in six months by two Canadian developers.