How many people played Game Books?

[direstraits]

A long time ago, there was this breed of books that was written in such a way where the reader is given choices as to the actions the reader wants the hero/heroine of the story to take. The book is written in numbered sections, and at the end of each section, the reader selects one of a number of given choices, with each action corresponding to another numbered section. In effect, the reader carves her own story.

It was quite popular for a time, and although they still exist now, they are nowhere as popular now as they were maybe 15 years ago.

How many of you have played game books before, and what did you play?

I had a few Choose Your Own Adventure books, I had Joe Dever's Lone Wolf books, even a couple of series that pits two players against each other (there are two books that are related, and each player holds one and pits them against each other). I had a good collection, but I'd have to check my library now to recall them all.

The reason I brought this up is because I came across this article, where it says they are reprinting some of the Choose Your Own Adventure books. Made me quite nostalgic.

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[theoptimist]

When I was younger I, along with the rest of the Nation read the Goosebumps books, there was a few 'game books' which I enjoyed, as well as the normal books.

 

[direstraits]

Wait... are Goosebumps books gamebooks, though?

ds

 

[theoptimist]

There was about 7 or 8 Goosebumps game books, where it says something like turn to page 27 if you want a burger, page 99 if you want to slay a dragon or page 277 if you're bored and want the book to end . . .

Maybe I'm talking about a completely different type of game book? I'm not sure, these just came to mind

 

[Stewart]

I read many of the Fighting Fantasy books but I wouldn't say I played them as I wasn't nerdy enough to carry two dice around with me. So I just cheated and said I won rather than keep track of stamina and skill and all other nonsense.

 

[direstraits]

theoptimist -yeah, those are gamebooks alright. I didn't know Goosebumps were gamebooks too.

Stewart - I did the exact same thing - I simply assumed I'd win all encounters - who's gonna check? Not that I didn't try rolling the dice - I simply found the whole procedure tiresome.

I had Fighting Fantasy too, just a couple of books, but they were not the best. The Lone Wolf series and a four parter called Greystar was better, both by Dever. I also had the Ninja series - that was cool too.

ds

 

[dragondrool]

I remember when Choose Your Own Adventure books first came out. In terms of popularity, they were our Harry Potter for a while. I read all kinds of them. There was a knockoff series I read a few of, too. I don't remember the "name" of them. I want to say "Which Way Books", but I don't think that's right.

 

[MonkeyCatcher]

When I was younger I had a few "Choose Your Own Adventure" books, and like theoptimist, I had a few Goosebumps ones (I think they were called "Goosebumps 2000" or something. All I know for sure is that they had glittery covers).

My brother had a couple of the "Fighting Fantasy" ones, I would play them occasionaly. I did use the dice, but there was really no point because I just cheated by rolling until I got numbers that were satisfactory.

 

[steffee]

Am I the only person who does not have a clue what these books with games and dice are, at all? I've vaguely heard of Goosebumps but have no idea what they involved, only that the school library stocked them.

I read classics as a teen / preteen (no, really!). Okay, and Sweet Valley High, and Point Horror. Oh, and er, Enid Blyton before that.

So can somebody please explain?

 

[direstraits]

stef... they go like this. Remember they are not sequential, read only the numbered sections corresponding to the action you want to take.

*****************************************************
1. Bleary-eyed, you blink into consciousness. The only thing you see is pitch black darkness. Your ears seem to amplify the sounds surrounding you: crickets chirping, leaves rustling in the soft breeze, the distant sounds of a passing train. Slowly your eyes adjust to the darkness, and you realize you're in the middle of an abandoned warehouse, derelict and bare.
If you wish to scream at the top of your lungs, go to 2.
If you want to meditate on your situation to see if some clue falls out of the sky, go to 3.
If you explore your surroundings, despite the fact that you are naked (you just realized that), go to 4.

2. You let a out a great scream that you hadn't known you had it in you. Unfortunately, you've woken up a gang of vampires who were trying to sleep. "Woken the dead, have ya?" You realize that you're in Scotland.
If you try to fight them, go to 5.
If you try to crack a Scottish joke about kilts, go to 6.
If you pretend that you are a vampire also, go to 7.

3. As you wait, you noticed there is a sound directly above you. You look up, but see nothing. You are anxious, but decide to wait just that little bit longer. However, the darkness, while amplifying your hearing, has dulled your other senses. The sound was the sound of groaning metal, as a huge steel pipe dislodged from its fittings and crush you underneath. You are dead.

4. Now how did I get here, and how did I get here naked? You scrummage through the place, finding nothing but old furniture and the occasional copies of Martha Stewart Living magazine scattered throughout. Out of a collapsed bookshelf, a goblin jumps out, baring it's fangs at you. Its breath was out of this world, and you decide to knock its teeth out.
Goblin
Health:5
Attack:1
Roll a dice. Doesn't matter what you get, you're gonna cheat anyway.

If you survive the encounter, go to x.
If you did not, go to y.

5. Etc, etc, etc

*****************************************************
Well, stef, imagine a whole book structured in such a manner, with proper themes and less hysterical. Sometime with pictures too.

ds

 

[Zolipara]

I read several of these when i was younger but i cant remember a single title. I dont remember using dice to decide any actions either it was mainly just directing the actions of the hero. I used to follow most of the paths to see what happened.

 

[steffee]

stef... they go like this. Remember they are not sequential, read only the numbered sections corresponding to the action you want to take.

No. I couldn't.

2. You let a out a great scream that you hadn't known you had it in you. Unfortunately, you've woken up a gang of vampires who were trying to sleep. "Woken the dead, have ya?" You realize that you're in Scotland.
If you try to fight them, go to 5.
If you try to crack a Scottish joke about kilts, go to 6.
If you pretend that you are a vampire also, go to 7.

3. As you wait, you noticed there is a sound directly above you. You look up, but see nothing. You are anxious, but decide to wait just that little bit longer. However, the darkness, while amplifying your hearing, has dulled your other senses. The sound was the sound of groaning metal, as a huge steel pipe dislodged from its fittings and crush you underneath. You are dead.

I'm dead? Nooooo!!

4. Now how did I get here, and how did I get here naked?

But I died in number three.

Just kidding, thanks direstraits, you have a talent for this!

*****************************************************
Well, stef, imagine a whole book structured in such a manner, with proper themes and less hysterical. Sometime with pictures too.

Well yay! Pictures too? Oh yay again!

 

[Poppy1]

stef... they go like this. Remember they are not sequential, read only the numbered sections corresponding to the action you want to take.

*****************************************************
1. Bleary-eyed, you blink into consciousness. The only thing you see is pitch black darkness. Your ears seem to amplify the sounds surrounding you: crickets chirping, leaves rustling in the soft breeze, the distant sounds of a passing train. Slowly your eyes adjust to the darkness, and you realize you're in the middle of an abandoned warehouse, derelict and bare.
If you wish to scream at the top of your lungs, go to 2.
If you want to meditate on your situation to see if some clue falls out of the sky, go to 3.
If you explore your surroundings, despite the fact that you are naked (you just realized that), go to 4.

2. You let a out a great scream that you hadn't known you had it in you. Unfortunately, you've woken up a gang of vampires who were trying to sleep. "Woken the dead, have ya?" You realize that you're in Scotland.
If you try to fight them, go to 5.
If you try to crack a Scottish joke about kilts, go to 6.
If you pretend that you are a vampire also, go to 7.

3. As you wait, you noticed there is a sound directly above you. You look up, but see nothing. You are anxious, but decide to wait just that little bit longer. However, the darkness, while amplifying your hearing, has dulled your other senses. The sound was the sound of groaning metal, as a huge steel pipe dislodged from its fittings and crush you underneath. You are dead.

4. Now how did I get here, and how did I get here naked? You scrummage through the place, finding nothing but old furniture and the occasional copies of Martha Stewart Living magazine scattered throughout. Out of a collapsed bookshelf, a goblin jumps out, baring it's fangs at you. Its breath was out of this world, and you decide to knock its teeth out.
Goblin
Health:5
Attack:1
Roll a dice. Doesn't matter what you get, you're gonna cheat anyway.

If you survive the encounter, go to x.
If you did not, go to y.

5. Etc, etc, etc

*****************************************************
Well, stef, imagine a whole book structured in such a manner, with proper themes and less hysterical. Sometime with pictures too.

ds

ROTFL. This has got to be a ds original. And what did you say you did for a job again?

 

[tartan_skirt]

I remember the Goosebumps ones. I used to borrow them from my brother all the time. Must go up to the attic and see if I can rescue them...
The Goosebumps ones weren't exactly the same as the others by the sound of it. The ones I had may have been called "Choose You Own Scare" or Nightmare or something along those lines. You just chose your own way through the story, no dice involved.

 

[Gem]

I was unfortunately nerdy enough to keep track of my stamina/luck etc points. I didn't carry the dice around - but i had devised a system of flicking pages open and then seeing what the first number on the page was

I recently bought a boxset of the Fighting Fantasy Sorcery series for my um nephew..cough cough and there are small pictures of dices on each page so that you can do the flicking through thing.

 

[MonkeyCatcher]

I read several of these when i was younger but i cant remember a single title. I dont remember using dice to decide any actions either it was mainly just directing the actions of the hero. I used to follow most of the paths to see what happened.

The dice were used in books that were similar to those already described, except instead of the book deciding weither you won a fight or not you would roll dice to decide the outcome of fights (along with other things eg weither you were to have 'good luck' or 'bad luck' in certain events).

 

[direstraits]

ROTFL. This has got to be a ds original. And what did you say you did for a job again?

I don't know, actually. I think I whine better than most, though.

I recently bought a boxset of the Fighting Fantasy Sorcery series for my um nephew..cough cough and there are small pictures of dices on each page so that you can do the flicking through thing.

Hey, that's cool! Let's not have gamebooks induce coughs. In fact, I just went to Amazon, and was dismayed at the reality that some of the best gamebooks I had for which I don't have the whole series is no longer available for purchase anymore, unless you go to second hand online bookstores, apparently. I think even then they'd only have a couple of pages just clipped together with a stapler - it's so out of print and out of demand that finding a whole copy is probably impossible.

ds

 

[Dogmatix]

Oh my gosh. I never would have remembered game books had you not brought them up. It was 4th grade for me and I loved those things! I would read them honest once, then just try all the choices. Those books were great fun. I don't remember any dice though. Different set I suppose or maybe we just played them different?

 

[direstraits]

Re dice: Some made use of them, and some didn't.

I found a really cool site: Project Aon. This site makes available almost all of Joe Dever's Lone Wolf series of books free of charge, with his permission. Go there for a nostalgic trip down memory lane.

This site includes the Lone Wolf spinoff series featuring Grey Star the Wizard, which was fuel to my teenage obsession with fantasy literature.

ds