Finally, after so much rain, the sun is shining again. Today, more than ever, I feel like it’s the height of summer, and it makes me want to look back on a wonderful game that accompanied our youth and made us dream of California.

That game is California Games for the Commodore 64! It was incredible riding the waves and surfing, all brought to life with colorful, fluid graphics, or enjoying classic Californian activities like BMX, skateboarding, and the half-pipe.

One of the coolest features was choosing a sponsor before jumping into all these events. Like many games of that era, it was easy—almost immediate—to pick up and play using the joystick, yet at the same time challenging to truly master and improve your scores.

That perfect balance between being easy to learn and difficult to master made every challenge with friends incredibly exciting. Of course, there were tricks to boost your scores—but we’ll talk about those another time.

For now, let’s enjoy this sunny day and dream of a summer that feels closer than ever… with California Games!