Five

1997 · strategy · Android · iOS · MS-DOS · Chuck Smith

What the Shell is a direct descendant of this DOS game, which began in 1996 as Five or Ten. Even back in the 1990s, gameplay was simultaneous between both players. The board is 9x9 (a funny coincidence of the numpad 3x3 layout), five in a row has always been a way to win, and you play real people anywhere in the world instead of huddling around a keyboard due to hardware limitations of the late 90s. Two rules changed between this and What the Shell's release in 2014. The computer opponent here is still in service: What the Shell's "Robot" difficulty is a faithful port of the AI in FIVE.BAS, included in this upload. I invite you to compare this with its current version on iPhone, iPad and Android! https://whattheshell.games This DOS game was abandoned in 1997. The design was not. Thousands of games have been played in 2026 alone, and the first open tournament in July 2026 drew in 39 players from around the world. ABOUT THE 1997 GAME This is v1.10, released August 2, 1997: the last DOS version. Two players place on the same grid at the same time, sharing one keyboard, and five in a row wins. There is also a computer opponent. It began as Five or Ten in 1996. Version 1.0, in February 1997, dropped the capture-ten-pieces win condition and left five in a row alone, which is still the rule. HISTORY.TXT, shipped in the original package, lists every change. Five.txt is the original manual, and it opens with why the game was written. The 1996 original, Five or Ten, is here: https://archive.org/details/five-or-ten-1996 THE SOURCE CODE IS INCLUDED FIVE.BAS is the only surviving source for any of these games, and it is v1.00 (February 1997), not the v1.10 binary that boots here. FIVE100.EXE is v1.00's executable, included so the source has its matching build. The gap is small and documented in HISTORY.TXT: v1.01 added more seconds-per-move choices, v1.10 added Laptop Mode. RIGHTS Charles "Chuck" Smith is the author and rights holder. The author uploaded this himself. ABOUT THIS UPLOAD This is the original shareware, minimally redacted. 2026.TXT lists every file I touched; every other file keeps its original 1997 date. This copy ships unregistered, so you get the real shareware notice when you quit. REGISTER.BAT will register it, so you can also see how the paid version looked.