magisterrex Retro Game of the Week – The Secret of Monkey Island (1990)

It’s very difficult to write a blog that focuses on the best retro games without reminding everyone about the gaming joy that was The Secret of Monkey Island, released by LucasArts Entertainment in 1990, to rave reviews from both game critics and the gaming community as a whole.

The Secret of Monkey Island cover art.

Monkey Island was an adventure game wherein the player assumed the role of young Guybrush Threepwood, a wannabe pirate looking for the way to become one of the pirate fraternity.  The Pirate Leaders give him three tasks: Defeat the island’s Swordmaster, Carla, in insult sword fighting; steal a statue from the Governor’s mansion; and find buried treasure.  Along the way he will meet a cast of wacky characters, while finding both true love with the beautiful and intrepid Elaine Marley, and a bitter, lifelong enemy with the ghost pirate LeChuck.

The Secret of Monkey Island insult sword fighting.

The quest process is one of the great strengths of Monkey Island: non-linear story telling.  It does not matter what order Guybrush completes his tasks in, so a player never feels unduly railroaded through the plot, and can explore the game world at will.  Another key strength that makes this work is that Guybrush does not die as a result of a wrong course of action.  Even jumping off a cliff cannot do our hapless hero in, which frees the player to try unusual actions in any circumstance, just to see whether the game programmers anticipated it.  (Actually, there is one way for Guybrush to expire – and only one – in the game, which involves hanging around for longer than 10 minutes underwater.)

Guybrush Threepwood is running out of time...

The guiding force behind The Secret of Monkey Island was Ron Gilbert, who based the game’s ambience and feel upon his experience at the Disneyland attraction Pirates of the Caribbean, as well as on the novel On Stranger Tides, by Tim Powers, which was the inspiration for many of the game’s characters.  He went to the point of writing a series of short stories based on his ideas for Monkey Island, which he used to help convey the spirit of game to his creative partners, Tim Schaffer and Ron Grossman.  All three used the stories as a blueprint for creating the game, and as a place marker for keeping the project vision focused.

Another tight spot for Guybrush.

The Secret of Monkey Island used LucasArts’ SCUMM engine, and the fifth such game to do so.  Players interacted with the game environment by choosing a verb and an object to interact with, and the game would provide a response.  Examples of the kinds of commands are LOOK AT, GIVE, PICK UP, OPEN, CLOSE, TALK TO, PUSH, PULL, and USE.  Part of the fun of Monkey Island is to see how many responses are programmed into the game depending on what actions you choose!

It's the Pirate Life for me!

The Secret of Monkey Island migrated to several platforms: MS-DOS, Macintosh, Atari ST, Commodore Amiga, FM Towns, and Sega CD.  It was a smash hit for LucasArts, thus guaranteeing a sequel – Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge – which was also a huge seller.  In fact, the Monkey Island franchise has had many sequels: The Curse of Monkey Island, Escape From Monkey Island, and the various Tales of Monkey Island Chapters.  Its popularity continues today with the downloadable Secret of Monkey Island Special Edition release.  Gamers just keep coming back the Monkey Island universe, a sure sign of a classic gaming franchise!

The Best Classic Board Games – Careers (1955-2009)

Fame. Fortune. Happiness.  Those were the three goals that the player had to achieve, with a total of 60 points to be divided between them, as each player chose their own combination as their ultimate career achievement (if only real life was that simple!).  The first player to reach their three-part goal won the game.  Of course, being a Parker Brothers game, things get a tad more complex with other game elements, including special game board spaces and unique situations presented by Experience and Opportunity cards, that altered game play.

The box front for the 1955 Careers game.

Careers was developed by noted sociologist Dr. James Cook Brown, who also happened to be a science fiction author (he wrote The Troika Incident) and inventor of the artificial language, Loglan.  Dr. Brown designed Careers to be an answer to the what he perceived as the 1950s focus on greed and monetary-based self worth.  Careers encourages players to think beyond just making money, and instead consider that being successful in life has many paths and aspects.  He later redesigned the game to include “enlightenment”, “virtue”, and “power”, but these were not also adopted by the game’s publishers as it transformed Careers from a family game into a game for adults.

There have been several versions of Careers through the years, starting in 1955, with new versions coming out in 1965, 1971, 1976, 1979, 1990, 1992, 1997, 2003, and 2008.  With each version came changes to the career choices, box art, contents, and even publisher, but the game mechanic stayed basically the same. (There have also been several non-North American releases, but this article will only discuss Careers games that were sold in Canada and the United States.)

The box front for the 1965 Careers game.

The game was first published by Parker Brothers in 1955.  The original version of Careers featured occupations in Farming, Big Business, at Sea, Uranium Prospecting (really!), Politics, Hollywood, or an Expedition to the Moon (space program).  Players could also get college degrees in Law, Medicine, Engineering, Science, or a general College Degree.  With luck, players could achieve a salary base as high as $19,000 a year!  The 1958 version added reuseable score pads, but those vanished with the 1965 version, which also used the same occupations, but different box art.  The 1955 box art was spectacularly gaudy, and the 1965 version was much more understated. The game board reflected the tenor of the times, with spaces like “Gorgeous Secretary 4 ♥” in the Big Business path or “Shopping Spree” in the main path, where you find out how much your wife spent!

The box front for the 1971 Careers game.

A few short years later, Parker Brothers released a new version of Careers, this time with slightly different occupations: Ecology, Big Business, Teaching, Politics, The Arts, Sports, and Space.  The college education degrees were the same, as was the potential salary level.  The box art changed once again, this time reflecting the spirit of the decade, as did the new look for the play money and Experience and Opportunity card decks. One look at a 1971 Careers game box and you know which decade it’s from!  The 1976 release contained identical pieces and game play to the 1971 version, with a new yellow colored box. Of the two, the 1976 version is much more difficult to find.  Incidentally, the “Gorgeous Secretary 4 ♥” square was replaced by “Lunch with Secretary 4 ♥”, while the “Shopping Spree” flavor text was removed altogether.

The box front for the 1976 Careers game.

In 1979 the game was altered once again, with some of the occupations dropped, the game simplified, and new box art.  This version of Careers had Sports, Show Biz, Big Business, Politics, and Space as occupations (what happened to Ecology?).  Players earned University degrees – not college degrees – in Physical Education, Business, Science, or Law.  The game board was much less detailed, almost as if Parker Brothers were attempting to “dumb down” the gaming experience.  As an aside, any mention of having a secretary was removed from the Big Business path, and replaced with “Given Larger Office 4 ♥”.  The times, they were a-changing.

The box front for the 1979 Careers game.

A relatively unknown version of Careers was the 1990 release of Careers for Girls.  This abysmal game failed both in its mission to prepare girls for their life career choices and to provide an interesting game to play, with choices of Super Mom, Rock Star, School Teacher, Rock Star, Fashion Designer, or Animal Doctor.  This version is best forgotten, unless you’re in the mood to experience mind-numbing awfulness.  But I digress.

The box front for the 1990 Careers for Girls game.

The game disappeared of the gaming radar screen in the 1980s, but returned under a new publisher – Irwin Toys – in 1992.  This version brought back Ecology as an occupation, as well as Big Business, Politics, Entertainment, Teaching, Sports, and Computer Science.    The “Given Larger Office 4 ♥” was replaced with “Transferred to Hawaii 4 ♥” which you would think was surely worth more than four hearts.  The whole presentation had a much cheaper feel than past incarnations, with poorer quality game cards and board art. I’d pass on this version, too.

The box front for the 1992 Careers game.

Pressman Toys brought out a version of Careers in 1997 that was a mashup of several previous releases, with career choices of Big Business, Ecology, Entertainment, Expedition to Mars, Politics, Computer Programming, and Sailing.  The board is a throwback to the 1971 version, and gameplay is the same.  This is a good non-Parker Brothers release, and if you cannot locate a 1971 or 1976 copy, the 1997 version is a good substitute.

The box front for the 1997 Careers game.

Hasbro picked up the Parker Brothers brand name in a corporate acquisition in 1991, and released a new version of Careers in 2003.  This time the box was shrunk to half the original size, and the game board was much more colourful and laid out in a different fashion than previous versions.  Career paths included: Entertainment, Politics, Conservation, Teaching, Sports, and Big Business.  Not a bad version, but still not as enjoyable as the 1970s versions.

The box front for the 2003 Careers game.

The latest reissue of Careers brings the game full circle back to its 1955 roots.  Winning Moves Games has taken the original and brought it back to life, with career paths including Entertainment, Politics, Exploring, Farming, Expedition to the Moon, and Adventure at Sea.  College degrees include Law, Medicine, Engineering, Science, or a general College Degree, which is exactly like the original.  The game board is more colourful than the 1955 version, but it is not as gaudy as some of the other releases.  This is a good version to pick up if you can’t find an original, but bear in mind that it calls for only 2 to 4 players, not 2 to 6 like its predecessors.

The box front for the 2008 Careers game.

No matter which year or which version you play, the game is fairly straightforward to play.  Although there’s a lot going on in Careers, there’s not so much that only adults would enjoy it.  The game gives a minimum age of eight years old, which is, in my opinion, fine.  Although anywhere from 2 to 6 players can play (excepting the 2008 release), this is the kind of Parker Brothers board game that begs for maximum occupancy around the game board.  In other words, Careers is another highly recommended, classic board game. Enjoy!

magisterrex Retro Game of the Week – Companions of Xanth

Although many people remember Sierra and LucasArts for their incredible adventure games, other companies produced a few gems, too.  Legend Entertainment managed to procure the publishing rights to a slew of literary properties, including Frederik Pohl’s Gateway, Terry Brooks’ Shannara, Spider Robinson’s Callahan’s Crosstime Saloon, Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman’s The Death Gate Cycle, and Piers Anthony’s Xanth series, the focus of this game of the week blog entry, Companions of Xanth.

Companions of Xanth box art

Companions of Xanth was based on the best-selling, pun-filled Xanth series of fantasy fiction by Piers Anthony.  The game was based on – and further fleshed out – one of the books in the series, Demons Don’t Dream.  To emphasize the connection, the softcover novel was included in the box.  This 1993 game followed Dug, a Mundane from Mundania, as he competes in a world-shaking quest thrust upon his shoulders by the demons E(A/R)th and X(A/N)th.

Companions of Xanth in game image

Dug travels Xanth with a Companion who is there to try to keep him out of trouble as he has no experience with the magical dangers that Xanth is rife with.  When you begin the game you are offered a choice from four Companions: Nada Naga, Jenny Elf, Che Centaur, and the Demoness Metria.  Choosing any Companion other than Nada Naga results in a failed game, which irritated some gamers.

Companions of Xanth Companion choices

The game plays as a standard mouse controlled adventure game. You select what action you want to do from a list of verbs, then select the object with which you want to perform the action.  Unlike some Legend adventure games, there is no text input.  Inventory management is controlled by the mouse in a similar fashion, by selecting the object and then the action.  Graphics are crisp at 256 color VGA, with the player touring various scenic vistas of Xanthian beauty.

Companions of Xanth in-game screenshot

The “puzzles” in Companions of Xanth are not terribly difficult, and operate in typically twisted Xanth fashion. Those who cannot turn their hats backwards will find this terribly annoying, and simply won’t understand where they should be searching.  Some scenes are one puzzle wonders, which mirror the one-pun scenes in the novels. It pays to have read and enjoyed previous books in the Xanth series so you know what kind of logic applies.

Companions of Xanth - The Censor Ship (groan)

I quite enjoyed this game as it was fun to adventure in the magical world of Xanth.  It has a different vibe than some games, which can put some people off, but as far as I’m concerned, Companions of Xanth is a retro gaming classic!

The Best Classic Board Games – Dealer’s Choice (1972)

One of the more obscure board games from Parker Brothers’ past is the used car dealership game, Dealer’s Choice, released in 1972.  This game puts you in the shoes of the owner of a used car lot, and asks you to wheel and deal your way to the top of the food chain.  And you might as well check your ethics at the door; in this game, you won’t need them.

This is not a traditional Parker Brothers board game.  In fact, there is no game board at all.  Instead, a central wheel-shaped “organizer” holds all the cards and money for players to access on their turns.  Each player gets a “Blue Book” with secret vehicle values that they use to determine how much money they can make off the deal.  Each Blue Book has a different set of values in it, so no one knows what the other players are sitting on.  Players get “Auto” cards that have list book prices on them.  The difference between the list and Blue Books is the key dynamic on how the game is played.  Players buy and sell cars to both the bank and each other, each looking to come out ahead on the deal.

Dealer's Choice game from Parker Brothers.

Complicating matters are the “Dealer’s Choice” cards, which contain cards to make players buy or sell, cards that cause the loss of their cars due to theft, accident or fire (or insure them against such disasters), cards that cancel other cards, and even cards that temporarily close the lot to prevent a bad deal.

Some tense negotiations can result from the player-to-player car transactions.  No one trusts a used car salesman, especially one sitting across the table from you.  Sometimes an opponent might think that the asking price is more than the Blue Book value, and opt to “look under the hood.”  If this happens the seller must reveal their Blue Book value for the car, and if the suspicions are well founded, must sell the car at the Blue Book value plus give the buyer an additional $2,000 for being so darn dishonest.  But if the suspicions are wrong, and the seller’s Blue Book value is not more than the asking price, the buyer must now purchase the car at the Blue Book value and give $2,000 to the seller for being such a huge pain in the backside.

Contents of the 1972 Dealer's Choice game.

Fun as this game is, to all good things must come an ending.  For Dealer’s Choice, the game ends once all the cars are gone and at least one player’s lot is empty.  At that point the money is counted and the assets are liquidated for their Blue Book values, and the player with the most filthy lucre wins.

Dealer’s Choice requires a minimum of three players for negotiation purposes, and a maximum of five can play (there are only five Blue Books).  The minimum playing age is 10 years old, but I’d recommend even a little older due to all the accounting a player needs to be doing every turn.  This game is a lot of fun, and if you’ve ever wanted to simulate playing a sleazy used car dealer, there are few games that equal Dealer’s Choice!

magisterrex Retro Game of the Week – LOOM (1990)

Some classic games are more obscure than others, but are no less gaming gems than those games that inspired a multitude of sequels and imitators.  LOOM, a LucasFilm Games (the original name of LucasArts Entertainment) product, is one such game.

The front cover of the PC game, LOOM.

Released in 1990, LOOM contained a complex plot involving the fate of the universe resting upon the shoulders of one gifted man-child who is the last practitioner of an ancient guild of magicians called the Weavers.  The plot was so complex, in fact, that the preamble goes on for 30 minutes.  You read that right.  Originally a cassette tape was included so you could listen to the audio drama before starting the game. In the later CD-ROM version, the audio file was included on the CD.

The classic retro game LOOM begins!

Bobbin Threadbare, the aforementioned only surviving member of the Guild of Weavers, must learn the ways of his craft.  This is not a simple adventure game; players don’t simply point and click their way to the grand finale.  In LOOM, magic is music and music is magic.  Bobbin can cast spells, but only as musical sequences on the C Major scale, and only if he possesses his “distaff,” a combination walking stick and wizard’s staff. Much of the game revolves around Bobbin seeking new “drafts” – the magical musical sequences – for him to use in his quest to save the universe from a “grey strand” that has unbalanced creation.

The Practice Mode of LOOM.

This game is pure delight from beginning to finish.  I loved the musical element and complete departure from the standard LucasArts adventure fare that this game provided.  The puzzles weren’t all that challenging, but different enough to be memorable.  The graphics were good for the time, also.  But most importantly, you couldn’t die or be returned to the beginning of the game for a simple mistake, making LOOM the first game to follow the LucasArts game design philosophy.

Standard Mode for LOOM

The game featured three challenge levels: Standard, Practice, and Expert, all relating to how the player learns the new scripts (spells) as they play.  With Practice mode, players could see the letters for the notes that were played. Standard mode takes away the letters on the notes, but instead the distaff glows when the notes are played.  Toughest of all – the Expert mode – removes both the glowing distaff and the musical letters, forcing the player to “play by ear” repeating the spells without the aid of any graphical representation.

Expert Mode for LOOM

Although this is a definitely a one-of-a-kind game, its creator, Brian Moriarty, claims that it was originally intended to be the first of a trilogy.  The sequel, Forge, would have followed Rusty Nailbender of the Guild of Blacksmiths in his fight to free his home from the evil of Chaos.  Following that would have been The Fold, wherein Fleece Firmflanks (I’m not making this up!) must restore the all the guilds to their former glory.  Alas, the sequels were not meant to be, and LOOM remains the unique game that it is today.

This is a fabulous piece of retro gaming history, and one of the most sought-after PC games for most collectors.  If you have a chance to play it, do so.  You won’t regret your time spent saving the world!