Finders Keepers

Finders Keepers
Titelbild vom Spiel
Game No.	540
Voting	7.20 points, 5 votes
Developer	David Jones
Publisher	Mastertronic
Musician	David Dunn
HVSC-File	MUSICIANS/D/Dunn_David/Finders_Keepers.sid
Release	1985
Platform	Amstrad CPC, C64, C16, ZX Spectrum, MSX
Genre	Graphic Adventure
Gamemode	Single player
Operation
Media
Language
Information	Series: Spellbound Knight Tyme Stormbringer

Description[edit | edit source]

With a gracious wave, the king dispatches the magical knight.

'Finders Keepers is a graphic adventure game spanning 21 screens and two mazes. The screens are displayed using a flick-screen technique, while movement within the mazes is achieved through scrolling.

As a magical knight, the player collects treasures to exchange for a gift for the king's princess, thereby gaining access to the king's Round Table — or to keep them for themselves by making a quick getaway.

Backstory[edit | edit source]

Finders Keepers is a graphic adventure game spanning 21 screens and two mazes. The screens are displayed using a flick-screen technique, while movement within the mazes is achieved through scrolling.

King Isbisima is desperately searching for a birthday present for his daughter, princess Germintrude, and therefore commissions the Magic Knight to procure one. Since the reward is admission to the king's round table at the famous polygon table, the knight agrees and allows himself to be transferred by the king to Spriteland Castle. There, numerous treasures are stored in dark corridors, which the knight can collect, sell to merchants, or give to the princess as a gift — but the ghosts of the royal ancestors also lurk there, ready to attack our knight and drain his energy. However, if the knight, while fleeing these demons, ever realizes that he does not wish to serve such a king, he is free to make his escape with the riches he has collected.

Design[edit | edit source]

At first, in the individual rooms of Spriteland Castle, Finders Keepers seems like a tired imitation of "Miner 2049'er" — with unimaginatively designed, monochrome enemies, awkward controls, and platforms that can only be reached through pixel-perfect maneuvering. Only after playing for a while, exploring the sprawling labyrinths and collecting and combining the numerous objects, does the game's true appeal become apparent.

When he's not using the teleporter, our knight walks, climbs, or jumps...

Graphics[edit | edit source]

The graphics are rendered in monochrome text mode (video RAM at address $0400, character generator from address $2000), with only a 20x20 character section used for the scenes from Spriteland Castle. The knight is represented in each screen with a single, monochrome sprite (sprite 0), but in the castle garden and the dungeon with two sprites (sprite 0 for the head, sprite 1 for the body). Since only sprite 0 takes precedence over the text characters, a three-dimensional effect is created in these labyrinths as the knight's body repeatedly disappears behind walls and hedges. Monochrome sprites are also used for the numerous ghosts in the castle, as well as for the tail of the cat guarding the exit, the red tip of the "EXIT" arrow, the turquoise teleporter, and the steam rising from the wizard's cauldron. All other graphical elements — especially treasures and cobwebs — are represented by text characters. Combined with the jerky scrolling of the labyrinths by 8 pixels at a time, the graphics appear somewhat primitive at times. In contrast, the animation of the little knight is lovingly crafted and well done.

Sound[edit | edit source]

The game is accompanied throughout by a two-part melody, which can thankfully be turned off if it becomes monotonous or intrusive. Short sound effects accompany all important events during the game, such as picking up and dropping objects, contact with enemies, or losing a life.

Hints[edit | edit source]

The goal of the game is either to find a suitable gift for princess Germintrude and return to the king, or alternatively, to collect as much treasure as possible and escape the castle. Both tasks can only be accomplished by the knight collecting the correct items (in the correct order) in the rooms and labyrinths of Spriteland Castle. In the game, these items appear as flashing triangles that can only be identified through closer examination.

Controls[edit | edit source]

The player character can be controlled either with a joystick in port 2 or with the keyboard. The key bindings are freely configurable. The following list shows the default key bindings:

or Z : The knight moves to the left
or Z with , : The knight jumps diagonally to the upper left in a room
or X : The knight moves to the right
or X with , : The knight jumps diagonally to the upper right in a room
or P : The knight moves upwards in the labyrinth
or L : The knight moves downwards in the labyrinth

The following commands must always be executed via the keyboard:

D : DROP, displays all carried objects with the option to select one of them to put down
G : GET, pick up an object located directly next to the knight
E : EXAMINE, examine an object located directly next to the knight
T : TRADE, exchange goods with a nearby merchant
F1 : Pause (resume by pressing F1 again)
F3 : Quit game
F5 : Toggle background music on/off
F7 : Toggle screen border iridescence on/off

When interacting with a merchant, the following key assignments apply:

or P : Move cursor (pointing hand) upwards
or L : Move cursor downwards
or , : Select menu item (goods or action "RETURN")

Screen Layout[edit | edit source]

Enemies[edit | edit source]

Numerous enemies pursue the knight and They drain his energy upon contact:

Movement[edit | edit source]

In addition to walking and jumping, the knight can use the following methods to move around:

Tunnels connect locations within a labyrinth that are separated by walls, fences, or hedges.

Stairs lead from the castle garden down to the dungeon below — but not in the opposite direction.

What would a knight's castle be without teleporters?

Using the appropriate keys, the knight can overcome the following gates that block his way in the dungeon and the castle garden; The yellow gate can also be easily bypassed:

Yellow gate in the dungeon

Red gate in the dungeon

Garden gate in the castle garden

Tips[edit | edit source]

In the individual rooms of the castle, not only does contact with enemies cost energy, but so does entering certain color-coded areas and remaining in the bloodbath.
Although there are no enemies in the labyrinths, the knight can still lose energy if he gets too close to the prisoners in the dungeon or tramples through the flowerbeds of the castle garden.
The merchants are only able to have 5 items in stock at a time. Attempts to sell them more than this number are rejected ("THE TRADER DOES NOT WANT THAT").
Although there is a matching (yellow) key for the two yellow gates in the dungeon, the gates can easily be bypassed, so this key is not strictly necessary.
Objects lying in the exact same spot will overlap and only become visible gradually when picked up. It can therefore be worthwhile to briefly pick up objects that can later be easily put down again as a test.
Some sticky objects can be picked up but not put down again. Unknown objects should therefore be examined first, and only then should you decide whether they are worth collecting.
If you pick up the largely worthless ingredients charcoal, saltpeter, and sulfur at the same time, they combine to form quite valuable gunpowder. But beware: If the knight is also carrying a burning torch, the entire castle will blow up (left animation in the gallery in the section "Step by Step").
The large, hairy dog can only be picked up if the knight is carrying a chicken bone ("A CHICKEN BONE"), and it immediately devours it. Since there can only be one such bone in the entire game — created from the combination of a chicken leg ("A LEG OF CHICKEN") plus a knife and fork ("A KNIFE AND FORK") — the dog can never be picked up again once it has been put down.

Solution[edit | edit source]

Map[edit | edit source]

Rooms "GORDON THE TRADER'S ROOM", "THE INNER CHAMBER", "CASTLE TELEPORT ROOM", "THE ASTROLOGER'S STUDY" and "ROOM WITH A VIEW"
The exit on the right leads to the left entrance of the castle dungeon, the turquoise teleporter takes the knight to "THE NEEDLEWORK ROOM"

Rooms "THE BIG PUSS WITHOUT BOOTS", "THE NEEDLEWORK ROOM", "DR WOMBAT'S BEDROOM" and "THE ICE-CREAM FACTORY"
The exit on the right leads to the left entrance of the castle garden, the left exit (still blocked by Puss in Boots) leads to freedom

Rooms "DR WOMBAT'S LABORATORY", "THE BLOOD BATH ROOM" and "ANNA THE TRADER'S ROOM"
The exit on the left leads to the door marked "EXIT" on the right side of the castle garden.

Rooms "THE BEER CELLAR", "THE COLDEST ROOM IN THE CASTLE", and "THE KING'S FUN ROOM"
The exit on the left leads to the door marked "EXIT" in the middle of the castle garden.

Rooms "THE TREASURY", "THE KING'S ART ROOM", and "CRAZY WIZARD'S STORE ROOM"
The exit on the left leads to the door marked "EXIT" in the lower left of the castle garden.

Rooms "THE TRANS-MAT ROOM", "ANNA QUAY'S BEDROOM", and "GORT THE TRADER"
The exit on the right leads to the door marked "EXIT" in the castle dungeon.

Step by Step[edit | edit source]

... to become a member of the King's Round Table.

Drop all your carried items. Then, on the bottom screen level, go all the way to the right and retrieve the garden gate key ("THE GARDEN GATE KEY", by the upper yellow gate, accessible via the brown tunnel in the upper left of the labyrinth) from the castle dungeon.
Return to the "CASTLE TELEPORT ROOM" and use the small, turquoise teleporter (accessible via the adjacent room "THE ASTROLOGER'S STUDY") to travel to the "THE NEEDLEWORK ROOM." There, collect the crystal ball ("A CRYSTAL BALL", on the lower of the two purple platforms).
Go all the way to the right and collect the lead bar ("A BAR OF LEAD", in the upper right area next to a flowerbed), the philosopher's stone ("THE PHILOSOPHER'S STONE", halfway up on the right), and the magic wand ("A MAGIC WAND", in the lower left half) in the castle garden. The lead ingot and the philosopher's stone merge to form a gold ingot ("A GOLD BAR").
Go through the door marked "EXIT" in the lower left of the castle garden into the room "THE TREASURY" and collect the magic potion ("THE MAGIC MIXING POTION" on the green platform, accessible via the "CRAZY WIZARD'S STORE ROOM").
In the "CRAZY WIZARD'S STORE ROOM", place the crystal ball, the wand, the gold ingot, and the magic potion one after the other next to the steaming pot. The items disappear into the vessel, from which a golden ball rises and begins to bounce on the head of the magic knight (left animation in the following gallery).
In the adjacent room, "THE KING'S ART ROOM", collect the birthday card ("A BIRTHDAY CARD", on the right, on a green platform), then return to the castle garden.
Go through the trapdoor in the upper right corner of the garden into the dungeon and through the brown tunnel to the dungeon exit. On the lowest level, go all the way to the left and from there, on the next level up, enter the "CASTLE TELEPORT ROOM."
Place the magic knight in the center of the orange teleporter. The knight will then return to the king, be praised for the gift he brought, and be welcomed into the Round Table at the famous polygonal table ("POLYGON TABLE") (middle animation).

Using the correct ingredients, a magical golden ball will appear in the wizard's cauldron.

The magical golden ball and the birthday card grant access to the king's Round Table.

If the Magic Knight carries both gunpowder and a burning torch, the castle will explode.

... to escape with as much riches as possible:

Sell all your belongings to Gordon the Trader (leftmost room) and use the proceeds to buy the red dungeon key from him. Then, on the lowest level, go all the way to the right and obtain the garden gate key from the castle dungeon (accessible via the brown tunnel in the upper left of the labyrinth).
From now on, collect as many items as possible and, unless otherwise stated below, sell them to the nearest merchant to free up your hands. It is particularly worthwhile to descend the stairs on the left in the castle garden into the lower right part of the dungeon and collect the pile of mud ("A PILE OF MUD", lower right behind a red door) and the spark of life ("A SPARK OF LIFE", upper right also behind a red door), which together form a valuable mud monster. The only exit marked "EXIT"
To leave the castle, return to the "CASTLE TELEPORT ROOM" and use the small, turquoise teleporter to travel to "THE NEEDLEWORK ROOM" (accessible through the adjacent room, "THE ASTROLOGER'S STUDY"). Then go all the way to the right into the castle garden and pick up the chicken leg ("A LEG OF CHICKEN", located at the bottom right of a straight passage).
Go through the trapdoor in the upper right corner of the garden to enter the dungeon and proceed through the brown tunnel to the dungeon exit. On the lowest level, go left and pick up the knife and fork ("A KNIFE AND FORK") in "THE ASTROLOGER'S STUDY." These can be combined with the chicken leg to create a chicken bone ("A CHICKEN BONE").
Continue to the left and in the "GORDON THE TRADER'S ROOM" room, pick up the large hairy dog ("A LARGE HAIRY DOG" on the upper green platform, accessible via the adjacent room "THE INNER CHAMBER"), which will immediately devour the chicken bone.
Go to the "CASTLE TELEPORT ROOM" and use the small, turquoise teleporter (accessible via the adjacent room "THE ASTROLOGER'S STUDY") to reach the "THE NEEDLEWORK ROOM." From there, go all the way to the left into the "THE BIG PUSS WITHOUT BOOTS" room.
Place the large hairy dog right next to the Puss in Boots blocking the exit. The Puss in Boots will then disappear, and the way to freedom will be clear.

At Gort the Trader, the knight can sell the mud monster and obtain the teleporter key...

...which he can then use to return to the "CASTLE TELEPORT ROOM".

A large, hairy dog can be used to drive away Puss in Boots, who is blocking the exit.

Internal Data Structures[edit | edit source]

Knowledge of memory allocation and internal workings is helpful for developing custom trainer functions and for analyzing or manipulating the data used by the game. The following table therefore compiles a range of information about "Finders Keepers".

Adresse	Inhalt	Bemerkungen
$CF04	Number of lives	Value range 0...4
$CF69	Current room	Number of the room currently displayed on the screen; For the range of values, see the "Initial Location/Owner" column in the table of items below.
$CF70 — $CF71	X and Y coordinates of the knight in the labyrinth	Count $00, $80, $01, $81, ...
$CF75 — $CF79	Items carried	Encoding: see the table of items below. List is padded with null bytes
$CFAE	Energy supply	Value range 0...63
$CF9F — $CFA1	Knight's cash balance	6-digit packed BCD number, most significant digit first (decimal places at $CFA1)
$CFA2 — $CFA4	Value of carried items	6-digit packed BCD number, most significant digit first (decimal places at $CFA4)

The current location of all items is stored in a table at address $6B69-$6C22, where three bytes are reserved for each item (room number and X and Y coordinates within that room). Items currently carried by the knight, items in the possession of merchants, or items that will only be created by combining several individual ingredients have the room number $7F.

Id	Item	Address	Initial Location/Owner	Value	Disposable?
1	A TUBE OF GLUE	$6B69-$6B6B	THE ASTROLOGER'S STUDY ($03)	2.99	No
2	THE TRANS-MAT KEY	$6B6C-$6B6E	GORT THE TRADER	22.00	No
3	A STICKY BUN	$6B6F-$6B71	ANNA THE TRADER'S ROOM ($0C)	1.30	No
4	A MOUSE	$6B72-$6B74	THE COLDEST ROOM IN THE CASTLE ($0B)	5.99	Yes
5	A LUMP OF CHEESE	$6B75-$6B77	MAGIC KNIGHT	0.50	Yes
6	SALTPETRE	$6B78-$6B7A	THE BIG PUSS WITHOUT BOOTS ($15)	1.65	Yes
7	CHARCOL	$6B7B-$6B7D	GORT THE TRADER	2.67	Yes
8	THE MAGIC MIXING POTION	$6B7E-$6B80	THE TREASURY ($0A)	500.00	Yes
9	A PILE OF MUD	$6B81-$6B83	THE CASTLE DUNGEON ($18)	0.10	Yes
10	A SPARK OF LIFE	$6B84-$6B86	THE CASTLE DUNGEON ($18)	5.00	Yes
11	A BLACKSMITH	$6B87-$6B89	ROOM WITH A VIEW ($04)	10.00	Yes
12	A BROKEN SWORD	$6B8A-$6B8C	THE CASTLE DUNGEON ($18)	7.95	Yes
13	AN EMPTY BOTTLE	$6B8D-$6B8F	THE BLOOD BATH ROOM ($0F)	20.00	Yes
14	A MODEL CUTTY SARK	$6B90-$6B92	THE KING'S FUN ROOM ($10)	45.98	Yes
15	A BAR OF LEAD	$6B93-$6B95	THE CASTLE GARDEN ($19)	99.97	Yes
16	PHILOSOPHER'S STONE	$6B96-$6B98	THE CASTLE GARDEN ($19)	17.10	Yes
17	A CRYSTAL BALL	$6B99-$6B9B	THE NEEDLEWORK ROOM ($06)	500.00	Yes
18	A BURNING TORCH	$6B9C-$6BAE	THE CASTLE DUNGEON ($18)	1.99	Yes
19	AN UNLIT CANDLE	$6B9F-$6BA1	THE COLDEST ROOM IN THE CASTLE ($0B)	6.99	Yes
20	A WHITE GOLD RING	$6BA2-$6BA4	THE TREASURY ($0A)	50.01	Yes
21	AN OLYMPIC MEDAL	$6BA5-$6BA7	MAGIC KNIGHT	101.02	Yes
22	A CHUNK OF CATMEAT	$6BA8-$6BAA	MAGIC KNIGHT	2.65	Yes
23	DIAMOND DUST	$6BAB-$6BAD	THE CASTLE TELEPORT ROOM ($01)	177.65	Yes
24	A Z80 CHIP	$6BAE-$6BB0	THE NEEDLEWORK ROOM ($06)	0.01	Yes
25	A ROCK PYTHON	$6BB1-$6BB3	DR WOMBAT'S LABORATORY ($0E)	2.22	Yes
26	A SERVANT'S TRAY	$6BB4-$6BB6	THE BIG PUSS WITHOUT BOOTS ($15)	1.69	Yes
27	A TIN OF SOUP	$6BB7-$6BB9	THE BEER CELLAR ($0D)	15.60	Yes
28	A CLOWN'S NOSE	$6BBA-$6BBC	THE BIG PUSS WITHOUT BOOTS ($15)	7.01	Yes
29	GORDON'S FOOT	$6BBD-$6BBF	GORDON THE TRADER	72.00	Yes
30	A GOLDEN HARE	$6BC0-$6BC2	DR WOMBAT'S BEDROOM ($07)	150.01	Yes
31	A PEWTER TANKARD	$6BC3-$6BC5	DR WOMBAT'S BEDROOM ($07)	1.67	Yes
32	A DRAGON'S EGG	$6BC6-$6BC8	THE ICE-CREAM FACTORY ($11)	37.62	Yes
33	A MOON BEAM	$6BC9-$6BCB	THE ICE-CREAM FACTORY ($11)	21.11	Yes
34	A SILVER GOBLET	$6BCC-$6BCE	THE INNER CHAMBER ($02)	52.44	Yes
35	AN IRON MACE	$6BCF-$6BD1	GORDON THE TRADER'S ROOM ($05)	10.69	Yes
36	A LARGE HAIRY DOG	$6BD2-$6BD4	GORDON THE TRADER'S ROOM ($05)	18.05	Yes
37	A BIRD OF PARADISE	$6BD5-$6BD7	GORT THE TRADER'S ROOM ($12)	52.01	Yes
38	A BOWL OF MILK	$6BD8-$6BDA	THE KING'S ART ROOM ($08)	7.16	Yes
39	A SMALL COCONUT	$6BDB-$6BDD	ANNA QUAY'S BEDROOM ($13)	0.75	Yes
40	A MOON ROCK	$6BDE-$6BE0	CRAZY WIZARD'S STORE ROOM ($09)	1.11	Yes
41	A TOP HAT	$6BE1-$6BE3	CRAZY WIZARD'S STORE ROOM ($09)	7.91	Yes
42	A SILK CLOAK	$6BE4-$6BD6	THE TRANS-MAT ROOM ($14)	2.49	Yes
43	A LEATHER SADDLE	$6BE7-$6BE9	THE TRANS-MAT ROOM ($14)	18.00	Yes
44	A BIRTHDAY CARD	$6BEA-$6BEC	THE KING'S ART ROOM ($08)	500.00	Yes
45	A KNIFE AND FORK	$6BED-$6BEF	THE ASTROLOGER'S STUDY ($03)	7.20	Yes
46	A GLASS SHOE	$6BF0-$6BF2	DR WOMBAT'S LABORATORY ($0E)	12.06	Yes
47	A SILVER SUNDIAL	$6BF3-$6BF5	THE CASTLE GARDEN ($19)	7.01	Yes
48	A JESTER'S HAT	$6BF6-$6BF8	THE KING'S FUN ROOM ($10)	2.49	Yes
49	A VERY FAT MOUSE	$6BF9-$6BFB	Combination	0.10	Yes
50	GUNPOWDER	$6BFC-$6BFE	Combination	201.00	Yes
51	THE MUD MONSTER	$6BFF-$6C01	Combination	1000.00	Yes
52	EXCALIBUR	$6C02-$6C04	Combination	10.00	Yes
53	A GOLD BAR	$6C05-$6C07	Combination	500.00	Yes
54	A SHIP IN A BOTTLE	$6C08-$6C0A	Combination	10.99	Yes
55	A MAGIC WAND	$6C0B-$6C0D	THE CASTLE GARDEN ($19)	500.00	Yes
56	A LEG OF CHICKEN	$6C0E-$6C10	THE CASTLE GARDEN ($19)	22.76	Yes
57	THE MAGIC GOLDEN BALL	$6C11-$6C13	Combination	2000.00	No
58	SULPHUR	$6C14-$6C16	ANNA THE TRADER	7.65	Yes
59	A CHICKEN BONE	$6C17-$6C19	Combination	12.05	Yes
60	THE GARDEN GATE KEY	$6C1A-$6C1C	THE CASTLE DUNGEON ($18)	70.00	Yes
61	THE RED DUNGEON KEY	$6C1D-$6C1F	GORDON THE TRADER	70.00	Yes
62	THE YELLOW DUNGEON KEY	$6C20-$6C22	THE CASTLE GARDEN ($19)	70.00	Yes

Some groups of items, when carried together, merge into a single new object. Usually, this new object is either more valuable or more useful to the game than its components. The following table lists all such combinations.

Ingredients						Result
Id 1	Item 1	Id 2	Item 2	Id 3	Item 3	Id	Item
4	A MOUSE	5	A LUMP OF CHEESE	-	-	49	A VERY FAT MOUSE
9	A PILE OF MUD	10	A SPARK OF LIFE	-	-	51	THE MUD MONSTER
11	A BLACKSMITH	12	A BROKEN SWORD	-	-	52	EXCALIBUR
13	AN EMPTY BOTTLE	14	A MODEL CUTTY SARK	-	-	54	A SHIP IN A BOTTLE
45	A KNIFE AND FORK	56	A LEG OF CHICKEN	-	-	59	A CHICKEN BONE
15	A BAR OF LEAD	16	PHILOSOPHER'S STONE	-	-	53	A GOLD BAR
6	SALTPETRE	7	CHARCOL	58	SULPHUR	50	GUNPOWDER

Cheats[edit | edit source]

The CSDb contains a number of cracks with a trainer function. The version "Finders Keepers +41D" by Hackersoft offers the most extensive customization options (last image in the gallery below). To thoroughly learn the game, a trainer with unlimited lives and energy is perfectly sufficient, for example, the version "Finders Keepers +2DP" by Willcox (first image in the gallery).

Votes[edit | edit source]

Voting of the C64-Wiki users (10=the best vote):
7.20 points at 5 votes (rank 399). You need to be logged in to cast a vote.
Zzap64!	90% (Presentation 86%, Graphics 87%, Sound 95%, Hookability 91%, Lastability 93%, Value for Money 98%)	Issue 5 (September 1985)
Commodore User	Presentation 4/5, Skill level 3/5, Interest 3/5, Value for money 5/5 8/10 (Graphics 8/10, Sound 1/10, Toughness 8/10, Endurance 8/10, Value 10/10)	Issue 25 (October 1985) Issue 38 (November 1986)
Commodore Horizons	Graphics 6/10, Sonics 6/10, Gameplay 6/10	Issue 21 (September 1985)
Computer & Video Games	Graphics 9/10, Sound 9/10, Value 10/10, Playability 10/10	Issue 42 (April 1985)
Crash	85% (Use of computer 90%, Graphics 82%, Playability 80%, Getting started 79%, Addictive qualities 79%, Value for money 99%)	Issue 13 (February 1985)
Home Computing Weekly	Instructions 100%, Playability 100%, Graphics 90%, Value for money 100%	Issue 99 (February 12-18, 1985)
Sinclair Programs	60%	Issue 30 (April 1985)
Lemon 64	7,32	January 12, 2026 - 57 votes
Universal Videogame List	4.8/5	March 1, 2023
Kultboy.com	8,33	January 12, 2026 - 3 votes
C64 Games	6	January 12, 2026 - "gut" - 20053 downs

Critics[edit | edit source]

Stephan64: "Finders Keepers had long been a largely overlooked game in my C64 program collection, as the initial impression it leaves after a brief trial is quite off-putting. Only the fact that it's the predecessor to the highly regarded Spellbound gave it a second chance — and rightly so, because behind the block graphics and a difficult-to-control character lies a rather amusing concept and plenty of tricky puzzles. Therefore, I give it 6 out of 10 points."

Miscellaneous[edit | edit source]

Cover[edit | edit source]

Inlay[edit | edit source]

Cassette[edit | edit source]

Fastloader[edit | edit source]

The cassette version of Finders Keepers uses an integrated software fast loader, which is automatically activated during loading and speeds up the loading process by approximately a factor of 3.5.

The fast loader is identical to the loader of Spellbound. It is capable of sequentially loading any number of program segments to any location in memory. Each such program segment is preceded by a 4-5 byte data structure containing the start and end addresses of the subsequent data block. Thanks to optimized encoding (shorter intervals for 0 and 1 bits, no parity bit and byte, no duplicate storage of program data), loading Finders Keepers takes only about five and a half minutes, whereas the KERNAL's datasette routines would take more than a quarter of an hour for a file of this size.

During loading, an initialization routine (at address $C000-$C0FF) is read first, followed by the loading screen, a multicolor bitmap graphic that is initially cached in the address range $6000-$87FF and then copied (bitmap to $E000-$FF3F, Video RAM to $CC00-$CFE7, Color RAM naturally to $D800-$DBE7). This is followed by the actual program (46 kBytes at $0800-$BFFF).

Curiously, the loading process is controlled by a small BASIC program (see the right-hand image in the gallery below). This program precedes the binary data, is loaded into the memory area $0801-$081D in a first step, and is started by calling the RUN command at ROM address $A871. Since the fast loader loads this BASIC program absolutely at address $0801, but the RUN command expects a program relative to the start of the BASIC memory, loading Finders Keepers fails if the beginning of the BASIC memory is moved before the LOAD command is entered (for example, with the command sequence POKE 4096,0:POKE 43,1:POKE 44,16:NEW), as shown in the left image of the gallery.

The binary data on tape is divided into subsections of 256 bytes each. Between these, 1-3 short blocks are inserted, which the fast loader uses to partially overwrite itself (self-modifying code). In this way, the load routine can, for example, copy and activate the loading screen. This division of the tape data into a total of 620 individual sections, each with a preceding header, increases the amount of data by more than 20%, so that loading takes about a minute longer than necessary.

If the start of the BASIC memory is moved before the input of "LOAD", the cassette fast loader will fail.

Theme[edit | edit source]

The following image shows the first page of the backing music in standard musical notation. It is particularly rhythmically very unusual, so it was certainly a good idea to include a mute option in the game. For creative reuse of the melody, the complete sheet music is also available as a PDF document (File:FindersKeepers Theme PDF.pdf) and in ABC musical notation (File:FindersKeepers Theme.abc.txt).

Highscore[edit | edit source]

The following table invites you to immortalize yourself with your personal high score — whether as a Knight of the Round Table (who dutifully procured a birthday present for the princess), a free knight (who made off with a mountain of treasure), or an unlucky knight (who lost his life in the service of the king at Spriteland Castle). To ensure a fair ranking for the shared high score list, the following rules apply:

Each user can enter themselves in the table a maximum of once each as a Knight of the round table, a free knight, and an unlucky knight. However, only the best individual result is included in the overall ranking.
Ranking is determined by the sum of the player's cash and the value of any items they carry.
A knight of the round table may add £2,000.00 to their score as compensation for the worthless bouncing ball, for which they had to use four ingredients, each worth £500.
Unlucky knights (who did not manage to leave the maze) are placed in the overall ranking behind all knights of the round table and all free knights, regardless of their possessions.

Stephan64 - knight of the round table - 2570,00 - (09.03.2023)
Nobody- knight of the round table - 2000,00 (tt.mm.jjjj)
Empty - free knight - 0,00 - (tt.mm.jjjj)
Vacant - knight of the round table - 2000,00 - (tt.mm.jjjj)
No one- unlucky knight - 0,00 - (tt.mm.jjjj)

Result	1st Place	2nd Place	3rd Place	further
Knights of the Round Table:	Stephan64 – 2570,00 (09.03.2023)	Nobody – 2000,00 (tt.mm.jjjj)	Empty – 2000,00 (tt.mm.jjjj)	Vacant – 2000,00 (tt.mm.jjjj)	No one – 2000,00 (tt.mm.jjjj)
Free Knights:	Stephan64 – 786,19 (09.03.2023)	Nobody – 0,00 (tt.mm.jjjj)	Empty – 0,00 (tt.mm.jjjj)	Vacant – 0,00 (tt.mm.jjjj)	No one – 0,00 (tt.mm.jjjj)
Unlucky Knights:	Stephan64 – 1696,08 (09.03.2023)	Niemand – 0,00 (tt.mm.jjjj)	Empty – 0,00 (tt.mm.jjjj)	Vacant – 0,00 (tt.mm.jjjj)	No one – 0,00 (tt.mm.jjjj)

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Magazine

Test Report No. 2963 on Kultboy.com
ZZap64 test report
Commodore User test report (p. 29)
Commodore User test report (pp. 66)
Computer & Video Games test report (p. 85)
Crash test report (p. 125)
Home Computing Weekly test report (p. 14)
Personal Computer Games test report (p. 15)
Sinclair Programs test report (p. 19)
Your Computer test report (p. 39)
Your Spectrum test report (p. 56)
Commodore Horizons test report (p. 14)
Happy Computer test report (pp. 160)
Microhobby test report (pp. 14)