Root Race

A two-player strategy game. A row of trees, alternately player 1's in yellow and player 2's in green, grows roots down through a triangle of ground toward the water at its point. Players take turns, and each turn grows one root a single step down-left or down-right from a root tip in the current row into a free place below. A row must be finished before the next one starts, and a player with no possible move passes. When the last row, just above the water, is full, the two roots that reached the water compare their whole systems, and the bigger root system wins for its owner. Each player has 3 to 7 trees, and who moves first is a title option. Play a friend or the computer.

Controls: Use either controller. Push left and right to move the ring between your root tips in the current row and press a side button to pick one, then push left or right to grow down-left or down-right; up or a button cancels. On the title, up and down choose a line and left, right or a button change it; a button on START GAME or CREDITS goes there.

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, December 1987: original Commodore 64 program (no author named in the issue). This is a modern homebrew adaptation, not a commercial Coleco release.