Transversion is a ZX Spectrum game released by Ocean in 1983. It's a fairly small game and didn't take too long to load. It didn't take me too long to get hooked on this relatively simple game either. The premise is easy; move around the main grid and collect the pips that are spread around in various patterns. Every pip you collect adds to your score and once you've collected them all you move on to the next level. If you get hit by any of the lasers or missiles that the bad guys are firing from the edge of the grid then you lose a life and the grid resets for you to try again. In between each level there is a bonus level, where the pips are worth more points, but the catch here is that if you get hit you still lose a life, but you don't get another go to finish off, you just go straight to the next level (assuming you have some lives left).
So why is Transversion on the list of Games That Made Me? Mainly for two reasons; the first is that in hindsight, it's probably one of the very first computer games I ever played. There were a few things before it (we had an old Binatone TV game thing that my Dad brought home from somewhere before the Speccy) and I vaguely remember having a Nintendo Game & Watch, but my timelines might be a bit off there. So in my mind, it's one of the earliest things I can remember that set me up for where I am and what I do now.
The game is definitely the sort of thing where you can get into a state of flow while playing it and just watch points tick up. It's also the same sort of feeling that you might get in Pacman where you try and pull off that one last minute change of direction to get to the pips you need, squeezing between a missile and a laser blast as you go. Or it might just go wrong and your bravery will be rewarded / replaced with a feeling of stupidity. There aren't that many different levels to play, but the game wraps back round to the starting layout and allows you to rack up your score until overconfidence finally catches you out and you make a daft mistake that costs you a good run.
The second reason is because somehow, my Mum just clicked with this game. Neither of my parents particularly showed any interests in playing games themselves back in the early to mid eighties, but somehow my Mum held the Ilott family record score on Transversion for a number of years. We still joke about it even now, nearly 40 years later. Every now and then when they pop round, if I happen to be playing something my Mum will joke "Is that Transversion?", so for giving us that long-running joke - I love it.
