[game_preservation] Hunt the Wumpus - 1972 or 1973?

[Henry Lowood]

Devin,

I probably should have mentioned: We have Liza's PCC papers here at 
Stanford.

Henry

Devin Monnens wrote:

> BTW, where is Jim Warren's and Liza Loop's contact information? I'm 

> not sure the sumeru.stanford.edu <http://sumeru.stanford.edu> 

> addresses are working...

>

> -Devin

>

> On Mon, Mar 22, 2010 at 12:27 PM, Devin Monnens <dmonnens at gmail.com 

> <mailto:dmonnens at gmail.com>> wrote:

>

>     Henry,

>

>     Indeed, that is the exact story that Yob tells in Creative

>     Computing. Hurkle, Snark, and Mugwump are available in the 101

>     BASIC Computer Games (well, Hurkle and Mugwump are...). He

>     disliked that they were played on cartesian grids. Wumpus 2 plays

>     around with all different kinds of maps, but that came out years

>     later. These games were 'published' in the February 1973 PCC

>     newsletter, but precious few of these newsletters seem to exist.

>     The 'Best of' collections don't list publication date, but if you

>     check the covers in the front of the book, it states 'Wumpus' very

>     clearly on the October/November 1975 issue.

>

>     http://www.atariarchives.org/bcc1/showpage.php?page=247

>

>     I'm also snagging a copy of What to do after you hit RETURN from

>     interlibrary loan. This is a collection of games made at the PCC;

>     book was published in 1977. Hopefully, it has more information.

>

>     -Devin

>

>

>     On Mon, Mar 22, 2010 at 12:18 PM, Henry Lowood

>     <lowood at stanford.edu <mailto:lowood at stanford.edu>> wrote:

>

>         Devin,

>

>         from word-of-mouth stories, I have the impression that he did

>         the work here, quickly (as you say) at the PCC.  In fact, part

>         of the story is that he noticed people playing certain kinds

>         of games at the PCC and thought that other topologies would be

>         intriguing.  But again, this is just an impression I have from

>         various conversations over the years. I have written about it

>         just a bit from the available sources, which from your account

>         must have been the same ones that you used.

>

>         You might try asking people like Liza Loop or Jim Warren, who

>         were around during the PCC days. They might know.

>

>         I was not aware of Yob's passing  nor his decision to be

>         cryofrozen.  Interesting.

>

>         Henry

>

>         Devin Monnens wrote:

>>         Wikipedia states that Hunt the Wumpus "was noticed on

>>         mainframe computers as early as 1972". However, in Gregory

>>         Yob's article for Creative Computing (published Oct/Nov

>>         1975), he states that he designed that game "about two years

>>         ago", placing it squarely in 1973. He says he dropped it off

>>         at the People's Computer Company and about one month

>>         afterward went to the Synergy Conference at Stanford (held

>>         May 9-13, 1973). This would mean he built the game probably

>>         in April 1973 - or at least dropped it off at PCC in late

>>         March, early April. From the way he tells the story, it

>>         sounds like he built it in one afternoon (which would make

>>         more sense if he was visiting out of state - though I can't

>>         get confirmation that he was a Dartmouth alumni because

>>         Wikipedia is the sole source of info - and I think there it's

>>         referencing Dot Eaters.). So...was this built on a teletype

>>         at Dartmouth in 1972 or in California in 1973?

>>

>>         Also...Greg Yob passed away in 2005, which I wasn't aware of.

>>         However, he has been cryofrozen and so when the technology

>>         becomes available, we can resurrect him and ask him more

>>         about Wumpus. I can envision people from the future

>>         resurrecting Yob to hunt real wumpuses (Wumpi?) that have

>>         infested the Arizona desert after the apocalypse.

>>

>>         -- 

>>         Devin Monnens

>>         www.deserthat.com <http://www.deserthat.com>

>>

>>         The sleep of Reason produces monsters.

>>         ------------------------------------------------------------------------

>>

>>         _______________________________________________

>>         game_preservation mailing list

>>         game_preservation at igda.org <mailto:game_preservation at igda.org>

>>         http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/game_preservation

>>           

>

>         -- 

>         Henry Lowood, Ph.D.

>         Curator for History of Science & Technology Collections;

>          Film & Media Collections

>         HRG, Green Library, 557 Escondido Mall

>         Stanford University Libraries

>         Stanford CA 94305-6004

>         650-723-4602; lowood at stanford.edu

>         <mailto:lowood at stanford.edu>; http://www.stanford.edu/~lowood

>         <http://www.stanford.edu/%7Elowood>

>

>         _______________________________________________

>         game_preservation mailing list

>         game_preservation at igda.org <mailto:game_preservation at igda.org>

>         http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/game_preservation

>

>

>

>

>     -- 

>     Devin Monnens

>     www.deserthat.com <http://www.deserthat.com>

>

>     The sleep of Reason produces monsters.

>

>

>

>

> -- 

> Devin Monnens

> www.deserthat.com <http://www.deserthat.com>

>

> The sleep of Reason produces monsters.

> ------------------------------------------------------------------------

>

> _______________________________________________

> game_preservation mailing list

> game_preservation at igda.org

> http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/game_preservation

>   


-- 
Henry Lowood, Ph.D.
Curator for History of Science & Technology Collections;
 Film & Media Collections
HRG, Green Library, 557 Escondido Mall
Stanford University Libraries
Stanford CA 94305-6004
650-723-4602; lowood at stanford.edu; http://www.stanford.edu/~lowood 
<http://www.stanford.edu/%7Elowood>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/game_preservation/attachments/20100322/3088a372/attachment.htm>