Manic Miners of the World, Unite! How the British Hit Computer Game Got a Second Life in Czechoslovakia
Abstract
This chapter uses the example of the British computer game Manic Miner to document the improvised flow of software from the West to the Soviet bloc, and its appropriation by Czechoslovak players. It builds on oral history interviews with local players and programmers, archival material (mainly computer club newsletters), and preserved software artifacts.
The chapter presents a variantology of Manic Miner, using the analysis of differences between individual versions of the game to capture the multiplicity of meanings and pleasures with which it was associated in Czechoslovakia. It shows how that the game's framing changed when it was removed from the context of the UK's booming commercial industry and installed in Czechoslovak computer clubs, whose primary mission was programming education.