How to Play Boulder Dash
Four ways to play Boulder Dash in 2024 - C64 emulation, browser-based play, the Steam release, and the Construction Kit for building your own caves.
VICE (Versatile Commodore Emulator) is the gold-standard C64 emulator and the recommended way to play the original Commodore 64 version of Boulder Dash. VICE emulates the C64 hardware accurately including the SID chip, so Liepa's music plays as it did in 1984.
To play: download VICE from vice-emu.sourceforge.io, then find Boulder Dash disk images on C64 preservation sites such as Lemon64 or CSDb. VICE is free and open-source.
The C64 version (programmed by Peter Liepa) is the definitive version. It has the most faithful cave design, the SID music Liepa composed, and the scrolling physics as he intended them.
The Internet Archive hosts C64 games with a browser-based emulator at archive.org. The emulator uses a JavaScript C64 core and runs in any modern browser without installation.
Browser emulation is convenient but not as accurate as VICE for SID audio. For the authentic music experience, use VICE or the Music page SID player. For playing the game quickly, the Archive.org version is the easiest starting point.
The 30th Anniversary edition on Steam is the only commercially-licensed modern way to play Boulder Dash. It includes faithful recreations of the original caves, new content, and a cave pack designed by Peter Liepa for the mobile version.
Available at store.steampowered.com/app/327340. Also available for iOS and Android. This is the recommended modern release for players who want a polished, supported experience.
Note that the 30th Anniversary adapts the visual presentation for modern screens. For the exact original game as Liepa shipped it in 1984, use VICE with the C64 disk image.
The Boulder Dash Construction Kit (1986) gave players the tools to create their own caves using the same element set as the original game - dirt, boulders, diamonds, amoeba, fireflies, exits, and the full set of objects. The fan community has extended this tradition with the BoulderCaves+ open-source engine.
The active fan community at boulder-dash.nl/forum hosts both the BoulderCaves+ editor and thousands of fan-made cave packs. If you want to build caves rather than play them, this is the active community for that work.
Creating caves with the Construction Kit - the original or the BoulderCaves editor - is the same process Liepa described for his 2015 cave pack: place elements at random, play the result, iterate until something interesting emerges. The system rewards exploration.