The Gauntlet franchise first began back in 1985, but my exposure was a few years after this. It started out life as an arcade game but was later ported onto early computers including the Apple II, Atari ST, Commodore 64, and the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, which is where I first discovered it.

Gauntlet entered my life in 1991. That was the year I turned 11, and playing it with my brothers was what kickstarted my love of gaming.

In The Beginning

Gauntlet is a fantasy-themed hack and slash from Atari. Players control Thor the warrior, Merlin the wizard, Thyra the valkyrie, or Questor the elf. Your team must then fight various monsters including ghosts, demons, lobbers, and sorcerers. Players can share food and work together by luring monsters into traps to better further their progress.

The original arcade game has health bars that slowly drain, alongside health reduction through damage. However, inserting coins resets health, meaning the game effectively lasts forever and this carries over into the port. There are a set of unique level designs and then once these are complete the designs simply cycle around again, just with enemies that are faster, stronger, or in different locations.

Since the original game, there have been sequels and remakes, the most recent being Gauntlet: Seven Sorrows back in 2005. However, it’s the original Spectrum port that holds a special place in my heart.

What Is A Spectrum, Anyway?

For anyone outside of the UK, the Sinclair ZX Spectrum is a home computer you’ve likely never heard of. The one my older brother had was Amstrad’s first Spectrum after they purchased the Sinclair brand, the Sinclair ZX Spectrum +2.

It’s basically a big gray box with a cassette tape deck attached to it. The Spectrum is an 8-bit computer that runs on a whopping 128kb of RAM and has a MIDI sound chip. Games are loaded by inserting a tape into the deck, typing in a couple of BASIC commands, and then pressing play. You’ll then be forced to “enjoy” around 10 minutes or so of hideous screeching noises while the game loaded, or crashed.

This was how gaming worked back in the late ’80s and early ’90s. It was painful yet rewarding, and that familiar loading screech still evokes so many memories I can almost stand to listen to it for seconds at a time.

A Blended Family

Gauntlet entered my life along with my stepbrother and the reason I love it so much is because it helped us form a bond when the age differences in our newly blended family were so vast.

I was just ten years old when my mother remarried and our family grew. At the time it had been just me, her and my younger brother, who had just turned four, since just after he was born. Suddenly everything changed and I was no longer the oldest.

When my stepdad joined our family he brought with him his two sons, both of whom previously lived with him full time. The oldest moved out on his own as our families joined together but the youngest was only sixteen so he moved into my home, where there was an empty attic bedroom.

The Never-Ending Gauntlet

The attic conversion was a proper bedroom and was accessed via its own flight of stairs. It was a perfect room for a teenager, offering privacy, and space. However, it would soon become a gaming den for all three of us children.

The age gap between me and my brothers is pretty large, with me in the middle. I’m almost exactly six and a half years older than my little brother and six and a half years younger than my youngest stepbrother. However, gaming helped us bridge that age gap and form bonds that still stand today, as well as a love of gaming that we all share.

I’d only had limited computer exposure at this point but my brother had a Spectrum and he was happy to let me watch or play. Gauntlet quickly became a firm favorite because all three of us could play together. While some days the youngest had his controller “accidentally” unplugged, mostly the three of us played happily together trying to defeat the never-ending game.

At the time the internet wasn’t a thing, and no one really knew that the game went on forever. Walkthroughs, hints, and tips were confined to magazines and we didn’t have easy access to these so we were playing completely blind. We just had a shared determination that we would beat the game, together.

It’s also worth noting that there’s something else important you need to know about the Spectrum. You could not save your progress. Due to the way the games loaded, each game overwrote the last one. This meant that progressing required leaving the computer permanently turned on and covering up the shining buttons, to stop it being turned off by a helpful parent.

At this point, I actually have no idea how far we got and I’m pretty sure my brother doesn’t remember either. All I remember is that I absolutely loved the experience. I think our record was over a week straight of playing before we pretty much conceded that we were getting major deja vu and there was a possibility that the neverending rumors were true.

My Gaming Love

In time, my brother got a Sega Genesis, and I acquired his Spectrum. It was at this point that gaming truly cemented itself in my heart. Hours spent watching and playing Sonic The Hedgehog with my brothers were soon accompanied by hours on my own exploring Dizzy, Trap Door, and other titles I found in the vast array of games I was given.

I had discovered the immersive world of gaming and how a shared love of it could bond people together. This would later become even more true as I became the teenage sibling and spent hours on end playing Crash Team Racing and Time Crisis on my PlayStation with my younger brother.

Gaming is a huge part of my life and helped me form bonds with both my brothers, despite the large age gaps. These days, it’s not only my job, but also a way to unwind, make friends, and connect with my family, and it all started with Gauntlet.

NEXT: How The Sims Helped Me Understand My Autism And Myself