Hunt the Wumpus

Baf's Guide

A faithful rendering of the earliest known IF game--even earlier than Colossal Cave--ported to Inform; it became famous when Ahl included it in his book of Basic programs. Essentially, you're wandering through a network of numbered caves, looking for the Wumpus; when it's nearby, you'll smell it, and you can try to kill it by shooting into one of the caves that's near you. If you wander into the same cave as the Wumpus, you die. Other hazards include bats--which pick you up and dump you somewhere else--and pits, which kill you. The interface is rather primitive--you can shoot, move, or quit at any given time--but what did you expect in 1972? The main innovation in this port is that you can choose the design of the cave--Moebius strip, dodecahedron, etc. Not much of a game, but good for a nostalgia trip. The port was inspired by Andrew Plotkin's Hunter, in Darkness, an altogether novel take on the original.

-- Duncan Stevens