Early Mac Adventure Games

Play through the Mac and Apple IIGS versions to experience where the franchise began. Shadowgate: MacVenture Series Key Features. Over 50 game rooms of fantasy adventure. Drag and Drop: Utilize the classic, groundbreaking windows-based, drag and drop object system. Puzzles: Tons of great puzzles. Download and install the best free apps for Adventure Games on Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android from CNET Download.com, your trusted source for the top software picks.

The following list of text-based games is not to be considered an authoritative, comprehensive listing of all such games; rather, it is intended to represent a wide range of game styles and genres presented using the text mode display and their evolution across a long period.

On mainframe computers[edit]

Years listed are those in which early mainframe games and others are believed to have originally appeared. Often these games were continually modified and played as a succession of versions for years after their initial posting. (For purposes of this list, minicomputers are considered mainframes, in contrast to microcomputers, which are not.)

TitleYear CreatedCreatorNotes
BBC1961John BurgesonBaseball simulator
Unnamed American football game[1]1968 or beforeUnknownFor the Dartmouth Time Sharing System. One of 'many games' in library of 500 programs.
The Sumer Game1968Doug DymentAKA Hamurabi
Highnoon1970Christopher Gaylo
Baseball1971Don Daglow
Oregon Trail1971Don Rawitsch
Star Trek (strategy game)1971Mike Mayfield
Hunt the Wumpus1972Gregory Yob
Star Trek (script game)1972Don Daglow
TREK731973William K. Char, Perry Lee, and Dan Gee
Cornell U. Hockey1973Charles Buttrey
Wander1974Peter Langston
dnd1975Gary Whisenhunt and Ray Wood
Dungeon1975Don Daglow
Colossal Cave Adventure1976Will CrowtherThe original adventure game
Dukedom1976Vince Talbot
Empire1977Walter Bright
Mystery Mansion1977Bill Wolpert
Zork1977Tim Anderson,

Marc Blank, Bruce Daniels and Dave Lebling

Acheton1978Jon Thackray, David Seal and Jonathan PartingtonAdventure game originally hosted on Cambridge University's Phoenix mainframe
Decwar1978Hysick, Bob and Potter, Jeff
MUD1978Roy Trubshaw and Richard BartleThe first multi-user dungeon. See List of MUDs for later examples.
Battlestar1979David Riggle
Brand X1979Peter Killworth and Jonathan MestelAKA Philosopher's Quest
HAUNT1979John Laird
Martian Adventure1979Brad Templeton and Kieran Carroll
New Adventure1979Mark Niemiec
FisK1980John Sobotik and Richard BeigelText based adventure game
Hezarin1980Steve Tinney, Alex Shipp and Jon Thackray
Kingdom of Hamil1980Jonathan PartingtonAdventure game originally hosted on Cambridge University's Phoenix mainframe
Monsters of Murdac1980Jonathan PartingtonAdventure game originally hosted on Cambridge University's Phoenix mainframe
Quondam1980Rod UnderwoodAdventure game originally hosted on Cambridge University's Phoenix mainframe
Rogue1980Michael Toy, Glenn Wichman, and Ken Arnold
LORD1981Olli J. PaavolaBased on Lord of the Rings
Avon1983Jonathan PartingtonShakespeareanadventure game originally hosted on Cambridge University's Phoenix mainframe
Castle1983Barry Wilks
Dunnet1983Ron Schnell
Fyleet1986Jonathan PartingtonAdventure game originally hosted on Cambridge University's Phoenix mainframe
Crobe1987Jonathan PartingtonAdventure game originally hosted on Cambridge University's Phoenix mainframe
Nidus1987Adam Atkinson
Quest of the Sangraal1987Jonathan PartingtonAdventure game originally hosted on Cambridge University's Phoenix mainframe
Spycatcher1989Jonathan Partington and Jon ThackrayAdventure game originally hosted on Cambridge University's Phoenix mainframe; released commercially by Topologika Software as Spy Snatcher

On personal computers[edit]

Commercial text adventure games[edit]

These are commercial interactive fiction games played offline.

TitleYear CreatedCreatorNotes
Adventureland1978Scott Adams of Adventure Internationalseries
Zork I: The Great Underground Empire1980Tim Anderson, Marc Blank, Bruce Daniels and Dave Leblingseries
C.I.A Adventure1980Hugh Lampert of CLOAD
Softporn Adventure1981On-Line Systems
Madness and the Minotaur1981for Spectral Associates
The Hobbit1982Philip Mitchell and Veronika Megler of Beam Software
Valhalla1983Legend
Time and Magik1983Level 9
Forbidden Quest1983Pryority Software
Valley of the Minotaur1983Nicolas van Dyk of Softalk
The Wizard of Akyrz1983Brian Howarth of Mysterious Adventures and Cliff J. Ogden for Adventure International
The Biz1984Chris Sievey of Virgin GamesMusic band simulator for the ZX Spectrum
High Stakes1984Angelsoft
The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy1984Douglas Adams and Steve Meretzky of Infocom
Mindwheel1984Robert Pinsky for Synapse Software
Zyll1984Marshal W. Linder and Scott B. Edwards for IBM
The Pawn1985Magnetic Scrolls
A Mind Forever Voyaging1985Steve Meretzky of Infocom
Brimstone1985James Paul for Synapse
Essex1985Bill Darrah for Synapse
Hampstead1985Peter Jones and Trevor Lever for Melbourne House
Bored of the Rings1985Delta 4
Mind Wheel1985Brøderbund Software
Heavy on the Magick1986Gargoyle Games
Breakers1986Rodney R. Smith for Synapse
Terrormolinos1986Peter Jones and Trevor Lever for Melbourne House
Amnesia1987Thomas M. DischThe only entirely non-graphical text adventure ever published by Electronic Arts
Braminar1987
Dodgy Geezers1987Peter Jones and Trevor Lever for Melbourne House
Enchanted Castle1987Michael R. Wilk[2]
Gnome Ranger1987Level 9
Jacaranda Jim1987Graham Cluley
Nord and Bert Couldn't Make Head or Tail of It1987Jeff O'Neill for Infocom
Sherlock: The Riddle of the Crown Jewels1987Bob Bates for Infocom
Shadows of Mordor1987Melbourne House
Knight Orc1987Level 9
The Guild of Thieves1987Magnetic Scrolls
Fish!1988Magnetic Scrolls
Ingrid's Back1988Level 9
Corruption1988Magnetic Scrolls
Dr. Dumont's Wild P.A.R.T.I.1988Michael and Muffy Berlyn
Avalon1989Yehuda Simmons[3]A MUD, notable for its pioneering introduction of various innovations such as plotted quests, real estate, banking and distinct skills [4][5]
The Hound of Shadow1989for Eldritch Games
Humbug1990Graham Cluley
Danger! Adventurer at Work!1991Simon Avery
Spy Snatcher1992Jonathan Partington and Jonathan Thackray for Topologika
dead rage2005Tate Productions
World War II: Heroes of Valor2009Samuel Horton
Cypher: Cyberpunk Text Adventure2012Cabrera Brothers [6]
The Yawhg2013Emily Carroll[7]
Shimlar2013SHIMLAR LTD.Text-Based RPG
Criminal Gangsters2014Inspire Gaming[8]
SanctuaryRPG: Black Edition2015Black Shell GamesText-Based RPG[9]
What Would You Do As a Nigerian Tribal Chief2015Nathaniel Ogungbuyi[10]
Commandverse2015Cyborg RealityText-Based God Game[11]
Open Sorcery2017Open Sorcery GamesText-Based RPG[12]
City of Ages2017Darren N. Lory of formsmatter.com[13]written in Visual Basic 6.0 sr 6

On Android phones[edit]

TitleYear CreatedCreatorNotes
Snipes2017Charles Bergren of bdesigncorp.com[14]rewritten in Java

Miscellaneous games[edit]

TitleYear CreatedCreatorNotes
Wizard's Castle1978Joseph R. Power
Aliens1982Yahoo SoftwareSpace Invaders clone for Kaypro.
CatChum1982Yahoo SoftwarePac-Man clone for Kaypro.
Ladder1982Yahoo SoftwareDonkey Kong clone for Kaypro.
Snipes1983SuperSet
Sleuth1983Eric N. Miller
Beast1984Dan Baker, Alan Brown, Mark Hamilton and Derrick Shadel
Kingdom of Kroz1987Scott Miller of Apogee Software
Mtrek1987Chuck Peterson of UCSC
ZZT1991Tim Sweeney of Epic MegaGames
Curses!1993Graham Nelson
MegaZeux1994Alexis Janson of Software VisionsSupports editing the character set to allow for more advanced graphical capabilities than most text mode games.
Jigsaw1995Graham Nelson
Chibot Ultra Battle1999
PAEE1999Enrique D. Bosch
For a Change1999Dan Schmidt
Shade2000Andrew Plotkin
Shrapnel2000Adam Cadre
The Gostak2001Carl Muckenhoupt
Cantr II2001Jos ElkinkText-Based Society Simulator
Deadline Enchanter2007Alan DeNiro
combatgrounds2008war games
sie fate2014fate team
Tau Station2018Makes Dreams HappenNarrative sci-fi MMORPG[15]
Warsim: The Realm of Aslona2019Huw MillwardComplex kingdom management simulator with procedurally generated ascii art systems [16][17]

Online games[edit]

Play-by-email games[edit]

These are play-by-email games played online.

TitleYear CreatedCreator
Lords of the Earth1983
Quantum Space1989
Atlantis PbeM1993
Eressea PbeM1996
WW2 The Big One PbeM2010
Early Mac Adventure Games

BBS door games[edit]

These are BBS door games played online.

TitleYear CreatedCreator
TradeWars 20021987Gary Martin for Martech Software
Legend of the Red Dragon1989Seth Able Robinson

MUDs[edit]

Other[edit]

Early mac adventure games online

Early Mac Adventure Games 2017

  • Multi-Trek (MTrek) (1986) by Chuck L. Peterson
  • Imperium (1989) by Pocketfiction
  • Rise to Glory (1997) by Jason Granum
  • JavaTrek (JTrek) (2003) by Joe Hopkinson and Jay Ashworth
  • 'Thy Dungeonman' (2004) by The Brothers Chaps
  • Text Gangsters (2014) by Pan Gamers
  • 'Crypt Shyfter' (2017) by Kung Fu Space Barbarian
  • 'DNDBBS' (1990) DNDBBS

See also[edit]

Early Mac Adventure Games Free

References[edit]

  1. ^Kemeny, John G.; Kurtz, Thomas E. (11 October 1968). 'Dartmouth Time-Sharing'. Science. 162: 223–228. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016.
  2. ^Michael R. Wilk (1 January 1987). 'Enchanted Castle' – via Internet Archive.
  3. ^Lives, Avalon, The Legend. 'Online RPG Game - Avalon - Text Based Games'. Archived from the original on 2015-12-05.
  4. ^'Richard A. Bartle: Reviews - UK'. Archived from the original on 2015-12-28.
  5. ^'Designing Virtual Worlds'. Archived from the original on 2015-11-18.
  6. ^'Archived copy'. Archived from the original on 2017-10-08. Retrieved 2017-10-07.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  7. ^'The Yawhg'. Archived from the original on 2014-06-01.
  8. ^http://www.criminalgangsters.co.ukArchived 2014-11-29 at the Wayback Machine
  9. ^'Archived copy'. Archived from the original on 2018-05-14. Retrieved 2018-05-14.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  10. ^'Archived copy'. Archived from the original on 2015-07-07. Retrieved 2015-05-17.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  11. ^http://www.cyborgreality.com/[dead link]
  12. ^'Archived copy'. Archived from the original on 2017-05-24. Retrieved 2017-05-06.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  13. ^'Archived copy'. Archived from the original on 2018-03-04. Retrieved 2018-03-03.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  14. ^http://www.bdesigncorp.comArchived 2017-12-01 at the Wayback Machine
  15. ^'Tau Station'. Retrieved 2018-10-16.
  16. ^'Warsim: the realm of Aslona on Steam'. Retrieved 2019-01-16.
  17. ^'Warsim: the realm of Aslona community on Reddit'. Retrieved 2019-01-16.
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