ZX Spectrum game · play free
Buzz Bee
Steer a bee home through the night hedges. One tap flaps, gravity does the rest, and every gap you fly through scores a point.
In short
- Buzz Bee is a one-button game for the ZX Spectrum 48K and 128K: any key makes the bee flap.
- Hedges scroll in from the right, each with a gap. Every gap you fly through scores a point.
- Touch a hedge or the ground and the run is over.
- It was the first game made for Spectrum Arcade, and it's the quickest to pick up.
- It plays perfectly on a phone: just tap the screen.
How to play Buzz Bee
It's night, and a bumblebee needs to get home. Press any key, or tap the screen, and the bee flaps upwards. Let go and gravity pulls it back down. The hedges keep coming from the right, each with a gap somewhere along its height, and your job is to thread the bee through each one.
That's the whole game, and that's the point. There's nothing to learn except the rhythm of the flaps, and every run takes seconds. Your best score is kept between games, so you'll always know what to beat.
Tips for a high score
- Tap, don't hold. Small, regular flaps keep the bee level. Big bursts send it into the hedge above.
- Look ahead. Watch the next gap, not the bee. Your hands will follow your eyes.
- Stay low between hedges. It's easier to flap up into a gap than to fall into one.
- Find your rhythm. The hedges come at a steady pace, so the flaps that worked for one gap often work for the next.
Why a tap-to-flap game on the Spectrum?
One-button games became hugely popular on phones, but the idea suits the Spectrum perfectly. The machine's rubber keys were never great for fast, precise games, and "press any key" is about the friendliest instruction a computer can give. Buzz Bee works with a real keyboard, an on-screen keyboard or a single tap, which makes it a good first game for anyone who has never used a Spectrum.
How Buzz Bee was made
Buzz Bee is written in Z80 assembly, and the game code is only about 2.7 KB, smaller than many of the pictures on this page. The tape has a BASIC loader, a loading screen and the code, just like a game you'd have bought in 1983.
On a 128K, the AY chip plays "Sunny Hedgerow" on the title screen and "Bumble Boogie" in game, with a "wah-wah" when the bee crashes. On a 48K you get the beeper. Hear the difference in our guide to the 48K and 128K Spectrum, or learn to write a Spectrum game yourself: Buzz Bee is exactly the kind of game to start with.
