# (Possible contender for most obscure game ever) anyone play 'fairlight' on the... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 4, 2004, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-contender-for-most-obscure-game-ever-anyone-play-fairlight-on-the/253438 "2004-07-04T00:43:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2004, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-contender-for-most-obscure-game-ever-anyone-play-fairlight-on-the/253438/1 "2004-07-04T00:43:10Z")
…Amstrad cpc 464? (I think that’s what it was. It was the first computer I ever used. Green and black monitor, ‘hard’ floppy disks, no hard disk) The one and only game we had for it was called fairlight. It was an isometric adventure game. It was actually pretty good for it’s age but it was a bugger to get very far and I never did manage to complete it. In fact I probably never got further than about 10% of the way into the game. Maybe it’s just the fact that I was a kid, or maybe the following is the truth of the games industry, but it had a heck of a lot more going for it in terms of gameplay than most modern games. ---
**Author:** ![Trillionaire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/aeb1de/32.png) [@Trillionaire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trillionaire)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2004, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-contender-for-most-obscure-game-ever-anyone-play-fairlight-on-the/253438/2 "2004-07-04T11:12:30Z")
I had an Amstrad CPC464 too, although ours ran software on cassette tapes, not discs. It did have a colour monitor though. Anyway, I didn’t have the game you refer to. The only one I remember is _Bigtop Barney_ , where you were a clown at the circus walking a tightrope and jumping on trampolines. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Death](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecccb3/32.png) [@Evil\_Death](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Death)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2004, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-contender-for-most-obscure-game-ever-anyone-play-fairlight-on-the/253438/3 "2004-07-04T12:26:42Z")
Since when has Fairlight been obscure? It was fairly well known at the time. ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2004, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-contender-for-most-obscure-game-ever-anyone-play-fairlight-on-the/253438/4 "2004-07-04T13:53:16Z")
That’s nothing. My first video games were played on the [Bally Professional Arcade](http://gamesmuseum.h-body.org/history/gen2/astrocad/astrocad.html). It was a state-of-the art $300 system at the time!! I can’t remember the names of any of the games. The one I specifically remember was a “war” game. There were two armies set up on these two hills facing each other. And you just shot at the other hill. I still have this thing in storage somewhere. Wonder if it’s worth anything… ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2004, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-contender-for-most-obscure-game-ever-anyone-play-fairlight-on-the/253438/5 "2004-07-04T14:01:31Z")
With a little more googling, I found the game! It was called “Artillery Duel”. This has got to be a contender for the MOGE award, too!! ---
**Author:** ![Beauty\_Personified](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e480ec/32.png) [@Beauty\_Personified](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beauty_Personified)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2004, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-contender-for-most-obscure-game-ever-anyone-play-fairlight-on-the/253438/6 "2004-07-07T03:31:33Z")
Is this the game? [http://www.fairlight.to/](http://www.fairlight.to/) Anyhoo… ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2004, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-contender-for-most-obscure-game-ever-anyone-play-fairlight-on-the/253438/7 "2004-07-07T13:49:26Z")
That seems to be a group of Commodore 64 hackers, nothing to do with the game Fairlight. A guy called Rich Jordan was working on a remake of Fairlight for the PC. I’ve got a demo version and it was looking pretty good, but unfortunately the copyright holders wouldn’t cooperate with him so the project is on ice. His website is no more but if you hunt around you might find a copy. ---
**Author:** ![RealTronic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9dc877/32.png) [@RealTronic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealTronic)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2004, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-contender-for-most-obscure-game-ever-anyone-play-fairlight-on-the/253438/8 "2004-07-08T02:07:09Z")
> [@Usram](#): > > That seems to be a group of Commodore 64 hackers, nothing to do with the game Fairlight. Not quite correct, since IIRC the group took their name from the game, because it was a huge hit on the Commodore 64 as well. Anyway, I remember the game as well and it was good for its time! Here’s a screenshot of this classic game: [http://www.c64.com/files/pics/small/f/fairlight.gif](http://www.c64.com/files/pics/small/f/fairlight.gif)