BlackBox – The First Dexterity Game

It has been many years since my BlackBox game got a mention and so I thought it was time to bring it up again.

I first wrote the game BlackBox for Dexterity in 1999 while I operated as Winthrop Dexterity Consultants. The game is based the original board game by Eric Solomon and was created with his kind permission.

The concept of the game is to find the location of a number of atoms hidden in a 8 by 8 grid.  Your only method of looking for the atoms is to “fire” beams into the grid from the edges of the grid and see if the beams are absorbed, reflected or deflected.

During my childhood, this was one of my favourite games and I had already written versions for the Apple //e, the Commodore Amiga, and the Sharp PC-E500 pocket computer. So, I thought why not create one using Dexterity.

Here is a screenshot of the game:

Screenshot of the BlackBox main game screen

When I first created the code it was hidden as an “Easter Egg” in products I was selling at the time. When I sold Omni Security and Omni Field Security to Great Plains (Microsoft) as Advanced Security and Field Level Security, I had to remove the BlackBox game from the code.

Later when I first developed the MBS Support Debugging Tool, it contained the BlackBox game. But it had to be removed when I finally got permission to release build 9 publically as the Support Debugging Tool.

While I was at Microsoft, I was not allowed to add the game to anything I developed, so it was released as a separate BlackBox product and for the last many years it has been available as a free download on the Winthrop Dexterity Consultants Downloads Page and Products Page.

So, if you want to try the game out, head over to the Winthrop Dexterity Consultants Products Page and download the BlackBox.zip file. It works with all versions of Microsoft Dynamics GP.

Once the chunk is installed, you will find the BlackBox menu option on the Tools >> Customize menu. If you add it to Shortcuts or Quick Links, it can be played on the Web Client as well.

For more information, here are some related links:

• Developing for Dynamics GP Blog: BlackBox – The First Dexterity Game
• For a challenge, try the web based Java game of Hexagonal BlackBox.

Please add your comments to say what you think of the game.

Enjoy

David

PS: Its Dexterity Product ID is 900, so that should give you an idea or how old it is. New Product IDs are in the high 7000’s.

This article was originally posted on http://www.winthropdc.com/blog.