Colossal Cave Adventure
The first adventure game
The 1976 text adventure that invented an entire genre, combining cave exploration with fantasy elements to create interactive fiction.
Overview
Colossal Cave Adventure (often just “Adventure” or “ADVENT” due to filename limits) was the first text adventure game, created by Will Crowther in 1976 and expanded by Don Woods in 1977. Based on actual Mammoth Cave geography with added fantasy elements, it established every convention of the genre: exploring rooms, collecting treasures, solving puzzles, and dying in creative ways.
Fast Facts
- Creator: Will Crowther (1976)
- Expanded by: Don Woods (1977)
- Platform: PDP-10, then everywhere
- Distribution: ARPANET, university networks
- Commands: Two-word parser (GO NORTH, GET LAMP)
- Legacy: Created text adventure genre
The Opening
The most famous beginning in gaming:
YOU ARE STANDING AT THE END OF A ROAD BEFORE A SMALL BRICK BUILDING.
AROUND YOU IS A FOREST. A SMALL STREAM FLOWS OUT OF THE BUILDING AND
DOWN A GULLY.
>That prompt changed gaming forever.
Gameplay
What players did:
| Action | Example |
|---|---|
| Explore | Navigate maze of twisty passages |
| Collect | Gather treasures for points |
| Solve | Figure out magic words, avoid traps |
| Survive | Evade dwarves, navigate darkness |
| Map | Essential - the maze was confusing |
The Real Cave
Crowther based the geography on Mammoth Cave, Kentucky:
- Bedquilt area matches real passages
- The “twisty little passages” were real
- Surveyors later confirmed accuracy
- Fantasy elements added over real topology
Technical Innovation
What Crowther invented:
| Concept | Implementation |
|---|---|
| Rooms | Discrete locations with descriptions |
| Parser | Interpreting player commands |
| Inventory | Carrying objects between rooms |
| State | World changing based on actions |
| Score | Treasure collection tracking |
Famous Phrases
The game gave us lasting terms:
- “You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike”
- “XYZZY” (magic word)
- “PLUGH” (another magic word)
- “It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue” (Zork’s addition)
Woods’ Expansion
Don Woods found the game on Stanford’s computers and enhanced it:
- More rooms and treasures
- More fantasy elements (dragons, trolls)
- More puzzles
- The version that spread widely
Influence
Adventure directly inspired:
| Game/Company | Connection |
|---|---|
| Zork | MIT students recreated and expanded concept |
| Infocom | Founded by Zork creators |
| Sierra | Graphical adventures evolved from text |
| Every adventure game | All trace back here |
Preservation
The game exists in many versions:
- Original Crowther version (reconstructed)
- Woods expansion (most common)
- 350-point version
- 430-point version
- Modern ports to every platform
2023 Remake
Ken and Roberta Williams (Sierra founders) created a graphical remake, coming full circle from the genre’s origins.