Which one first: a short gamebook
Printed gamebooks send the reader from numbered passage to numbered passage. Puffin published the first Fighting Fantasy title, The Warlock of Firetop Mountain, in 1982. This one has 10 passages and ends on a game.
1A free evening and a browser tab
You have a computer, a browser and some time. The 6 adventures in this book split 2 ways.
- If you would rather search rooms for clues and keys, turn to 2.
- If you would rather pick from a list and watch what happens, turn to 10.
2You would rather search
5 of the 6 are about looking hard at a scene. They differ in how long they ask of you.
3Something to come back to
2 games here keep going. One hands you a fresh room every day; the other is 1 strange place that remembers where you were.
4A case to solve
2 games here are about crimes. One draws them as comedy. The other is rated PEGI 12 for horror in its store edition.
5Your game is There Is No Game
KaMiZoTo’s comedy takes 10 to 15 minutes by Wikipedia’s account. It is free on Poki, where 551,836 votes gave it 4.41 of 5. Turn the sound on: a narrator does the talking.
6Your game is Daily Room Escape
The Article 19 Group’s game opens 1 new room each calendar day on CrazyGames. The App Store rates its iOS edition 4+, and CrazyGames flags no purchases. The HINT button shows a small video icon.
7Your game is TRACE
Colorbomb’s TRACE shuts you in a strange place and offers NEW GAME and RESUME. CrazyGames marks it desktop only, and it was last updated in October 2022. Rating: 8.7 over the last 6 months.
8Your game is Detective Loupe Puzzle
10x10games’ detective works through cases split into tasks, each a drawn scene with a question. It is free on Poki, with 4.23 of 5 from 128,210 votes. The crimes are drawn as comedy.
9Your game is Room Escape: Strange Case
Labeledman’s detective story about defiled graves is free on CrazyGames, rated 9.0 over the last 6 months. Google Play rates its Android edition PEGI 12 for horror and mild swearing.
10Your game is Escaping the Prison
PuffballsUnited’s prison break on Poki sets out 6 tools around a cake, and each click plays a short cartoon. Poki’s 3,269,130 votes give it 4.62 of 5. The paid Steam collection that includes it is rated 12 in Brazil and Germany.
The same choice without the gamebook
Clicked and short: There Is No Game. Clicked, a room a day: Daily Room Escape. Clicked, cartoon cases: Detective Loupe Puzzle. Clicked, desktop only: TRACE. Clicked and dark, 12 and over: Strange Case. Chosen from a list, a comic prison break: Escaping the Prison. The table sets the 6 side by side.
Where gamebooks fit in
The Warlock of Firetop Mountain was written by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone, illustrated by Russ Nicholson and published in 1982 by Puffin Books, Penguin’s children’s imprint. Its numbered passages and sudden bad endings are the paper ancestor of games such as Escaping the Prison, which is why the form is borrowed here.