HAMPSTEAD is an adventure game for would-be social climbers. It is a quest but not for gold. Your aim is to reach the pinnacle of social status - to become a somebody. So lie, cheat, steal and defraud. You KNOW it makes sense.
Originally coded using the Quill for ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC and C64 by Peter Jones and Trever Lever.
The BBC Micro version was developed by Roger Taylor and James Byrne; the earliest use of their 'Ashminster Computing' code.
In 2013/14 John McManus produced an official app version of the game for Apple iPad/iPhone.
Unofficial Spanish versions exist.
I've just converted Hampstead to the Z-machine using unQuill. Now I'm going to play it. Hurray! My first Quill game!
Enjoy! It's pretty unfair at times and some of the puzzles are downright obscure - but on the whole, it's a lot of fun and none too difficult :)
Original and fun, but requires an advanced level of specific UK cultural knowledge - some puzzles are based on it. As a satire, it works very well. As an adventure, it is a bit of an acquired taste and probably not for everyone.
This was a big game for me back in the 1980s. I worked at it for weeks and eventually solved it. It is very much of its time and place, but has a sharp satirical edge that raises it about most of what was written in the era. I have just made an updated version in Inform 7 as part of an bootcamp learning the language!
A spanish translation has been made by my team https://commodore-plus.itch.io/hampstead