2026 Retrocomputing Challenge: Lunar Lander on the PDP-1
There’s plenty of retro to look back to before that halcyon decade, though, as [Michael Gardi]’s port of Lunar Lander to the PDP-1 reminds us. Both Digital Equipment Corporation’s PDP series and the game Lunar Lander are probably iconic enough in their own right to need no introduction, but there’s actually a connection between them. While many people think the game started with Atari’s 1979 arcade cabinet, the first version– then only text based, and called the Lunar Landing Game–actually dates back 10 years before that, and was dreamed up at DEC on a PDP-8.
- ▪There’s plenty of retro to look back to before that halcyon decade, though, as [Michael Gardi]’s port of Lunar Lander to the PDP-1 reminds us.
- ▪Both Digital Equipment Corporation’s PDP series and the game Lunar Lander are probably iconic enough in their own right to need no introduction, but there’s actually a connection between them.
- ▪While many people think the game started with Atari’s 1979 arcade cabinet, the first version– then only text based, and called the Lunar Landing Game–actually dates back 10 years before that, and was dreamed up at DEC on a PDP-8.
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| Canonical URL | https://hackaday.com/2026/10/02/2026-retrocomputing-challenge-lunar-lander-on-the-pdp-1/ |
| Publication time | Sat, 03 Oct 2026 02:00:48 +0000 |
| Retrieval time | 2026-10-03T04:32:43.457Z |
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2026 Retrocomputing Challenge: Lunar Lander On The PDP-1 1 Comment by: Tyler August October 2, 2026 Title: Copy Short Link: Copy A lot of the retrocomputing world is focused on the 1980s, and for good reason– the home computer revolution was in full swing in that decade, and there is a veritable Cambrian Explosion of capable hardware to play with, emulate or recreate. There’s plenty of retro to look back to before that halcyon decade, though, as [Michael Gardi]’s port of Lunar Lander to the PDP-1 reminds us. Both Digital Equipment Corporation’s PDP series and the game Lunar Lander are probably iconic enough in their own right to need no introduction, but there’s actually a connection between them.
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