Top all-time · #2219
Aaron A. Reed
Personal blog · if50.substack.comgameshistorywriting
Aaron A. Reed writes 50 Years of Text Games, a personal blog at if50.substack.com about games, history and writing. Since 2021, 36 different Hacker News readers have linked it 82 times, most often “50 Years of Text Games”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2025-05-22, and you can follow it by feed.
A deep dive into text game history, from The Oregon Trail to A.I. Dungeon, now in book form! Click "No thanks" below to skip the subscribe box; the top story has details on how to get your own copy. Click to read 50 Years of Text Games, by Aaron A. Reed, a Substack publication with thousands of subs
Most-linked posts?
- 50 Years of Text Games5 people · 6 mentions · first linked 2021-06-05
- 1992: Silverwolf4 people · 5 mentions · first linked 2021-06-03
- 50 years of text games – 1976: Adventure4 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2021-02-11
- Patchwork Girl3 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2021-06-24
- The Antagonists: The rise and fall of type-in text games2 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2023-07-21
- 1988: P.R.E.S.T.A.V.B.A.2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2021-05-06
- 1990: LambdaMOO2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2021-05-20
- 50 Years of Text Games – A 2021 Journey from Oregon Trail to A.I. Dungeon2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2021-01-02
- /p/1971-the-oregon-trail2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2022-08-31
- Business Wargames: Early Complex Text Games2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2022-05-14
What Hacker News says?
As someone that first played Adventure on a teletype in 1976, I always seem to take affront to article titles implying Zork was there first. In this case "50 years of text games" is the substack name, and this is just the entry for Zork in 1977. See https://if50.substack.com/p/1976-adventure for the real deal.
Comment linking /p/1976-adventure
on “1977: Zork”Submitted 2006: Dwarf Fortress as a story · 289 points
HN discussionI'm really fascinated by that era of computer gaming, well that era of computers in general. I've been following this blog about text games since I first seen it on HN. https://if50.substack.com/ The earlier entries talk about some of the same stuff mentioned in this article. Reading about these things, I dunno, it reminds me of the wild west or something. All these university students and programmers writing illici…
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on “1970s mainframe RPGs we can no longer play”Submitted 1977: Zork as a story · 280 points
HN discussionAaron Reed's 50 Years of Text Games[1][2] is a fantastic journey into the history and the possibilities of text-based games. I got the physical book and was surprised to find it as engaging as a novel. Each chapter takes one year between 1971 and 2020 and picks a game from that year to discuss in depth. While it might not help with the writing per se, you might good ideas there (several of the games discussed are in…
Comment linking /archive?sort=new
on “How to program a text adventure in C”Submitted 1988: P.R.E.S.T.A.V.B.A. as a story · 207 points
HN discussion50 Years of Text Games did a good piece on it: https://if50.substack.com/p/1976-adventure
Comment linking /p/1976-adventure
on “Ken and Roberta Williams Working on Colossal Cave Adventure Remake for VR and PC”Submitted 1984: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy as a story · 205 points
HN discussionIs this anything like the BBS game TradeWars 2002? * https://if50.substack.com/p/1991-trade-wars-2002 * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trade_Wars * https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27301478
Comment linking /p/1991-trade-wars-2002
on “Endless Sky: an open source space trading and combat game”Submitted 1982: The Hobbit as a story · 190 points
HN discussionOn any Substack, you can add /feed at the end of the URL to get the RSS feed. https://if50.substack.com/feed
Comment linking /feed
on “50 Years of Text Games – A 2021 Journey from Oregon Trail to A.I. Dungeon”Submitted Universal Paperclips as a story · 176 points
HN discussioni randomly stumbled upon the connection as well while reading about the St. Bride's School. such a random connection between two completely different interests of mine that i joked the universe is a simulation with limited RAM and reuses assets Cure Dolly has _some_ connection to this group which, to me, just adds even more mystique to an already fascinating story[1] [1] https://if50.substack.com/p/1992-silverwolf
Comment linking /p/1992-silverwolf
on “Cure Dolly's Japanese Grammar Lessons”Submitted 50 Years of Text Games – A 2021 Journey from Oregon Trail to A.I. Dungeon as a story · 152 points
HN discussionEvery edition has been incredibly researched, and the stories so well told. I can't wait for the book. Three personal favourites: - Oregon Trail (1971) -- the first issue. Includes a great detail on the speed on typing "BANG" being used to tell the accuracy of the shot https://if50.substack.com/p/1971-the-oregon-trail - Adventure (1976) -- the accidental invention of the computer game. Includes code https://if50.sub…
Comment linking /p/1992-silverwolf
on “50 Years of Text Games: The End of a Journey”Submitted 1983: Suspended as a story · 132 points
HN discussionIf you missed this entry, it's a wild one: https://if50.substack.com/p/1992-silverwolf An anachronistic set of quasi-Victorians possibly pulling an elaborate joke but putting out compelling text adventures at the same time. Fascinating and very weird.
Comment linking /p/1992-silverwolf
on “50 Years of Text Games: The End of a Journey”Submitted Business Wargames: Early Complex Text Games as a story · 114 points
HN discussionOregon Trail goes back to 1971 as this first installment is 50 Years of Interactive Fiction explains https://if50.substack.com/p/1971-the-oregon-trail
Comment linking /p/1971-the-oregon-trail
on “Play 1978 Oregon Trail in the browser”Submitted 1980: MUD as a story · 113 points
HN discussionA lot of art-making is about constraints. These are generally imposed by the medium (What can I make with bits of dried colored goo on a rectangular surface? Or with just a pencil and paper?) or by some arbitrary-but-effective rule set (e.g., the sonnet form in poetry, the fugue in music). Great art embraces and somehow transcends the constraints of the chosen form. Consider how great paintings, constrained as they…
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on “Ask HN: Why isn't computer programming a major part of the arts?”Submitted 50 Years of Text Games: The End of a Journey as a story · 111 points
HN discussionThanks for the links, I'll add the 50 Years of Text Games piece on it: https://if50.substack.com/p/1982-the-hobbit
Comment linking /p/1982-the-hobbit
on “Revolutionary video game The Hobbit turns 40”Submitted 1992: Silverwolf as a story · 90 points
HN discussionhttps://if50.substack.com/p/1990-lambdamoo Playing LambdaMOO in 1997. Reignited my childhood interest in programming. soon after discovering it I started learning HTML and Java, gradually developed a good freelance career as a web developer, transitioned to became a Flash game developer, and now specialise in web-based educational games (using Pixi and Phaser). It would not have happened without the Vic20 my parents…
Comment linking /p/1990-lambdamoo
on “50 Years of Text Games”Submitted 1991: Trade Wars 2002 as a story · 76 points
HN discussionI found this article remarkable: https://if50.substack.com/p/1988-prestavba Never played a text game before but now I'm curious to take a look.
Comment linking /p/1988-prestavba
on “50 Years of Text Games”Submitted 1997: Achaea as a story · 44 points
HN discussionHas anyone tried the computer/console adaptations of these books? Related, the prior Choose Your Own Adventure books https://if50.substack.com/p/1979-the-cave-of-time
Comment linking /p/1979-the-cave-of-time
on “Fighting Fantasy Collection”Submitted 2008: Violet as a story · 37 points
HN discussion
