Beaver Pelt Man

November 1990 • HyperCard

The Black Knight has been defeated, but his Royal Beavers have been unleashed. Stock up on traps at the store, then hurry back to the castle to stop them before they overwhelm you.

Beaver Pelt Man is an impossibly difficult ordeal that’s self-described as “probably one of the first arcade-type hyper card games.” It’s sort of a fan sequel to the Dark Castle series, and borrows many of its graphics and sounds. Use arrow buttons to adjust your aim, then choose a trap to throw. If you’re successful, your Pelt Meter will increase, and eventually you will proceed to the next level. If you make it all the way to the Golden Dragon, Lord of the Beavers, you will face new challenges.

I made this game when I was 12 or 13, circa 1990. It takes a lot of art and sound from the Dark Castle games, published by Silicon Beach Software, but there’s quite a bit of original work as well. It was created in HyperCard 2.0 on a Macintosh 512K with System 6. In December 2023, I spent some time fixing bugs and making it more playable. It is otherwise presented as is, and it’s still a bit rough around the edges.