TIS-100
Hacker ApprovedRanked 2 of 6 programming games by recommenders
A game about assembly programming praised for teaching programming. Critics say constraints get hard too fast and it starts to feel like work.
A game about assembly programming praised for teaching programming. Critics say constraints get hard too fast and it starts to feel like work.
16 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 15
- criticize it
- 1
- approval share
- 94%
Recommended in 7 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 15 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 15 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 7 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Teaches assembly and programming well
“Having a really stripped down assembler was a fantastic learning tool!”
Comment from 2 Jul 2026 in “Exapunks” “TIS-100 is what made me want to be a programmer in the first place.”
Comment from 2 Jul 2026 in “Exapunks” “might have a lot of pedagogical value”
Comment from 5 Feb 2026 in “Simply Scheme: Introducing Computer Science (1999)” Recommended as a programming game
“if you want a game that kind of feels a little like the GA144 then you might be interested in TIS-100”
Comment from 28 Oct 2026 in “Gforth 1.0” “If you want programming games I can highly recommend TIS-100”
Comment from 21 Jan 2026 in “EmuDevz: A game about developing emulators” “there's ones like TIS100 which I keep meaning to revisit”
Comment from 5 Apr 2026 in “Show HN: A game where you build a GPU” - Comment from 29 May 2026 in “Bitburner, programming-based incremental game”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Constraints get hard too fast
“For me they get too hard (due to constraints) too fast (if not straight up obscure).”
Comment from 3 Jul 2026 in “Exapunks” Gets tedious after a while
“TIS-100 was also fun, until it started feeling like work”
Comment from 2 Jul 2026 in “Exapunks” Basic tasks are painful
“It's painful to get basic stuff done, but you can do some amazing things with some effort.”
Comment from 29 Jun 2026 in “1.38 Millimeter Microcontroller”
Other programming games people recommend
The four most recommended other programming games, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EmuDevz | 18 | 1 | 95% | 1 | — | — |
| TIS-100This page | 15 | 1 | 94% | 7 | — | Approved |
| Elevator Saga | 14 | 0 | 100% | 4 | — | Approved |
| Exapunks by Zachtronics | 12 | 3 | 80% | 3 | — | — |
| Bitburner | 9 | 2 | 82% | 1 | — | — |
What people said
13 of the 16 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“if you want a game that kind of feels a little like the GA144 then you might be interested in TIS-100”
“the funniest concept is probably a game about assembly programming (TIS-100)”
“For me they get too hard (due to constraints) too fast (if not straight up obscure).”
“I had a great evening with a friend playing through TIS-100 together.”
“Having a really stripped down assembler was a fantastic learning tool!”
“share some similarities with TIS-100”
“TIS-100 was also fun, until it started feeling like work”
“TIS-100 is what made me want to be a programmer in the first place.”
“It's painful to get basic stuff done, but you can do some amazing things with some effort.”
“Otherwise, I'd rather play TIS-100.”
“there's ones like TIS100 which I keep meaning to revisit”
“might have a lot of pedagogical value”
“If you want programming games I can highly recommend TIS-100”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.