Comment by anthk
On minicomputers (or microcomputers, can't remember) I am always astounding that some people wrote some micro-text adventure for the Kim-1 (think of it like a reduced version of Apple I), played with a numeric keypad plus A-F keys.
https://bluerenga.blog/2025/02/10/kim-venture-1979/
https://github.com/markbush/KIM-Venture
Also, MicroChess. I tried to find a MIT licensed copy for the Kim-Uno in order to adapt it from the ACIA (serial) output to the simulator from https://t3x.org written in T3X, but I had no luck. But you can virtually use the C sources with the bundled MOS 6502 CPU emulator, so in the end it's the same outcome as running an emulator and the MicroChess code on it. Also, it's MIT licensed.
https://www.benlo.com/microchess/ForsterMicrochessC.zip
GCC/Clang will compile it staight under GNU/Linux, BSD and OSX. Windows users can just use MinC and compile it if they want to peek and improve the implentation.
https://www.benlo.com/microchess/index.html
Kim-Uno emu, Sim65 kit https://t3x.org/t3x/0/sim65kit.html
(use T3X's "tx0 -c" command against .t files):
tx0 -c sim65
As for the ZX, there's this gem https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1K_ZX_Chess and I'm pretty sure people ported MicroChess for the Z80 based computers.
And, well, as for gaming, The Hobbit surpasses the adventure of the Kim-1, but with far more resources. Still, before the ZX there was the ZX81 and people did crazy things on it, even Sokoban games. But Sokoban it's something playable even with a graph paper, pen and some tokens.