Chicken Catcher

A barn has four wooden lofts, each split by an open shaft down the middle. A hen drops from the roost down the shaft, over and over, a little faster after every catch. Your farmer runs along the lofts: take a run-up of at least five steps, then hold the button to leap into the shaft and grab her. She must meet your arms; bump her with your feet and she squawks, and the game is over. Miss her and you fall into the pit, which also ends the game. Trapdoors drop you to the loft below, and you can't climb back. Each hen caught scores ten points for every second left on the 60-second clock, which then starts again. When the clock runs out the game is over. The best score is kept with initials.

Controls: Use either controller. Push the stick left or right to run, and hold a side button to jump after a run-up of five steps. On the title, up and down choose and a button starts.

ColecoVision version credited in the source to Claude (an AI made by Anthropic) for Amy Studio, in Amy, the language by Amy Bienvenu, 2026: a reimagined adaptation of the published rules. From COMPUTE!'s Gazette, November 1985: original Commodore 64 program (no author named in the issue). Printed for both the Commodore 64 and VIC-20. This is a modern homebrew adaptation, not a commercial Coleco release.