Atari Emulator --> Spy's Demise and Friends

...oh good! I don't have to try and solve that cryptogram myself! Ah, that takes me back to arcade action ever so briefly available at grade school... during business hours. Then there's that one with the bouncing spider you have to try and shoot (Apple II), but the real experts at that wouldn't give anyone else a chance. What's neat about Penguin Software's "Spy's Demise" is that the action starts out easy, then gets more difficult... then gets really difficult... then gets easier again! On the other hand, the game board shrinks in size ever so slightly when you complete a level. I can't handle that kind of excitement. Naturally, clones had to be spawned, like this one from Analog Computing (1985)... spoiler alert: turns out the pizza chef on the Simpsons is actually a Van Houten! I tend to think of this one called "Highrise" as part of the same family... I forget where it's from. Probably Compute! magazine, maybe Antic.

Spy's Demise - Mushca Disk 27, home at Atarimania.com

Elevator Repairman - Mushca Disk 32, home at Atarimania.com

Highrise - Mushca Disk 141, Atarimania.com home - it WAS Compute! magazine.  Miss that thing.