Popular Computing Weekly (GB)
Popular Computing Weekly was a British multi-format magazine published by Sunshine Publications. It was mostly a serious magazine that provided news, hardware & software reviews, programming tutorials, type-in program listings, and some games coverage. The front cover used high quality artwork on early issues, then the cover was used for announcements and editorial content. When Home Computing Weekly ceased publication, it was incorporated into Popular Computing Weekly from Vol 4 No 42 (7-23 Oct 1985) onwards. The editors included Duncan Scot (V1-N01 to V1-N08), Brendan Gore (V1-N09 to V3-N24), David Kelly (V3-N25 to V4-N50) and Christina Erskine (V4-N51 to V6?).
Download all programs from this magazine on four disks:
 PopCompWeekly1.d64 (Apr-Nov 1982) |
PopCompWeekly2.d64 (Dec 1982-Aug 1983) |
PopCompWeekly3.d64 (Sep 1983-Nov 1984) |
PopCompWeekly4.d64 (Dec 1984 onwards) |
Note: The game Lunar Lander (83-05-05) is not included on disk because it currently only loads from cassette tape.
253 programs
| Program | Author | Requirements | Files | Info |
| Monkey (Monkey Climb)  Vol 3 No 1 (5-11 Jan 1984), Pages 31-32. |
M Tooley | 3K expansion | monkey climb 3k.t64 Screenshot |
Shoot the monkey ten times before he reaches the bananas at the top of the trees. Controls: 1-6 (position to shoot from). |
Stock Market Vol 3 No 1 (5-11 Jan 1984), Page 45. |
M Dixon | Unexpanded | stock market.prg Screenshot |
2-player game. See who can make the most money by buying shares in four commodities. Controls: Each round begins by showing the current share prices & holdings for both players. Press 'F' to move to the next screen. Player A presses any key to buy shares, and presses 'F' when finished. Player B then repeats the same procedure. |
Las Vegas Vol 3 No 2 (12-18 Jan 1984), Pages 39-40. |
Paul Hampson | Unexpanded | las vegas.t64 Screenshot |
Collect as many coins as you can. Each time you collect 100 coins you can have a go on the slot machine. Controls: , (left), . (right), F1 (spin wheels), * (stop wheels). |
Moonflight Vol 3 No 4 (26 Jan-1 Feb 1984), Pages 43-45. |
Julian Franklyn | Unexpanded | moonflight.prg Screenshot |
Shoot the aliens before they break through the line to land on Earth. After every two phases you have to dock your ship. Controls: N (left), M (right), F (fire). |
Letter Puzzle Vol 3 No 5 (2-8 Feb 1984), Page 43. |
A Blackham | Unexpanded | letter puzzle.prg Screenshot |
Sliding tile puzzle game. Slide the tiles around the grid to put the letters back into alphabetical order. Controls: Joystick or W (up), X (down), A (left), D (right). |
Mastermind Vol 3 No 7 (16-22 Feb 1984), Pages 35-36. |
M Tooley | Unexpanded | mastermind.t64 Screenshot |
Mastermind game. You must work out a 3-6 digit number chosen by the computer. A black peg means you have a correct number in the correct place and a white peg means a correct number in the wrong place. Controls: Enter your guess (the required number of digits from 1-6) for each round. |
Hall of Fame Vol 3 No 8 (23-29 Feb 1984), Page 36. |
M Dixon | Unexpanded | hall of fame.prg Screenshot |
Subroutine to add a high score table to your own programs. Controls: Follow on-screen prompts. |
Space Walk Vol 3 No 8 (23-29 Feb 1984), Pages 36-37. |
A Bissenden | Unexpanded | space walk.prg Screenshot |
Navigate your ship to the circle at the bottom of the screen in the fewest possible moves, but don't hit any asteroids. Controls: U (up), N (down), H (left), J (right), Space (fire). |
Demo Vol 3 No 9 (1-7 Mar 1984), Pages 40-41. |
Eurof Davies | Unexpanded | vic demo.prg Screenshot |
Demo that uses graphics, music and sound effects to show off the VIC-20's capabilities. Controls: None. |
Grave Robber Vol 3 No 10 (8-14 Mar 1984), Pages 38-39. |
K Dent | Unexpanded | grave robber.prg Screenshot |
Rob each grave, but don't touch the ghosts that appear if you take too long. Controls: A (left), D (right), F1 (up), F3 (down). |
Space Sweeper Vol 3 No 12 (22-28 Mar 1984), Pages 35-37. |
Steven Green | Unexpanded | space sweeper.prg Screenshot |
Clear the area of dangerous space mines by shooting them. Controls: A (turn left), D (turn right), S (thrust), H (hyperspace, when level cleared), Space (fire). |
Plotting A Graph Vol 3 No 15 (12-18 Apr 1984), Page 21. |
Sarah Cotton | Unexpanded & 1520 plotter | plotting a graph.t64 Screenshot |
Two programs for the 1520 plotter. The first prints a cosine graph, the second prints a map of the UK. Controls: None. |
Quadratics Vol 3 No 15 (12-18 Apr 1984), Pages 38-39. |
Sarah Cotton | Unexpanded | quadratics.prg Screenshot |
Mathematical tool to solve quadratic equations. Controls: Follow on-screen prompts. |
Dog Run Vol 3 No 15 (12-18 Apr 1984), Pages 45-51. |
K Dent | Unexpanded | dog run.prg Screenshot |
Maze game. Collect all the treasures before you run out of time. Don't touch the electric fences that appear after the first screen. Controls: A (left), D (right), F1 (up), F3 (down). |
3D Graphics Vol 3 No 16 (19-25 Apr 1984), Page 37. |
T Watson | Super Expander+3K | 3d graphics se3k.prg Screenshot |
Displays a hi-res 3D picture. Controls: None. |
Citadel Vol 3 No 17 (26 Apr-2 May 1984), Pages 39-41. |
Stephen Loughran | Super Expander+3K | citadel se3k.prg Screenshot |
Protect your citadel from the flames by waggling the joystick left & right to extend your shields. Controls: Joystick. |
Alphasort Vol 3 No 18 (3-9 May 1984), Page 40. |
Gavin Aitken | Unexpanded | alphasort.prg Screenshot |
Utility to sort a list of names into alphabetical order. Controls: Follow on-screen prompts. |
Character Drawer Vol 3 No 19 (10-16 May 1984), Page 37. |
D Gartrell | Unexpanded & 1520 plotter | character drawer.prg Screenshot |
Print user-defined characters on the 1520 plotter. Controls: Follow on-screen prompts. |
Vic Connection Vol 3 No 20 (17-23 May 1984), Pages 10-11. |
Ian Craighill | Unexpanded | vic connection.prg Screenshot |
Connect Four board game for 2-4 players. Who will be the first to get four-in-a-row either horizontally, vertically or diagonally? Controls: Crsr-Down (left), Crsr-Right (Right), Return (drop piece), Space (check piece), C (end game). |
Halley's Comet Vol 3 No 20 (17-23 May 1984), Page 43. |
A Lilly | Unexpanded | halleys comet.prg Screenshot |
Astronomy program showing the path of Halley's Comet. Controls: None. |
Falcon Fighter Vol 3 No 21 (24-30 May 1984), Pages 35-37. |
Paul Biddle | Unexpanded | falcon fighter.t64 Screenshot |
Horizontally-scrolling shooter. Defend your city by shooting the aliens. You complete a wave every 500 points. Controls: A (up), Z (down), Space (fire). |
| Key Bleep (Keyboard Beep)  Vol 3 No 22 (31 May-6 Jun 1984), Page 35. |
S Battle | Unexpanded | keyboard beep.prg Screenshot |
Small utility to make the keys beep when you press them. Controls: None. |
Gardener Vol 3 No 23 (7-13 Jun 1984), Pages 37-38. |
Paul Turton | Unexpanded | gardener.prg Screenshot |
Lawn mowing game. Mow the tufts of grass without touching the rocks and cricket balls. Controls: Z (left), C (right), F1 (up), F3 (down). |
Moonlander Vol 3 No 27 (5-11 Jul 1984), Pages 37-39. Vol 3 No 31 (2-8 Aug 1984), Page 7. |
D Paterson | Unexpanded | moonlander.t64 Screenshot |
Launch your craft from the mothership, navigate through the asteroids to land on one of the landing pads on the moon, then return to the mothership avoiding the aliens. Controls: N (left), M (right), Z (thrust/launch). |
| Shoot A Star (Shooting Stars)  Vol 3 No 29 (19-25 Jul 1984), Pages 34-35. |
M Valentine | Unexpanded | shooting stars.prg Screenshot |
Use seven laser bases to protect the Earth from mutant elephants. Each time an elephant lands you lose a base. Controls: 1-7 (fire chosen laser). |
| Mean (Mean, SD & Var)  Vol 3 No 31 (2-8 Aug 1984), Page 34. |
C Walters | Unexpanded | mean sd var.prg Screenshot |
Calculate the mean, standard deviation and variance of a set of numbers. Controls: Follow on-screen prompts. |
Scrap Yard Vol 3 No 32 (9-15 Aug 1984), Pages 36-37. |
S Veryard | Unexpanded | scrap yard.t64 Screenshot |
Use your crane to collect the scrap by lowering the jib to pick up an item and then placing it on the correct pile to the right of the screen. Controls: Space (press once to collect an item, and a second time to release it). |
Colour Utility Vol 3 No 33 (16-22 Aug 1984), Page 36. |
? | Unexpanded | colour utility.prg Screenshot |
Small program to easily set the screen and border colour. Controls: Type the border & screen colour (1=black, 2=white, 3=red, etc.) |
| Areas (Area Approximation)  Vol 3 No 34 (23-29 Aug 1984), Page 35. |
I Shambrook | Unexpanded | area approx.prg Screenshot |
Mathematical tool to calculate the approximate area under a user-defined graph function, using Simpson's rule. Controls: Modify line 100 to enter your formula, then RUN the program and type the lower & upper limits. |
Moles Vol 3 No 37 (13-19 Sep 1984), Page 39. |
Sarah Cotton | Unexpanded | moles.prg Screenshot |
Chemistry program to calculate the number of moles in a given quantity of substance. Controls: Follow on-screen prompts. |
Wipe Out Vol 3 No 41 (11-17 Oct 1984), Page 43. |
Kevin Wright | Unexpanded | wipe out.prg Screenshot |
Eat all the coloured blocks within 40 seconds. Controls: P (up), . (down), L (left), ; (right). |
Shopping List Vol 3 No 42 (18-24 Oct 1984), Page 51. |
M Valentine | Unexpanded & printer | shopping list.prg Screenshot |
One-line program to print out a shopping list. Controls: Enter 20 items, pressing Return after each one. |
Typing Practice Vol 3 No 42 (18-24 Oct 1984), Page 53. |
H Dunn | Unexpanded | typing practice.prg Screenshot |
Simple program to practice your typing skills. Controls: First type the sentence that you want to enter, then type it as quickly as you can against the clock. |
Matrices Vol 3 No 43 (25-31 Oct 1984), Pages 53-54. |
Cyril Aubry | Unexpanded | matrices.prg Screenshot |
Mathematical tool, enter a matrix to calculate the determinant or multiply two matrices. Controls: Follow on-screen prompts. |
Grub Vol 3 No 44 (1-7 Nov 1984), Pages 14-15. |
Paul Jones | Unexpanded | grub.prg Screenshot |
Eat as many apples, lemons and biscuits as you can as you move across the screen, but avoid the deadly crosses. Controls: W (up), X (down). |
Memory Probe Vol 3 No 46 (15-21 Nov 1984), Page 44. |
C Cattanach | Unexpanded | memory probe.prg Screenshot |
Display an enlarged bitmap of the character stored in a particular memory location. Controls: Type the memory address of the first character you want to examine. Press F7 to move forward to the next character. |
UFO Attack Vol 3 No 47 (22-28 Nov 1984), Page 46. |
M O'Keefe | Unexpanded | ufo attack.prg Screenshot |
Shoot as many UFOs as you can in two minutes. Controls: I (left), P (right), O (fire). |
Fred Vol 3 No 47 (22-28 Nov 1984), Page 49-51. |
H Dunn | Unexpanded | fred.prg Screenshot |
Tron game for two players. Fred & Edna battle it out in their living room, but don't fall into the trough or touch each other's sweat trail. Controls: Player 1: A (up), Z (down), X (left), C (right). Player 2: : (up), . (down), M (left), , (right). |
| Calendar (Calendar Calculator)  Vol 3 No 48 (29 Nov-5 Dec 1984), Pages 46 & 50. |
Andrew Fuller/R Sage | Unexpanded & 1520 plotter | calendar calc.prg Screenshot |
Use the 1520 plotter to print a calendar for any year you choose. Controls: Enter the year. |
Screen Fill Vol 3 No 49 (6-12 Dec 1984), Page 72. |
M Poole | Unexpanded | screen fill.prg Screenshot |
Small machine code routine to fill a selected area of the screen with a character of your choice. Controls: Poke 7169 & 7173 with the two byte screen location where you want to start, Poke 7187 with the fill character, Poke 7191 with the fill colour, Poke 7195 with the number of rows to fill, Poke 7197 with the number of columns to fill, SYS7168 to fill the selected area. |
Base Attack Vol 3 No 50 (13-19 Dec 1984), Pages 52-54. Vol 4 No 1 (3-9 Jan 1985), Page 36. |
Steve Carr | Unexpanded | base attack.prg Screenshot |
Space Invaders game. Shoot the Grogg ships before they invade your base. Controls: Crsr-Down (left), Crsr-Right (right), Space (fire). |
| Selective Changes (Bit Change Studies With Machine Code Operators)  Vol 4 No 1 (3-9 Jan 1985), Pages 23-24. |
Chris Cattanach | Unexpanded | bit change mc.prg Screenshot |
Machine code demo of bit change commands like AND, EOR and ASL. Controls: Follow on-screen prompts. |
3D Maze Vol 4 No 1 (3-9 Jan 1985), Page 37. |
M Dixon | Super Expander+3K | 3d maze se3k.prg Screenshot |
Escape from the 3D maze in the fewest possible moves. Controls: L (turn left), R (turn right), M (move forward). |
Pollen Vol 4 No 3 (17-23 Jan 1985), Page 36. |
H Dunn | Unexpanded | pollen.prg Screenshot |
Maze game. Frederick has allergies and must reach the antihistamine at the bottom of the screen, but don't touch any of the pollen or he will die of a runny nose. Controls: P (up), L (down), Z (left), X (right), Space (fire). |
Fuel-Dump Vol 4 No 5 (31 Jan-6 Feb 1985), Pages 16-17. |
A Brack | Unexpanded | fuel-dump.prg Screenshot |
Navigate your motorcycle & sidecar through the barrels and land mines to reach the fuel dump in the top-right corner, then race home before you run out of time. Controls: A (up), Z (down), B (left), N (right), M (fire). |
| Trainer (Keyboard Trainer)  Vol 4 No 5 (31 Jan-6 Feb 1985), Page 47. |
M Reeve | Unexpanded | keyboard trainer.prg Screenshot |
Test your typing skills. The computer displays a random letter on the screen and you must press the appropriate key as quickly as possible. Your average time is shown after 7 goes. Controls: Press the displayed letter. |
| Function Key (Function Key Wedge)  Vol 4 No 9 (28 Feb-6 Mar 1985), Page 33. |
G Hatto | Unexpanded | func key wedge.prg Screenshot |
Utility. Patch function keys F1-F7 so they display useful commands like RUN and LIST. Controls: Follow on-screen prompts. |
Distinct Rems Vol 4 No 23 (6-12 Jun 1985), Page 30. |
M Hart | Unexpanded | distinct-rems.prg Screenshot |
Displays the REM statements in reverse characters when listing a program, to make them more distinct. Another version of this program was published in Vol 5 No 15. Controls: Run the program and then type SYS828 to activate. |
Big Screen Vol 4 No 50 (12-18 Dec 1985), Page 34. |
L W Betteridge | Unexpanded | big screen.prg Screenshot |
Small routine to make the screen much larger, removing the borders and making the display 28 characters wide. The upper half of the screen can only be accessed using POKE commands, the top-left corner is at memory location 7168. Controls: Run the program and then type SYS828 to activate. |
Airfox Vol 5 No 2 (9-15 Jan 1986), Page 18. |
Alan Brack | Unexpanded | airfox.t64 Screenshot |
Destroy the black enemy helicopters before they shoot you. Your guns will self-destruct if you fire more than two bursts at a time. Controls: Joystick or Z (up), X (down), M (fire). |
Distinct Rems Vol 5 No 15 (10-16 Apr 1986), Page 40. |
Mike Hart | Unexpanded | distinct rems.prg Screenshot |
Displays the REM statements in reverse characters when listing a program, to make them more distinct. This program is nearly identical to the one published in Vol 4 No 23, only the REM statements differ. Controls: Run the program and then type SYS828 to activate. |
Tape Directory Vol 5 No 34 (21-27 Aug 1986), Page 28. |
S Mitchell | Unexpanded & MPS801 printer | tape directory.prg Sample printout Screenshot |
Make a printout of all the filenames on a cassette tape. The screen is blank throughout. Switch on the printer, insert a cassette, and press play on tape. Controls: None. Press RunStop & Restore when finished. |
| Multi Colour Pause (Colourful Border)  Vol 5 No 49 (4-10 Dec 1986), Page 40. |
Michael Davies | Unexpanded | colourful border.prg Screenshot |
Displays a multicolour border, for use on title screens while waiting for a key to be pressed. Controls: Use SYS828 to activate from within your own programs. |
