Bristles

Bristles is an action-platform game released in 1982. The objective is to paint every room in each building before time runs out, while preserving your paint brushes, which serve as lives.

Up to four players can choose from eight male or female player sprites. The game features six skill levels with eight buildings per level. Completing buildings reveals parts of a special message, with one message associated with each skill level.

Hazards and challenges

• Use elevators and basement ladders to move between floors, taking care not to fall down an elevator shaft.
• Jump or duck to avoid horizontally moving Flying Half-Pints.
• Dumb Buckets follow set movement patterns, while the Bucket Chucker tracks the player and can be temporarily trapped with a paint mixer or in the basement.
• Brenda can mark freshly painted walls with hand prints, requiring repainting; a candy cane can stop her for fifteen seconds.
• From the fifth building onward, steam pipes must be jumped.
• In buildings six through eight, brushes run dry after eight, seven, or six rooms and can be refilled at large paint brushes.

Bristles was developed by Adam Bellin, Fernando Herrera, and Richard Huddy, and published by First Star Software, Statesoft, and State Soft Ltd. It appeared on Arcade, Atari 8-bit, Atari 800, Commodore 64, Commodore C64/128/MAX, and Sinclair ZX Spectrum.