WHO STOLE THE COAL?
A Personal Story and a Game
![](/media/32135/stole_coal_present.png)
In 1977, I got an amazing gift from my parents...an Atari 2600. This game shares that story. (Company name changed for parody purposes.) It was one of the moments that changed the course of my life forever. Run the game to see that moment...
As for the game:
WHO STOLE THE COAL?
![](/media/32135/stolecoal_final_007.png)
Santa got home and found no coal for his furnace! His house is cold. He hear whispers that the Abominable Snowbeast took all nine of his coal chunks, along with nine of his elves, and SIXTY of his cookies! Fortunately, the Abominable Snowbeast sleeps at sunset, so Santa can sneak in and get his coal back!
![](/media/32135/stolecoal_final_008.png)
Santa can't heat his house tonight without at least FOUR COAL. Get four coal and return to Santa's House to win! (Then press then X+O buttons to see how you did!)
AND FOR THE BRAVE: get ALL NINE coal, rescue all NINE elves, and collect SIXTY COOKIES for a perfect win!
CONTROLS
Arrows to move.
X to swing your CaneMaul to break boulders.
TIPS
- Look out for secrets! They're everywhere!
- Remember: BE NICE to any SNOWMEN or SNOWWOMEN you meet!
THANKS
Thanks to Gruber for the song help, Toby for art, testing, and an idea, Squirrel for testing and design ideas, and Enargy, Jusiv & Kittenmaster for testing, and Enargy again for keeping me honest about a nice ending. If I missed anyone, thanks to you too!
![](/gfx/set_like0.png)
![](/gfx/top_drop.png)
![](/media/23858/gradualgamesnew_smaller.png)
I absolutely love that this looks like actual Atari 2600 graphics. Are you POKEing one of the alternative PICO-8 graphics modes to aid with this out of curiosity?
![](/gfx/set_like0.png)
![](/gfx/top_drop.png)
![](/media/54999/3_LogoNeu (2).jpg)
Though naughty and late to the party I want to thank you for this fun throwback-I loved the joy I felt when I stumbled across my first little secret. This was a rather bad day up until finding this game and playing it :)
![](/media/54999/Screenshot 2024-05-30 163701.png)
[Please log in to post a comment]