How to play Miner 2049er online
- Walk and climb: arrow keys
- Jump: Space bar
- Start a new game: F12 (the console’s Reset switch)
- Save and load your progress: Ctrl + 0–9 saves to a slot, Alt + 0–9 loads it
Gameplay
Bob has followed the outlaw Yukon Yohan into the mine, and both were trapped by a cave-in. To get through each screen, Bob has to walk over every section of the mine’s framework. Each section fills in as he walks over it, and when the whole floor is done he moves on. A clock in the upper right corner counts down; whatever time is left is added to your score as a bonus, but if it reaches zero Bob dies.
Touching a mutant is fatal. You can jump over them, or pick up one of the items left behind by earlier miners, such as a lunch box, a tool box or a cup. For a short time afterwards the mutants become harmless and Bob can run into them for points. Open mine shafts can be jumped, and on the first two screens Bob survives a drop of one level.
Each of the three screens has its own gimmick:
- Screen 1: slides and ladders
- Screen 2: transporters in the middle of the screen that carry Bob between levels
- Screen 3: a cannon that you load with as much TNT as you need to fire Bob up to the level you want
The screens are also played at a harder Level 2, where there are no helpful items at all, so the mutants can only be avoided.
| Action | Points |
|---|---|
| Claiming a block of ore | 2 |
| Picking up an item | 10 |
| Catching a harmless mutant | 30 |
| Finishing a screen | time left on the clock |
Tips
- Plan a route. Walking back over floor you have already claimed wastes time, so try to cover each level in one pass.
- Use the items to clear a path. Grab one when mutants are close by, so you can run through them instead of waiting.
- Load only the TNT you need. On the cannon screen, the amount of TNT decides how high Bob flies.
- Remember Level 2. Without items, jumping is your only defence, so learn the jump timing on the first round.
History
Miner 2049er first appeared in 1982 on Atari’s 8-bit computers. Bill Hogue, who had learned to program while working as a clerk at Radio Shack, mixed ideas from Pac-Man and Donkey Kong into a ten-screen platformer. It helped make platform games popular and directly inspired Matthew Smith’s Manic Miner.
The Tigervision cartridge appeared in May 1983. The Video Game Update found it slower and less smooth than the computer original, with simpler graphics, but still a very good game in its own right. Tigervision followed it with a second cartridge, Miner 2049er II. On computers, Bounty Bob returned in Bounty Bob Strikes Back! in 1985.
Similar games to play next
- Miner 2049er II – Tigervision’s follow-up cartridge
- Donkey Kong – one of the games that inspired it
- Jawbreaker – another Tigervision cartridge
- Montezuma’s Revenge – another underground platform adventure