Adventure

The game of Adventure was developed around 1975 by Will Crowther, a researcher at Bolt Beranek and Newman (BBN}, the Cambridge, Massachusetts research firm which built such projects as the ARPAnet and the TENEX operating system. Will used to drive down to Kentucky periodically to join other amateur spelunkers in exploring Bedquilt Cave, a huge cavern connected to Mammoth Cave. Topographic data was stored in BBN's computers and used to produce maps of the cave. Thus, it's not surprising that Adventure's Colossal Cave, at least up to a point, is really Bedquilt Cave, and the description and geology of the first few levels is consistent and accurate.

Adventure became a complete game thanks to Don Woods of Stanford, who added most of the features of the present version. Written in FORTRAN, the game spread onto PDP-10 and DEC 20 computers over the ARPAnet, one of the first computer networks, which connected university computer science departments and other research institutions all over the country. Soon it was eating up uncounted hours of both computer and student time, leading to its outright banning on some machines, and the restriction of play to nights and weekends on others.

As personal computers became more popular, it was inevitable that Adventure would migrate to them. Its success gave rise to a huge ... number of adventure~type programs, taking adventurers on pirate-infested seas, through outer space, into haunted houses, and so on.

This program is the first of them all -- the original Adventure. A few new treasures and rooms have been added, and the ending has been enhanced. But every feature of the original has been preserved. You are the owner of one of the most famous entertainment programs in existence.