In the spring of 1981, a young Bill Gates pulled an all-nighter to whip up a throwaway game—and ended up sealing a deal that would change computing forever. Dubbed rudimentary and even infamous, this little title wasn’t meant to win awards. Yet it helped Microsoft land its first big contract and pocket a cool million dollars, laying the groundwork for the software giant’s future.
A Commercial Masterstroke in One Night
Just four years after launching Microsoft, Gates faced a make-or-break moment: IBM wanted an operating system—and a few simple games to sweeten the deal. With no time to lose, Gates and engineer Neil Konzen knocked out “Donkey” in under 24 hours. The premise was laughably simple—steer your car to dodge donkeys on the road—but it checked the box for IBM’s PC spec: include a few playful demos that showcased Microsoft’s BASIC language to beginners and sealed the partnership.
A Clumsy Game with a Strategic Purpose
On its own, Donkey looked like a relic from an earlier era: pixelated, monochrome graphics and a single, repetitive objective. But its real value lay in marketing. By bundling it with IBM’s PC, Microsoft promoted BASIC, the built-in programming language that newcomers could tweak and learn from in real time. Rather than a blockbuster title, Donkey functioned as a hands-on tutorial, nudging users to explore code as they played.
An Embarrassing Legacy—and a Historical Footnote
Even longtime tech veterans cringe at the memory. Apple engineer Andy Hertzfeld once quipped that Donkey was “one of the most embarrassing games ever released.” There was no depth, no sequel, and no lasting gameplay innovations—just a quirky footnote in early PC history. Yet because it fulfilled IBM’s requirements, Donkey earned a curious sort of fame, often cited in retrospectives on the rise of personal computing.
Millions Earned, Confidence Secured
Despite its shortcomings, Donkey delivered far more than laughs. The IBM deal—kickstarted by that overnight coding session—generated roughly $1 million in licensing fees, an astronomical sum for Microsoft at the time. That windfall didn’t just pad Gates’s bank account; it validated Microsoft’s approach to software licensing and cemented its reputation as a reliable IBM partner, setting the stage for MS-DOS and Windows to dominate the decades that followed.
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