Cart <-> inspiration map
What this is: every KN-86 cartridge, first-party program, and sister product, with the inspiration entries assigned to it.
Source of truth: the kn86-inspo workbench (250 assignments). Generated from it; edit there, not here.
Rule: every premise is Josh’s own words; every assignment is Josh’s own call. Nothing is inferred from a module spec, per the premise audit.
Each destination doc also carries its own Inspirations section, so the link reads from either end. Anything not placed on a product lives in unplaced.md.
A row marked (cross-listed) carries a source that was already placed elsewhere and serves this destination too. The original placement stands; the cross-list adds a second reader. Eight were added on 2026-07-29 after reading the intrusion workflow (CONDUIT, bzbx, RIPSAW, DOSSIER, ICE Breaker) as one chain rather than five destinations, which surfaced sources whose mechanism spans more than the one program they sat under.
KN-86 cartridges
Section titled “KN-86 cartridges”FINANCIAL + INFORMATION affinities. Audit, reconstruction, forensic trace, shell mapping, money laundering. Hot-swap partner with ICE BREAKER (DIGITAL -> FINANCIAL is sanctioned). you have a limited number of turns/time to identify contacts/transactions/fraud based on mission parameters. forensic accounting
| Source | Category |
|---|---|
| Roro | terminal library |
| Bureaucracy (1987, Infocom / Z-machine) | text adventure |
| Corruption (1988, Magnetic Scrolls / Rainbird) | text adventure |
decryption
| Source | Category |
|---|---|
| logradar | dashboard |
| loglens-core | terminal library |
| asciinator | visual effect |
| chafa — image → terminal graphics (image-engine library shortlist candidate) | visual effect |
| no-more-secrets | visual effect |
pilot a submersible drone. SONAR FIRST. salvage / sabotage / espionage / AetherNet datajacks. turn-based
| Source | Category |
|---|---|
| Depth Charge (1978) | sub hunt |
| Seabattle (1979) | sub hunt |
| cava | visual effect |
a morse code component, plus decrypting transmissions to capture data
| Source | Category |
|---|---|
| BAE | terminal app |
| Border Zone (1987, Infocom / Z-machine) | text adventure |
| cava | visual effect |
DYNAMO
Section titled “DYNAMO”resource management, manufacturing, strategic sim. named DYNAMO 2026-07-29. an enhancer cart that increases whatever ‘output’ capabilities some other carts require. kinda like systems theory game (like Donella Meadows). feels like aspects of the 1970s Project Cybersyn; HomeoStat would be the name of one of the components. what system is managed / what is manufactured not locked; still brainstorming.
| Source | Category |
|---|---|
| Rent-Car | dev tooling |
| The Oakflat Nuclear Power Plant Simulator (1992) | tycoon sim |
| The Pollution Game / “King” (1970, DEC BASIC timesharing / DECUS) | tycoon sim |
| Sid Meier’s Civilization (1991) | war game |
hacking into a system against ICE. Not a roguelike
(2026-07-29) it’s not the extraction of fact but “defeating” all active ICE/defense to allow for connecting to the next part of the chain… (reduce heat/trace). it’s a little like the mechanic in metal gear solid where the enemy is actively vs. passively vs unaware of you. this cart handles that. … extraction probably comes from knKommander or something else. points here are about evading or avoiding detection type things.
| Source | Category |
|---|---|
| DEFLECT skeleton (Atari) | arcade |
| FIREWALL skeleton (Atari) | arcade |
| Geowar (1979) | artillery |
| nibbles (Go) | dos authoring |
| Mission: Mainframe (1987) | hacking sim |
| System 15000 (1984, ZX Spectrum & C64 / Craig Communications) | hacking sim |
| Pursuit AI (Atari, shipped as trace) | maze chase |
| Dunnet (1982; GNU Emacs port 1992) | text adventure |
| astroterm — terminal planetarium (braille star-density rendering) | visual effect |
IF Creation Kit / propaganda
Section titled “IF Creation Kit / propaganda”not playing IF… making it. its the thing we talked about to influence an audience. (name provisional - Josh has not named it yet)
| Source | Category |
|---|---|
| How To Write An Adventure (essay, 1984) | adventure authoring |
| PAW: The Professional Adventure Writer (1986, ZX Spectrum / Gilsoft International) | adventure authoring |
| Wander (1974, mainframe / Peter Langston) | adventure authoring |
| Campaign (1996) | political sim |
| Hidden Agenda (1988, Trans Fiction Systems / Springboard Software) | political sim |
| Bureaucracy (1987, Infocom / Z-machine) | text adventure |
| Local Call for Death (1979, TRS-80 / Adventure International) | text adventure |
| Hammurabi (1978) | tycoon sim |
| Presidential Campaign (1984) | tycoon sim |
| typing-game-cli | typing game |
crossover w/ the GWA. Marty Glitch is a character in the vein of Max Headroom who was a wrestler and ended up as character in this game. Broadcast piracy contracts. Specific capability surface requires manuscript verification.
| Source | Category |
|---|---|
| Cyborg (1981, Apple II / Sentient Software) | chatbot |
| PARRY (1972, DEC PDP-10 / Stanford AI Lab) | chatbot |
| Cowsay in C++ | terminal app |
| The Prisoner (1980, Apple II / Edu-Ware) | text adventure |
| libcaca — Colour ASCII Art Library | visual effect |
NIGHTOWL
Section titled “NIGHTOWL”drone piloting, probably the two trackpoints for navigation. no narrative yet
| Source | Category |
|---|---|
| ICBM (1979) | artillery |
| Lunar / LEM / Rocket (1978) | lander |
| Air Traffic Controller (1984) | sim |
| Rush Hour (1987) | sim |
| Super Star Trek (1978) | space sim |
| Survival (1984) | survival |
| Trek-80 (1977, Sol-20 / Processor Technology) | war game |
| Wasteland Rebels (1994) | war game |
the tutorial game. gets the user ready to use all the capabilities of the deck. a variety of typing and learning exercises and tutorials.
| Source | Category |
|---|---|
| Amazing (1978) | generator |
| Killer Maze (1991) | maze chase |
| maze-tui — maze build/solve visualizer (box-drawing wall-style catalog) | maze chase |
| Typeinc | typing game |
| typing-game-cli | typing game |
Discrete synchronized turns; no time pressure. maybe a little like darwinia or related to conways game of life. NETWORK + PHYSICAL affinities. Territorial control, supply-line mapping, contested-node capture. CLAIM/FORTIFY commitments (DECIDE), SCOUT and reading opponent personality (OBSERVE), capturing contested nodes (OBTAIN).
| Source | Category |
|---|---|
| Battle (1978) | battleship |
| terrain (mewo2) | generator |
| Life (1978) | life sim |
| Life for Two (1978) | life sim |
| ICE CORRIDOR skeleton (Atari) | maze chase |
| Grand Prix (1979) | racing |
| astroterm — terminal planetarium (braille star-density rendering) | visual effect |
| Combat (1978) | war game |
CIPHER voice escapes the CIPHER LINE and engages in contemplative procgen musings about life + the players UDS.
| Source | Category |
|---|---|
| Poetry (1978) | generator |
Convoy navigation, supply-line management, threat-aware routing. a little like the inverse of tower defense.. tower run? Two-phase: Phase A unlimited planning time (waypoints, fuel ratios, threat-zone modeling); Phase B real-time execution (convoy heartbeat, route progress rhythm, threat-proximity wail).
| Source | Category |
|---|---|
| nibbles (Go) | dos authoring |
| Air Traffic Controller (1984) | sim |
| Rush Hour (1987) | sim |
| Convoy (1979) | sub hunt |
| Trucker (1984) | tycoon sim |
| mapscii — Braille/ASCII Terminal Map Renderer | visual effect |
the update cartridge. players connect it to their computer, get updates, then have relay update the system. also provides a little Dead Letter Drop gameplay to deepen some missions.
Nothing assigned yet.
like a Scorched Earth clone
| Source | Category |
|---|---|
| Gunner (1978) | artillery |
| LOB skeleton (Atari) | artillery |
| Battle (1978) | battleship |
| Bombardment (1978) | battleship |
| Lunar / LEM / Rocket (1978) | lander |
| Blackbox (1979) | logic puzzle |
| Orbit (1978) | sub hunt |
| mapscii — Braille/ASCII Terminal Map Renderer | visual effect |
| Nuclear Destruction (1970, Flying Buffalo / play-by-mail) | war game |
like Drug Wars
| Source | Category |
|---|---|
| Drug Wars (1984, IBM PC / MS-DOS, John E. Dell) | trading |
| Drug Wars: A Game Based on the New York Drug Market (1984) | trading |
| Star Merchant (1984) | trading |
| Star Trader (1974, BASIC / People’s Computer Company) | trading |
this might just be a capability of knSALK or ICE BREAKER. its the defensive portion of a hack and really intended for linked p2p play.
| Source | Category |
|---|---|
| FIREWALL skeleton (Atari) | arcade |
| Geowar (1979) | artillery |
| nibbles (Go) | dos authoring |
TRADECON
Section titled “TRADECON”market trading sim. the slot SynthFence vacated when it became Drug Wars. named 2026-07-27. mechanics not yet specified. (Notion GWP-687 is the adjacent candidate: corporate-corruption market sim, Entrepreneur Jungle-inspired.)
| Source | Category |
|---|---|
| Gloomberb | dashboard |
| mop | terminal library |
| Corruption (1988, Magnetic Scrolls / Rainbird) | text adventure |
| CASINO / the float skeleton (Atari) | trading |
| Entrepreneur Jungle (Antic Super Disk Bonus, March 1988) | trading |
| Stock Market (1978) | trading |
| Stock Shock (1987) | trading |
| Wall Street Raider (1986) | trading |
| Streets of the City (1984) | tycoon sim |
calm, puzzle-like. no mission idea yet
| Source | Category |
|---|---|
| Gomoko (1978) | board game |
| Nim (1978) | board game |
| Codebreaker (1994) | logic puzzle |
| Tower / Hanoi (1978) | logic puzzle |
Intelligence synthesis, operator-dossier research, corporate-profile lookup. the cartridge capability to go w/ DOSSIER. BROWSE -> DISCOVER -> CONNECT -> PROFILE loop. Six knowledge domains gated by a knowledge_index stat in Deck State; other cartridges can read that stat.
Nothing assigned yet.
a MUD. The KN-86 has just dialed into THRESHOLD, a persistent text-based network operated by the Cartographers Guild, a loose academic/anarchist confederation mapping the digital underground, treating the network as a shared commons. Not a rogue AI collective; the Guild maintains the infrastructure carefully, as stewards of a shared resource. also can be played linked in multiplayer.
| Source | Category |
|---|---|
| How To Write An Adventure (essay, 1984) | adventure authoring |
| Tips for Playing Adventure Games (essay, 1984) | adventure authoring |
| Brand X / Philosopher’s Quest (1979 Cambridge Phoenix mainframe; 1982 Acornsoft BBC Micro) | text adventure |
| Zork | text adventure |
| mapscii — Braille/ASCII Terminal Map Renderer | visual effect |
Tunnel Rat
Section titled “Tunnel Rat”roguelike. pilot an RC car/drone through tunnels to find data connections, info, or an ID
| Source | Category |
|---|---|
| terrain (mewo2) | generator |
| Mission: Mainframe (1987) | hacking sim |
| Brogue: Community Edition (BrogueCE) | roguelike |
| Moria (1975, PLATO / University of Illinois) | roguelike |
| Vehicle TUI Concept | terminal app |
| mapscii — Braille/ASCII Terminal Map Renderer | visual effect |
First-party programs
Section titled “First-party programs”program (ADR-0042 #7). Columnar spreadsheet; audit/forensic missions drop transaction data into its views.
| Source | Category |
|---|---|
| VisiCalc (1979) | spreadsheet |
| VisiData | spreadsheet |
| csvlens | spreadsheet |
| l123 | spreadsheet |
| sc-im | spreadsheet |
| sheetsui | spreadsheet |
program (ADR-0042 #5). Multi-protocol network client (SSH/Telnet/FTP/raw TCP); the live intrusion interface.
| Source | Category |
|---|---|
| mcfly | file browser |
| System 15000 (1984, ZX Spectrum & C64 / Craig Communications) | hacking sim (cross-listed) |
program (ADR-0042 #11). Cross-mission intel aggregation that outlives any session or cart.
| Source | Category |
|---|---|
| bookokrat | reader |
| browsh | reader |
| w3m | reader |
| System 15000 (1984, ZX Spectrum & C64 / Craig Communications) | hacking sim (cross-listed) |
| loglens-core | terminal library (cross-listed) |
| logradar | dashboard (cross-listed) |
program (ADR-0042 #2). Universal Deck State, loadout, Lambda slots. The operator character screen.
| Source | Category |
|---|---|
| NetWatch | dashboard |
| World Monitor | dashboard |
| calcure | dashboard |
| caps-log | dashboard |
| chronos | dashboard |
| desktop-tui | dashboard |
| octoscope | dashboard |
| tvterm | dashboard |
program (ADR-0042 #9). Main-grid key operations: generate, revoke, inspect, crack.
Nothing assigned yet.
program (ADR-0042 #6). Two-panel Norton Commander-style filesystem navigator; where exfiltrated data lands.
| Source | Category |
|---|---|
| Midnight Commander (mc) | file browser |
| clipse | file browser |
| mcfly | file browser |
| mynav | file browser |
Mission Board
Section titled “Mission Board”program (ADR-0042 #1). Contract discovery and acceptance; the default landing surface.
Nothing assigned yet.
program (ADR-0042 #3). Always-present read-eval-print loop over the KEC Lisp VM; TERM key from any surface.
| Source | Category |
|---|---|
| Build Your Own Lisp | lisp |
| Fe — Embedded Lisp by rxi | lisp |
| McCarthy — Recursive Functions of Symbolic Expressions (1960) | lisp |
| cl-termbox2 | lisp |
| mal — Make a Lisp | lisp |
program (ADR-0042 #8). Dual-panel tree / LDAP navigator; org charts, offshore topology, directory walking.
| Source | Category |
|---|---|
| Midnight Commander (mc) | file browser (cross-listed) |
program (ADR-0042 #12). Network-diagnostic toolkit: ping/traceroute/nslookup/nc plus a packet/signal capture viewer.
| Source | Category |
|---|---|
| mcfly | file browser |
| NetWatch | dashboard (cross-listed) |
| octoscope | dashboard (cross-listed) |
| loglens-core | terminal library (cross-listed) |
program (ADR-0042 #10). Encrypted operator comms and relay; threaded message/mail client, Mutt-style.
| Source | Category |
|---|---|
| hackernews-TUI | reader |
| newsboat | reader |
program. Background music player (renamed from WavAmpster, ADR-0058).
| Source | Category |
|---|---|
| 4TRK | music app |
| AetherTune | music app |
| PulseDeck | music app |
| asak | music app |
| audium | music app |
| cliamp | music app |
| valveFM | music app |
| waves | music app |
| cmus | terminal app |
program (ADR-0042 #13). The deck defense bundle: firewall, antivirus, internal ICE.
Nothing assigned yet.
program (ADR-0042 #4). Structural editor for authoring Lisp over s-expression trees on-device.
| Source | Category |
|---|---|
| durdraw | art editor |
| BAE | terminal app |
| EXWM — Emacs X Window Manager | terminal library |
| Xiki | terminal library |
| history.el | terminal library |
| webmacs | terminal library |
| writeroom-mode | terminal library |
| Microsoft Edit | text editor |
| maki | text editor |
| micro | text editor |
| nino | text editor |
| orbiton | text editor |
Sister products
Section titled “Sister products”KN-90S Statline
Section titled “KN-90S Statline”sister product. sports / stats terminal.
| Source | Category |
|---|---|
| Bowling Champ (1984) | arcade |
| Golazo | dashboard |
| nba-go | dashboard |
| Armchair Quarterback (1985) | sports sim |
| Baseball (1971, PDP-10 mainframe / Pomona College) | sports sim |
| Football Fanatic (1996) | sports sim |
| NFL Challenge (Xor Corporation, 1985) | sports sim |
| NFL Pro League Football (Micro Sports, 1991) | sports sim |
| Strat-O-Matic College Football (Digital) | sports sim |
| Wrestling League Simulator (1995) | sports sim |
KN-90T Toneline
Section titled “KN-90T Toneline”sister product. synth / sequencer (SID-class chip, filter + per-voice ADSR).
| Source | Category |
|---|---|
| mt32-pi | hardware |
| line | music app |
| rs-pug | music app |
| strudel | music app |
| upiano | music app |
| x0xb0x Synth Kit | music app |