only if the writing machine
is surrounded by the hidden ghosts of the individual and of his society.

To all intents and purposes, then, ‘Advent’
had invented a new category of computer program and of literature. The
aim was to explore, with five treasures hidden below and only a few of
the more “natural” puzzles as obstacles, such as the snake,
the dwarves and pirate, the first of the mazes and the limited battery
span of the caver's essential companion, the carbide lamp. Like the
real Bedquilt, the simulation has a map on about four levels of depth
and is rich in geological detail:

YOU ARE IN A SPLENDID CHAMBER THIRTY FEET HIGH. THE WALLS
ARE FROZEN RIVERS OF ORANGE STONE. AN AWKWARD CANYON AND A GOOD PASSAGE
EXIT FROM EAST AND WEST SIDES OF THE CHAMBER.

There are photographs offound to be a “friendly” computer for recreational
use, but more to the point it was a time-sharing computer on which
individual users could run programs much larger and more complex than
traditional games like the PDP-1's ‘Spacewar!’. With Crowther's
eventual blessing, but working entirely independently, Woods reworked
the caves and stocked them with magical items and puzzles, liberally
ignoring the original style from time to time. Much of the game's classic
quality comes from the tension between the original simulation, the
earnestly discovered caves with their mysterious etched markings and
spectacular chambers, and the cartoonish additions – the troll
bridge, the giant's house, the Oriental Room, the active volcano.
Crowther contributed an austere, Tolkienesque feel, in which magic is
scarce, and a well-judged geography, especially around the edges of the
map: the outside forests and gullies, the early rubble-strewn caves,
the