Excalibur is a notable early resource-management/strategy computer game for the Atari 8-bit

Atari 8-bit family

The Atari 8-bit family is a series of 8-bit home computers manufactured from 1979 to 1992. All are based on the MOS Technology 6502 CPU and were the first home computers designed with custom coprocessor chips...

 computers. It was designed by game design legend Chris Crawford

Chris Crawford (game designer)

Christopher Crawford is a computer game designer and writer noted for creating a number of important games in the 1980s, founding The Journal of Computer Game Design, and organizing the Computer Game Developers' Conference.- Biography :...

, developed with the help of Larry Summers and Valerie Atkinson, and published by Atari Program Exchange

Atari Program Exchange

Atari Program Exchange was a division of Atari, Inc. that distributed software for the Atari 8-bit family of home computers through a quarterly mail-order catalog. APX, the brain-child of Dale Yocam, started in February 1981 and guided by Fred Thorlin. APX published quarterly catalogs until 1984,...

 in 1983.

The object of the game is to unite all of Britain

Great Britain

Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

 under the rule of King Arthur

King Arthur

King Arthur is a legendary British leader of the late 5th and early 6th centuries, who, according to Medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against Saxon invaders in the early 6th century. The details of Arthur's story are mainly composed of folklore and literary invention, and...

. You invade kingdoms, set tithe

Tithe

A tithe is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a contribution to a religious organization or compulsory tax to government. Today, tithes are normally voluntary and paid in cash, cheques, or stocks, whereas historically tithes were required and paid in kind, such as agricultural products...

s for your vassal

Vassal

A vassal or feudatory is a person who has entered into a mutual obligation to a lord or monarch in the context of the feudal system in medieval Europe. The obligations often included military support and mutual protection, in exchange for certain privileges, usually including the grant of land held...

s, send plagues and pestilences (with the help of Merlin) and manage the loyalty of your own Round Table

Round Table (Camelot)

The Round Table is King Arthur's famed table in the Arthurian legend, around which he and his Knights congregate. As its name suggests, it has no head, implying that everyone who sits there has equal status. The table was first described in 1155 by Wace, who relied on previous depictions of...

by rewarding your knights or, if they grow too disloyal, by banishing them.

Excalibur was considered to be a well-balanced and elegant-looking game for the time. A trivial detail is that three of the knights of the game, Sremmus, Nosnikta and Drofwarc are named following the names of the creators of the game backwards.

External links

• Art of Computer Game Design chapter describing creation of Excalibur
• atarimania.com Review - Excalibur
• Antic Vol.2, No.11 - Product Review for Excalibur