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Alkemstone
''Alkemstone'' is a puzzle video game published by Level-10 (a division of Dakin 5) for the Apple II in 1981. It is a puzzle in a dungeon which the character explores to determine the location of the Alkemstone. Prize The Alkemstone was hidden in the real world and the publisher offered a $5000 reward for the first person to decipher its location. It was likely inspired by the popularity of the ''Masquerade'' armchair treasure hunt published in 1979 and still unsolved at the time of Alkemstone's release. The reward was increased to $7500 in 1982. The prize was never awarded and it is unknown if anyone solved the clues or recovered the Alkemstone from the location it was hidden. Gameplay The dungeon size is 32 rooms wide x 16 rooms deep, however some clues appear intermittently and therefore rooms must be carefully inspected over many visits. Reception Forrest Johnson reviewed ''Alkemstone'' in '' The Space Gamer'' No. 48. Johnson commented that "Don't buy this one unless you s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Masquerade (book)
''Masquerade'' is a picture book, written and illustrated by Kit Williams and published in August 1979, that sparked a treasure hunt by including concealed clues to the location of a jewelled golden hare that had been created and hidden somewhere in Britain by Williams. The book became the inspiration for a genre of books known today as armchair treasure hunts. In March 1982 Williams received a letter and sketch from a man called Dugald Thompson, which he acknowledged as the first correct solution to the puzzle, meaning that Thompson had won the contest. It was later found that Thompson had not solved the puzzle and had guessed the hare's location using insider knowledge obtained from a former acquaintance of Williams. The revelation caused a minor scandal. Two British physics teachers were later acknowledged to be the first to have correctly solved the puzzle. Book In the 1970s, Williams was challenged by Tom Maschler, of the British publishing firm Jonathan Cape, to do " ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Apple II
The Apple II (stylized as ) is an 8-bit home computer and one of the world's first highly successful mass-produced microcomputer products. It was designed primarily by Steve Wozniak; Jerry Manock developed the design of Apple II's foam-molded plastic case, Rod Holt developed the switching power supply, while Steve Jobs's role in the design of the computer was limited to overseeing Jerry Manock's work on the plastic case. It was introduced by Jobs and Wozniak at the 1977 West Coast Computer Faire, and marks Apple's first launch of a personal computer aimed at a consumer market—branded toward American households rather than businessmen or computer hobbyists. ''Byte'' magazine referred to the Apple II, Commodore PET 2001, and TRS-80 as the "1977 Trinity". As the Apple II had the defining feature of being able to display color graphics, the Apple logo was redesigned to have a spectrum of colors. The Apple II is the first model in the Apple II series, followed by Apple ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Puzzle Video Game
Puzzle video games make up a broad genre of video games that emphasize puzzle solving. The types of puzzles can test problem-solving skills, including logic, pattern recognition, sequence solving, spatial recognition, and word completion. History Puzzle video games owe their origins to brain teasers and puzzles throughout human history. The mathematical strategy game Nim, and other traditional, thinking games, such as Hangman and Bulls and Cows (commercialized as ''Mastermind''), were popular targets for computer implementation. Universal Entertainment's ''Space Panic'', released for the arcades in 1980, is a precursor to later puzzle-platform games such as Apple Panic (1981), ''Lode Runner'' (1983), ''Door Door'' (1983), and ''Doki Doki Penguin Land'' (1985). ''Blockbuster'', by Alan Griesemer and Stephen Bradshaw (Atari 8-bit, 1981), is a computerized version of the Rubik's Cube puzzle. ''Snark Hunt'' (Atari 8-bit, 1982) is a single-player game of logical deduction, a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Puzzle Video Game
Puzzle video games make up a broad genre of video games that emphasize puzzle solving. The types of puzzles can test problem-solving skills, including logic, pattern recognition, sequence solving, spatial recognition, and word completion. History Puzzle video games owe their origins to brain teasers and puzzles throughout human history. The mathematical strategy game Nim, and other traditional, thinking games, such as Hangman and Bulls and Cows (commercialized as ''Mastermind''), were popular targets for computer implementation. Universal Entertainment's ''Space Panic'', released for the arcades in 1980, is a precursor to later puzzle-platform games such as Apple Panic (1981), ''Lode Runner'' (1983), ''Door Door'' (1983), and ''Doki Doki Penguin Land'' (1985). ''Blockbuster'', by Alan Griesemer and Stephen Bradshaw (Atari 8-bit, 1981), is a computerized version of the Rubik's Cube puzzle. ''Snark Hunt'' (Atari 8-bit, 1982) is a single-player game of logical deduction, a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Armchair Treasure Hunt
''Scavenger Hunt'' is a 1979 American comedy film with a large ensemble cast which includes Richard Benjamin, James Coco, Scatman Crothers, Ruth Gordon, Cloris Leachman, Cleavon Little, Roddy McDowall, Robert Morley, Richard Mulligan, Tony Randall, Dirk Benedict, Willie Aames, Stephanie Faracy, Stephen Furst and Richard Masur. The film was directed by Michael Schultz, and released by 20th Century Fox. It includes an appearance by Arnold Schwarzenegger, and features cameos by Meat Loaf and Vincent Price. Filming took place in and around San Diego, California, incorporating local landmarks such as Balboa Park (San Diego), Balboa Park and the Medico-Dental Building, Centre City Building. Plot Milton Parker (Vincent Price), an eccentric game inventor, dies after losing a video game with his nurse (Carol Wayne). Parker's greedy and estranged relatives show up at his mansion for the reading of his will. Lawyer Charles Bernstein (Robert Morley) tells them the winner of a scavenger hunt ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Space Gamer
''The Space Gamer'' was a magazine dedicated to the subject of science fiction and fantasy board games and tabletop role-playing games. It quickly grew in importance and was an important and influential magazine in its subject matter from the late 1970s through the mid-1980s. The magazine is no longer published, but the rights holders maintain a web presence using its final title ''Space Gamer/Fantasy Gamer''. History ''The Space Gamer'' (''TSG'') started out as a digest quarterly publication of the brand new Metagaming Concepts Metagaming Concepts, later known simply as Metagaming, was a company that published board games from 1974 to 1983. It was founded and owned by Howard Thompson, who designed the company's first game, '' Stellar Conquest''. The company also inven ... company in March 1975. Howard M. Thompson, the owner of Metagaming and the first editor of the magazine, stated "The magazine had been planned for after our third or fourth game but circumstances demand ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Steve Jackson Games
Steve Jackson Games (SJGames) is a game company, founded in 1980 by Steve Jackson, that creates and publishes role-playing, board, and card games, and (until 2019) the gaming magazine ''Pyramid''. History Founded in 1980, six years after the creation of ''Dungeons & Dragons'', SJ Games created several role-playing and strategy games with science fiction themes. SJ Games' early titles were microgames initially sold in 4×7 inch ziploc bags, and later in the similarly sized Pocket Box. Games such as ''Ogre'', ''Car Wars'', and ''G.E.V'' (an ''Ogre'' spin-off) were popular during SJ Games' early years. Game designers such as Loren Wiseman and Jonathan Leistiko have worked for Steve Jackson Games. Today SJ Games publishes a variety of games, such as card games, board games, strategy games, and in different genres, such as fantasy, sci-fi, and gothic horror. They also published the book ''Principia Discordia'', the sacred text of the Discordian religion. Raid by the Secret S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Interface Age
''Interface Age'', "published for the home computerist", was a computer magazine aimed at the early microcomputer and home computer market. Its first issue was published in August 1976 and the last one in September 1984. It had a technical focus for most of its print run. The magazine started as the newsletter of the Southern California Computer Society, ''SCCS Interface'', which was first published in December 1975. Its publisher, Robert S. Jones, offered to turn it into a professionally produced magazine and established an agreement with the SCCS in which the SCCS would provide a substantial part of the content of the magazine, while Jones would bear the costs of publishing and marketing, with the SCCS sharing in the profits. However, SCCS failed to produce a necessary flow of content, with Jones eventually providing all of the content through his own writers and columnists. Jones ended all connection with the SCCS, and the magazine became simply ''Interface Age''. Its first issu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1981 Video Games
Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensive, gaining control of most of Morazán and Chalatenango departments. * January 15 – Pope John Paul II receives a delegation led by Polish Solidarity leader Lech Wałęsa at the Vatican. * January 20 – Iran releases the 52 Americans held for 444 days, minutes after Ronald Reagan is sworn in as the 40th President of the United States, ending the Iran hostage crisis. * January 21 – The first DeLorean automobile, a stainless steel sports car with gull-wing doors, rolls off the production line in Dunmurry, Northern Ireland. * January 24 – An earthquake of magnitude in Sichuan, China, kills 150 people. Japan suffers a less serious earthquake on the same day. * January 25 – In South Africa the largest part of the town La ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Apple II Games
An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple fruit tree, trees are agriculture, cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, where its wild ancestor, ''Malus sieversii'', is still found today. Apples have been grown for thousands of years in Asia and Europe and were brought to North America by European colonization of the Americas, European colonists. Apples have Religion, religious and mythology, mythological significance in many cultures, including Norse mythology, Norse, Greek mythology, Greek, and Christianity in Europe, European Christian tradition. Apples grown from seed tend to be very different from those of their parents, and the resultant fruit frequently lacks desired characteristics. Generally, apple cultivars are propagated by clonal grafting onto rootstocks. Apple trees grown without rootstocks tend to be larger and much slower to fruit after plantin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Apple II-only Games
An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple trees are cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, where its wild ancestor, ''Malus sieversii'', is still found today. Apples have been grown for thousands of years in Asia and Europe and were brought to North America by European colonists. Apples have religious and mythological significance in many cultures, including Norse, Greek, and European Christian tradition. Apples grown from seed tend to be very different from those of their parents, and the resultant fruit frequently lacks desired characteristics. Generally, apple cultivars are propagated by clonal grafting onto rootstocks. Apple trees grown without rootstocks tend to be larger and much slower to fruit after planting. Rootstocks are used to control the speed of growth and the size of the resulting tree, allowing for easier harvesting. There are more th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
