y$=inkey$
If you don’t understand the above, you might not necessarily appreciate the website Kanogames.
There was, indeed, gaming before Xbox, PS4, etc.
All that you needed to play was a keyboard and a monitor. Sounds were generated by the single tones of you computer and navigation controlled by scanning your keyboard looking for an arrow key to be pressed to move one step to the left or to the right or up for a jump.
If you are in search of a less violent, simple gaming experience, then you might appreciate the efforts here.
My fascination was Hard Hat Hustle.
Oddly, these games reminded me of some of the efforts of my Grade 11 and 12 students. All that was needed was to understand how inkey$ scanned the keyboard, how to erase and draw an image on the screen, how to detect a collision, and finally keep score.
The rest was just coding fun. You can learn a great deal by coding your own game.
doug --- off the record 