The Sandbox Scoop https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/ News from Sandbox Software: the stories in the newsletter that comes in every game's box. en-us Sun, 25 Oct 2026 12:00:00 GMT Around the Sandbox: Our lighting director https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/play-depth.html https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/#scoop/depth/around-the-sandbox-our-lighting-director Depth Perception Sun, 25 Oct 2026 12:00:00 GMT Doc Leo has a new title. He spent so many nights at the office watching renders crawl down the screen that we made him our lighting director, which mostly means he leaves the spotlight on. He paces the Teapot Temple with his rubber chicken, Teddy strolls the Checkerboard, Gwinn sits pretty in the Glass Garden and THE CHEZ is parked in the temple, charging. Gwinn's sit is ray traced. We're counting it.

]]> In the workshop: We are getting around to it https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/play-depth.html https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/#scoop/depth/in-the-workshop-we-are-getting-around-to-it Depth Perception Sun, 25 Oct 2026 12:00:00 GMT Since our first disk you've asked for a role-playing game, and since our first disk we've said we'd get around to it. We're getting around to it: Quest for the Round Tuit, a whole kingdom where everything gets done, eventually. Towns, dungeons, a quest log, and a horseless carriage you may recognize.

]]> Letters: "A corgi in my library book" https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/play-depth.html https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/#scoop/depth/letters-a-corgi-in-my-library-book Depth Perception Sun, 25 Oct 2026 12:00:00 GMT "I found a corgi in one of the library books. Is that allowed?" - A reader, by mail

The Scoop replies: Teddy is allowed. Gwinn is not allowed in the library, and is in the library.

]]> Since last issue: The Word Counter is still thinking https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/play-depth.html https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/#scoop/depth/since-last-issue-the-word-counter-is-still-thinking Depth Perception Sun, 25 Oct 2026 12:00:00 GMT KEEP IT BRIEF! readers have put a lot of stories back together this month. The Word Counter found exactly one hundred words in each one but Steam-Powered Summer, where it found ninety-nine until somebody pointed out what a hyphen does. It is still thinking about it. Judging by the BBS, so are some of you.

]]> Around the Sandbox: Trick or treat https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/play-sleuth.html https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/#scoop/sleuth/around-the-sandbox-trick-or-treat Final Curtain Sun, 25 Oct 2026 12:00:00 GMT On Halloween night Doc Leo will be at the office door with balloon animals for the trick-or-treaters: dogs, swords and, by special request, one very long giraffe. Teddy is going as a knight again. Gwinn is going as Gwinn; she ate the other costume. THE CHEZ is going as a pumpkin, which, being tomato red, it already mostly is.

]]> Final Curtain: our first whodunit https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/play-sleuth.html https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/#scoop/sleuth/final-curtain-our-first-whodunit Final Curtain Sun, 25 Oct 2026 12:00:00 GMT Port Ellery, Halloween night, 1936. Six hundred people watched Victor Crane die in Act III of THE RAVEN'S BRIDE and thought it was acting. In Final Curtain you are Inspector Ada Penn of Homicide, and you have until dawn. Search the Paragon with the house lights up, then again by the ghost light; question five suspects, then show them what you found. Name the killer, how and why. Commissioner Hale gives you three chances.

]]> In the workshop: A library in a box https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/play-sleuth.html https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/#scoop/sleuth/in-the-workshop-a-library-in-a-box Final Curtain Sun, 25 Oct 2026 12:00:00 GMT Remember the Dog House, the tiny red lending library on a post on Maple Street in Teddy's adventure? We looked inside. It's much bigger than the box. KEEP IT BRIEF! is about the night every word fell out of every book, and the tin night librarian who has to put them back, exactly one hundred words at a time.

]]> Letters: "Is the Clown Club real?" https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/play-sleuth.html https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/#scoop/sleuth/letters-is-the-clown-club-real Final Curtain Sun, 25 Oct 2026 12:00:00 GMT "Teddy, Gwinn, Doc Leo, the Big Show... is the Clown Club real?" - A reader, age 9

The Scoop replies: Very real. Doc Leo marches in its parades, and the Clown Club puts on shows for kids all over town. In real life there are fewer custard pies.

]]> Since last issue: The Big Show went on https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/play-sleuth.html https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/#scoop/sleuth/since-last-issue-the-big-show-went-on Final Curtain Sun, 25 Oct 2026 12:00:00 GMT Teddy's Little Big Adventure is the most-played game on our BBS this summer. Play dead is still the favorite trick (it's the only way past the Pie-O-Matic), and the most-asked question is how high a corgi can hop. Two blocks easily, three with good steering, four never. A wall that tall always has another way around.

]]> Around the Sandbox: Homework comes first https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/play-year2000.html https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/#scoop/year2000/around-the-sandbox-homework-comes-first In The Year 2000! Sun, 25 Oct 2026 12:00:00 GMT The founder is a junior at Frankfort High, so Sandbox Software keeps strict hours: after homework, before bed, and all day Saturday. The office is still a desk, the family 286 and a stack of graph paper. The snow shovel has moved to the porch. It may be needed again.

]]> In the workshop: A puzzle made of pure Game-Maker https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/play-year2000.html https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/#scoop/year2000/in-the-workshop-a-puzzle-made-of-pure-game-maker In The Year 2000! Sun, 25 Oct 2026 12:00:00 GMT The founder's notebook is already full. First on the list is a puzzle game where electricity is made of ordinary Game-Maker blocks and monsters: switches, fuses, and a little robot who must never touch a live wire. Its working title is Ohm Sweet Ohm, and we apologize for it now. It won’t be quick: there’s homework first, and a diploma after that.

]]> Letters: "Did you make it to the mall?" https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/play-year2000.html https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/#scoop/year2000/letters-did-you-make-it-to-the-mall In The Year 2000! Sun, 25 Oct 2026 12:00:00 GMT "In Snowbound, did the real founder make it to the register in time?" - A reader in West Virginia

The Scoop replies: Look at the name on this newsletter. Then look at the box your game came in.

]]> Our second game: In The Year 2000! https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/play-year2000.html https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/#scoop/year2000/our-second-game-in-the-year-2000 In The Year 2000! Sun, 25 Oct 2026 12:00:00 GMT Sandbox Software is three months old, and its second game is in your hands. In In The Year 2000! you are Dex Dynamo, age 11, and your robot dog Sparky 3000 just ate your science report. Find 20 pages across six levels of the future, from the dome homes of Hover Heights to the Moon, and get them to the Science Fair by 3:00. Bring a quarter: every phone booth is a Teleport-A-Phone.

]]> Since last issue: Snowbound, rough edges and all https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/play-year2000.html https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/#scoop/year2000/since-last-issue-snowbound-rough-edges-and-all In The Year 2000! Sun, 25 Oct 2026 12:00:00 GMT Snowbound got our roughest reviews and our warmest letters. Yes, it’s the simplest game we’ll ever make; it’s also the truest. Readers from all over Mineral County wrote to say we got the sled run on Jamie Street just right. The most-asked question: does the arcade eat all your dollars? Only if you let it. Count the can (F2) before you head for the register.

]]> Around the Sandbox: Neighbors on the line https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/play-brief.html https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/#scoop/brief/around-the-sandbox-neighbors-on-the-line KEEP IT BRIEF! The Tiny Pockets Library Sun, 25 Oct 2026 12:00:00 GMT We aren't the only game-makers on the 412 exchange. Over on The Sofa BBS (1-412-555-SOFA), The Bard of Bizarre has been uploading song-games, each one built around a song of his. It's a different shop with a different sense of humor, and we like it a lot. Tell the SysOp we said hi. Meanwhile, THE CHEZ is parked in front of the library in this game. Of course it's charging.

]]> In the workshop: Real depth https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/play-brief.html https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/#scoop/brief/in-the-workshop-real-depth KEEP IT BRIEF! The Tiny Pockets Library Sun, 25 Oct 2026 12:00:00 GMT The office 486 has been running all night for weeks, ray tracing chrome spheres, glass cubes and one red teapot. That's our next game: Depth Perception, where every scene has a near plane and a far plane, and only the one in focus is solid. No cardboard glasses required.

]]> Letters: "Is Macbeth the cat a suspect?" https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/play-brief.html https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/#scoop/brief/letters-is-macbeth-the-cat-a-suspect KEEP IT BRIEF! The Tiny Pockets Library Sun, 25 Oct 2026 12:00:00 GMT "Is Macbeth the cat a suspect? He was in every room I searched." - A detective, by modem

The Scoop replies: Not a suspect. Macbeth is the theater cat, and he goes wherever he likes. Most cats do.

]]> Since last issue: Nobody has spoiled it https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/play-brief.html https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/#scoop/brief/since-last-issue-nobody-has-spoiled-it KEEP IT BRIEF! The Tiny Pockets Library Sun, 25 Oct 2026 12:00:00 GMT Final Curtain detectives: thank you for keeping the solution off the BBS. Commissioner Hale has handed out a lot of strikes this month. The most-asked question is about Victor's safe: three dials, four symbols, no numbers. Victor never wrote anything down that he could hang on a wall instead. Go and look at his walls.

]]> Around the Sandbox: A clown on the line https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/play-maximus.html https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/#scoop/maximus/around-the-sandbox-a-clown-on-the-line Maximus: The Hundred Worlds Sun, 25 Oct 2026 12:00:00 GMT While we were building the hails in Maximus, a friend of the office asked to be in one. So on Boxcar Flats you'll meet Doc Leo, PhD (Comedic Science), a hobo clown with a rubber chicken on a leash. Doc Leo is a proud member of the Clown Club, twists balloon animals for the kids at every parade, and parks a little red electric car out front. He says he'll be in more games. We believe him.

]]> In the workshop: Teddy gets a game https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/play-maximus.html https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/#scoop/maximus/in-the-workshop-teddy-gets-a-game Maximus: The Hundred Worlds Sun, 25 Oct 2026 12:00:00 GMT Remember Teddy, the SysOp's corgi? He's getting his own game for the Fourth of July. Sandcastle Knight puts him in a tin helmet with a red plume as the knight of the backyard sandbox, with four castles to win back. Who knocked them down? Somebody with a lot of zoomies. You'll meet her next issue.

]]> Letters: "Only in an emergency" https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/play-maximus.html https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/#scoop/maximus/letters-only-in-an-emergency Maximus: The Hundred Worlds Sun, 25 Oct 2026 12:00:00 GMT "I told my mom I was shrinking down into the family 486 to fight a virus. She said to be home for dinner." - A pilot, by modem

The Scoop replies: Good advice. VACCINE.EXE is only for emergencies, and so is skipping dinner.

]]> Maximus: 100 scenes, and not one more https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/play-maximus.html https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/#scoop/maximus/maximus-100-scenes-and-not-one-more Maximus: The Hundred Worlds Sun, 25 Oct 2026 12:00:00 GMT Maximus: The Hundred Worlds is out. The Maximus Core has gone dark, and Max, a courier at Maxima Station, must carry ten star-shards home across 88 worlds by pod, on foot, by rover and in a diving bell. Game-Maker holds up to 231 scenes; we stopped at 100: a galaxy chart, five sector charts, 88 worlds, the Maelstrom, the Citadel and the Heart, plus a title, a training deck and an ending. Every limit we found is in LIMITS.TXT on the disk.

]]> Since last issue: GLITCH is gone https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/play-maximus.html https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/#scoop/maximus/since-last-issue-glitch-is-gone Maximus: The Hundred Worlds Sun, 25 Oct 2026 12:00:00 GMT Virus Blaster pilots have been posting high scores on the BBS since April. Your favorite boss is the Feedback Howler; your least favorite is the Head Crash and its rings of platter shards. And the question everybody asks: can the BLASTER stop? No. The data stream never stops flowing. Pull Down to brake.

]]> Around the Sandbox: New address, new computer https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/play-logic.html https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/#scoop/logic/around-the-sandbox-new-address-new-computer Ohm Sweet Ohm Sun, 25 Oct 2026 12:00:00 GMT Where did we go? The founder finished high school, a 486 with a CD-ROM drive turned up as a graduation present, and Sandbox Software moved to Pittsburgh, where the founder is studying at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh. You can see it on the boxes. The best part of the new desk is a modem: our own BBS is online at 1-412-555-SAND, and every Sandbox game, hint and high-score list goes there first.

]]> In the workshop: Can Game-Maker scroll a shooter? https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/play-logic.html https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/#scoop/logic/in-the-workshop-can-game-maker-scroll-a-shooter Ohm Sweet Ohm Sun, 25 Oct 2026 12:00:00 GMT Everybody on the BBS says Game-Maker can't do a real scrolling shoot-'em-up. We think it can. The workbench has a nano-fighter, a lot of graph paper covered in circuit traces, and a title: Virus Blaster. A hint: it's set somewhere very close to you right now.

]]> Letters: "Is the pocket telephone real?" https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/play-logic.html https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/#scoop/logic/letters-is-the-pocket-telephone-real Ohm Sweet Ohm Sun, 25 Oct 2026 12:00:00 GMT "Dex's science report is about a telephone that fits in your pocket. Is that a real invention?" - A reader, by mail

The Scoop replies: Not yet. In our BBS poll it got two votes, and one of those was a joke. Ask us again in the year 2000.

]]> Since last issue: Two years of Sparky mail https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/play-logic.html https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/#scoop/logic/since-last-issue-two-years-of-sparky-mail Ohm Sweet Ohm Sun, 25 Oct 2026 12:00:00 GMT It has been a while since issue 2, and the mailbag filled up. Your favorite gadget in In The Year 2000! was the Teleport-A-Phone. Your least favorite moment was running out of quarters at the Phone Exchange (every room has more, and they come back each time you dial). Three of you sent drawings of Sparky 3000, and one of you built him out of a shoebox and two flashlights.

]]> A horseless carriage in Procrastia https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/play-realm.html https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/#scoop/realm/a-horseless-carriage-in-procrastia Quest for the Round Tuit Sun, 25 Oct 2026 12:00:00 GMT Every kingdom needs a way to get around. Procrastia's is THE CHEZ, a horseless carriage from the far-off future of 1976 and a half, waiting in Professor Fiddlesticks' garage for something with lightning in it. Charge it and drive forty leagues of tidal mud across the Dawdle Flats; its ah-OOO-gah horn clears the crabs off the causeway. Its charge port is on the rear passenger side, as always.

]]> Around the Sandbox: Royal hounds https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/play-realm.html https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/#scoop/realm/around-the-sandbox-royal-hounds Quest for the Round Tuit Sun, 25 Oct 2026 12:00:00 GMT Teddy and Gwinn have royal jobs this time: they're the King's two runaway hounds, and Kennelmaster Bess would like them home. Doc Leo plays himself, as usual, and his rubber chicken finally has a name of its own. Office news: Gwinn sat on command this month. Once. Nobody had a camera, but three of us saw it.

]]> In the workshop: Where's Gwinn? https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/play-realm.html https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/#scoop/realm/in-the-workshop-where-s-gwinn Quest for the Round Tuit Sun, 25 Oct 2026 12:00:00 GMT The morning after the Big Show, Gwinn's bed is empty. That's how our next game begins: Teddy's Little Bigger Adventure. Teddy has a new trick, and for the first time in a Sandbox game you'll play as somebody else, too. Somebody big, brown and still learning to sit.

]]> Letters: "Why ray tracing?" https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/play-realm.html https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/#scoop/realm/letters-why-ray-tracing Quest for the Round Tuit Sun, 25 Oct 2026 12:00:00 GMT "My dad says ray tracing is for serious computers. Why is it in a game?" - A reader, by modem

The Scoop replies: Because a chrome sphere on a checkerboard is the most beautiful thing a computer can draw. Tell your dad the office 486 agrees, eventually.

]]> Since last issue: The box art made the printer https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/play-realm.html https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/#scoop/realm/since-last-issue-the-box-art-made-the-printer Quest for the Round Tuit Sun, 25 Oct 2026 12:00:00 GMT Depth Perception's box art went to the printer on time, and you've been pulling focus ever since. The trick most of you learned the hard way: a soft, see-through block isn't there right now. The trick most of you learned on the BBS: not every mirror in the Hall of Mirrors is a wall. And yes, registered players, the cardboard glasses are in your box. No, you won't need them.

]]> A corgi in a tin helmet https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/play-sandcast.html https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/#scoop/sandcast/a-corgi-in-a-tin-helmet Sandcastle Knight Sun, 25 Oct 2026 12:00:00 GMT Teddy the Pembroke Welsh Corgi is the knight of the backyard sandbox, and in Sandcastle Knight he wins back four castles, his toys and the Crown of the Sandbox from under his snoring big sister. Dig dunes, plug anthills, build towers of sand and show off his tricks: sit, spin, play dead and roll over. It's the Fourth of July, so every knight who wins back the crown gets fireworks. No sound card needed: Teddy beeps along on the PC speaker.

]]> Around the Sandbox: Meet Gwinn https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/play-sandcast.html https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/#scoop/sandcast/around-the-sandbox-meet-gwinn Sandcastle Knight Sun, 25 Oct 2026 12:00:00 GMT Teddy has a big sister. Gwinn is a chocolate-brown pit-lab mix with amber eyes and a pink collar, younger than Teddy and twice his size, and she knows exactly one trick: zoomies. In her first week at the office she knocked over a coffee can of pencils, unplugged the modem and lay down on the SysOp's keyboard. She has never once sat when asked. Everybody loves her anyway.

]]> Dial the sandbox https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/play-sandcast.html https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/#scoop/sandcast/dial-the-sandbox Sandcastle Knight Sun, 25 Oct 2026 12:00:00 GMT Not every little hole in the sandbox was dug by an ant. One of them dials our BBS, right inside the game, and your phone bill is safe. Have a look in the file area while you're logged on.

]]> In the workshop: Teddy's next adventure https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/play-sandcast.html https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/#scoop/sandcast/in-the-workshop-teddy-s-next-adventure Sandcastle Knight Sun, 25 Oct 2026 12:00:00 GMT Registered Sandcastle Knight players were promised the next Teddy adventure on disk, and it's on our workbench now: Teddy's Little Big Adventure. This time Teddy leaves the sandbox for the big town, with more tricks than ever and a friend of ours in a felt fedora. Your copy is on the house; watch the BBS for it.

]]> Letters: "A galaxy on my monitor" https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/play-sandcast.html https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/#scoop/sandcast/letters-a-galaxy-on-my-monitor Sandcastle Knight Sun, 25 Oct 2026 12:00:00 GMT "My Maximus galaxy chart is taped to the side of my monitor. Is that where it goes?" - A courier, by mail

The Scoop replies: That's where ours is. Fold it along the creases, and mind the Maelstrom.

]]> Since last issue: Couriers report in https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/play-sandcast.html https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/#scoop/sandcast/since-last-issue-couriers-report-in Sandcastle Knight Sun, 25 Oct 2026 12:00:00 GMT Maximus couriers have been busy. The most-hailed world is Boxcar Flats (hi, Doc Leo). The most-asked question is about the star whales: every whale in a pod swims the same loop at the same moment, so a pod keeps its shape. Several of you have noticed that a pod in The Cradle spells a name. We aren't saying whose.

]]> Around the Sandbox: A company started with a snow shovel https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/play-snowbound.html https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/#scoop/snowbound/around-the-sandbox-a-company-started-with-a-snow-shovel Snowbound: The $89 Shovel Sun, 25 Oct 2026 12:00:00 GMT This company was paid for one driveway at a time. When the big storm closed school on December 11, the founder shoveled the neighborhood at a dollar a scoop until there was enough for a copy of GAME-MAKER. Christmas vacation did the rest. The office is a desk, the family 286 and a stack of graph paper. The shovel is in the corner, in case we ever need another program.

]]> In the workshop: The future, as we see it https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/play-snowbound.html https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/#scoop/snowbound/in-the-workshop-the-future-as-we-see-it Snowbound: The $89 Shovel Sun, 25 Oct 2026 12:00:00 GMT Everybody knows what the year 2000 will be like: flying cars, robots everywhere and dinner in a pill. Our next game goes there to find out. In In The Year 2000! a kid and his robot dog have until 3:00 to get a science report to the Fair. The robot dog is the problem.

]]> Letters: The mailbag is empty https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/play-snowbound.html https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/#scoop/snowbound/letters-the-mailbag-is-empty Snowbound: The $89 Shovel Sun, 25 Oct 2026 12:00:00 GMT This is issue 1, so nobody has written to us yet. Be the first! Tell us how many dollars you scooped, which hill you sledded best, and whether Biscuit got you. The first letter we get goes right here.

]]> Snowbound: how Sandbox Software began https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/play-snowbound.html https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/#scoop/snowbound/snowbound-how-sandbox-software-began Snowbound: The $89 Shovel Sun, 25 Oct 2026 12:00:00 GMT Hello, and welcome to the very first Sandbox Scoop. Fort Ashby, West Virginia, Friday, December 11, 1992: a foot and a half of snow, no school, and a pink box in the window of Bits & Bytes Software at LaVale Mall: GAME-MAKER, $89 until January. Snowbound: The $89 Shovel is the true(ish) story of how this company was paid for, and our first game. Dig out the neighbors’ driveways at a dollar a scoop, deliver the papers, sled down Jamie Street and get to the register before closing time. Mind Biscuit. He is very friendly.

]]> Around the Sandbox: The little red car has a name https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/play-teddy.html https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/#scoop/teddy/around-the-sandbox-the-little-red-car-has-a-name Teddy's Little Big Adventure Sun, 25 Oct 2026 12:00:00 GMT Doc Leo's little red CitiCar is in this game (his friend Pockets drives it between stops, with Teddy in the front seat), and you keep asking what it's called. Read the license plate: THE CHEZ. It's a 1976½ CitiCar, 100% electric, and it charges at about a mile an hour, so it's plugged in out front more often than not. Sharp-eyed players saw one before: Grandpa's CitiCar in In The Year 2000!

]]> In the workshop: A mystery for Halloween https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/play-teddy.html https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/#scoop/teddy/in-the-workshop-a-mystery-for-halloween Teddy's Little Big Adventure Sun, 25 Oct 2026 12:00:00 GMT Our first mystery is nearly done, and it's coming in October for a good reason. Final Curtain puts you in a trench coat at the Paragon Theatre on Halloween night, 1936. Every clue is in the game, and the solution comes in three parts: who, how and why. Our testers have argued about it over lunch for a week.

]]> Letters: "Is Gwinn a bad dog?" https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/play-teddy.html https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/#scoop/teddy/letters-is-gwinn-a-bad-dog Teddy's Little Big Adventure Sun, 25 Oct 2026 12:00:00 GMT "Gwinn flattened every castle and fell asleep on the crown. Is she a bad dog?" - Two readers, one of them a little sister

The Scoop replies: No. Gwinn is a good girl who knocks things over. In this game she might even learn a trick. Keep an eye on her.

]]> Since last issue: The crown is back https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/play-teddy.html https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/#scoop/teddy/since-last-issue-the-crown-is-back Teddy's Little Big Adventure Sun, 25 Oct 2026 12:00:00 GMT Sandcastle Knight was our first game made for the PC speaker alone, and you played it everywhere. You found the secret dial-up in about a week, and the GIF in its file area, the SysOp and his corgi, is the most downloaded picture on the board. The most-asked question: how do I get past Gwinn? Toss her a tennis ball. She can't resist.

]]> Around the Sandbox: Gwinn's progress report https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/play-teddy2.html https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/#scoop/teddy2/around-the-sandbox-gwinn-s-progress-report Teddy's Little Bigger Adventure Sun, 25 Oct 2026 12:00:00 GMT Gwinn has her own levels this time, and our testers say she's a natural: she BOOFs, she chews, she digs big and she does zoomies straight through the hay bales. Her SIT is coming along. She gets about halfway, sits for one moment, and is up again wiggling. We're told that's how it starts.

]]> In the workshop: The biggest one yet https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/play-teddy2.html https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/#scoop/teddy2/in-the-workshop-the-biggest-one-yet Teddy's Little Bigger Adventure Sun, 25 Oct 2026 12:00:00 GMT The Teddy trilogy ends next year with Teddy's Little Biggest Adventure: every place from the first two games, more heroes than ever, and, for the first time, you get to drive THE CHEZ. What's the occasion? We can't say. Gwinn made us promise.

]]> Since last issue: The kingdom got around to it https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/play-teddy2.html https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/#scoop/teddy2/since-last-issue-the-kingdom-got-around-to-it Teddy's Little Bigger Adventure Sun, 25 Oct 2026 12:00:00 GMT Quest for the Round Tuit players have been very prompt. The Royal Library reports the Tome of Tomorrow returned, three hundred years overdue, by dozens of you, and Doc Leo reports Sir Reginald Cluckington III home safe. The most-asked question on the BBS: where can I swim? Nowhere. The rivers of Procrastia can't be swum. Look for bridges.

]]> Around the Sandbox: From a snow shovel to here https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/play-teddy3.html https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/#scoop/teddy3/around-the-sandbox-from-a-snow-shovel-to-here Teddy's Little Biggest Adventure Sun, 25 Oct 2026 12:00:00 GMT Four and a half years ago this company was the family 286, a snow shovel and a box of GAME-MAKER. Since then: a future, a smart home, a virus, a galaxy, a sandbox, a big town, a theater, a library, a snowstorm, a render, a kingdom, a fair, and now a birthday. Teddy still sleeps on the modem cable. Gwinn still sits about halfway. Doc Leo still leaves the spotlight on, and THE CHEZ is still charging. Thank you for reading.

]]> In the workshop: Your turn https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/play-teddy3.html https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/#scoop/teddy3/in-the-workshop-your-turn Teddy's Little Biggest Adventure Sun, 25 Oct 2026 12:00:00 GMT For the first time since issue 1, the workbench is clear. What comes next is up to you: every Sandbox game was made with GAME-MAKER, and if you can draw a block, you can make a game. Upload yours to our BBS, 1-412-555-SAND. We'll print the best of them here.

]]> Since last issue: Best Behaved? https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/play-teddy3.html https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/#scoop/teddy3/since-last-issue-best-behaved Teddy's Little Biggest Adventure Sun, 25 Oct 2026 12:00:00 GMT Teddy's Little Bigger Adventure went all the way to the dog show, and so did you. The BBS has been very good about not posting how the Best Behaved ring turns out; keep it that way. The most-asked question: is SNIFF really better than rolling over? Teddy says yes. He is a professional.

]]> Around the Sandbox: The SysOp's assistant https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/play-blaster.html https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/#scoop/blaster/around-the-sandbox-the-sysop-s-assistant Virus Blaster Sun, 25 Oct 2026 12:00:00 GMT The SysOp checks every upload for viruses before it goes in the file area, and he has help: a corgi named Teddy, who sleeps under the desk with his chin on the modem cable. This month Teddy walked across the keyboard twice and posted one message to the board. It read "jjjjjjjjj". It is our most popular message.

]]> In the workshop: A hundred worlds https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/play-blaster.html https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/#scoop/blaster/in-the-workshop-a-hundred-worlds Virus Blaster Sun, 25 Oct 2026 12:00:00 GMT Our biggest game yet is on the workbench, and it's big on purpose: we want to find out how much Game-Maker can hold. A courier, a galaxy chart, five sectors and eighty-eight worlds to land on, every one of them wrapping all the way around. It's called Maximus: The Hundred Worlds. It needs a 386. Sorry, 286.

]]> Letters: "My clock radio plays polka" https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/play-blaster.html https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/#scoop/blaster/letters-my-clock-radio-plays-polka Virus Blaster Sun, 25 Oct 2026 12:00:00 GMT "My clock radio plays polka at three in the morning, just like the Bitmores'. Is my house haunted?" - A reader in Ohio

The Scoop replies: Check for lightning. Then send for Watt.

]]> Readable from across the room https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/play-blaster.html https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/#scoop/blaster/readable-from-across-the-room Virus Blaster Sun, 25 Oct 2026 12:00:00 GMT Overcreative Labs says you can read the name on a Sound Boaster from across the room. Virus Blaster put that to the test. On the sound card, in the run called The Big Name, the BLASTER flies up the face of the card, over SOUND BOASTER in letters two blocks tall. The FM chip carries its maker's name too: YO MAMA! HA HA HA. It laughs. Modest is still not on the board.

]]> Since last issue: Watt made it home https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/play-blaster.html https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/#scoop/blaster/since-last-issue-watt-made-it-home Virus Blaster Sun, 25 Oct 2026 12:00:00 GMT Ohm Sweet Ohm players have been rewiring the Bitmores' Smart Home all spring. The most-asked question on the BBS: why can't Watt roll on a slant? Circuit boards are wired in straight lines, and so is Watt. The most-pressed key, by a mile, is R for reboot. It costs a spare battery, and the board starts over exactly as it was.

]]> Letters: "Is it really Teddy's birthday?" https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/play-teddy3.html https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/#scoop/teddy3/letters-is-it-really-teddy-s-birthday Teddy's Little Biggest Adventure Sat, 24 Oct 2026 12:00:00 GMT We can't say. We really can't. Gwinn would never forgive us. Play to the end.

]]> Teddy's back for the big one https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/play-teddy3.html https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/#scoop/teddy3/teddy-s-back-for-the-big-one Teddy's Little Biggest Adventure Sat, 24 Oct 2026 12:00:00 GMT The Teddy trilogy ends with its biggest adventure yet: Teddy's Little Biggest Adventure. Seventeen stops, a dream run, every place and friend from the first two games, and four heroes: Teddy, Gwinn, Doc Leo (at last!) and THE CHEZ, which you get to drive. Mind the charge.

]]> How long does a render take? https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/play-depth.html https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/#scoop/depth/how-long-does-a-render-take Depth Perception Thu, 22 Oct 2026 12:00:00 GMT Every block, sprite and cartoon in Depth Perception was ray traced on our office 486. The intro alone took a long weekend. The box art took eleven hours and a vampire. We are told the next machine will be faster.

]]> We threw away the cardboard glasses https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/play-depth.html https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/#scoop/depth/we-threw-away-the-cardboard-glasses Depth Perception Thu, 22 Oct 2026 12:00:00 GMT Our art department spent a week squinting through red and blue cellophane before Doc Leo said what everybody was thinking: real depth isn't two colors, it's focus. Depth Perception has a near plane and a far plane in every scene, and only the one in focus is solid. The glasses are still in the box. You won't need them.

]]> A library in a box on a post https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/play-brief.html https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/#scoop/brief/a-library-in-a-box-on-a-post KEEP IT BRIEF! The Tiny Pockets Library Thu, 22 Oct 2026 12:00:00 GMT Our lawyers asked us to keep the press release for KEEP IT BRIEF! under one hundred words, so: thirty-two stories, one hundred words each, a tin librarian who refuses to round, and shushers who fine. Register for $10. Exactly $10. The Word Counter will not make change. Keep it brief.

]]> Sandbox Software Gets Around to an RPG https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/play-realm.html https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/#scoop/realm/sandbox-software-gets-around-to-an-rpg Quest for the Round Tuit Thu, 22 Oct 2026 12:00:00 GMT Fans have asked for a role-playing game since our first disk. We said we'd get around to it. Quest for the Round Tuit is that. Four towns, four dungeons, two dozen people to talk to, and coastlines that curve - in Game-Maker, which nobody told us couldn't be done until we'd done it.

]]> Letters: "Why did Teddy stop rolling over?" https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/play-teddy2.html https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/#scoop/teddy2/letters-why-did-teddy-stop-rolling-over Teddy's Little Bigger Adventure Thu, 22 Oct 2026 12:00:00 GMT He retired from it, by choice, like he retired from hoops. He is a professional now. Roll over's key went to his new SNIFF, which our testers say is the best trick in the game. Teddy agrees.

]]> Teddy's back, and this time Gwinn's playable https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/play-teddy2.html https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/#scoop/teddy2/teddy-s-back-and-this-time-gwinn-s-playable Teddy's Little Bigger Adventure Thu, 22 Oct 2026 12:00:00 GMT Our corgi's sequel, Teddy's Little Bigger Adventure, is out! Nine levels from the attic to the dog show, a brand-new trick (SNIFF), and the first Sandbox game with two heroes: in the MEANWHILE... levels you are Gwinn, with tricks of her own. One of them is sitting. She is working on it.

]]> Sparky says thanks https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/play-year2000.html https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/#scoop/year2000/sparky-says-thanks In The Year 2000! Tue, 20 Oct 2026 12:00:00 GMT Register In The Year 2000! for $12 and you get the next Sandbox Software game on a 3 1/2" disk, a printed manual and a sticker for your computer. Sparky promises not to eat any of it.

]]> What will the year 2000 be like? https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/play-year2000.html https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/#scoop/year2000/what-will-the-year-2000-be-like In The Year 2000! Tue, 20 Oct 2026 12:00:00 GMT We asked our classmates what they expect in seven short years. The top answers: flying cars (41 votes), robot dogs (29), dinner in a pill (17), and a telephone small enough to fit in your pocket (2 votes, and one of those was a joke). Our programmer is betting on the pocket telephone. Our mail room is still betting on the mail.

]]> Courier’s corner https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/play-maximus.html https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/#scoop/maximus/courier-s-corner Maximus: The Hundred Worlds Tue, 20 Oct 2026 12:00:00 GMT Registered couriers: your fold-out galaxy chart, the sector map of all 88 worlds and the hint book are in this box. Fold the chart along the creases and keep it by the keyboard.

]]> Ohm Sweet Ohm: puzzles made of pure Game-Maker https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/play-logic.html https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/#scoop/logic/ohm-sweet-ohm-puzzles-made-of-pure-game-maker Ohm Sweet Ohm Tue, 20 Oct 2026 12:00:00 GMT A thunderstorm has scrambled the Bitmores' brand-new Smart Home, and Watt, the pocket-sized repair robot who lives in the fuse box, must roll home through twenty-three haywire circuit boards, from the toaster to the attic. Every switch, fuse and relay is built from ordinary Game-Maker blocks and monsters: batteries are blocks that give birth to "current" monsters, and gates fall when a stronger monster touches them. Not one line of code!

]]> SNOWBOUND II: Spring Thaw https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/play-snowbound.html https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/#scoop/snowbound/snowbound-ii-spring-thaw Snowbound: The $89 Shovel Tue, 20 Oct 2026 12:00:00 GMT The snow is melting in Fort Ashby, and the founder has a new plan: mow lawns all through mud season. Registered SNOWBOUND players get it free when it’s done.

]]> A corgi joins the Sandbox family https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/play-teddy.html https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/#scoop/teddy/a-corgi-joins-the-sandbox-family Teddy's Little Big Adventure Tue, 20 Oct 2026 12:00:00 GMT Teddy the corgi is back, and this time he's left the sandbox for the big town! Teddy's Little Big Adventure sends him from Doc Leo's backyard to the Clown Club's Big Show with nine tricks on nine keys. Our testers' favorite trick? Play dead. Our testers' favorite dog? Don't ask Gwinn.

]]> Ask the Sandbox: why so many dogs? https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/play-teddy.html https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/#scoop/teddy/ask-the-sandbox-why-so-many-dogs Teddy's Little Big Adventure Tue, 20 Oct 2026 12:00:00 GMT Readers keep asking why our games star so many dogs. Simple: the office has two of them, and they won't stop walking across the keyboard. If you find a typo in one of our manuals, now you know who to blame. Send your own pet's best trick to the BBS and we may print it in the next Scoop!

]]> Game-Maker learns to scroll https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/play-blaster.html https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/#scoop/blaster/game-maker-learns-to-scroll Virus Blaster Tue, 20 Oct 2026 12:00:00 GMT Sandbox Software's Virus Blaster is a real vertically scrolling shoot-'em-up, built entirely in Game-Maker. The trick? The BLASTER drifts forward two pixels on every frame of every move, so the screen has no choice but to follow it up the map.

]]> Scan every download https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/play-blaster.html https://lewismoten.github.io/GameMaker-SandboxEdition/#scoop/blaster/scan-every-download Virus Blaster Tue, 20 Oct 2026 12:00:00 GMT Virus Blaster starts with a mistake: late one night you download COOLGAME.ZIP from a BBS you never called before, and it turns out to be GLITCH, a virus that eats a PC from the inside out. Shrink down and blast your way up through the family 486: five stages, twenty-five scrolling runs and five bosses. It's only a game, but the moral is real. Scan every download.

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