SPACE Newsletter

•SPECIAL 2025 CHRISTMAS EDITION•

At last month’s Annual Meeting we successfully elected a slate of officers, and secured commitments for the other volunteer positions for another year. Thank you Greg, Steve, and Glen, what would we do without you!?! We also discussed the need to update the club Bylaws, to account for the Discord server in place of a club BBS, among other tweaks. I’ve submitted a set of suggested changes with this Newsletter, so that we could potentially put the changes into effect as soon as this month. Speaking of this month, it is time for a holiday party! Please see Greg’s article for details, and please plan to join everyone for the festivities! Hope to see you there! Thanks, keep using that Atari, and come to your next SPACE meeting and PARTY: Friday, December 12, 2025.

TRIVIA TIME! Physicist Albert Einstein as a young boy was considered unteachable by his school teachers. As you know this is incorrect, as he became one of the most venerated scientists in world history.

A very difficult time for Jackie and me. We got home from her surgery on the Monday after our meeting. I had a hard time keeping up with all the Atari news coming out of the meeting, but I have the financial details at least and a bit of news concerning our meeting room. For next month we will be meeting in the Midway room, which is adjacent to the Merriam room but just a little smaller. Since next month is our Christmas meeting we may have to use the Merriam room again if we have more members present. We are trying to get the Midway room going forward, but if we have a larger turnout we could still use the Merriam room if unoccupied. Since Jackie is still in recovery mode I cannot promise I will remember all the things that Jackie does automatically. I will bring the Jersey Mike’s subs and pick up potato salad on the Club’s dime and after that you can bring anything that would complement the meal. I will also bring the tableware, beverages, and I hope a dessert. Glen said he would try the root-beer floats again as it worked out great for the birthday party. Not easy when you don’t have a freezer to store the ice cream.

HOO-RAH!

NOTE: The SPACE Comics Section will be returning in the January 2026 SPACE Newsletter. Taking a little break from it this month. Thanks for reading!

MEETING COMMENCES: The November 2025 SPACE Meeting and Election commenced officially in Friday, November 14, 2025, at 7:12 PM local time. We had five members present for the Meeting. MEMBERSHIP COUNT: We had ten members with paid-up membership dues last month. WEBSITE REPORT: The SPACE Newsletter PDFs uploaded to the SPACE Website have been converted to HTML and sent to President Michael Current as ZIP file archives. Hopefully, this helps with Google indexing issues with the Website. Also, special thanks to Roger for converting the PDFs to HTML for easier indexing on the site. DOM REPORT: We had another dynamite DOM from Glen in November. It included pictures, a game by Inufuto called “Svellas” and another variation of the classic game “Lord of the Orb’ by XaVer. More info will be in the Atari 8-bit DOM Review about the DOM.

The receipts included a membership renewal for $15.00, nine DOMs for $27.00 and another $10.00 contribution to Wilder. The Wilder contribution (thanks all to Tom) is now $20.00 which is included in the new balance.

OLD BUSINESS: We now have a freewill donation offering for the Wilder Center to thank them for letting us use their space. Anyone can donate any amount of money they wish to this fund.

I would assume that he wants to remain as Vice President, but if he cannot make the meetings I will take over his position until he can make it to a meeting.

“Television! Play it!”

Hello again! Welcome back to the SPACE Secretary’s Report. We had a great SPACE Meeting and Election in November. Here are the Meeting Minutes for last month. Let’s get started!

As far as the treasury is concerned we started the month of November with a bank balance of $719.26 and we added another $52.00 for November which gives us a new balance of $771.26.

We had our annual board elections and it looks as if once again we will have the same lineup. The only difference is with the Vice President position being held by Brian as we don’t know his decision because he could not make the meeting to vote.

Message from Captain Irata:

HELLO WORLD!

Well, I need to cut this short as I have Jackie to care for and she can only lift up to 20 pounds and with setting up all of our Christmas decorations the weight limit is all mine this year. She always wants to help so this is killing her not being able to! Anyway, with my two grandsons helping with the lifting I will get it all done. Please mark your calendar for the 12th of December for our SPACE Christmas party and I hope it will be with Jackie, so we will see you then. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page One: The President’s Corner & SPACE Officers’ Reports Page Two: Atari 8-bit DOM Review Page Four: Election Results/Proposed Bylaws Amendments

NEW BUSINESS: Roger proposed a Game of the Month Club for SPACE members on Discord. One of the games proposed for the Club is called “Gemstone Warrior,” and other lesser-known games were mentioned. I will have more information as this develops. There was talk of using instances of emulators with two screens. This could be useful in game presentation for the Club. I will have more information about this as it develops in the near future. Also, Video 61 has released a new graphics/text adventure called “The Realm of No!” It is available now for the Atari 7800. For ordering information, you can go to forums. atari.io or atarisales.com. It looks promising. There was more talk about the Falcon Re-imagined computer from Wizztronics in New York City. It will have two VME ports, and a 68030 CPU. This is not a clone, but a modern interpretation of the Atari Falcon030 computer which can be upgraded. At this time, there is a prototype motherboard and the final product will be assembled at a factory in New York. More info on this will come in the near future. This concludes the Secretary’s Report for November. The Election results will be in the middle of this page. Thanks for reading and we will see you at the Party! In the words of the late, great Stan Lee… EXCELSIOR!

Welcome back to the Atari 8-bit DOM Review! In this issue, we will review the November 2025 DOM. It has some cool files and games with kicking tunes. So, I am going to get started with the Review. November 2025 DOM, Side One The first file is called “Remiza Party,” a 261-byte file by K. Rogowski. It is a simulated game of Musical Chairs. I also found out it is interactive. You can make chairs disappear by pressing the fire button while people are sitting down. It looks quite minimalist, as the graphics are really simple, but it has some interaction as I just stated. The attraction is that you control the game by removing chairs. It is more a demo of its interactivity, at least that is what I am getting from it.

This looks really impressive. Not only is it in 3D, it is in perspective as well. The animation is fluid in the scroll and it looks very attractive. I like the colors in it, as they compliment each other very well. Great job! Let me score this now. SCORE: Graphics: Animation: Music/Sound FX:

10 10 9

TOTAL SCORE:

29/30 (97%)

The next file is another 262-byte file called “Over the City,” by Kamil Trzaska. It is a simulated fly-over of a cityscape, with colored pixels streaking by simulating buildings. This looks impressive as well. The animation is fluid and it plays fast. Love it!

I almost forgot to mention that there are arrows showing how the pieces of the maze can move. The movement is restricted to those arrows. It is an impressive puzzle game and I like it. Inufuto has done it again! I will score this game now. SCORE:

I once thought that the sprites were Cyrillic letters, but later we found out that there were people sitting in chairs. Then, we saw the people sitting in the chairs. I figured out you can remove chairs at home, when I was playing this file. Interesting concept. I thought the graphics could be better. But, I like the idea of an interactive Musical Chairs game. I am sure it has been done in the past, but it is a cool idea nonetheless. After all, it is only 261 bytes anyway. Let me score this file. SCORE: Graphics: Gameplay: Music/Sound FX:

4 8 3

TOTAL SCORE:

15/30 (50%)

The next file is a 262-byte file called “Grawitacja Scroll,” by Marek Oglodek. It is vertically scrolling text and it has a 3D effect while scrolling up. The phrase “Zapraszamy na grawitacje” is depicted in the scroll. It translates to “Welcome to Gravity,” from the Polish language.

I know the picture does not give this file justice, but if you see it in action, it does look nice and sounds great. It really exemplifies what this machine can do, and it’s impressive. Let me score this file now. SCORE: Graphics: Animation: Music/Sound FX:

9 10 10

TOTAL SCORE:

29/30 (97%)

The next file is another game by Inufuto called “Svellas.” In this game, you must collect all of the stars in any level and avoid the ghost, and there is a twist. You have to move parts of the maze to get your objective completed. It must be moved around correctly so you don’t get stuck. On top of all this, you also have a time limit to complete the level. If you get caught by a ghost or the time runs out, you have to start the level you are on currently over. If you lose all of your lives, the game of course is over. The graphics need improvement, but the game play is innovative and fun. It actually works and is an impressive game, reminding of the 1981 arcade classic “Mouse Trap,” where you have to manipulate the maze by opening and closing doors to complete the game.

Graphics: Gameplay: Animation: Music/Sound FX:

7 10 7 7

TOTAL SCORE:

31/40 (71%)

The next file is another game called “Timberman,” by Pawel Kalinowski and his team. In this game, you play a lumberjack cutting down a tree. As you cut the tree down, you must avoid the branches coming down from the tree. If you get hit by a tree, you will die. You only get one life. There is a timer showing how long you are playing and a energy bar that grows as you play the game. It has impressive graphics, sound, music and gameplay. It really pushes the graphics capability of the A8 computer. Outstanding!

TOTAL SCORE:

38/40 (95%)

Well, this concludes the A8 DOM Review. I will return next month with another DOM Review. until then, Carpe Diem, fellow Atarians, and thanks! See you at the SPACE Christmas Party! TTFN!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS AND

Let me score this file now. TOTAL SCORE:

10/10 (100% perfect score)

The next file is another picture called “Bye,” by Kristian Sergiejew. It shows a sad little boy making a mistake in computer programming on an Atari computer. It’s rendered in black-and-white. It looks pretty well-illustrated and like a cartoon panel in a comic strip. Nicely done.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2026

The graphics remind me of what the SNES can produce, and they are that good. The music is impressive and the gameplay is hard. If only other games could look like this one. This is professional quality. I like the game and it’s complexity with the timing of the falling tree.

FROM THE ATARIANS

Very, very good stuff! Kudos to the programmers! Thanks for a job well done. I will score this game now. This is a really good job. It could be a scan, but it looks very professional. Kudos!

SCORE: Graphics: Animation: Gameplay: Music/Sound FX:

10 10 10 10

Let me score this.

TOTAL SCORE:

40/40 (100% perfect score)

By the way, we tested the program, and of course nothing happened. Hence the sadness with the kid in the pic.

TOTAL SCORE:

9/10 (90%)

The next file is a music track called “Blinky’s Scary SchOOl,” by Miker and his team of creators. It shows a lot of prowess and is pulse-pounding with a lot of tonal effect. It has an eerie effect to it as well. It sounds really good and would be great as a game soundtrack.

Now onto Side Two, which has only one file, which is a variation of a great game from the 1980s.

Here’s my score for it.

Here on Side Two of the DOM is another variation of “Lord of the Orb,” created Jose Suarez and modified by xaVer. It is harder because of the maze variation in it. The person who modified this game has modified this game six times prior. This is the seventh variation of the game.

TOTAL SCORE:

9/10 (90%)

The next music track is called “Sweetly Dreamly,” created by Christian Duesterhoeft. It is another nice tune with a cool beat and nice tempo. It sounds more technical than the previous track and it is faster. Really cool stuff! I enjoy listening to it. Here’s my score. TOTAL SCORE:

9?10 (90%)

The next file is a picture called “Stellar Quest.” It was created by an unknown artist and it looks spectacular. It shows a spaceship looking like the Space Shuttle blasting off. It could even be the Buran, which was created by the Soviets in the days of the Cold War. The colors look great and it looks well-rendered. I am sure it took a lot of time to create it and it really shows. This is talent and applied skill. Well done!

Side Two

It’s fabulous. It is challenging and difficult. Shoot sparingly at your enemies and get the four pieces of the Orb. Conserve your energy and don’t get caught! You have a limited energy supply, which can be regenerated by collecting magic rings. There are treasures to collect, too. Collect the keys to open the treasure rooms and the orb rooms. There are four main levels, each containing a quarter of the Orb. Collect all four pieces of the Orb to solve the game. The game is intricate and has great music. The graphics are nice as well. It is well thought out and play very nicely. A spectacular game reworked for more challenge. I will score it now.

AT SPACE! BUON NATALE! JOYEUX NOEL! FELIZ NAVIDAD! MELE KALIKIMAKA!

SCORE: Graphics: Gameplay: Animation: Music/Sound FX:

9 10 10 9

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

SPACE 2025 ELECTION RESULTS: Congratulations to the Following Officers Elected to the Official Positions in SPACE Leadership for 2026: President: Michael Current Acting Vice-President/Treasurer: Gregory Leitner Secretary/Newsletter Editor: Steven Peck DOM Librarian/Membership Chair: Glen Kirschenmann NOTE: Gregory Leitner will be acting Vice-President until current Vice-President Brian Little is able to return for meetings in the near future. There was also talk about the future of the SPACE BBS and what to do with that. The following are several Bylaws changes (“amendments”) proposed by Michael Current. ARTICLE III MEETINGS

Thanks for Reading! ARTICLE VII DISCORD BULLETIN BOARD SYSTEM

Section 1. A Discord server Bulletin Board System (BBS) supporting Atari Section 1. SPACE meetings shall be held computers shall be made available by the at 7:30pm on the second Friday of each club. The Discord server BBS provides month, at the Falcon Heights Commuan online forum for Atari discussions, and nity Center, unless otherwise directed by an optional communications medium for the Executive Board. club matters. ARTICLE V NEWSLETTER Section 2. All currently paid club members shall receive a copy of the Newsletter by mail each month.

Section 2. The Discord BBS System Operator shall be responsible for maintaining a friendly and welcoming environment on Discord the BBS. Illegal software or offensive language shall not be tolerated.

ARTICLE IX OFFICERS AND EXECUTIVE BOARD Section 4. The Executive Board shall actively seek volunteers to fill the following positions: Membership Chairman, Newsletter Editor, DOM Librarian, Discord BBS Operator, and Webmaster. These volunteers shall be subject to the approval of the club membership. Section 5. The Executive Board shall also seek volunteers for other ongoing administrative duties, such as meeting location arrangements and post office box maintenance.

SPACE Meeting and Christmas Party Friday, December 12, 2025, From 6:00 - 8:30 PM. DOM Demonstration Meeting Party with Food Thanks for coming!