This is something we rarely see nowadays, with the noble exception of vinyl disks, for those who still like to hear a cracked sound from time to time. But in the old days, when cassettes were used, they were recorded on both sides. And if the first cassette I had for the ZX Spectrum +2 had Jumping Jack on side A, side B had another game, Chuckie Egg. Here, a farmer tries to get eggs from ostriches, climbing and descending stairs, jumping around different platforms, and trying to get past the ferocious ostriches, which would make you lose a life.
The game was more complicated than Jumping Jack, so it took longer to load, and it seems, if I recall correctly, that there were some bugs, probably specific to my copy, that crashed the game often.
Sure, there were no 3D graphics, no orchestral soundtracks, no AI-driven enemies adapting to how you played. Just a handful of colors, a few sound effects, and some simple rules. But that was enough. These games were genuinely entertaining, not despite their simplicity, but almost because of it. There was nothing to distract you from the core of the game itself. Just you and your dexterity. And honestly, going back to them now, I find they still hold up. There’s a certain charm in that simplicity that a lot of modern games, with all their polish, seem to have lost.
Fortunately, we can still play these games, and you can try Chuckie Egg yourself.