You are in a maze of little twisting passages, all different

[isham-research.freeserve.co.uk at pop.pol.net.uk]

> it was the '70s and i played a dungeon game on a Digital PDP 8(later on a
> PDP 11). the game interface was verbal only. sentences describing where you
> were and what was happening came up as you navigated the maze. left right up
> down forward and backward were the directional possibilities, and you would
> be prompted to pick up an item, or kill a dwarf, etc. i really don't
> remember
> much but the email signature on your Q list email: "You are in a maze of
> little twisting passages, all different" was the first prompt at the
> beginning of the game...

It started life as 'Adventure' and was at one time extremely popular on
IBM VM timesharing systems - CP/67 and VM/370.  You actually started in
a small valley outside a building.

There were two mazes:  "You are in a maze of twisty little passages,
all different" and "You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all
the same".  Somewhere in my packed rubbish I have a map of the cave.

"PLUGH" comes to mind, and something like "XTXXY"?

It could be a whacky game:

"THERE IS A DWARF HERE"

"kill the dwarf"

"WHAT - WITH YOUR BARE HANDS?"

"yes"

"AMAZINGLY, YOU MANAGE SOMEHOW TO STRANGLE THE DWARF"

It was famous for its devious tricks.  The treasure you found contained
coins - many people left them behind, only to find the lamp batteries
would start to die and the battery vending machine needed coins ...

If you met the snake, you had to release the parrot.  Well, it made
sense to somebody.

It was also a very interesting programme.  Originally written in
Fortran, it was one of the first 'table driven' programmes.

It's available in MS-DOS form.

--
 Phil Payne
 UK Audi quattro Owners Club
 Phone +44 7785 302803   Fax: +44 7785 309674