I tried to rediscover this fun with modern languages in the last year and figured out how to do it: Don't use most of your language's features. Write a length

I tried to rediscover this fun with modern languages in the last year and figured out how to do it: Don't use most of your language's features. Write a lengthy main loop. Use a lot of statically-sized arrays. Use plain old data instead of classes. Use primitive types and some indirection instead of a high-powered metaprogramming solution. If you need the fancy stuff, it's all there (unless you're working with Go) -- but YAGNI really does apply.