Choc-A-Bloc Charlie
Alternative title: Polo's Glace
Platform: Commodore 64
Gametype: Undefined
Programmer: Steve Hughes, Paul Gill
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This is a puzzle type game in the mould of Pengo, by Lothlorien (Action Master) 1983.

Choc A Bloc Charlie is a single screen game where you are Charlie and you have appeared in a warehouse from a time warp and it seems there is no escape. The warehouse is made up of many white blocks with four yellow blocks and four purple blocks which can be pushed around the screen. To escape from the screen you must put the four purple blocks together in a larger square to open an exit within a time limit and move on to another warehouses in which there are 16 in total. The yellow blocks when put together give you a points bonus. Moving around the screen is a creature that lays mines which after a few seconds explodes, and also there are guards behind each purple block and when released move around the screen. 

You are armed with unlimited grenades that don't harm the creature or guards but removes the white blocks. Careful use must be taken as throwing a grenade decreases an energy bar and being touched by the creature and guards also decreases it. Once your energy is empty or you run out of time then you lose one of five lives. When the exit has appeared you move to another screen where you must get from the left of the screen to the right avoiding spinning creatures or a life is lost. The next warehouse has the same layout but more creatures have appeared.

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Trivia:

Choc-a-Bloc Charlie 2 :

Coding: Steve Hughes (?), Paul Gill (?)
Graphics: Martin Holland

Also known as: Choc-a-Bloc Charlie Plus

Back in 2000, GTW64 was in regular conversation with the late Martin Holland – who mentioned working on a game at MC Lothlorien called Choc-a-Bloc Charlie … an update of the original 1984 release they had.  Martin described creating a loading screen for the game – though we cannot recall if he did any of the in game graphics.

It is not known who coded the game, though we are suggesting the original game’s developer or Paul Gill as a starting point.

Now, sadly we have actually seen the loading screen after Martin sent a video of his graphics work that he found on his C64 disks.  The video got recorded over accidently, though Martin was to send some disks anyway with the work for us to preserve.  He died shortly before this could happen, and his disks were thrown away.

The only memory we now have is of a loading screen which was similar to Panic Dizzy, with crates in the background and a main character at the front.


http://www.mobygames.com/game/c64/choc-a-bloc-charlie
http://www.gamesthatwerent.com/gtw64/chocablock-charlie-2/
