Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Need More Proof That I'm a Dork?

My Cave Girl Clair victory reminded me of some other computer games I enjoyed as a kid.

Here are the games in no particular order:

  • Zork -- This was an all text adventure game with some of the snarkiest writing ever. You had to type in commands in short phrases like "hit grue" and "get rock." I loved typing in swear words and inappropriate suggestions, although I can't remember if they actually generated any results.

  • Dallas Quest -- This was another adventure game based on the hit nighttime soap opera, Dallas. When my uncle passed it on to me, it had a sticky note message that said "When you see the snake, say tickle chin." The mysterious message got me hooked on the game because I kept waiting for the snake to appear. (And it's not what you're thinking...perverts!)

  • Adventureland, Pirate Adventure, The Count -- I was all about the adventure games and these early ones were awesome!

    Adventureland was the first game I ever solved. (OK - I cheated. When I went to Waldenbooks, I'd look up the steps in a big book of adventure game answers.)

    The Count
    was also very memorable to me. In the game, you had to take no-doze pills because if you fell asleep, the Count would drink your blood. I found those pills so fascinating, I added them to a short story I wrote in the 5th grade. Sadly, the teacher made me take the pills out because she said I was promoting recreational drug use and Nancy Reagan wouldn't like that. I also remember overhearing one of my teachers talking about The Count so I felt intellectually advanced to be playing the same game.

  • M.U.L.E. -- This was an economic strategy game set on the planet Irata. I played it with my dad all the time. We LOVED it. I was just looking it up now to see if it's available in a different format. (It's not.) But I just learned that Irata spells Atari backwards. I never noticed that when I was playing the game. Now I feel significantly LESS intellectually advanced.
Lay it on me! Did anyone else play these games? Or remember old school favorites? I can't be the only uber-nerd!

3 comments:

ToppsNYK said...

I was just talking about Zork this morning! First game I ever beat. and I think when you swore it said something like 'that kind of language is unbecoming of an adventurer.'

Anonymous said...
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Eljabo said...

That's right! That IS what it said. I need to track down Zork...