How the ZX Spectrum became a 1980s icon

In 1985, my parents went to West Germany with an organized tour and smuggled a ZX Spectrum for us. At the same time, they sent me to a computer - focused daycamp at a community center. Yes, of course, we played games, I was ten but I learned ZX Spectrum BASIC, too.<p>Jump forward twenty years and I got my first Western programming job for the then-unimaginable 5000 USD a month. This company also happened to be headquartered in Vancouver where I decided to immigrate to and they helped me doing so. And when this company got acquired four years later, I got a salary high enough to buy my own apartment on the beautiful seashore of Vancouver.<p>Thanks Speccy for what my life could become.

Rick Dickinson, the Sinclair designer guy, was simply a genius. It helped a lot for the success, the ZX81 and the Spectrum being just beautiful objects.<p>On a side note, I think one of the most iconic manual cover for a computer is the ZX81 one. Designed by John Harris, it&#x27;s a masterpiece. I think he designed the Spectrum manual too but it was not so great.<p>We had beautiful computers at the time. I would say, in order of appearance, the Atari VCS, the ZX81, the Spectrum, the Commodore C128 and the Amiga 500 (inspired by the C128), the Apple IIc Plus. The original Macintosh eventually. It was just like having a piece of art at home.<p>The Spectrum Next, still designed by Rick, is beautiful too.

The Sinclair devices were popular because they were dirt cheap. A BBC micro was three times the price of a Spectrum.

It&#x27;s interesting how one generation basically had the same experience at the same time, but how it varied from place to place.<p>The UK was very into ZX - first the ZX80 and ZX81, and then the Spectrum. For that generation, in the UK, Spectrum is the start of everything.<p>I was an Apple child myself (a function of the machine my dad brought home), a BBC Micro at school (because... education), but in the mid 80s the Apple switched to IBM, and I&#x27;ve been on the PC track ever since.<p>I&#x27;ve met other groups for whom Vic 20, Commodore 64 and especially Amiga hold that first-love status. I&#x27;m just blessed to be that generation where the hardware was there at the right time.

Along with getting a ZX Spectrum+ in 1985, we got a subscription to &quot;Input&quot; magazine.<p>It&#x27;s tagline: “Learn programming for fun and the future”<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;archive.org&#x2F;details&#x2F;inputmagazine" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;archive.org&#x2F;details&#x2F;inputmagazine</a><p>It had tutorials on BASIC ... and introduced the strange and mysterious world of machine code via PEEK and POKE (!)

The Spectrum was my first computer. I grew up in Latin America, where the Spectrum was popular, and I have such fond memories. BASIC is available within a couple of seconds and it has an incredible selection of games.<p>Speaking of games... I&#x27;ve lived in US for a long time and I&#x27;m intimately familiar with both the US gaming history (My dad had an Apple II) and the current gaming market. With this said, if you like videogames, you should absolutely try Spectrum games; not the conversions, which are generally poor, but the homegrown British games from the 1980s.<p>The Spectrum-centric, British gaming culture from the 1980s is the closest thing we have to a gaming culture from an alien civilization. I mean no offense to my British friends here, it&#x27;s actually a compliment to its uniqueness. The Spectrum scene was very much like the current Steam-centric indie gaming scene, but with a particular British (let&#x27;s not forget Australia and Spain) flavor that is hard to emulate.<p>So many homegrown games, so many small 1&#x2F;2-people gaming shops, so many amazing gems unlike everything else you&#x27;ve ever played. If you are a serious gamer, you owe yourself to spend a few weeks looking into the Spectrum library.<p>By the way, you can get a taste of it in Black Mirror&#x27;s &quot;Bandersnatch&quot; episode.

When I was 10 I had a BBC Micro and one of my friends had a ZX Spectrum, really remember going to each others houses and playing games. It was amazing hearing the Ghostbusters theme on the spectrum <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=CMIphX8Ipak" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=CMIphX8Ipak</a> ... the game itself was pretty confusing but fun to try and figure out

Loads of inexpensive quality games - so kids wanted one, but also programmable with a decent enough BASIC for the era - so parents could see it as an educational tool too.<p>Plus, cheap enough to be affordable for most families.

I can still smell the unboxing of my +3 on Christmas Day.