Adventure

electronic game by Crowther [c. 1975]

Also known as: “Colossal Cave Adventure”

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July 16, 2026

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Adventure, created by Will Crowther around 1975, is a seminal text-based electronic game. It is considered the first of its kind and served as the prototype for interactive fiction. Players navigated a virtual world and solved puzzles by typing commands. This game laid the groundwork for later, more sophisticated text adventures like Zork.12

The genre evolved with graphic-based adventures, starting with games like King's Quest in the 1980s, which allowed players to interact with the game world through point-and-click interfaces. Action-adventure games, such as The Legend of Zelda and Tomb Raider, later combined exploration and puzzle-solving with more intense action sequences.1

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electronic game
Interactive fiction
…the 1970s was Will Crowther’s Colossal Cave Adventure, probably completed in 1977. Text-based games of its ilk have since been known commonly as electronic adventure games. Crowther combined his experiences exploring Kentucky’s Mammoth Cave system and playing Dungeons & Dragons-style role-playing games with fantasy themes reminiscent of J.R.R.
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…the 1970s was Will Crowther’s Colossal Cave Adventure, probably completed in 1977. Text-based games of its ilk have since been known commonly as electronic adventure games. Crowther combined his experiences exploring Kentucky’s Mammoth Cave system and playing Dungeons & Dragons-style role-playing games with fantasy themes reminiscent of J.R.R.
Read More

electronic adventure game
Text-based adventures
…adventure game was Will Crowther’s Adventure (c. 1975) for the Digital Equipment Corporation PDP-10 minicomputer. This text-based adventure is often referred to as interactive fiction, and it became the prototype for later games such as Zork (1977), which was written by students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for the…
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…adventure game was Will Crowther’s Adventure (c. 1975) for the Digital Equipment Corporation PDP-10 minicomputer. This text-based adventure is often referred to as interactive fiction, and it became the prototype for later games such as Zork (1977), which was written by students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for the…
Read More