Who stayed up all night playing text-based computer games like Zork?
Posted by waderockett@reddit | GenX | View on Reddit | 80 comments
Posted by waderockett@reddit | GenX | View on Reddit | 80 comments
Koolmidx@reddit
Text based games were "before my time." NES @ 86, Atari before it. A few years later a 386 then 486 with windows. I had no digital mentor and everything had graphics of some sort. It wasn't until I got into EverQuest that I learned of games like Zork or Ultima.
waderockett@reddit (OP)
I asked my parents for the NES when it came out but they said no, we JUST bought a Colecovision. As a result I missed out on the golden age of classic console games!
CoverCommercial3576@reddit
Zork was great but i spent more time playing Pirates tgan anything.
waderockett@reddit (OP)
Yesss. Plundering cities was so satisfying.
Hatdude1973@reddit
Ultima games. I didn’t get into text adventures that much.
waderockett@reddit (OP)
Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar absolutely blew my mind.
briank2112@reddit
Last text based game I played was a Hobbit game, on my c64... All I did was get lost, lol
livens@reddit
Kids today have NO FREAKIN IDEA of how hard computer games were back then.
livens@reddit
My older brother had a huge library of games that he "downloaded" off of bbs in the early 80's. Mostly DOS and Atari games. I remember alot of the games being text adventures and graphic text adventures. A couple that I remember playing were The Dallas Quest and Gruds in Space. I was only 9 and I still remember feeling like I was talking to the computer by typing in the commands.
I still play some of them too. I'm slowly working my way through Space Quest IV atm.
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scoop20906@reddit
Maximum Verbosity!!!
charliefoxtrot9@reddit
Certified MUD addict, as well
Seven_bushes@reddit
I played a few and admined a few more. As a reader from way back, text based suited me fine. I could visualize it.
Cold-Inside-6828@reddit
Yoooooooo! I still MUD every day.
StandByTheJAMs@reddit
Pirate's Cove on the VIC-20!
adaminoregon@reddit
I see you and raise you The Count on vic 20
StandByTheJAMs@reddit
Oh man I had that too and forgot about it, because I actually tried to get through Pirate's Cove and found The Count too hard. 😄
adaminoregon@reddit
I never got very far.
jackspasm@reddit
DnD
I learned I could print maps of each level of the castles with banner software on my dot matrix. It was my first hack. I can fix a lot of pc issues now from learning on the 286 AT clone i learned on.
seasarahsss@reddit
Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and a pirate one I don’t remember the name of. I was so excited when they eventually made games with pictures.
adaminoregon@reddit
If i remember right hitchhiker could really read long complex sentences. I remember some long thing you had to put in for the babble fish and it was like a paragraph.
MajYoshi@reddit
Pirate Adventure by Scott Adams?
seasarahsss@reddit
Ooo, maybe!!
ShinyWolverine@reddit
I played a sort of hybrid text based game that had some graphics called Amazon. I think it was a Michael Crichton story. Don’t think I ever won, though.
StanLeesPenis@reddit
LotRD
UncaToad@reddit
Wizardry!!!
FBS351@reddit
Yes! I remember agonizing over whether to go with that or Ultima as my Christmas request. I had nothing to go on but the half page ads in my dad's computer magazine. I don't know what decided it for me. But it got a lot of play, even though I don't think I ever completed it.
p001b0y@reddit
Wizardry for me.
Vindicus667@reddit
Trebor Sux
p001b0y@reddit
Ever teleport into a wall or die of old age?
lasiv@reddit
I had the book. Purchased from those school programs. I really miss those days
MuddyPig168@reddit
Man, I tried telling my 14-yr old about Zork. He thought we were deprived.
Gavin_Tremlor@reddit
I found an emulator and I played some last night. lol
RedPhule@reddit
You can buy Zork Anthology on Steam for 5.99 (Zork, Zork II, Zork III, Beyond Zork, Zork Zero, and Planetfall.)
Alternative_Algae_31@reddit
To this day, if I enter a dark room I think “You are likely to be eaten by a grue.”
This song made my day.
RedPhule@reddit
Your lantern appears to be a little bit dimmer.
weba1chemy@reddit
Colossal Caves
xyzzy
xt0rt@reddit
MC Frontalot!
_Aardvark@reddit
I remember sitting bored in 4th grade art class pondering the Round Room riddle in Zork 2.... and then the answer it hit me! I could NOT wait to get some try it! And, well, I was right!
I played a lot of the Inforcom games, A Mind Forever Voyaging was my favorite.
XerTrekker@reddit
No but I stayed up all night on MUDs, IRC and Usenet in college.
MajYoshi@reddit
I had a TI/99-4a and loved playing Scott Adams games like Adventure and Pirate's Adventure.
Also playing Zork 1-3 too.
Mmmmm.. tape drive.
Traditional-Win-5440@reddit
Not so much Zork. But definitely MUDs like Nirvana.
Responsible-Low-4613@reddit
I loved Zork
Narezza@reddit
I started with MUDs. Played so many hours of TDome in college
xczechr@reddit
Afterhours and 3 Kingdoms MUDs for me.
JoeyHandsomeJoe@reddit
My faves were Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Planetfall.
SurftoSierras@reddit
Getting the Babelfish was such an accomplishment (and I remember t-shirts people had celebrating that achievement).
HippCelt@reddit
What this week ? yeah I did well lurking horror on my pc . This guide was pretty easy https://youtu.be/wv-NSk6wFlM
Still can't my head round how those super not cheap games are now basically free. Loved Stuff from infocom,Magnetic scrolls , Level 9 inparticular and really enjoy playing them again...
Big shout out to the 'Eaten by a grue podcast' which got me back into text adventures during the covid times.
hkusp45css@reddit
My biggest problem with TBRPGs was that while I can visualize many systems abstractly in my mind's eye, I'm fucking AWFUL at spatial abstraction. I can't "imagine" what the path behind me looks like, or where I've been in relation to where I am without an actual map.
So, they never turned me on.
zatsnotmyname@reddit
Hello sailor
mitkase@reddit
Floyd here now!
JinnyWinny@reddit
I played Wishbringer and Ballyhoo. Good times!
Nigelboneshirt@reddit
Good call on Ballyhoo. That was a good one. Trinity, too.
Severe-Reality5546@reddit
I played Colossal Cave Adventure for the Apple ][. In spite of so many hours spent playing, I never won. I couldn't find the pirate's treasure (I think that's what it was) in the maze of twisty passages.
HoraceBenbow@reddit
Take a trip down memory lane...
Zork!
HoraceBenbow@reddit
You have been eaten by a grue.
Starcat75@reddit
I posted my Wishbringer I still have from the game! Also liked Planetfall!
vintagea108@reddit
Found so many Eva Brauns diaries with Castle Wolfenstien
DrSamLoomis@reddit
Infocom!!!
MovingTarget-@reddit
Move rug
And just like that, the adventure starts!
FremenStilgar@reddit
I didn't play Zork, but I played some browser-based text games. Nexus War, Urban Dead, etc.
Freightshaker000@reddit
Open mailbox
ouroburritos@reddit
Move west, open the door.
AbsoluteApril@reddit
I was likely to be eaten by a grue
Freightshaker000@reddit
Light lantern
iamnotaclown@reddit
You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike.
MaximumJones@reddit
I remember dying over and over to The Hogbear
FallenValkyrja@reddit
Loved Zork and love MC Frontalot.
the_nope_gun@reddit
I’m 1985 but I played Legends of Terris on AOL, then outside of AOL once that went away
Fart_Bargo@reddit
I did this once with the Hitchhiker's Guide game at a friend's house. The sun was coming up when we realized we had softlocked the game and couldn't finish it. No regrets. It seemed on brand.
ZJtheOZ@reddit
Four of us huddled around the monitor all weekend.
It took us WAY too long to think of MOVE RUG.
RetiredPoPo10-8@reddit
Zork was the shit
edgarecayce@reddit
Hello Sailor!
steelthumbs1@reddit
I couldn’t as it my friend who had the computer but we spent countless hours playing zork I and II. Plus other games. Then I got an intellevision console so we moved over to my house.
attaboy_stampy@reddit
Yeah, the whole Infocom catalog at some damn point. Planetfall was probably my favorite - it wasn't that hard, but it was a lot of fun. Hollywood Hijinx was the other one I loved a lot.
iwastherefordisco@reddit
My only game experience back then was Leisure Suit Larry and that was at work.
Didn't get my first home PC until 2002 and first game was Age Of Empires I think.
Tried an Oregon Trail simulator last year and died badly on every try. Haven't seen many text based games.
thedudeintx82@reddit
I was an avid LORD player on BBSs back in the day.
ragingclaw@reddit
I too found myself in a field next to a house!
Watch_Noob_72@reddit
Y
Electrical_Lake3424@reddit
Me. I think Beyond Zork was my favorite. A friend and I were both playing through it at the same time and would trade tips, "Dude, what do I do about the Christmas Tree monsters!?" "Use the caterpillar!" "What!? who would of thought of that... thanks!"