List of text-based computer games
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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.
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (September 2014) |
On mainframe computers
Summarize
Perspective
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.)
| Title | Year Created | Creator | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| BBC | 1961 | John Burgeson | Baseball simulator |
| The Sumerian Game | 1964 | Mabel Addis, William McKay | The first edutainment game. |
| Unnamed American football game[1] | 1968 or before | Unknown | For the Dartmouth Time-Sharing System. One of "many games" in library of 500 programs. |
| The Sumer Game | 1968 | Doug Dyment | AKA Hamurabi |
| Highnoon | 1970 | Christopher Gaylo | |
| Baseball | 1971 | Don Daglow | |
| Oregon Trail | 1971 | Don Rawitsch | |
| Star Trek (strategy game) | 1971 | Mike Mayfield | |
| Star Trek (script game) | 1972 | Don Daglow | |
| Hunt the Wumpus | 1973 | Gregory Yob | |
| TREK73 | 1973 | William K. Char, Perry Lee, and Dan Gee | |
| Cornell U. Hockey | 1973 | Charles Buttrey | |
| Wander | 1974 | Peter Langston | |
| dnd | 1975 | Gary Whisenhunt and Ray Wood | |
| Dungeon | 1975 | Don Daglow | |
| Colossal Cave Adventure | 1976 | Will Crowther | The original adventure game |
| Dukedom | 1976 | Vince Talbot | |
| Empire | 1977 | Walter Bright | |
| Mystery Mansion | 1977 | Bill Wolpert | |
| Zork | 1977 | Tim Anderson, Marc Blank, Bruce Daniels and Dave Lebling | |
| Acheton | 1978 | Jon Thackray, David Seal and Jonathan Partington | Adventure game originally hosted on Cambridge University's Phoenix mainframe |
| Decwar | 1978 | Hysick, Bob and Potter, Jeff | |
| MUD | 1978 | Roy Trubshaw and Richard Bartle | The first multi-user dungeon. See List of MUDs for later examples. |
| Battlestar | 1979 | David Riggle | |
| Brand X | 1979 | Peter Killworth and Jonathan Mestel | AKA Philosopher's Quest |
| HAUNT | 1979 | John Laird | |
| Martian Adventure | 1979 | Brad Templeton and Kieran Carroll | |
| New Adventure | 1979 | Mark Niemiec | |
| FisK | 1980 | John Sobotik and Richard Beigel | Text based adventure game |
| Hezarin | 1980 | Steve Tinney, Alex Shipp and Jon Thackray | |
| Kingdom of Hamil | 1980 | Jonathan Partington | Adventure game originally hosted on Cambridge University's Phoenix mainframe |
| Monsters of Murdac | 1980 | Jonathan Partington | Adventure game originally hosted on Cambridge University's Phoenix mainframe |
| Quondam | 1980 | Rod Underwood | Adventure game originally hosted on Cambridge University's Phoenix mainframe |
| Rogue | 1980 | Michael Toy, Glenn Wichman, and Ken Arnold | |
| LORD | 1981 | Olli J. Paavola | Based on The Lord of the Rings |
| Star Trader | 1982 | Bretten Au, Kevin Ryan, Kent Beck, Ron Lumsden, and James Walters | A space game originally hosted on University of Oregon's mainframe computer |
| Avon | 1983 | Jonathan Partington | Shakespearean adventure game originally hosted on Cambridge University's Phoenix mainframe |
| Castle | 1983 | Barry Wilks | |
| Dunnet | 1983 | Ron Schnell | |
| Fyleet | 1986 | Jonathan Partington | Adventure game originally hosted on Cambridge University's Phoenix mainframe |
| Crobe | 1987 | Jonathan Partington | Adventure game originally hosted on Cambridge University's Phoenix mainframe |
| Nidus | 1987 | Adam Atkinson | |
| Quest of the Sangraal | 1987 | Jonathan Partington | Adventure game originally hosted on Cambridge University's Phoenix mainframe |
| Spycatcher | 1989 | Jonathan Partington and Jon Thackray | Adventure game originally hosted on Cambridge University's Phoenix mainframe; released commercially by Topologika Software as Spy Snatcher |
On personal computers
Summarize
Perspective
Commercial text adventure games
These are commercial interactive fiction games played offline.
| Title | Year Created | Creator | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adventureland | 1978 | Scott Adams of Adventure International | series |
| Zork I: The Great Underground Empire | 1980 | Tim Anderson, Marc Blank, Bruce Daniels and Dave Lebling | series |
| C.I.A Adventure | 1980 | Hugh Lampert of CLOAD | |
| Softporn Adventure | 1981 | On-Line Systems | |
| Madness and the Minotaur | 1981 | for Spectral Associates | |
| The Hobbit | 1982 | Philip Mitchell and Veronika Megler of Beam Software | |
| Valhalla | 1983 | Legend | |
| Time and Magik | 1983 | Level 9 | |
| Forbidden Quest | 1983 | Pryority Software | |
| Valley of the Minotaur | 1983 | Nicolas van Dyk of Softalk | |
| The Wizard of Akyrz | 1983 | Brian Howarth of Mysterious Adventures and Cliff J. Ogden for Adventure International | |
| The Biz | 1984 | Chris Sievey of Virgin Games | Music band simulator for the ZX Spectrum |
| High Stakes | 1984 | Angelsoft | |
| The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy | 1984 | Douglas Adams and Steve Meretzky of Infocom | |
| Mindwheel | 1984 | Robert Pinsky for Synapse Software | |
| Zyll | 1984 | Marshal W. Linder and Scott B. Edwards for IBM | |
| The Pawn | 1985 | Magnetic Scrolls | |
| A Mind Forever Voyaging | 1985 | Steve Meretzky of Infocom | |
| Brimstone | 1985 | James Paul for Synapse | |
| Essex | 1985 | Bill Darrah for Synapse | |
| Hampstead | 1985 | Peter Jones and Trevor Lever for Melbourne House | |
| Bored of the Rings | 1985 | Delta 4 | |
| Mind Wheel | 1985 | Brøderbund Software | |
| Heavy on the Magick | 1986 | Gargoyle Games | |
| Breakers | 1986 | Rodney R. Smith for Synapse | |
| Terrormolinos | 1986 | Peter Jones and Trevor Lever for Melbourne House | |
| Amnesia | 1987 | Thomas M. Disch | The only entirely non-graphical text adventure ever published by Electronic Arts |
| Braminar | 1987 | ||
| Dodgy Geezers | 1987 | Peter Jones and Trevor Lever for Melbourne House | |
| Enchanted Castle | 1987 | Michael R. Wilk[2] | |
| Gnome Ranger | 1987 | Level 9 | |
| Jacaranda Jim | 1987 | Graham Cluley | |
| Nord and Bert Couldn't Make Head or Tail of It | 1987 | Jeff O'Neill for Infocom | |
| Sherlock: The Riddle of the Crown Jewels | 1987 | Bob Bates for Infocom | |
| Shadows of Mordor | 1987 | Melbourne House | |
| Knight Orc | 1987 | Level 9 | |
| The Guild of Thieves | 1987 | Magnetic Scrolls | |
| Fish! | 1988 | Magnetic Scrolls | |
| Ingrid's Back | 1988 | Level 9 | |
| Corruption | 1988 | Magnetic Scrolls | |
| Dr. Dumont's Wild P.A.R.T.I. | 1988 | Michael and Muffy Berlyn | |
| Avalon | 1989 | Yehuda 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 Shadow | 1989 | for Eldritch Games | |
| Humbug | 1990 | Graham Cluley | |
| Islands of Danger | 1990 | Carr Software | |
| Danger! Adventurer at Work! | 1991 | Simon Avery | |
| Spy Snatcher | 1992 | Jonathan Partington and Jonathan Thackray for Topologika |
Miscellaneous games
| Title | Year Created | Creator | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wizard's Castle | 1978 | Joseph R. Power | |
| Aliens | 1982 | Yahoo Software | Space Invaders clone for Kaypro. |
| CatChum | 1982 | Yahoo Software | Pac-Man clone for Kaypro. |
| Ladder | 1982 | Yahoo Software | Donkey Kong clone for Kaypro. |
| Text Train | 1982 | Bert Kersey, Beagle Bros Software | |
| Snipes | 1983 | SuperSet | |
| Sleuth | 1983 | Eric N. Miller | |
| Beast | 1984 | Dan Baker, Alan Brown, Mark Hamilton and Derrick Shadel | |
| Manor | 1986 | Leon Baradat | Based on Hammurabi, Kingdom, and Dukedom for Apple II |
| Kingdom of Kroz | 1987 | Scott Miller of Apogee Software | |
| Mtrek | 1987 | Chuck Peterson of UCSC | |
| ZZT | 1991 | Tim Sweeney of Epic MegaGames | |
| Curses! | 1993 | Graham Nelson | |
| MegaZeux | 1994 | Alexis Janson of Software Visions | Supports editing the character set to allow for more advanced graphical capabilities than most text mode games. |
| Jigsaw | 1995 | Graham Nelson | |
| Chibot Ultra Battle | 1999 | ||
| PAEE | 1999 | Enrique D. Bosch | |
| For a Change | 1999 | Dan Schmidt | |
| Shade | 2000 | Andrew Plotkin | |
| Shrapnel | 2000 | Adam Cadre |
Online games
Play-by-email games
These are play-by-email games played online.
| Title | Year Created | Creator |
|---|---|---|
| Lords of the Earth | 1983 | |
| Quantum Space | 1989 | |
| Atlantis PbeM | 1993 | |
| Eressea PbeM | 1996 |
BBS door games
These are BBS door games played online.
| Title | Year Created | Creator |
|---|---|---|
| TradeWars 2002 | 1987 | Gary Martin for Martech Software |
| Legend of the Red Dragon | 1989 | Seth Able Robinson |
MUDs
Text-Based Browser Multiplayer Games
Torn City (2003) is played in a web browser and involves multiplayer components: it is based mainly around text and has very limited graphical elements.
See also
References
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