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Chip's Challenge

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1989 video game

This article needs additional citations for verification . Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.<br>Find sources: "Chip's Challenge" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (October 2025) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

1989 video game<br>Chip's ChallengeCover art<br>DeveloperEpyxPublishers<br>Atari Corporation (Lynx)

U.S. Gold (ST, Amiga, Spectrum)

Epyx (MS-DOS, C64)

Microsoft Home (Windows)

Pixel Games UK (Switch)

DesignerChuck SommervilleProgrammerChuck SommervilleArtistPaul VernonComposersRobert Vieira<br>Alex Rudis

SeriesChip's ChallengePlatformsWindows, MS-DOS, Atari Lynx, Atari ST, Amiga, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, Nintendo SwitchRelease1989GenrePuzzleModeSingle-player<br>Chip's Challenge is a top-down tile-based puzzle video game originally published in 1989 by Epyx as a launch title for the Atari Lynx. It was later ported to several other systems and was included in the Windows 3.1 bundle Microsoft Entertainment Pack 4 (1992), and the Windows version of the Best of Microsoft Entertainment Pack (1995), where it found a much larger audience.[1]

The original game was designed by developer Chuck Sommerville, who also made about a third of the levels.[2] Most of the conversions from the Atari Lynx original to other formats were carried out by Images Software in the UK.

The game was re-released on Steam on May 28, 2015, along with a sequel, Chip's Challenge 2 , which was also designed by Sommerville.

Gameplay<br>[edit]

Atari Lynx version screenshot<br>The premise of the game is that high-school nerd Chip McCallahan has met Melinda the Mental Marvel in the school science laboratory and must navigate through Melinda's "Clubhouse", a series of increasingly difficult puzzles, in order to prove himself and gain membership to the very exclusive Bit Busters Club.

Chip's Challenge consists of a series of 148 two-dimensional levels (149 in Microsoft's version) which feature the player character, Chip McCallahan,[3] often called just Chip, and various game elements such as computer chips, buttons, locked doors, water and lethal monsters. Gameplay involves using arrow keys, numeric keypad or mouse to move Chip about each of the levels in turn, collecting enough chips to open the chip socket at the end of each level, get to the exit, and move on to the next level.

While the same set of rules applies to each level, there are many different kinds of levels. Some are action-oriented and some are puzzle-oriented. Most levels have a time limit. Levels may include block-pushing puzzles (similar to Sokoban), dodging enemies, and moving through mazes. Levels can be skipped by entering an appropriate four-letter non-case-sensitive password. For the PC versions, game progress is automatically saved. If the player has a lot of trouble with a level, the game gives the option to skip to the next level. Progress is measured in terms of completed levels and player score, which is a sum of the scores obtained on each level. Level scores for timed levels can be improved by quickly completing the level, and scores on all levels can be improved by using fewer attempts to complete the level.

Development<br>[edit]

In 1989, Sommerville led a team of programmers at Epyx to write Chip's Challenge for Atari Lynx during a ten-week period shortly before the system's launch.[1] Sommerville had developed a crude prototype of the game on an Apple II to develop the game's logic and to demonstrate to Epyx that it would be fun. Sommerville designed about a third of the levels, Bill Darrah designed another third, and the rest were developed by other Epyx staff.[2]

Windows screenshot<br>Chip's Challenge was ported to several other systems, including the Atari ST, Amiga, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum,[4] MS-DOS, and Windows. Most of the conversions from the Atari Lynx original to other formats were carried out by Images Software in the UK, except for the Microsoft Windows version.

Microsoft licensed Chip's Challenge from Epyx for a Windows 3.1 version of the game, developed by Microsoft under the direction of Tony Garcia.[2] Tony Krueger coded the program[5] by reverse-engineering the MS-DOS version.[6] Artwork was by Ed Halley.[5] Entering "TONY" as a password will bring the player to a level that credits the "WEP 4 test team" in the hint for that level and also contains different tiles that spell out developer names, including Doug T., Rob D., Ed H., and Lisa F.[7] According to Doug, a former roommate of Krueger's and one of the testers for the game, it was written in a single summer.[8]

The Microsoft...