Adventureland
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Adventure Series
(1981) -
Adventure Value Pack #1
(1979) - Adventureland / Pirate Adventure (1979)
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Scott Adams' Adventure Series: Limited Gold Edition
(1981)
Description official descriptions
Adventureland is a single-player text adventure and the first entry in Scott Adams’ Adventure series. The player explores an enchanted world in search of 13 lost treasures, which must be recovered and deposited in a designated storage area to complete the game and earn the maximum score.
The game is controlled through simple one or two-word commands used to move between locations, examine the surroundings, collect and manipulate objects, and solve puzzles. Only the first three letters of most words need to be entered. In most versions, the display is divided into an upper area listing the current location, visible objects, and available exits, and a lower area containing the command prompt and recent actions.
The game world includes forests, swamps, caves, quicksand, underground passages, a volcano, and a maze of pits. Along the way, the player encounters wild animals, magical beings, and other hazards, including a dragon, bees, and Paul Bunyan’s blue ox. Progress depends on discovering hidden routes, interpreting clues, managing a limited inventory, and determining how seemingly unrelated objects can overcome obstacles.
Incorrect actions and dangerous areas may kill the player or make some treasures impossible to recover. Supported versions allow the adventure to be saved and restored. Points are awarded for finding and safely storing the treasures, with the score command showing the player’s progress toward completing the adventure.
Series +
Scott Adams Classic Adventures- Previous: Pirate Adventure (1978)
- Next: Mission Impossible Adventure (1979)
Spellings
- Adventure Land - Alternate spelling
Screenshots
Credits (TRS-80 version)
9 People (2 developers, 7 thanks)
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Collaborations
People credited on this game were also credited on:
- Pirate Adventure, a group of 5 people
- Scott Adams' Graphic Adventure #2: Pirate Adventure, a group of 5 people
- Scott Adams' Graphic Adventure #4: Voodoo Castle, a group of 3 people
- And 22 more...
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Other Games
In addition to this game, these people were also credited on other games:
- Scott Adams on 47 other games
- Don Woods on 33 other games
- Will Crowther on 33 other games
- And 4 more...
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Reviews
Critics
Average score: 84% (based on 4 ratings)
Players
Average score: 2.7 out of 5 (based on 47 ratings with 0 reviews)
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Trivia
Alexis Adams
Frustrated and fed up with her husband's preoccupation with his homebrew microcomputer text adventuring system, his wife (and later Adventure International contributor) Alexis Adams hid the master floppy disks of his source code in various spots around the house -- culminating in his finding them in the oven one night, apparently ultimately without the intended, destructive effect. She jokes about the incident: "I guess [it] should have been the start of the first Adventure.
GO KITCHEN
ALL I SEE HERE IS AN OVEN, A SINK, AND A COUNTER.
LOOK OVEN
A SCREAM IS HEARD AS THE OVEN OPENS. EEEK ITS MR ADAMS SCREAMING 'OH NO MY DISKS ALLLLLLLLLLLLEXIS'"
Demo
An Adventureland Demo package was released in 1979. It is a sampler of the original game, brought to the market as a retail demo. As a cut-down version it contains 3 treasures.
Packaging
When Adams tried to sell the original TRS-80 version, he had to come up with a cheap packaging. As he just had a one-year old kid around the house, he was inspired to use baby bottle liners as instant packaging.
Awards
- ACE
- February 1991 (issue #41) - Included in the list Greatest Games of all Time, section Adventure Games (editorial staff choice)
Information also contributed by Sciere
Analytics
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Related Sites +
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Adventureland @ Astoundme.com
Select game from drop down menu and play online. -
Adventureland at iFiction
Play Adventureland through your web browser! -
An Adventure in Small Computer Game Simulation
Technical paper by Scott Adams, originally published on pages 90-97 of the August 1979 issue of Creative Computing, describing the philosophy and structure of a Scott Adams Adventure, using examples from Adventureland.
Identifiers +
Contribute
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Contributors to this Entry
Game added by Droog.
Exidy Sorcerer added by Trypticon. Electron added by Rola. Commodore 64, Atari 8-bit added by Xoleras. BBC Micro, Browser, VIC-20 added by Pseudo_Intellectual. TRS-80 added by Ivan Napreenko. Dragon 32/64 added by Игги Друге. CP/M, Commodore PET/CBM added by vedder. TRS-80 CoCo added by me3D31337. TI-99/4A added by mocagh.
Additional contributors: Pseudo_Intellectual, formercontrib, LepricahnsGold, Patrick, Jo ST.
Game added August 12, 2003. Last modified October 11, 2026.
