How to play Farmer Dan online
- Move the farmer: left and right arrow keys
- Swing the shovel: Space bar
- Start a new game: F12 (the consoleās Reset switch)
- Choose a game variation: F11 (the consoleās Select switch)
- Gopher intelligence: F4 toggles the Player 1 difficulty switch, F9 the Player 2 switch
- Player 2 (two players take turns): F and H to move, A to swing the shovel
Gameplay
You guard three carrots from a gopher that digs tunnels under the field and runs out to eat them. Stand over a tunnel and press the button to fill it with dirt, or hit the gopher on the head as it pops out. When a carrot is lost, a duck sometimes drops a seed that you can catch and plant to grow a new one. The game ends when all three carrots are gone. The Gopher page explains the scoring, variations and tips in full, and all of it applies here.
Where Farmer Dan came from
AtariMania files Farmer Dan under āZellers / Taiwan ā 2600 Compatibleā and credits Gopherās original programmers, and a collectorās comment there sums it up: Farmer Dan is really just Gopher. It did not even get its own artwork: according to Wikipedia, the box reused the cover art of Activisionās Plaque Attack. The same game also circulated under other names, including Farmer, Rat & Carrot and Mighty Mouse. AtariAge rates the Farmer Dan cartridge as rare.
