A retro bike delivery game: the paper round
Paper Round in Games by Zaweba: deliver the morning papers by bike for a whole week, dodging dogs, cars and grannies with shopping trolleys.
Delivering the morning papers by bike for a whole week, dodging dogs, cars and grannies with shopping trolleys, is the job in Paper Round. It's an original 8-bit style game on the Retro arcade shelf of Games by Zaweba, free and offline, with no adverts or account.
Survive from Monday to Sunday with your customers still on the books, and you've done the round.
Riding the bike
Up and Down steer. Right goes faster and Left goes slower. Space or Z throws a paper. The street scrolls past as you ride, and you steer between the hazards while aiming at the houses.
Speed is a choice. Riding faster gets you down the street quickly but gives you less time to aim and dodge. Riding slower makes the throwing easier but the hazards still come.
Customers and letterboxes
Throw papers into the letterboxes of the houses with red doors. Those are your customers. Miss a customer and they cancel. So every red door matters, and a customer lost on Monday stays lost for the rest of the week.
Timing the throw is the knack. You're moving all the time, so watch how your papers fly on the first few houses and adjust when you let go.
Windows and mischief
Smashing other houses' windows scores points. But break a customer's window and they cancel too. So the mischief is part of the game, but aim carefully: a stray paper through the wrong window costs you a customer.
Papers and hazards
Pick up bundles for more papers. You'll run out if you throw carelessly, so keep an eye out for bundles along the way.
Dodge the dogs, the cars and the grannies with shopping trolleys. Each one is its own kind of danger, and they come at you as you ride. Steer early to avoid them rather than at the last moment.
The week
Survive from Monday to Sunday. The customers you keep are the ones you deliver to next time. A good week depends on keeping your customers happy every day, so steady, careful deliveries are better than a mad dash.
Paper Round is a game of priorities. You are trying to keep every customer, collect bundles, score from mischief and stay on the bike all at once, and you can't always do everything. Most players do best by putting customers first, avoiding hazards second, and treating broken windows as a bonus when the coast is clear. A week with every customer kept is worth more than a few smashed panes.
The 8-bit style keeps everything easy to read at speed: red doors stand out, and so do the hazards coming down the street.
Starting your round
Paper Round is drawn in the style of a 64K home computer, with bright houses and cheerful sounds. Find it on the Retro arcade shelf of Games by Zaweba, or press Ctrl+F and type paper. The title card explains how to play, F1 explains it again, Esc pauses and F11 fills the screen. The game pauses itself if you switch windows. Your best score and plays are kept on the game's tile, in a scores file on your own PC, and nothing goes online.
