Beagle Bag
The best bag of beagles you can buy.

One of the greatest software publishers in Apple II history was Beagle Bros. Using the simplest BASIC they could hack the Apple like nobody's business, changing command words and breaking hardwired rules like it was child's play. Best of all, they did all this while maintaining a crazy sense of humor. This scanned article will tell you more about Beagle Bros. if you're curious, but the main focus of this page is my favorite of their releases: the BEAGLE BAG. It was a compilation of fun and pointless programs the BB staffers had cooked up. Beagle Bag was the only good thing about my seventh grade classroom, and I got much enjoyment out of my own copy at home.

Unlike most Apple II dumpware, where you have no choice but to wander around aimlessly, someone actually typed out the instruction manual for Beagle Bag. Though it's not necessary for most of the wares, you're going to need to read it if you plan on figuring out the "Magic Pack" program.

Any one of these simple programs has the ability to amuse for hours. In "Sub Search" you are a very square watercraft leaving a slowly evaporating trail on the screen, trying slowly to seek out four enemy subs before you run out of air. "Pick-A-Pair" is a familiar memory-based game that eats up time like candy. "Oink" is a two-player game where you must score points by rolling dice, but doubles will negate everything earned in one turn. "Date Search" is only good for calculating the number of days you've been alive, unless you can think of anything else important you'd like to know.

My personal favorite out of the programs listed on the title screen is "Name Game." This screenshot is all it does, but no one can resist typing in name after name. Two kids in seventh grade spent over an hour with this one program alone. "Buzz Word" is a close second; it's basically a Mad Libs variation where the computer will fill in words in a story using whatever starts with the letters you enter.

Some of the best activities aren't listed on the title screen, but hidden until you "CATALOG" the disk. You aren't leaving this page until you try Baby Names, Cross Word, or Naked City (the latter is purposely broken).

CLICK HERE TO PLAY IN THE BEAGLE BAG
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