Robotfindskitten

robotfindskitten is a so-called "Zen simulation," which was first written by Leonard Richardson for DOS. The game is a free computer game that utilizes ASCII artwork for its interface and objects. Inside this the user (playing the eponymous robot and represented by the number sign "#") must find a character called kitten (represented by a random character) who is placed on a varied field of other random characters.

The robot is able to identify them as either kitten, or a variety of odd, random, or whimsical items known as Non-Kitten Items (NKIs) by walking up to them. There is no way to lose the game, except for when using a patch that adds a 1 in 10 probability of the NKI killing robot.

The original version was the only entrant in a 1997 contest by the now-defunct webzine Nerth Pork in which users would create a game based on Jacob Bernedes' "robotfindskitten" concept. The only submissions he ever got before were submissions where the kitten was slain by malevolent robots. Once the author rewrote the program for GNU/Linux in 1999 it acquired greater popularity and now has its own mailing list and a website: 'robotfindskitten.org'.

The game has since them been ported to and implemented on over thirty platforms, such as POSIX, the Sega Dreamcast, Z-machine, Palm OS, TI 99/4A, Game Boy Advance, C64, Apple II, Atari 2600, Atari 7800, Amiga, Spectrum, PSP, Rockbox, Nintendo DS, Mac Classic, Maemo, Android, Scratch, Atmel AVRand and many others.

Graphical versions, including a OpenGL version featuring the "#" emblazoned on a otherwise featureless cube, exist as well. Remakes of it are not uncommonly used as programming tutorials, such as for Gambas. Some have postulated that it is inspired by Robots or Epic Megames' ZZT.