# QBasic Gorillas 19 Hacker News commenters recommended QBasic Gorillas and 2 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 5 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule. **Verdict:** Recommended as a fun, nostalgic game that got many people into programming through its source code. Caveat: the wind and round text overlaps buildings. ## Why people recommend it - Childhood memories playing at school (5 comments): "Sneaking into the library computer at school to play and later edit and remix that game was a formative experience for me." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48076711)) "i think QBasic Gorillas is the first graphics game i have memory of playing as a child" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48939560)) "was a fun little game you could play in those computers" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49290528)) - Inspired programming through its source code (5 comments): "Fun times going through the source code without understanding anything" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48944207)) "Opening up the QBasic source code was eye opening for me" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48939732)) "Whoever created that game changed my life immeasurably." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49275231)) - Fun, time-wasting gameplay (3 comments): "Great terminal game as was GORILLAS.bas" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48619103)) "I could clearly waste time on this." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48938570)) "QBasic Gorillas was poggers" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48066391)) ## What people warn about - Wind and round text overlap buildings (1 comments): "Can also play the original as well online" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48935560)) ## Alternatives hackers recommend - [Duskers](https://hackerapproved.com/p/duskers.md): 8 recommend - [Termcraft](https://hackerapproved.com/p/termcraft.md): 6 recommend - [Nibbles (QBasic game)](https://hackerapproved.com/p/nibbles.md): 5 recommend ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "QBasic Gorillas", https://hackerapproved.com/p/qbasic-gorillas/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).