# Anyone remeber "Choose Your Own Adeventure" books? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 22, 2002, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-remeber-choose-your-own-adeventure-books/125144 "2002-08-22T22:36:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2002, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-remeber-choose-your-own-adeventure-books/125144/1 "2002-08-22T22:36:26Z")
We had a ton, got up to the low 100’s last I knew. ANy new ones in recent years? Last published c. 1990. ---
**Author:** ![im2evil4u](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b5ac83/32.png) [@im2evil4u](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/im2evil4u)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2002, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-remeber-choose-your-own-adeventure-books/125144/2 "2002-08-22T22:59:00Z")
Sure, they are around and they are still very popular. In fact they have branched off and now include “Choose Your Own Star Wars Adventure” or “Terror on the Titanic”. I work for a public library and we carry all of them. The last publishing date I see in our catalog is 1999. ---
**Author:** ![Fern\_Forest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/71c47a/32.png) [@Fern\_Forest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fern_Forest)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2002, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-remeber-choose-your-own-adeventure-books/125144/3 "2002-08-22T22:59:59Z")
I hunted down a website which listed each and every one of them a few months ago. I think they’ve stopped but trickled into the mid 90s. You can see it at a [netaxs.com](http://netaxs.com) site through a google search but you’ll have to use the cached site since the original is gone. I used to love those even though they offended my rational persona with mystic gobbeldygook. Although my favorite was this one bout this guy who is awakens to find himself lost on this island. It’s actually pretty complex and difficult. And when you finally “Escape” from the island you get into the sea which was the sequel. The thrid book took place on a large continent on the other side of the planet. The 4th I never had but supposedly took place in space. ---
**Author:** ![Fern\_Forest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/71c47a/32.png) [@Fern\_Forest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fern_Forest)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2002, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-remeber-choose-your-own-adeventure-books/125144/4 "2002-08-22T23:03:28Z")
Ah, I found my favorite in that netaxs site cached in google. “Tenopia Island” then “Trapped in the Sea Kingdom” followed by “Terror on Kabran” and the one I never got “Star System Tenopia.” As God is my witness, I shall read these books again! ---
**Author:** ![Fern\_Forest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/71c47a/32.png) [@Fern\_Forest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fern_Forest)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2002, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-remeber-choose-your-own-adeventure-books/125144/5 "2002-08-22T23:08:56Z")
Damn, I thought that would be hard but no, there they were, all 4 lined up and ready for purchase, sigh. ---
**Author:** ![Geek\_Mecha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecae2f/32.png) [@Geek\_Mecha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geek_Mecha)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2002, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-remeber-choose-your-own-adeventure-books/125144/6 "2002-08-22T23:53:08Z")
Oh wow. Sure, I remember those. Whenever we had reading periods I’d grab those. Our school had maybe 15 of them so I went through them quickly. ---
**Author:** ![Daoloth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/82dd89/32.png) [@Daoloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daoloth)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2002, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-remeber-choose-your-own-adeventure-books/125144/7 "2002-08-23T00:00:12Z")
Those books got me interested in reading. I remember fondly a space patrol one, which presumably laid the foundations for my fondness of SF (am now reading “The Forever War,” for example), and I also remember with a nostalgia my first one: something about a safari gone wrong. Then there was another, about a shipwreck…so great those were. They were the only redeeming factor of my elementary school’s otherwise abyssmal library. So, in a way I’m in debt to the inspirational series. I started my penchant for reading with them in elementary, and now in high school am enrolled in a college level English course. So, uh, thanks CYOA! Heh. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2002, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-remeber-choose-your-own-adeventure-books/125144/8 "2002-08-23T10:05:49Z")
I just found a “Choose Your Own Sex Adventure” site. Heh! ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2002, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-remeber-choose-your-own-adeventure-books/125144/9 "2002-08-23T11:12:20Z")
I remeber when those first came out. I had the “Voyage to the bottom of the Sea” “The Haunted House” and “Third Planet from Altair” among others. I remember they were the first books that I’d read that involved death so frequently and directly. Loved them for a while, but lost interest fairly quickly. “Lost in the undersea caves, your air finally begins to run out. As your vision starts to fade, your last thought is that no one will ever find your body. The End.” ---
**Author:** ![Edward\_The\_Head](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ce73a5/32.png) [@Edward\_The\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edward_The_Head)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2002, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-remeber-choose-your-own-adeventure-books/125144/10 "2002-08-23T11:18:31Z")
Hey I started reading these things when I was in first grade or so. I remember when they were first out and I would buy them. Did anyone else ever work backwards from an ending so that you knew you had read them all? I found one book, though I can’t remember which one, that had a fake ending in it that you could not get to. Boy those were a lot of fun. ---
**Author:** ![divemaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/divemaster/32/78_2.png) [@divemaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/divemaster)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2002, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-remeber-choose-your-own-adeventure-books/125144/11 "2002-08-23T11:37:54Z")
I, too, remember when they first came out. I had the first six. Didn’t they package those as a box set? Let’s see if I can remember this…there was the Altair one, one set in the old West, the Chimney Rock/haunted house, one like a James Bond adventure (or was it a detective story?), sea voyage, and, and, well, that’s all I remember. Yeah, I was compulsive enough to not move on to the next book until I had read through every possible permutation. After reaching an ending, I would back up a step and take another branch. Lots of backing up and branch tracking. ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2002, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-remeber-choose-your-own-adeventure-books/125144/12 "2002-08-23T11:57:35Z")
I didn’t like those books. I’d read for a few pages and then suddenly everything would change. It’s like they printed it all out of order. (Snicker… ooh, I slay me!) No, really… when I was young… uh, -er… I would read those books, and when it’d say “Flip to page such-and-such”, I’d always end up turning to the wrong page (I was an idiot then), and I’d end up sorely confused. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2002, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-remeber-choose-your-own-adeventure-books/125144/13 "2002-08-23T12:01:41Z")
I liked sabotage escape and its sequel one called the race forever and a few others They tried a set that was aimed at the younger kids that came with red covers and a "super adventure “” which was just a bigger book Note some of sci-fis good writers wrote some of them and in fact one (i cant remember his name at them moment) who wrote a lot of them also wrote for the original star trek series But they ran out of ideas in the early-mid 90s and the later ones had a huge rolleyes factor I remember the 50 imitators they had also Including star trek ones a few Indiana Jones ones ect ---
**Author:** ![Fern\_Forest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/71c47a/32.png) [@Fern\_Forest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fern_Forest)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2002, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-remeber-choose-your-own-adeventure-books/125144/14 "2002-08-23T12:47:31Z")
Anybody remember Piers Anthony’s huge epic “Bio of a Space Tyrant”? It had a Choose your own adventure book made of it that also involved rolling dice and whatnot. I still have that somewhere. WAY to complicated for me to ever get more then 3 pages into it. You had to keep track of all these fleets and their battle strengths and stuff. But boy did it look like fun. Even when I was playing and was suffocating under its complexity all I could think of was how fun it would be once I figured it out. For weeks on end I would start move a few pages in and then give up. Thank god for the simple gameboy game “Final Fantasy” which continually saved me. I still have the book and still think it would be cool and lots of fun, if only I can get it right. ---
**Author:** ![kingpengvin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9dc877/32.png) [@kingpengvin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kingpengvin)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2002, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-remeber-choose-your-own-adeventure-books/125144/15 "2002-08-23T12:54:08Z")
Man I loved those stories. I even tried to write one as a kid but found I branched too much. By the time I was half way done I realized I had forty different stories going and if I kept it up I would have too many so I gave up. All I have left is a Star Trek II one that was pretty lame as no one died. Not even Spock. Are the books available anywhere any more? ---
**Author:** ![frobozz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ed8c4c/32.png) [@frobozz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/frobozz)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2002, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-remeber-choose-your-own-adeventure-books/125144/16 "2002-08-23T13:01:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Edward The Head \* > \*\*I found one book, though I can’t remember which one, that had a fake ending in it that you could not get to. \*\* I remember that. You were trying to get to Atlantis or Utopia or something like that, and none of the endings made it there. But right there, in the middle of the book, was a 2-page illustration of it, with accompanying happy ending. ---
**Author:** ![Kn\_ckers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/96bed5/32.png) [@Kn\_ckers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kn_ckers)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2002, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-remeber-choose-your-own-adeventure-books/125144/17 "2002-08-23T13:18:41Z")
I read a bunch of those as a young 'un. I specifically remember stories about ghost hunting, volcanoes and something that involved being chased down by helicopters. I don’t think I EVER chose the right adventure. I always ended up dying. Great idea though. I’ve often thought I’d like to write one, but I just don’t have the organizational ability. ---
**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2002, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-remeber-choose-your-own-adeventure-books/125144/18 "2002-08-23T13:58:10Z")
My favorite was the Throne of Zeus one. When I was older I read a few targeted at girls, they were a little romantic and set entirely in the fantasy realm (so your character was always a fighter, a sorcerer or something like that). Does anyone remember those?? ---
**Author:** ![Mooch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mooch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mooch)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2002, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-remeber-choose-your-own-adeventure-books/125144/19 "2002-08-23T13:59:05Z")
I think I remember my favorite one involved some mysterious green slime. Then I remember making a bunch of it in my bathroom sink with water and corn starch and green food coloring. “Mom, what do you mean ‘_what am I doing_’?” ---
**Author:** ![Twin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/85f322/32.png) [@Twin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Twin)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2002, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-remeber-choose-your-own-adeventure-books/125144/20 "2002-08-23T14:36:42Z")
Those books rocked! I still have the first one, The Cave of Time. I was also a big fun of the Lone Wolf and Grey Star series of books. You could choose which type of spells to learn and weapon proficiencies, had to keep track of hit points and gold pieces, and battle creatures using this table in the back of the book where you were instructed to “close your eyes and place your pencil randomly on the table” to figure out if you won or lost. It was much fun. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-remeber-choose-your-own-adeventure-books/125144.md?page=2)