# Olde Schoole Computer Games **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 31, 2000, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olde-schoole-computer-games/31505 "2000-08-31T15:57:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2000, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olde-schoole-computer-games/31505/101 "2000-09-08T03:15:21Z")
Thanks Lynn, but I never MET a salesman as far as I know, and never attained a rank higher than Sandusky Stablehand. (I _did_ once get outside of the building enclosing the cell but I don’t remember much about the terrain outside). ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2000, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olde-schoole-computer-games/31505/102 "2000-09-08T03:16:39Z")
damn page breaks. ---
**Author:** ![SoulFrost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f07891/32.png) [@SoulFrost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SoulFrost)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2000, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olde-schoole-computer-games/31505/103 "2000-09-08T11:58:46Z")
You’re right, Lynn– **Phantasie II** was released in the states (briefly), but it wasn’t released for whatever computer was handiest for me at the time (Commodore? Tandy?). However, **Phantasie III** for the PC (a whopping 175kB) can be found at: [http://www.abandonworld.com/rpg.html](http://www.abandonworld.com/rpg.html) along with **Moebius** (262kB,) **Don’t Go Alone** (300kB,) and a veritable monster of a program called **MegaTraveller II** (1.69MB.) -David _Abandonware–Public Domain or Pirated Goods?_ ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2000, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olde-schoole-computer-games/31505/104 "2000-09-09T16:30:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by AHunter3 \* > **Thanks Lynn, but I never MET a salesman as far as I know, and never attained a rank higher than Sandusky Stablehand. (I _did_ once get outside of the building enclosing the cell but I don’t remember much about the terrain outside).** Umph. You needed to go into black circles. This is probably your problem. I think there was a closet in that building with a circle in it. The circles would warp you into other areas. ---
**Author:** ![August\_West](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/august_west/32/18069_2.png) [@August\_West](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/August_West)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2000, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olde-schoole-computer-games/31505/105 "2000-09-09T19:10:26Z")
I just beat Hitchhiker’s last year. I bought a copy off the net for about $3 and ran it on an old 386 I had lying around for lag time realism. I just checked out the emulator, and now I’m hooked on the text-based games all over again! ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2000, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olde-schoole-computer-games/31505/106 "2000-09-09T23:56:23Z")
Between 1979 and 1983, I _ **WROTE** _ 21 different text-based adventure games for the old TRS-80 model 1. Without the aid of any wimpy “adventure construction set” program, either. These were written in TRS-80 Level II BASIC, with a machine-language parsing routine so the game would execute at a reasonable speed. And they all fit in 16K of memory and didn’t require a floppy disk drive (you could load them in off of cassette tape). Three of these 21 games – _The Vial of Doom_, _Medieval Space Warrior_, and _The Last City_ – were pretty damn good, if I do say so myself. A game publisher actually took an interest in _The Vial of Doom_. The publisher was coming out with a book filled with source code for TRS-80 adventure games. Sadly, my program reached his office 3 days after the publication deadline, so _The Vial of Doom_ didn’t get to appear in the publisher’s adventure game book. 3 days. That’s all it would have taken. 3 fewer days. How different my life would be now, if only I’d been 3 days faster… ---
**Author:** ![Jman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jman/32/4416_2.png) [@Jman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jman)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2000, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olde-schoole-computer-games/31505/107 "2000-09-10T01:58:40Z")
Mine were: Oregon Trail Loderunner Montezuma’s Revenge and #1: **Karateka!!!** Jman ---
**Author:** ![Kasugai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/df788c/32.png) [@Kasugai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kasugai)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2000, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olde-schoole-computer-games/31505/108 "2000-09-11T00:42:53Z")
> [@](#): > > **Apple Adventure** …XYZZY ! Nothing happens… 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![SoulFrost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f07891/32.png) [@SoulFrost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SoulFrost)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2000, 8:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olde-schoole-computer-games/31505/109 "2000-09-11T08:49:11Z")
[hollow voice] Man! I hate it when that happens. [/hollow voice] -David ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2000, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olde-schoole-computer-games/31505/110 "2000-09-11T21:06:02Z")
What many of you youngsters are calling “Apple Adventure” was actually written on the PDP-series of Digital Equipment Corporation minicomputers **way** back in 1972. It is most properly referred to as Willy Crowther and Don Woods’ original _Adventure_, or simply as _ADVENT_ (the PDP operating systems only allowed 6-character executable filenames). “Apple Adventure” was merely a port of the Crowther and Woods _Adventure_ to the Apple ][. There was a similar port to the TRS-80, to various CP/M based systems, and to the IBM PC when the PC finally came out. Now _Loderunner_, **there** was a classic that really **did** come out on the Apple ][ first! ---
**Author:** ![SoulFrost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f07891/32.png) [@SoulFrost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SoulFrost)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2000, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olde-schoole-computer-games/31505/111 "2000-09-12T00:24:29Z")
> [@](#): > > Apple Adventure…XYZZY ! I sometimes still play a PC port of the original, Advent. I think it’s a port of the original, anyway…is the original the four-hundred-and-something-point version? Got it here on CD somewhere–now I’m gonna have to find it. Sleepless nights, here I come! -David ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2000, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olde-schoole-computer-games/31505/112 "2000-09-12T06:28:12Z")
SoulFrost wrote: > [@](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > Apple Adventure…XYZZY ! I sometimes still play a PC port of the original, Advent. > > I think it’s a port of the original, anyway…is the original the four-hundred-and-something-point version? Nope. Every “true” port of the original PDP-series version is a 350 point game. _ **SPOILER FOR ORIGINAL ADVENTURE BELOW** _ … The final (lousy) point comes from picking up the issue of _Spelunker Today_ magazine and depositing it in Witt’s End. Some ports give you a hint: saying “READ MAGAZINE” will tell you, “It’s addressed to Witt’s End!”. However, the original only responds with, “I’m afraid the magazine is written in Dwarvish.” ---
**Author:** ![SoulFrost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f07891/32.png) [@SoulFrost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SoulFrost)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2000, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olde-schoole-computer-games/31505/113 "2000-09-13T01:28:54Z")
> [@](#): > > saying “READ MAGAZINE” will tell you, “It’s addressed to Witt’s End!”. Dang! That means that my copy’s a later port… It was the Pirate, I tell you! -David [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olde-schoole-computer-games/31505.md?page=5)