Advanced Lawnmower Simulator: Playdate Edition
A downloadable game
This is a 'tribute' to the original Advanced Lawnmower Simulator on the ZX Spectrum, the April Fool game that 'Your Sinclair' magazine once published on their cover tape & was written by the legendary Duncan MacDonald (RIP).
Choose from several different machines of lawn mowing prowess in order to 'go get that grass'.
Developed for the Playdate as part of #RaeJam2025, which coincided with the ZX Spectrum's release 43 years prior & the original game's appearance in the April 1988 issue of YS.
The project aimed to be incredibly faithful to the original 1980s 'game' whilst adding some enhancements such as Crank-To-Mow™ & mowing statistics for your overall gardening pleasure.
EVERY platform needs a version of this game, so here's the absolute, definite (only?) Playdate Edition!
🏆 Supports Playdate Achievements! 35 achievements to unlock in the game & viewable through a dedicated achievement app such as Trophy Case.
Download
Development log
- Achieved Achievements!4 days ago
Comments
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I wish I had a Playdate now! I have fond memories of this game from Your Sinclair - written by Whistlin' Rick "Davey Boy" Wilson himself. I was listening to his song "Hold My Hand Very Tightly (Very Tightly)" this morning too!
You can probably play the game through the Simulator in the Playdate SDK if you want to go get that grass without hardware :)
I didn't have a Speccy back in the day, but I loved Duncan MacDonald's writing in PC Zone as Mr Cursor & discovered his earlier YS work & ALS retrospectively through this. I think he would've loved the quirkiness of the Playdate. Boing!
That font still takes me back to my childhood in the 80's :)
It's a properly iconic font. Hope to see it come up in one of your future projects! :)
Looking forwards to it!
Out now if you want to go get that grass! :)