Spelling Critter

An educational spelling game. Critter, a purple fuzzball with antennae that writes as it crawls, shows you a word for a moment and then asks HOW DO YOU SPELL THAT WORD? Turn the letter wheel with the stick and press the button to pick each letter, then pick the check mark when you are done. Push up to see the word again, which wipes what you picked, or down to erase the last letter. You get one try a word: a right answer brings THAT IS RIGHT, VERY GOOD!, a wrong one shows the correct spelling. Choose a game of 8 or 16 words, drawn from 48 built-in everyday words, easier ones first. At the end Critter shows how many you got right and wrong and says goodbye.

Controls: Use either controller. The stick turns the letter wheel, up shows the word again and down erases the last letter; either button picks. The keypad is not used.

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, June 1984: original Commodore 64 program (no author named in the issue). This is a modern homebrew adaptation, not a commercial Coleco release.