10/22/2026
Learn Commodore BASIC and win a prize!
Recent studies have revealed a shocking decline in young people’s ability to program in Commodore BASIC. In fact, a staggering 0.05% of people under 18 can successfully write a simple program on a Commodore 64!
For comparison, a 1988 study found that a whopping 30% of kids under 18 could do it without breaking a sweat. What happened?! Have we forgotten our roots? Today’s youngsters been robbed of the joy of typing LOAD" and RUN! And whatever happened to the satisfying sound of a dot matrix printer announcing your programming triumph to the entire neighborhood?
Here at the Brainerd Museum of Pop Culture, we refuse to let this technological dark age continue!
So, every Wednesday through Friday, from noon to 5 p.m., we’re challenging kids under 14 to prove their retro-computing prowess. Successfully type in a Commodore BASIC program, save it to floppy disk, run it, and print the results on our trusty dot matrix printer, and you’ll win a prize!
Don’t know BASIC? No problem! We have a selection of sample programs ready for you to choose from. No prior experience required. Just bring your curiosity, your enthusiasm, and your willingness to experience the thrill of waiting for a program to load from a floppy disk.
Because every kid deserves to know what it feels like to spend 20 minutes typing a program just to discover they missed one semicolon.
