How to play Gopher online
- Move the farmer: left and right arrow keys
- Swing the shovel (fill a hole or bonk the gopher): Space bar
- Start a game: Space bar, or F12 (the console’s Reset switch) to restart at any time
- Choose a game variation: F11 (the console’s Select switch)
- Gopher intelligence: F4 toggles the Player 1 difficulty switch, F9 the Player 2 switch
- Player 2 (in two-player games): F and H to move, A to swing the shovel
Gameplay
Your three carrots grow in the field, and the gopher lives in the ground below. It digs tunnels towards the surface from either side, and when a tunnel breaks through, it runs out to grab a carrot. You stop it in two ways. Standing over a hole and pressing the button shovels dirt back in, which is worth 20 points for each section of tunnel you fill. Better still, you can hit the gopher on the head as it comes out of its hole or while it runs across the field, which scores 100 points and sends it back underground.
When a carrot is eaten, help sometimes comes from the sky. A duck flies over and drops a seed. Catch it, carry it to the empty spot and plant it to grow a new carrot, all while keeping an eye on the gopher. The game ends when the last carrot is gone. The longer you last, the faster and hungrier the gopher gets.
Variations and switches
- Game 1: one player, with the duck
- Game 2: two players taking turns, with the duck
- Game 3: one player, no seed planting
- Game 4: two players taking turns, no seed planting
Each player’s difficulty switch sets how smart their gopher is: position A gives a “very smart” gopher, position B a “smart” one.
Tips
- Don’t chase the gopher. It moves much faster than you and can appear on either side. Stay near the carrots and shift a little with its movement.
- Fill holes partway. Dash out to the nearest tunnel that has reached the surface, fill some of it, and get back to the carrots quickly.
- Catch seeds with small taps. Get roughly under the falling seed, then nudge the farmer into place at the last moment.
- Protect the last carrot. With only one carrot left, always choose bonking over planting. If that carrot goes, the game is over.
The story behind Gopher
The game was shown in mid-1982 under the working title Gopher Attack. Robin McDaniel Ballweg drew the graphics and Todd Marshell made the music and sound effects. U.S. Games was a video game label owned by Quaker Oats, and Gopher was part of its family-friendly range, next to games such as Eggomania, Squeeze Box and Picnic. The timing was bad: Quaker Oats shut the label down only about two months after Gopher came out. In Europe, Carrere Video released it in West Germany in November 1983.
Critics were split. Electronic Games called it “just about perfect”, and The Video Game Update liked its “genuine charm” and crisp, colourful graphics. Others found it repetitive, and The Logical Gamer thought it too hard for small children. An unlicensed copy called Farmer Dan was sold in Canada by the Zellers store chain, in a box reusing artwork from Activision’s Plaque Attack.
