"The origins of the RetroChallenge are as indistinct as its purpose... some
say it started in 2005; others swear that it goes back as far as 2004. Those
who know for sure are unwilling - or unable - to say."
--Luddite
What we know as the RetroChallenge was first held in 2004, hosted by
68kMLA (back then it was 68kMLA.net). All remnants of the first
RetroChallenge appear to be lost to the ravages of the great 68kMLA
harddrive crash of 2007. By most accounts, it was informal yet governed
by a complicated scoring sytem, giving points based on age of the
computer used and how committed you were to using your old computer
daily. Being a 68MLA event, it was very much, if not exclusively, Apple
hardware.
RetroChallenge 2005 was hosted by Byron Q. Desnoyers Winmill. He ran a
mailing list and hosted the rules and news about the event on his
website. Note how complicated the categories and rules were with point
assignments and multipliers. Also interesting to note is that a
"retrocomputer" was considered to be just 12 years-old back then. This
was Dale Goodfellow's (wgoodf) first RetroChallenge event.
2006 was an off year for the RetroChallenge. As Simon Williams
(Luddite) recalls:
"(leans back and points pipe stem at rapt youngsters) nothing
"officially" happened in 2006, though wgoodf and myself went ahead
with it anyway. I think that was the year we had the huge debate
about what was retro and everyone wanted the rules changed so they
could enter with a G4 or run Windows 98 or whatever and then got all
pouty."
Ultimately, the challengers appear to have settled on a single rule:
"No biting". Despite the pouting and complacency around them, Luddite
journaled daily about his retrochallenge adventure culminating in a
full-length Apple II music album, while wgoodf spent quality time with
his PowerBook 540c, Mac SE, Apple //c, and Cambridge Z88. Like soldiers
abandoned on a jungle island, still ready to fight after the war was
over, they kept providing updates and checking in on each other's
progress long after all others had given up the challenge. Lorance
Stinson maintained a BBS for challengers and Cory Wiegersma (Cory5412)
did his best to count up points.
Luddite hosted an "Old Computer Challenge" on his website in early 2007
which was later considered to be the first RetroChallenge "Winter
Warm-up" event. Unfortunately, no web content from that event survives
today, but you can listen to some fun "8-bit dub / techno / reggae"
that was apparently produced during this event.
Soon afterwards, 68kMLA suffered a devastating harddrive crash. The
Macintosh Liberation Army was in shambles...
In mid-2007 wgoodf orchestrated a bloodless coup to take over the
RetroChallenge from the faltering Mac Liberation Army and ensure its
continued success. He hosted the event on "retrochallenge.net" which
would be its new home for a few years to come. Ahall found fame that
year with his useful Happy Clock program for compact Macs.
Luddite handled the hosting duties for 2008, including a January
"Winter Warm-up", July main event, and set the irreverent tone for many
future events to come. This was notably DigitalRampage's first
RetroChallenge as he would endeavor to repair a bunch of old Macs and
Lisas. The rules were kept simple: all retrocomputing platforms were
invited, with "retrocomputer" including anything older than 10 years.
RetroChallenge 2009 was again run by Luddite, with assistance from
wgoodf. Building on Lorance's BBS efforts, Luddite's RetroNET BBS (and
Hunt tournament) are featured in the event. Twitter begins to play a
role in the challenge. Paleoferrosaurus and Urbancamo make their
RetroChallenge debuts. Equant writes his Grackle68k twitter client for
classic Macs. Luddite continues to regularly design a t-shirt for each
event and mousepads for the winners.
Closely associated with the RetroChallenge, Luddite and wgoodf publish
300 Baud Magazine in early 2010. Wgoodf finds a way to cheat at Hunt
during the Winter Warmup. He then hosts "RC2010" and takes the role of
"twitter monkey". RetroChallenge.org website makes its debut. ep00ch
makes his first of many unsuccessful RetroCallenge entries.
2011 sees the Retrochallenge website move onto urbancamo's server. He
hosts the Winter Warmup, Summer Challenge, and the BBS with assistance
from Luddite and wgoodf.
And so the years went on with urbancamo hosting the RetroChallenge
twice per year with twitter assistance from wgoodf, as Luddite took a
step back from organizer to semi-regular competitor. John Linville
begins to take a more active role in the RetroChallenge, beginning with
his 2012 win for his Fahrfall Coco game and regularly acting as judge
from 2013 through 2016. ep00ch finally has a successful entry in the
2015 Winter Warmup. This was a stable "Silver Age" for the
RetroChallenge thanks to urbancamo and wgoodf's work.
2017 John Linville takes over hosting duties for the RetroChallenge. He
runs the show through RC2019/03.
2019/10 Michael Mulhern announces RC2019/10, but it quickly gets
abondoned with "The 'Rona" looming.
2020 April-May Mark Sherman (Mars) volunteers to host an extended event
with a time travel theme.
RC2021/10 Urbancamo steps up in a time of need. ep00ch assists with
hosting duties. The RetroChallenge runs annually in October. ACMS takes
an active role in promoting the event as part of its membership
activities.
ep00ch and urbancamo continue to run and judge events. ep00ch provides
custom mouse pads and other RC merch for the lucky "winners" through
2024.
RC2024/10 RetroChallenge celebrates its 20th anniversary with an event
focusing on the 10th anniversary of the RC2014 Z80 kit computer, and
this attempt at a historical timeline.
Many thanks to all those who have particpated, supported, and helped
host the event over these many years!
