Game # 151: Explorer Adventure (1983)

Explorer is an interactive text adventure written by Philip Ahrens. It was published as a type-in adventure from the AUSBUG magazine, Vol. 1, no. 4 in 1983. AUSBUG was a short lived magazine dedicated to users of the MicroBee which were a series of home computers by Applied Technology. Ahrens would also write Goldmine which was a type-in featured in the same magazine the following year.

The computer was released as a kit, with assembly instructions included in Your Computer magazine, in February 1982. The program was also converted for the Commodore 64/128 by Dean Hodgson and published by Pyramid Software. The title of the game was changed to Cave Explorer.

I mistakenly had Explorer Adventure in my list of games to play for 1980 however after doing more careful research I realized the game was not written until 1983. The fact that this adventure was published in 1983 has us going off the beaten path but I am choosing to document my experience with the game rather than shelf the time and effort that I’ve already put into it.

The game may have been published in 1983 but it centers around a treasure hunt which is a trope that the medium found itself constantly trying to move away from even in 1980. We had just finished both Kidnapped and City Adventure from 1980 which were two very unique text adventures so it came as a bit of a surprise to discover another simple treasure hunt theme but in 1983.

The computer only recognizes one word commands such as directions and a couple of special verbs. North, South, East, West, Up, and Down are your choices as well as the verbs TAKE or LIFT. There is also a magic word that you see written in one area and when you say the word you are transported back ot that area. The treasures that you need to find are a gold nugget, an emerald, a large diamond, a rare stamp collection, a bag of coins, a jeweled crown, and a nest of golden eggs.

The map is surprisingly large with 47 different locations to uncover. Mapping can be a bit tricky and is essential without becoming lost or confused.

This experience with Explorer Adventure was surprising for a couple of reasons. The first is that I mistakenly had it in my 1980 games que and played it when it really was published in 1983. The second surprise or irony is that it played and seemed like a game that was published in 1980 rather than 1983. There were a number of text adventures from 1980, even type-ins, that were much better examples of the art.

Once you find all of the treasures the game informs you that you need to make your way back to where you started.

This was a relatively short game compared to many of the previous games and it only took me about 45 minutes to an hour to beat the game.

I am continually amazed by many of these type-in games that we’ve run across however this was not one of them. It looked and behaved exactly like what you might expect from a type-in game out of a magazine.

Up next is a return to the CRPG genre with Quest I. Until next time…