-          *** THE HISTORY OF ADVENTURE (ABRIDGED) ***          -
-                    ** By Ima Wimp **                      -
ADVENTURE was originally developed by William Crowther, and later
substantially rewritten and expanded by Don Woods at Stanford Univ.
According to legend, Crowther's original version was modelled on an
a real cavern, called Colossal Cave, which is a part of Kentucky's
Mammoth Caverns.  That version of the game included the main maze
and a portion of the third-level (Complex Junction - Bedquilt -
Swiss Cheese rooms, etc.), but not much more.
- - -
Don Woods and some others at Stanford later rewrote portions of
the original program, and greatly expanded the cave.  That version
of the game is recognizable by the maximum score of 350 points.
At this writing (November, 1978), that version is by far the most
widely known.
- - -
The latest additions were done throughout 1978 by David Long while
at the University of Chicago, Graduate School of Business.
Long's additions include the seaside entrance and all of
the cave on the "far side" of Lost River (Rainbow Rm - Crystal
Palace - Blue Grotto - Rotunda - beyond Joshua's wall, etc., etc.).
The current cave is about 50% larger than the Woods/Stanford model.
In the process, the code was heavily rewritten to permit more
generalized handling of objects and to allow a far more complex
syntax.  The current maximum score is 501 points.
- - -
Except for a couple of trivial subroutines (to get user-ID's for
logging purposes), ADVENTURE is written entirely in FORTRAN.  This
not because Crowther/Woods/Long love FORTRAN, but because it is
almost infinitely portable.  There were indeed moments when it took
great strength to withstand the temptation to whip out some character
handling routine in MACRO, instead of the furshlugginer compiler.
For example, there is an excellent rival game to Adventure, called
DUNGEON, developed at M.I.T., which is totally non-portable since
it is coded in an obscure variant of two initially obscure compilers,
and can only be transported in executable form between DEC-10's
and 20's.
- - -
Those interested in obtaining the latest releases of either the
source (FORTRAN IV) or executable code (DEC-20) should contact:
David E. Long, GSB Computing Services, University of Chicago,
5836 S. Greenwood Ave, Chicago IL 60637,  (312) 753-4290.
To determine how out of date your version is, check the release date
and number printed in the opening line of each game.  The version
number is parsed thusly: Version (say) 5.1/6 is major version 5,
release 1, bugfix 6.  The release number is changed only when the
cave mapping is altered or when new items are added.  The major
version number is incremented after adding extensions large enough
to affect the overall flavor of the game.  To whet curious appetites,
major version 6 is projected to appear sometime around the summer
of 1979.  It will contain a whole new wing to the cave (natch!)
plus a much enlarged surface area, including the Great Serbonian
Bog, the Castle of Aldor and the terrifying Passage of Fire.
Stay tuned!
- - -
Thanks are owed to Roger Matus and David Feldman, both of U. of C.,
for several suggestions, including the Rainbow Room, the telephone
booth and the fearsome Wumpus.  Further thanks go to J. R. Carlson
for many debugging suggestions.  Most thanks (and apologies)
go to Thomas Malory, Charles Dodgson, the Grimm Brothers, Dante,
Homer, Frank Baum and especially Anon., the real authors of ADVENTURE.