Forty Niner

Forty Niner is an action arcade game set during the 1849 American gold rush. Starting at the surface, the player digs tunnels through the earth to collect all the gold nuggets in each level.

Giant rats can burrow into the player's tunnels, while gremlins try to reach the mine entrance and block the exit. Cave-ins can delay the rats, but only snakes released from nests can kill them. The player must also return to the surface to replenish the main mound with the earth produced while digging.

Deeper digging earns more points but makes the journey back to the mound longer. Once all nuggets are collected, a cave opens to the next level, where more rats appear and fewer snakes are available. Developed and published by Software Farm, the game was released in 1982 for the Sinclair ZX-81.