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Cave Hunt- Author Unknown, Apple Microbee
https://www.microbee-mspp.org.au/wiki/tiki-index.php?page=Microbee+Program+Catalogue+-+A+to%C2%A0D I watched my older sisters play the game, or something very similarly named. It was played on an apple microbee computer from a tape deck. It was a conversational game unlike similar games from that era that only accept directions NSEW and Y/N. I learned how to spell 'Mosquito' from this game. The game held a spooky magic to me at the time even though it was just text on a black screen. -
The Amazing Bubble Gum Caper- by Jane o'Connor and Joyce Milton- Pick a Path books
A very short choose your own adventure style story aimed at small children with a few puzzles integrated into the book. The story is about following the weird guy called Iggy, who sells you bubblegum and baseball cards at the local newsstand, on an adventure. On one path your orange juice is spiked, and the different paths reveal Iggy to have different motives and identities. I remember liking it but also feeling unsettled by it. Overall the tone was silly, but had some pretty surreal endings. -
Adventure, ATARI, 1979
A video game where you must find a magical chalice and return it to your castle, avoiding/killing dragons, navigating mazes, and using tools to get what you need. You can only hold one thing at a time, and sometimes a bat comes along and swaps something you really need, or leaves your tool in an inaccessible place. The worst case scenario is that the bat tries to swap an actual dragon for your tool. This uncertainty in the gameplay made it a game I could play over and over. -
Castle of Lost Souls, Dave Morris and Yve Newenham
A spooky gamebook requiring dice that I found in a box of clearance books at a local library. It was the first branching narrative book I had seen that required dice to play. One of the authors Dave Morris makes RPGs and is a video game designer. He is still making gamebooks for both kids and adults. I'm pretty interested in reading some of his newer stuff like 'Heart of Ice' in the virtual reality series of gamebooks. -
Kirby's Dreamland Nintendo,
A video game that I think was packaged in with the cool looking x-ray gameboy I bought. My first real introduction to using a non- joystick controller for video games, and I liked the cute gameplay design. -
Munchkin
This game started boardgame nights with friends after we finished high school. It's a dice based card game by Steve Jackson and has a DnD inspired theme. -
Pandemic
This is the first cooperative board game I ever played with my friends and I loved it. -
Carcassone
I enjoy this game as something that inspires intense competitiveness. It is a tile based game where you decide the best placement of your pieces on a shared board. You can claim an area with a 'meeple' and the placement of meeple can lead to competition for an area. You can also frustrate your opponents' objectives by making their undisputed areas more difficult to complete, which serves a dual purpose of frustrating their ability to complete the area for points, and tying up their meeple. -
Civilization (III, V) Sid Meyer
First new game that I ever played on Steam because I liked what I saw from what my partner was playing. A bit too addictive for me to play regularly. -
Kingdomino
A tile based game I used to connect with my family during the pandemic in 2020, as an online version was available. It has a low barrier to entry in that it's has simple rules.
The domino style tiles represent land types but only have value if they contain one or more crowns, or are connected in a group of the same land type as crowns. You must form a kingdom out of these cards that fit within a 5 by 5, or 7 by 7 grid. It can introduce children to ideas about chance and multiplication. -
Sorcery! (I, II, III and IV) Inkle,
Based on a dice-based Steve Jackson gamebook series I haven't yet read (but wish to read). They interpreted the gamebook design to a video game format while retaining a nostalgic feel. The economy system of the game relies upon a gambling dice game called 'swindlestones', but the fighting mechanic became less chance based. Sorcery III also uses a time travel mechanic. -
Path of Exile
This is the first action roleplaying game I have really enjoyed. It's also the first game I have ever interacted in a gaming economy. The complexity of the skill tree is really exciting to me because it feels it feel like a creative and intellectual endeavour. I enjoy the complexity of the npc's storylines. I am not excellent at the game but it is one that my partner and I both enjoy playing. -
Disco Elysium
This was a really immersive and surreal game for me and I was really excited that first-person narrative arcs could translate so well into games. I enjoy the way that the story is told through the subconscious thoughts of the protagonist, and that the choices you make shape the person you can become. -
Wytchwood
You are an old witch but your spells are gone from your memory and a goat has eaten your spellbook. The goat tells you that you have a contract to collect souls for him and that it will allow you to recover your memory. You remember spells and ingredients as you need them and learn about the people whose souls the goat wants. It's ultimately relaxing, but I like the metaphorical storytelling within this game and the mild sense of unease/mystery not knowing the final motives of the goat.