---
title: "Graphics Surprises"
type: "article"
slug: "graphics-surprises"
url: "http://localhost/article/graphics-surprises/"
markdown_url: "http://localhost/article/graphics-surprises.md"
published_at: "2020-10-27T17:18:35+00:00"
modified_at: "2024-06-23T00:43:58+00:00"
featured_image:
  url: "http://localhost/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/20230809-041332.jpg"
excerpt: "When we combine the uncertainty of the ZX80's randomizing feature with its graphics capacities, we have the ingredients for a lot of fun. For example, the Crazy Quilt program uses only two instructions, yet it fills the screen with a zany tangle of symbols and spots. A more challenging application of graphics and randomizing is…"
category:
  - name: "SYNC"
    slug: "sync"
    taxonomy: "category"
    url: "http://localhost/category/periodicals/sync/"
post_tag:
  - name: "1981"
    slug: "year-1981"
    taxonomy: "post_tag"
    url: "http://localhost/tag/year-1981/"
  - name: "Type-in program"
    slug: "type-in-program"
    taxonomy: "post_tag"
    url: "http://localhost/tag/type-in-program/"
  - name: "ZX80"
    slug: "zx80"
    taxonomy: "post_tag"
    url: "http://localhost/tag/zx80/"
model:
  - name: "Sinclair ZX80"
    slug: "zx80"
    taxonomy: "model"
    url: "http://localhost/model/zx80/"
indiv:
  - name: "James Parsons"
    slug: "james-parsons"
    taxonomy: "indiv"
    url: "http://localhost/indiv/james-parsons/"
publication: "Sync"
publication_r:
  id: 10243
  title: "SYNC"
  type: "periodical"
  url: "http://localhost/periodical/sync-magazine/"
authors: "James Parsons"
volume: "1"
issue: "3"
issues_articles:
  - id: 26637
    title: "SYNC v1 n3"
    type: "issue"
    url: "http://localhost/issue/sync-v1-n3/"
pages: "22-23"
pubdate: "May/June 1981"
archive_link: false
volumeissue: "v1n3"
---

# Graphics Surprises

When we combine the uncertainty of the ZX80’s randomizing feature with its graphics capacities, we have the ingredients for a lot of fun. For example, the Crazy Quilt program uses only two instructions, yet it fills the screen with a zany tangle of symbols and spots. A more challenging application of graphics and randomizing is found in “Walls and Dikes.” This program generates a maze in which the configuration of the baffles is fixed randomly within parameters which the player can set.