Sinclair QL Games — Software for the Multitasking Machine
The Sinclair QL (Quantum Leap), released in 1984, was designed as a professional computer rather than a games machine — its QDOS multitasking operating system and Motorola 68008 processor targeted small businesses and serious users. Consequently, the QL’s software library leaned heavily toward productivity applications — word processors, spreadsheets, databases, and programming tools — rather than games. Nevertheless, a games library developed for the platform, reflecting the enthusiast community that formed around the QL’s genuine technical sophistication.
QL software is among the rarer collectibles in Sinclair collecting. The relatively small installed base and the platform’s professional orientation meant that games were produced in smaller quantities than for the Spectrum, and surviving complete examples in good condition are genuinely difficult to find. The QL’s Finnish connection — it was Linus Torvalds’s first computer — gives this software particular resonance in a Finnish collection.
Tietokonemuseo Ata’s games:
A
Abacus CIB (3)
Archive CIB (3)
B
Bounder CIB (2)
D
Decision Maker CIB
E
Easel CIB (3)
J
Jabber CIB
L
Lost Kingdom of Zkul CIB
Lots of Empty Cartridge CIB
P
Project Planner CIB
Q
Quboids CIB
Quill CIB (3)