Highlights
- Graphing calculators like the Texas Instrument series are not only useful for math but also serve as a gaming platform.
- Programmers have developed ingenious ports of popular games like Tetris, Pac-Man, and Among Us for calculators like the TI-84 Plus CE.
- These calculator versions of games may have limitations, but they are surprisingly faithful to the original versions, providing hours of fun and even multiplayer options.
Graphing calculators are an indispensable tool in High School and College math classes. They are handy for visualizing data and calculating complex formulas. The Texas Instrument series is among the most popular. Surprisingly, these devices have also become a gaming platform.
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TI calculators have a small but active community, developing versions of popular games for the calculator’s limited hardware. Even when Texas Instruments actively works against it, dedicated programmers find a way to make it appear as though one is doing work on the systems, when in reality they are just having fun. Here are some of the most ingenious ports of games to calculators.
8 Tetris
TI-84 Plus CE
The Soviet-made Tetris is a deceptively simple game of stacking blocks and filling rows for points. As more rows of blocks are cleared, the game moves faster, requiring quick reflexes and expert spatial orientation.
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Programmer KermMartian developed this rendition of the famous game for the TI-84 Plus CE. It boasts “5 unique modes of gameplay for hours of fun.” This is probably one of the most math-focused games that can be played on a calculator, and the accessibility of the gameplay makes it an all-time classic.
7 Pac-Man
TI-84 Plus CE
Pac-Man
- Platform(s)
- Arcade , Nintendo Entertainment System , Commodore 64 , Nintendo Game Boy , Game Boy Color , Nintendo Game Boy Advance , Game Gear , PS4 , Xbox 360 , Xbox One , Android , iOS
- Released
- 1980-12-00
- Developer(s)
- Namco , BNE Entertainment , Bandai Namco Studios , Nintendo , Atari , Midway Games
- Genre(s)
- Maze
Pac-Man was an icon of the arcade craze of the 80s. There was even a song written about him. The game by Namco features a yellow dot with an insatiable appetite navigating a maze while avoiding predatory ghosts.
Thanks to MateoConLechuga, Pac-Man has been faithfully ported to the TI-84 Plus CE calculator. The bright, simple sprites translate well to the device’s limited visual display. It does not have audio, though, so Pac-Man’s signature chomping noise is absent. Even still, one would be hard-pressed to tell the difference between this and the original arcade version at first glance.
6 Minecraft
TI-84 Plus CE
Minecraft has taken over the world. It is on pretty much every system imaginable, and the game itself is dynamic in design. Minecraft's mascots, Steve and Alex, can go on epic adventures throughout the procedurally generated Minecraft realm, or just have infinite access to all the game's available blocks and create whatever they can imagine.
It was probably inevitable that programmers would attempt to port it to calculators. YouTuber The Science Elf breaks down how he made an isometric version of Minecraft that is pretty much a stripped-down creative mode. It allows for multiple worlds to be created, and diverse blocks are available to build simple structures. He uses some clever programming tricks to render the blocky worlds on limited hardware. Now if only Minecraft would get ported to the Zeebo.
5 Among Us
TI-84 Plus CE
Among Us
- Platform(s)
- PC , Switch , PS4 , PS5 , Xbox One , Xbox Series X , Xbox Series S
- Released
- June 5, 2018
- Developer(s)
- InnerSloth
- Genre(s)
- Party Game
Among Us became the unofficial game of 2020, at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The social deduction of astronauts completing tasks and avoiding a secret killer on the team made for a great way to pass the time during lockdown and put Inner Sloth on the map as a developer.
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YouTube channel Everyday Code developed a version of the game for the TI-84 Plus CE using the C coding language. Unfortunately, it is only single-player, and the only character option is impostor, but the artwork is easily recognizable as Among Us.
4 Super Mario Bros.
TI-84 Plus CE
Super Mario Bros.
- Platform(s)
- Nintendo Entertainment System
- Released
- November 17, 1985
- Developer(s)
- Nintendo R&D4
- Genre(s)
- Platformer
At this point, Nintendo’s legendary Mario is the Mickey Mouse of video games. Everyone recognizes him, even people who do not play video games. While Nintendo has branched its properties out to mobile platforms, Mario on a graphing calculator was not what they had in mind.
And yet, here is Oiram, created by MateoConLechuga. Visually speaking, it does a great job of replicating the look of the masterpiece that is Super Mario Bros. 3. A level editor is also available to create custom challenges, kind of like a mini Mario Maker.
3 Doom
TI-83/84 Plus
Doom is the master of being ported to everything. It has run on pregnancy tests, printers, and even a John Deere tractor. Thanks to the resourcefulness of Alexis Guinamard, Guillaume Hoffmann, and Raphaël Siryani, it runs on a calculator, too.
Titled zDoom is a rudimentary build of the game. Gameplay takes place on a flat plane, and it slows down when displaying enemy sprite animations. Still, it’s Doom on the calculator. It does an okay job of replicating the run-and-gun gameplay of the original version.
2 Super Smash Bros.
TI-83 Plus and TI-84 Plus
Super Smash Bros.
- Platform(s)
- Nintendo 64 , Wii
- Released
- April 26, 1999
- Developer(s)
- HAL Laboratory
- Genre(s)
- Fighting
Nintendo’s Super Smash Bros. pits classic video game mascots against each other in arena-based combat, where fighters must knock their opponents off the stage. Each entry in the franchise is a museum of video game history, featuring stages, power-ups, and characters from some of its most well-known and obscure properties.
While technically imperfect, what programmer Hayleia has created for the monochromatic TI-83 Plus and TI-84 Plus is nothing short of a miracle. The playable fighters featured here are well-animated, and the camera zooms in and out smoothly to keep up with the action. Best of all, it has multiplayer, either on one calculator or with two calculators linked.
1 The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim
TI-84
The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim has had much more longevity than Bethesda probably ever thought it could. The land of Skyrim has offered near-infinite adventures to aspiring Dragonborn, and many a dragon to slay as well. The multiple bugs that have been discovered have also added to the adventure’s charm.
Skyrim has seen a few interesting ports, including to Amazon’s Alexa, but YouTuber Evan Heaton's version for the TI-84 is the focus here. It has a simple user interface where the Dragonborn can visit one of several regions in Skyrim, collect dragon souls, and fight creatures in the wild. The presentation is well-designed for the system, including a simple overworld map, illustrations of foes, and writing that fits the world of Skyrim.
