Whirlybird

A brick-breaking game with a bird for a paddle. The Whirlybird flies back and forth across the top of the screen, spinning all the time, and bounces its eggs down into layers of coloured bricks below. Hold the stick left or right to speed the bird up; let go and it slows to a stop, and a sidebeam at either edge turns it round. Each brick is worth a point and each egg the bird bounces back down 10, and the stick at the moment of impact steers the egg. An egg that flies past the bird costs 10 points. Round bricks bring the bird swooping down to set a new sidebeam above the bricks and give a free egg. Clear every brick for a 50-point bonus; the game ends when the bricks or the eggs run out.

Controls: Use joystick 1 or 2. Hold left or right to speed the bird up that way; let go and it slows to a stop. A button releases each egg and works the menus, where the number of eggs can be set from 1 to 255.

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 1985, page 42: original Commodore 64 program by Philip I. Nelson. This is a modern homebrew adaptation, not a commercial Coleco release.