Text-based games
The following list of text-based games is not to be considered an authoritative, comprehensive listing of all such games; rather, it is intended to represent a wide range of game styles and genres presented using the text mode display and their evolution across a long period.
117 titles69 with a game pageBrowse Text adventure games with filters
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| Cover | Title | Released | Creator | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| On mainframe computers | ||||
| BBC | 1961 | John Burgeson | Baseball simulator | |
 | The Sumerian Game | 1964 | Mabel Addis, William McKay | The first edutainment game. |
| Unnamed American football game | 1968 or before | Unknown | For the Dartmouth Time-Sharing System. One of "many games" in library of 500 programs. | |
 | The Sumer Game | 1968 | Doug Dyment | AKA Hamurabi |
| Highnoon | 1970 | Christopher Gaylo | ||
 | Baseball | 1971 | Don Daglow | |
 | Oregon Trail | 1971 | Don Rawitsch | |
 | Star Trek (strategy game) | 1971 | Mike Mayfield | |
 | Star Trek (script game) | 1972 | Don Daglow | |
 | Hunt the Wumpus | 1973 | Gregory Yob | |
 | TREK73 | 1973 | William K. Char, Perry Lee, and Dan Gee | |
| Cornell U. Hockey | 1973 | Charles Buttrey | ||
 | Wander | 1974 | Peter Langston | |
 | dnd | 1975 | Gary Whisenhunt and Ray Wood | |
| Dungeon | 1975 | Don Daglow | ||
 | Colossal Cave Adventure | 1976 | Will Crowther | The original adventure game |
 | Dukedom | 1976 | Vince Talbot | |
 | Empire | 1977 | Walter Bright | |
 | Mystery Mansion | 1977 | Bill Wolpert | |
 | Zork | 1977 | Tim Anderson, Marc Blank, Bruce Daniels and Dave Lebling | |
| Acheton | 1978 | Jon Thackray, David Seal and Jonathan Partington | Adventure game originally hosted on Cambridge University's Phoenix mainframe | |
| Decwar | 1978 | Hysick, Bob and Potter, Jeff | ||
 | MUD | 1978 | Roy Trubshaw and Richard Bartle | The first multi-user dungeon. See List of MUDs for later examples. |
| Battlestar | 1979 | David Riggle | ||
| Brand X | 1979 | Peter Killworth and Jonathan Mestel | AKA Philosopher's Quest | |
| HAUNT | 1979 | John Laird | ||
| Martian Adventure | 1979 | Brad Templeton and Kieran Carroll | ||
| New Adventure | 1979 | Mark Niemiec | ||
| FisK | 1980 | John Sobotik and Richard Beigel | Text based adventure game | |
| Hezarin | 1980 | Steve Tinney, Alex Shipp and Jon Thackray | ||
| Kingdom of Hamil | 1980 | Jonathan Partington | Adventure game originally hosted on Cambridge University's Phoenix mainframe | |
| Monsters of Murdac | 1980 | Jonathan Partington | Adventure game originally hosted on Cambridge University's Phoenix mainframe | |
| Quondam | 1980 | Rod Underwood | Adventure game originally hosted on Cambridge University's Phoenix mainframe | |
 | Rogue | 1980 | Michael Toy, Glenn Wichman, and Ken Arnold | |
| LORD | 1981 | Olli J. Paavola | Based on The Lord of the Rings | |
| Star Trader | 1982 | Bretten Au, Kevin Ryan, Kent Beck, Ron Lumsden, and James Walters | A space game originally hosted on University of Oregon's mainframe computer | |
| Avon | 1983 | Jonathan Partington | Shakespearean adventure game originally hosted on Cambridge University's Phoenix mainframe | |
| Castle | 1983 | Barry Wilks | ||
 | Dunnet | 1983 | Ron Schnell | |
| Fyleet | 1986 | Jonathan Partington | Adventure game originally hosted on Cambridge University's Phoenix mainframe | |
| Crobe | 1987 | Jonathan Partington | Adventure game originally hosted on Cambridge University's Phoenix mainframe | |
| Nidus | 1987 | Adam Atkinson | ||
| Quest of the Sangraal | 1987 | Jonathan Partington | Adventure game originally hosted on Cambridge University's Phoenix mainframe | |
| Spycatcher | 1989 | Jonathan Partington and Jon Thackray | Adventure game originally hosted on Cambridge University's Phoenix mainframe; released commercially by Topologika Software as Spy Snatcher | |
| On personal computers › Commercial text adventure games | ||||
 | Adventureland | 1978 | Scott Adams of Adventure International | series |
 | Zork I: The Great Underground Empire | 1980 | Tim Anderson, Marc Blank, Bruce Daniels and Dave Lebling | series |
| C.I.A Adventure | 1980 | Hugh Lampert of CLOAD | ||
 | Softporn Adventure | 1981 | On-Line Systems | |
 | Madness and the Minotaur | 1981 | for Spectral Associates | |
 | The Hobbit | 1982 | Philip Mitchell and Veronika Megler of Beam Software | |
 | Valhalla | 1983 | Legend | |
 | Time and Magik | 1983 | Level 9 | |
| Forbidden Quest | 1983 | Pryority Software | ||
 | Valley of the Minotaur | 1983 | Nicolas van Dyk of Softalk | |
| The Wizard of Akyrz | 1983 | Brian Howarth of Mysterious Adventures and Cliff J. Ogden for Adventure International | ||
 | The Biz | 1984 | Chris Sievey of Virgin Games | Music band simulator for the ZX Spectrum |
| High Stakes | 1984 | Angelsoft | ||
 | The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy | 1984 | Douglas Adams and Steve Meretzky of Infocom | |
| Mindwheel | 1984 | Robert Pinsky for Synapse Software | ||
 | Zyll | 1984 | Marshal W. Linder and Scott B. Edwards for IBM | |
 | The Pawn | 1985 | Magnetic Scrolls | |
 | A Mind Forever Voyaging | 1985 | Steve Meretzky of Infocom | |
| Brimstone | 1985 | James Paul for Synapse | ||
| Essex | 1985 | Bill Darrah for Synapse | ||
 | Hampstead | 1985 | Peter Jones and Trevor Lever for Melbourne House | |
 | Bored of the Rings | 1985 | Delta 4 | |
| Mind Wheel | 1985 | Brøderbund Software | ||
 | Heavy on the Magick | 1986 | Gargoyle Games | |
| Breakers | 1986 | Rodney R. Smith for Synapse | ||
 | Terrormolinos | 1986 | Peter Jones and Trevor Lever for Melbourne House | |
 | Amnesia | 1987 | Thomas M. Disch | The only entirely non-graphical text adventure ever published by Electronic Arts |
| Braminar | 1987 | |||
| Dodgy Geezers | 1987 | Peter Jones and Trevor Lever for Melbourne House | ||
| Enchanted Castle | 1987 | Michael R. Wilk | ||
 | Gnome Ranger | 1987 | Level 9 | |
 | Jacaranda Jim | 1987 | Graham Cluley | |
 | Nord and Bert Couldn't Make Head or Tail of It | 1987 | Jeff O'Neill for Infocom | |
 | Sherlock: The Riddle of the Crown Jewels | 1987 | Bob Bates for Infocom | |
 | Shadows of Mordor | 1987 | Melbourne House | |
 | Knight Orc | 1987 | Level 9 | |
 | The Guild of Thieves | 1987 | Magnetic Scrolls | |
 | Fish! | 1988 | Magnetic Scrolls | |
 | Ingrid's Back | 1988 | Level 9 | |
 | Corruption | 1988 | Magnetic Scrolls | |
| Dr. Dumont's Wild P.A.R.T.I. | 1988 | Michael and Muffy Berlyn | ||
 | Avalon | 1989 | Yehuda Simmons | A MUD, notable for its pioneering introduction of various innovations such as plotted quests, real estate, banking and distinct skills |
 | The Hound of Shadow | 1989 | for Eldritch Games | |
| Humbug | 1990 | Graham Cluley | ||
| Islands of Danger | 1990 | Carr Software | ||
| Danger! Adventurer at Work! | 1991 | Simon Avery | ||
 | Spy Snatcher | 1992 | Jonathan Partington and Jonathan Thackray for Topologika | |
| On personal computers › Miscellaneous games | ||||
| Wizard's Castle | 1978 | Joseph R. Power | ||
 | Aliens | 1982 | Yahoo Software | Space Invaders clone for Kaypro. |
 | CatChum | 1982 | Yahoo Software | Pac-Man clone for Kaypro. |
 | Ladder | 1982 | Yahoo Software | Donkey Kong clone for Kaypro. |
 | Text Train | 1982 | Bert Kersey, Beagle Bros Software | |
 | Snipes | 1983 | SuperSet | |
 | Sleuth | 1983 | Eric N. Miller | |
| Beast | 1984 | Dan Baker, Alan Brown, Mark Hamilton and Derrick Shadel | ||
| Manor | 1986 | Leon Baradat | Based on Hammurabi, Kingdom, and Dukedom for Apple II | |
Table data adapted from its source, CC BY-SA 4.0.