Zany Golf

"Zany Golf", also known as "Will Harvey's Zany Golf", is a video game with a fantasy take on miniature golf, developed by Sandcastle Productions and published by Electronic Arts. The game was originally developed in 1988 for the Apple IIGS and became the first Apple IIGS game to attract the mainstream gaming market and be ported to other platforms.Fact|date=January 2008 It was subsequently ported to the Amiga, Atari ST and DOS machines. In 1990 it was ported to a video game console, the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis. The musical score in the original version was designed to exploit the unique 15-voice Ensoniq music synthesizer in the Apple IIGS computer. For this reason other ports, while able to mimic the game graphically, had to be considerably scaled down in terms of the music quality.

The game is played in via a 3D isometric viewpoint. It is unusual in allowing up to 8 players.

The game was developed by Will Harvey, Ian Gooding, Jim Nitchals, and Douglas Fulton. This game was developed while Harvey was pursuing his advanced degrees at Stanford University.

"Zany Golf" is a version of mini golf with some features that are impossible in real, physical mini golf. "Zany Golf" only consists of half a golf course, i.e. 9 holes, although there is a bonus hole. The holes are as follows:
# Windmill Hole (Par 2): The ball has to be shot into a windmill, or slide down the ramp below, to enter the second area.
# Hamburger Hole (Par 3): The hole is covered by a bouncing hamburger, reached by bouncing the ball off a ketchup bottle that squirts.
# Walls (Par 2): Several walls continuously rise from the ground and fall back down. Depending on the timing, these can deflect the ball in unusual ways.
# Pinball (Par 3): The level begins as a game of pinball, where the player can hit the ball with the flippers after shooting it.
# Fans (Par 3): Fans positioned along the level allow blowing the ball in a different direction.
# Magic Carpet (Par 2): A special "magic" surface covering most of the level allows direct mouse control over the ball.
# Castle (Par 3): The ball has to be shot up a hill, to enter into a castle or holes outside it, to enter the second area.
# Ant Hill (Par 3): The hole itself moves.
# Energy (Par 5): Consists of various contraptions all over the place, with buttons that activate deadly laser beams, energy blasters, teleporters and suction tubes. Widely regarded as the most difficult hole by far.
# ???: This bonus hole is accessed by either completing the entire course under par (26), or by putting into a secret hole on the Energy level with exact timing. This level consists of a Breakout-style scenario, followed by a challenge where the ball must be putted across a checkerboard square, where alternate squares when rolled over teleport the ball back to the start.

Due to the lack of a mouse or similar pointing device, the Sega Genesis edition of the game omitted the 'Magic Carpet' hole. Instead, the '???' bonus hole from the computer game appears after 'Ant Hill', although it was renamed 'Knockout Nightmare'.

External links

*moby game|id=/will-harveys-zany-golf|name="Zany Golf"
* [http://www.classicgaming.com/amigareviews/zanygolf.htm A review of the Amiga version]
* [http://www.meanmachinesmag.co.uk/review/29/zany-golf.php Zany Golf Megadrive review] from Mean Machines Archive