Culture & Community

POKE Culture

Cheating by numbers

The 1980s culture of sharing memory addresses and POKE commands through magazines, enabling players to modify games for infinite lives and other cheats.

sinclair-zx-spectrumcommodore-64amstrad-cpc cheatsmagazinescommunityhacking 1982–present

Overview

POKE culture was the practice of sharing memory modification commands through magazines and user groups, enabling players to cheat at games. Originating on the ZX Spectrum (where POKE was the BASIC command to write to memory), it became a defining feature of 1980s gaming culture. Magazines dedicated entire pages to POKEs, and discovering new ones was a community activity.

Fast Facts

  • Origin: Early 1980s
  • Platform: Primarily Spectrum/C64
  • Method: POKE address, value
  • Distribution: Magazines, user groups
  • Tools: Multiface, Action Replay
  • Legacy: Modern cheat codes

The POKE Command

POKE 35678, 0    ; Set memory location 35678 to 0

Before running a game, players could type POKE commands to modify memory locations, changing lives counters, enabling invincibility, or skipping levels.

How POKEs Were Found

MethodWho
Multiface/Action ReplayPlayers with hardware
DisassemblyTechnical users
Trial and errorPersistent experimenters
Scene sharingCracking groups

Magazine Pages

Typical POKE page format:

GAME: Manic Miner
INFINITE LIVES: POKE 35136, 0
INFINITE TIME: POKE 35899, 0
WALK THROUGH WALLS: POKE 35214, 201

The Discovery Process

  1. Load game with Multiface present
  2. Note current lives value
  3. Search memory for that value
  4. Lose life, search for new value
  5. Narrow down to correct address
  6. Test by POKEing maximum value
  7. Submit to magazine

Major Publications

MagazinePlatform
CRASHSpectrum
Your SinclairSpectrum
ZZAP!64Commodore 64
Amstrad ActionCPC

Social Aspects

POKE culture created:

  • Community - Shared discoveries
  • Status - Being published
  • Learning - Understanding memory
  • Accessibility - Difficult games beatable

Transition to Trainers

On disk-based systems:

  • POKEs evolved into trainers
  • Built into cracked games
  • Menu selection of cheats
  • No typing required

Legacy

POKE culture normalised game modification and created the cheat code culture that persists today. It taught a generation about memory, addresses, and how software works—technical education disguised as cheating.

See Also