Think Tank

Two tank commanders, three tanks each, face off on an open field, white on the left and yellow on the right. Each round both commanders secretly write ten orders, choosing for each which tank it is for and whether it turns left, turns right, moves one space forward or fires. The orders stay hidden as grey blocks until they run. Then they play out step by step, one from each side a step, with the side that goes first swapping every round. A shell flies to the edge of the field and destroys the first tank in its way, friend or foe; tanks that collide are both destroyed, and orders for a lost tank are wasted. Destroy all three enemy tanks to win. Play a friend or a computer commander that never sees your orders.

Controls: Joystick only. Push up or down to choose which of your tanks the next order is for, left or right to choose turn left, turn right, move, fire or take back the last order, and press a button to write it down. In a one-player game either joystick commands the white tanks; with two players joystick 1 commands white and joystick 2 yellow, with a pass-the-controller screen before each turn.

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, April 1990, page 35: original Commodore 64 program by Fred Karg. This is a modern homebrew adaptation, not a commercial Coleco release.