Donkey

Donkey is a simple game written in BASIC included with early versions of the IBM PC DOS operating system that was distributed with the original IBM PC. It is a very simple driving game where players need to maneuver a race car around donkeys in the road. The program was written in BASIC and was designed to demonstrate some of the features of the BASIC programming language that was included with the IBM PC. The program is often known by its filename, DONKEY.BAS.

The game screen in Donkey consists of a two lane road in the center of the screen which scrolls vertically. A race car is in one of the two lanes which players can have switch lanes by pressing the space bar. Switching lanes is the only action possible, players are unable to steer the car or have it speed up or slow down. Every couple of seconds a donkey will appear in one of the lanes; players need to ensure the race car is in the opposite lane before it crashes into the donkey. As the car avoids donkeys, it will slowly move further up on the screen so players have less time to react when a donkey appears. The game keeps track of successes and failures; each time the player avoids the donkey, a point is awarded to the driver and after each crash the donkey is awarded a point.