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From: Russel Dalenberg <rus...@pobox.com>
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Subject: Seeking Lost Versions of Adventure (Colossal Cave)
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I've been collecting versions of Adventure for many years now. During
that time I've also collected information on a number of Adventure
versions that don't seem to be available anywhere. Going through old
files, Usenet postings, and messages at the Colossal Cave Adventure
forum I've managed to put together a list of thirteen "Lost Versions"
of Adventure.
Does anyone know where any of these versions may be found? Further info
on any of the versions, or pointers to people who might know more would
be greatly appreciated.
And, if you know of any versions of Adventure *not* on this list, please
let me know that as well.
Russel Dalenberg
rus...@pobox.com
====================
+++ 700-point Adventure +++
Back in 1993, I found a message from Ron Kaminsky about a 700-point
version of Adventure he had access to on an IBM mainframe:
From: ro...@wisdom.weizmann.ac.il (Kaminsky Ron)
Subject: Spoiler file for Adventure wanted
Date: Sun, 11 Jul 1993 13:21:54 GMT
Newsgroups: rec.games.misc
Hi, I'm looking for a spoiler file for "version T.6h" of
Adventure, which has a maximum score of 700 points. If anyone
could help me out, please send me information via email.
We never could find any more information on this version, and I started
to worry that it was a local variation, not available elsewhere.
Later, in 1995, Bonni Mierzejewska posted a message asking a similar
question:
From: u6...@wvnvm.wvnet.edu (bonni mierzejewska)
Subject: 700 pt Adventure
Date: 1995/11/28
newsgroups: rec.games.int-fiction
Has anybody ever heard of a 700 pt Colossal Cave, written for (or at
least ported to) VM/CMS, which includes a troll bridge, a bear, and an
endgame involving a Hall of the Elven King?
In another message, she referred to her version as "version T.6E",
which further connected the two for me. At the time, I emailed Bonni
for more information, but can find no record of a reply.
Ron was able to help me out much more. He was able to decrypt the
data file and send me copies of it, along with the executable file.
The executable isn't of much use to me, unless I get an IBM mainframe,
although looking at the strings in it leads me to believe that this
version was written in PL/I.
The data file was a little more helpful. Looking at the "credits"
section of the data file gives me:
303 Credits for this game:
303 This program was originally developed by Willie Crowther.
303 And added to by Don Woods.
303 This current version was modified by Denny Koch.
303 It was expanded upon by Don Fry.
303 It was further revised by Keith Moe.
303 And some general cleaning up was performed by
303 Lou Mackey, Greg Markow & John Logan.
Unfortunately, no contact information is given, and the names don't seem
to give enough information to track.
Does anyone know who any of these people are, or what this version of
Adventure is? It must have been fairly available at one time because
Ron encountered it in Israel, while Bonni played it in West Virgina.
====================
+++ 535-point Adventure +++
Looking through messages on the "Colossal Cave Adventure forum" web page, I
found a message about a 535-point version from someone going by "Rawson".
Main Office - Three-Opening Arch
From: Rawson (RawsonC) 4/28/1999 4:33 pm
To: ALL (1 of 3)
Does anyone recall a version with a room called Three-Opening
Arch? (located north of Swiss Cheese) From there, you could travel to a
bunch of really interesting places, coming across items such as a well
(comlete with a well-used(!) path at its bottom), a belt with magical
powers, and a piece of venetian glass (a treasure) which was leaded into
a wall. (Freeing this glass -- after years of trying -- was one of my
all-time great personal victories!)
The version had 535 total points.
Later, (well, the next year) he posted some more info on this version.
Main Office - Adventure Versions
From: Rawson (RawsonC) 4/19/2000 10:47 am
To: Fi3Neptune (2 of 10)
[...]
3. In 1981, I also played an (excellent) 535 point version. In this
version, there was a sign in the Debris Room saying that the Army Corps
of Engineers was remodeling the cave, and you had to go north from that
room to get to the Hall of Mists. (The bird chamber was a dead end.) I
have inquired in this forum before if anyone had ever played this
version, but no such luck.
Sounds interesting. I've never heard anything else about this version.
====================
+++ 655-point Adventure +++
Also on the "Colossal Cave Adventure forum", "Rawson" said:
Main Office - Adventure Versions
From: Rawson (RawsonC) 4/19/2000 10:47 am
To: Fi3Neptune (2 of 10)
[...]
4. Another lost version (which I would dearly love to play again) was a
655 point version which combined the 535 with the 551. As I told Mike A
a while ago, I used to know someone who had the source for this, so I
really should make an effort to track him down.
Does anyone know anything about this version? I tried to contact "Rawson",
but his email address is invalid, and he hasn't been on the message forum
since January 2007.
====================
+++ 365-point Adventure +++
Dik T. Winter posted about a 365-point version with a Green Umbrella.
From: d...@cwi.nl (Dik T. Winter)
Subject: Re: Zork question (is now information about Zork and Adventure)
Date: 2 Jun 90 16:32:17 GMT
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers,rec.games.misc,comp.sources.d
[...]
If your University had Unix it is possible that you are one of the
few that played the 365 point version. Some history here: the
original was a 350 point version written in Fortran (I must have
the sources somewhere, but am not able to find it now). This was
converted by somebody at Rand to C. This again was extended at UCLA
(lauren@ucla-security, I do not know the person, but the name popped
up if you exercised a bug) to a 365 point version. If you have seen
a Green Umbrella you have played the 365 point version. This latter
was the first one available in Unix (v6.2 if I remember right).
Later versions of Unix distributed the 350 point version from Rand
(including sources). One problem from the 350 point version has
gone away in the 365 point version (the Dwarves Magazine) making
it much easier to get all points. As far as I know the 365 point
version has never been distributed in source form.
In a later post, Dik reported that lauren@ucla-security was Lauren
Weinstein, now at Vortex Technology. I've contacted Lauren, but he does
not seem to have this version available at present.
====================
+++ Witch/Gingerbread House Version +++
In 1990, Tim McGuire posted about a version with a gingerbread house
and a witch.
From: mcg...@cs.tamu.edu (Tim McGuire)
Subject: Re: Zork question (is now information about Zork and Adventure)
Date: 4 Jun 90 18:56:22 GMT
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
[...]
Back in the late 70's I played a version on a Cyber 172 at Colorado
State. I don't remember exactly how may points there were -- maybe
375. Anyway, the wood were expanded with a gingerbread house and
a witch. I never figured out what to do there. Later someone told
me that you threw water on the witch to get her to melt. Anybody out
there know anything about that version? Was it local to CSU?
Some time later, I got an email with some more info on what appears to
be the same version.
From: david payne <dav...@clem.mscd.edu>
Date: Thu, 22 Jul 93 20:55:10 -0600
[...]
I first played Adventure at Colorado State University (almost finished
the game then the administrators did away with it :-( ). That version
had a jeweled "loaf" in a cottage in the forest (evil witch, Hanzel and
Gretel type cottage (made of candy)).
====================
+++ Witch/Castle Version +++
A pointer to what appears to be another version with a witch came from
Cliff Tuel.
From: ct...@polyslo.CalPoly.EDU (Cliff Tuel)
Subject: Re: Zork question (is now information about Zork and Adventure)
Date: 7 Jun 90 08:05:07 GMT
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
[...]
I remember playing a version of Colossal Cave on an IBM
mainframe (maybe 8 years ago) that had a witch's castle out
in the forest. I've never seen this in any other versions....
Just when you're beginning to get lost in the forest (near
the well house), you see a tower in the distance. Eventually
you come to a clearing and find a large castle. A bird in a
nearby tree chirps, "To enter, the magic word is needed."
So you type "needed", and the gates open up.
Once inside, there's a number of rooms to explore. Apparently,
the witch isn't home at the moment. But you do find some of
her belongings (a mirror, a broom, etc.). Somewhere upstairs
you find a heater vent, which when removed provides access to
a spider-filled tunnel that winds its way to the volcano room.
But it never seemed like this area was finished. It was the
only part of the game I could never solve. Does anyone else
remember this addition?
====================
+++ Who is Gary Palter? +++
While searching for "adventure" with Google, I found a pointer to a
quotes file
http://world.std.com/obi/alt.quotations/Archive/fortune/crm2
that contained the following text:
Adventure is dedicated to "albino". It was written by two very bored
students of orange coast college, with a "few" ideas contributed by
david willis, scott adams, and alexis adams. Some minor phrasing
assistance was provided by peter gruenbeck and richard rapier; some
major phrasing assistance came from justin & steve of csu fullerton, and
from willie crowther, don woods, and gary palter, who started it all at
m.i.t.
Not only does this seem to come from a version of Adventure that I'm not
familiar with, it also references "Gary Palter" as an important Adventure
figure. I'd never heard the name before. (Or "albino" for that matter.)
I searched further for "Gary Palter", and found the following text on a
page devoted to Chimaera, a game inspired by Adventure:
http://www.mipmip.org/chimaera/chimaera.shtml
Chimaera Version c1.001
The Fortran version of the classical Colossal Cave adventure was
developed by Willie Crowther, Don Woods and Gary Palter. This game,
enjoyed by many of us in the 1970s, had about 80 locations and numerous
puzzles to be solved. If played optimally it could yield 360 points,
at which stage "a cheering band of friendly elves carry the conquering
adventurer off into the sunset".
The description of having 360-points could just be a typo, or it could point
to another version. Still, there's no explanation as to the involvement of
"Gary Palter".
Searching more, I've recently found a version of Adventure written in 1980
in what might have been the first adventure game language.
http://www.graysage.com/cg/Compilers/SixFant/adventure.6
It starts with a comment mentioning "Gary Palter" again, along with odd
mentions of the involvement of Willie Crowther and Don Woods.
There have been two previous versions of ADVENTURE. The first
was written in FORTRAN by Gary M. Palter at MIT. The second
was written in PL/1 by Willie Crowther and Don Woods, Artificial
Intelligence Group, Stanford University -- which was later
modified for MTS by Ron Senda, Computing Services, University
of Alberta.
So, the question is, who is Gary Palter? What did he have to do with the
development of Adventure? And are any versions of Adventure that he had
anything to do with still out there somewhere.
====================
+++ Sewers and Chapels +++
I sometimes find references to versions of Adventure in the most
unexpected of places. This time, the newsgroup soc.history.medieval
serves up some interesting tidbits.
From: Tony Jebson <je...@texas.net>
Subject: Colossal Cave (off-topic!)
Date: 1998/04/07
Newsgroups: soc.history.medieval
[...]
I helped write a large extension to Colossal Cave (sewers, chapels
and all sorts) with a friend of mine (now retired) wrote an
adventure generator called SLAGG or some-such and he did an
adventure with it called Skull Mountain.
I don't know whether these ever escaped the confines of ICL though.
This sounds interesting, if it could ever be found.
====================
+++ Outside Picnic Area +++
From: ag...@zaphod.axion.bt.co.uk (Andy Gray)
Subject: Re: Zork question (is now information about Zork and Adventure)
Date: 4 Jun 90 10:26:29 GMT
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
[...]
A micro based version expanded the scenario outside the caves which
included woods with a picnic area.
Mike Arnautov tells me that this may be a reference to an early release of
his 660-point version. If anyone knows of any other version of Adventure
that includes a picnic area, let me know.
====================
+++ Vax BASIC Adventure +++
From: Beyonder <beyo...@vrx.net>
Subject: Classic VMS Games - restoration
Date: Sat, 17 Feb 2001 15:07:35 -0500
Newsgroups: comp.os.vms
[...]
1. Colossal Cave (Adventure) - I have a copy of the Vax BASIC source
code for this in a printout
I exchanged emails with "Beyonder" back in 2003, but he could not supply
an electronic version of this version.
====================
+++ Prime Version (>1000 points) +++
On slashdot.com, on April 08, 2006, someone going by "Cyberfox" wrote:
[...] I've played Adventure on machines ranging from my PalmPilot to
PC's of all shades, to Vaxen and even a Prime mini/mainframe which had
the largest and highest point version I'd ever seen. (>1000 points,
iirc).
I worked on Prime computers in college, and never heard of this version.
Of course, it could have come later.
====================
+++ Norway Adventure +++
Mike Arnautov sent me some info on a version that seems to come out of
Norway.
This ADVENTURE is based on the ADVENTURE originally written by Don Woods
and Willie Crowther, later expanded by Bob Supnik and Kent Blackett, and
still later expanded by Nils-Morten Nilssen and Svein Hansen. In the
present version some of the added features are taken from an article by
Greg Hasset in Creative Computing, which added hitherto unknown parts of
the cave. Many thanks to Greg!! This version is reprogrammed by Svein
Hansen, and maintenance and extensions is presently handled by him. The
program is written specially for NORD computers in NORD-FORTRAN 77. As
Svein Hansen is responsible for this version, any inconsistencies and
non-answers that might surface are best reported to him, either directly
or through RSH, Norsk Data A/S, P.O. Box 25 Bogerud, OSLO 6, Norway.
I only know about Bob Supnik and Kent Blackett from their porting of the
original 350-point version, not from any extensions. Does anyone know
if they actually made any?
If anyone knows where to find this version, or has pointers on Nils-Morten
Nilssen and Svein Hansen, please let me know.
Also, if anyone knows anything about the article by Greg Hasset in
Creative Computing Magazine, please let me know about that too.
====================
+++ Adventure in Pascal +++
This version is actually only "kind-of" lost. I've found what appears
to be a version of Adventure, written in Pascal, at:
http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/academic/computer-science/history/pdp-11/rsx/decus/rsx82b/351130
or, if that link gets broken up and doesn't work, try:
http://tinyurl.com/dmrzkw
From the "readme.1st" file:
>> ADVENTURES IN PASCAL
Barry C. Breen
P.O. Box 1964
Bellevue, Washington 98009
28-OCT-80
Rev. 3-DEC-82
>> History -- This version of the "Adventures" game is written
in OMSI PASCAL V1.2 running under RSX11M V3.2 BL26 on a PDP 11/23.
It contains special display text files for the VT-100 which
makes use of double width and double height characters for
special effect. It was written as an exercise in learning
PASCAL and RSX while developing software for the Sundstrand
Data Control Digital Ground Proximity Warning Computer for the
Boeing 767/757 series aircraft.
[...]
However, the source files are packaged in some sort of archive format that
I'm unfamiliar with. The "readme.1st" file also says:
>> Contents of Distribution:
1 ** PASCAL Source Files Library
ADV.ULB
Besides containing the source files for each of
the game modules (see list below), this file contains the
source for PEEK, POOF, and the files initialization tasks,
ADVFLS and 100FLS.
I have been unable to find any way to unpack the "ADV.ULB" archive. So this
version is not lost because I can't find it, but rather because I can't get
to the source files. Anyone know how to unpack ULB files?
--
Russel Dalenberg
rus...@pobox.com