Editing Hunt the Wumpus

{{short description|1973 video game}}
{{good article}}
{{Infobox video game
| title          = Hunt the Wumpus
| developer      = [[Gregory Yob]]
| designer       = <!-- no wikidata -->
| publisher      = [[People's Computer Company]]
| image          = Ti hunt the wumpus boxart.jpg
| caption        = Box art of the [[TI-99/4A]] version
| released       = 1973
| genre          = [[Adventure game|Adventure]]
| modes          = [[Single-player video game|Single-player]]
| platforms      = [[Personal computer|PC]] (multiple)
}}

'''''Hunt the Wumpus''''' is a [[text-based game|text-based]] [[adventure game]] developed by [[Gregory Yob]] in 1973. In the game, the player moves through a series of connected caves, arranged as the vertices of a [[dodecahedron]], as they hunt a monster named the Wumpus. The [[turns, rounds and time-keeping systems in games|turn-based]] game has the player trying to avoid fatal [[Glossary of video game terms#bottomless pit|bottomless pits]] and "super bats" that will move them around the cave system; the goal is to fire one of their "crooked arrows" through the caves to kill the Wumpus. Yob created the game in early 1973 due to his annoyance at the multiple [[hide-and-seek]] games set in caves in a grid pattern, and multiple variations of the game were sold via mail order by Yob and the [[People's Computer Company]]. The [[source code]] to the game was published in ''[[Creative Computing (magazine)|Creative Computing]]'' in 1975 and republished in ''The Best of Creative Computing'' the following year.

The game sparked multiple variations and expanded versions and was ported to several systems, including the [[TI-99/4A]] [[home computer]]. It has been cited as an early example of the [[survival horror]] genre, and was listed in 2012 on ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]''{{'}}s All-Time 100 greatest video games list. The Wumpus monster has appeared in several forms in media since 1973, including other video games, a novella, and ''[[Magic: The Gathering]]'' cards.

==Gameplay==
[[File:Hunt the Wumpus screenshot.jpg|right|220px|thumb|Gameplay of ''Hunt the Wumpus'', showing moving and shooting arrows]]
''Hunt the Wumpus'' is a [[text-based game|text-based]] [[adventure game]] set in a series of caves connected by tunnels. In one of the twenty caves is a "Wumpus", which the player is attempting to kill. Additionally, two of the caves contain bottomless pits, while two others contain "super bats" which will pick up the player and move them to a random cave. The game is [[turns, rounds and time-keeping systems in games|turn-based]]; each cave is given a number by the game, and each turn begins with the player being told which cave they are in and which caves are connected to it by tunnels. The player then elects to either move to one of those connected caves or shoot one of their five "crooked arrows", named for their ability to change direction while in flight. Each cave is connected to three others, and the system as a whole is equivalent to a [[dodecahedron]].<ref name="BOCC_247-248"/>

The caves are in complete darkness, so the player cannot see into adjacent caves; instead, upon moving to a new empty cave, the game describes if they can smell a Wumpus, hear a bat, or feel a draft from a pit in one of the connected caves. Entering a cave with a pit ends the game due to the player falling in, while entering the cave with the Wumpus startles it; the Wumpus will either move to another cave or remain and kill the player. If the player chooses to fire an arrow, they first select how many caves, up to five, that the arrow will travel through, and then enters each cave that the arrow moves through. If the player enters a cave number that is not connected to where the arrow is, the game picks a valid option at random. If the arrow hits the player while it is travelling, the player loses; if it hits the Wumpus, they win. If the arrow does not hit anything, then the Wumpus is startled and may move to a new cave; unlike the player, the Wumpus is not affected by super bats or pits. If the Wumpus moves to the player's location, they lose.<ref name="BOCC_247-248"/>

==Development==

In early 1973, [[Gregory Yob]] was looking through some of the games published by the [[People's Computer Company]] (PCC), and grew annoyed that there were multiple games, including ''Hurkle'' and ''[[Mugwump (video game)|Mugwump]]'', that had the player "hide and seek" in a 10 by 10 grid. Yob was inspired to make a game that used a non-grid pattern, where the player would move through points connected through some other type of topology. Yob came up with the name "Hunt the Wumpus" that afternoon, and decided from there that the player would traverse through rooms arranged in a non-grid pattern, with a monster called a Wumpus somewhere in them.
{{multiple image
 | align = right
 | total_width = 320
 | image1 = Hunt_the_Wumpus_map_3d.svg
 | image2 = Hunt_the_Wumpus_map.svg
 | footer =Yob designed the original ''Hunt the Wumpus'' map with the caves arranged as the vertices of a [[dodecahedron]] (left). They can also be mapped in two dimensions (right).
}}
Yob chose a dodecahedron because it was his favorite [[platonic solid]], and because he had once made a kite shaped like one. From there, Yob added the arrows to shoot between rooms, terming it the "crooked arrow" as it would need to change directions to go through multiple caves, and decided that the player could only sense nearby caves by smell, as a light would wake the Wumpus up. He then added the bottomless pits, and a couple days later the super bats. Finally, feeling that players would want to create a map, he made the cave map fixed and gave each cave a number. Yob later claimed that, to his knowledge, most players did not create maps of the cave system, nor follow his expected strategy of carefully moving around the system to determine exactly where the Wumpus was before firing an arrow. While playtesting the game, Yob found it unexciting that the Wumpus always stayed in one place, and so changed it to be able to move. He then delivered a copy of the game, written in [[BASIC]], to the PCC.<ref name="BOCC_247-248"/>

In May 1973, one month after he had finished coding the game, Yob went to a conference at [[Stanford University]] and discovered that in the section of the conference where the PCC had set up computer terminals, multiple players were engrossed in playing ''Wumpus'', making it, in his opinion, a hit game.<ref name="BOCC_247-248"/><ref name="SynergyDate"/> The PCC first mentioned the game in its newsletter in September as a "cave game" that would be available to order through them soon, and gave it a full two-page description in its next issue in November of the same year.<ref name="PCCsep73"/> Tapes containing ''Wumpus'' were sold via mail order by both the PCC and Yob himself.<ref name="BOCC_247-248"/><ref name="PCCnov73"/> The PCC description was republished along with [[source code]] in its book ''What to Do After You Hit Return'' in 1977, while a description of the game and its source code was published in ''[[Creative Computing (magazine)|Creative Computing]]'' in its October 1975 issue, and republished in ''The Best of Creative Computing'' the following year.<ref name="BOCC_247-248"/><ref name="BOCC2_244"/><ref name="return"/> It also appeared in other books of BASIC games, such as ''Computer Programs in BASIC'' in 1981.<ref name="CPiB"/>

==Legacy==
Multiple versions of ''Hunt the Wumpus'' were created and distributed after the game's release. Yob made ''Wumpus 2'' and ''Wumpus 3'', beginning immediately after finishing the original game, with ''Wumpus 2'' adding different cave arrangements and ''Wumpus 3'' adding more hazards.<ref name="BOCC_247-248"/><ref name="PCCjan75"/> The source code for ''Wumpus 2'' was published in ''Creative Computing'' and republished in ''The Best of Creative Computing 2'' (1977), along with a description of ''Wumpus 3''.<ref name="BOCC2_244"/> The PCC announced in the same November 1973 newsletter issue as it discussed the original game that a version from them titled ''Super Wumpus'' would be available soon, and listed it in its order catalog in its January 1974 issue under both that name and ''Wumpus 3''.<ref name="PCCnov73"/><ref name="PCCjan74"/> In 1978, a book titled ''Superwumpus'', by Jack Emmerichs, was published containing source code for both BASIC and [[assembly language]] versions of his unrelated version of ''Hunt the Wumpus''.<ref name="super"/>

In addition to the original BASIC games, versions of ''Hunt the Wumpus'' have been created for numerous other systems. Yob had seen or heard of versions in several languages, such as [[IBM RPG]] and [[Fortran]], by 1975.<ref name="BOCC_247-248"/> A version in [[C (programming language)|C]], written in November 1973 by [[Ken Thompson]], creator of the [[Unix]] operating system, was released in 1974; a later C version can still be found in the bsdgames package on modern [[Berkeley Software Distribution|BSD]] and [[Linux]] operating systems.<ref name="Thompson"/><ref name="Thompson74"/><ref name="Debian"/> In 1978, [[Danny Hillis]], working as a summer intern on the [[TMS9918]] graphics chip, wrote a graphical version of the game as a demonstration with the pattern of caves displayed as a torus instead of a dodecahedron, which was later published as a commercial game for the [[TI-99/4A]].<ref name="TI" /> In 1981, a version was released for the [[HP-41C]] calculator.<ref name="librach198102"/> 

''Hunt the Wumpus'' has been cited as an early example of a [[survival horror]] game; the book ''Vampires and Zombies'' claims that it was an early example of the genre, while the paper "Restless dreams in Silent Hill" states that "from a historical perspective the genre's roots lie in ''Hunt the Wumpus''".<ref name="Mueller"/><ref name="Kirkland2005"/> Other sources, however, such as the book ''The World of Scary Video Games'', claim that the game lacks elements needed for a "horror" game, as the player hunts rather than is hunted by the Wumpus, and nothing in the game is explicitly intended to frighten the player, making it more of an early adventure or puzzle game.<ref name="scarygames"/> Kevin Cogger of [[1Up.com]] claimed that ''Wumpus'', whether or not it is an adventure game, "introduced a number of concepts that would come to define the adventure genre", such as presenting the game from the perspective of the player-character, and non-grid-based map design.<ref name="1up"/> In 2012, ''Hunt the Wumpus'' was listed on ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]''{{'}}s All-Time 100 greatest video games list.<ref name="time"/>

The Wumpus monster has appeared in several different forms of media, such as several "Wumpus" creature cards in ''[[Magic: The Gathering]]'' including a "Hunted Wumpus",<ref name="mtg"/> video games such as ''[[M.U.L.E.]]''<ref name="mule"/> (1983),<!-- it's also in ''[[NetHack]]'' (1987) and maybe the original ''[[Hack (video game)|Hack]]'' (1984), but we need a source--> and [[Cory Doctorow]]'s 2011 novella ''[[Cory Doctorow#Fiction|The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow]]''.<ref name="Cory"/><!-- Discord's logo is named wumpus, but does not resemble the monster and a citation is needed to prove the link. --> The textbook ''[[Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach]]'', with editions published since 1995, uses a version of this game as one of the examples.<ref name="AIbook"/> An interactive audio-only version of the game was displayed by Jared Bendis as ''Treasure of the Wumpus in the Azimuth Cave'' at festivals in Ohio from 2011 to 2018, and an interactive touch screen version of the game, ''Return to Wumpus Cave'', was presented in 2022.<ref name="cleveland2011a"/><ref name="ideastream2012"/><ref name="azimuthcave"/>

==References==
{{reflist|refs=
<!-- Gameplay / Development -->
<ref name="BOCC_247-248">{{cite book |title=The Best of Creative Computing |volume=1 |editor-last=Ahl |editor-first=David |editor-link=David H. Ahl |publisher=[[Creative Computing (magazine)|Creative Computing Press]] |date=1976 |isbn=978-0-916688-01-1 |url=https://www.atariarchives.org/bcc1/showpage.php?page=247 |pages=247–248 |access-date=2018-05-11 |archive-date=2017-12-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171220171337/https://www.atariarchives.org/bcc1/showpage.php?page=247 |url-status=live}}</ref>
<ref name="SynergyDate">{{cite web |url=https://dynamics.org/SYNERGY/Synergy_History_to_1988.html |title=The History of Synergy |last=Altenberg |first=Lee |date=1988 |publisher=Lee Altenberg |access-date=2019-01-10 |archive-date=2016-08-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160821234252/http://dynamics.org/SYNERGY/Synergy_History_to_1988.html |url-status=live}}</ref>
<ref name="PCCsep73">{{cite magazine |title=Our Games: Past Present and Future |magazine=[[People's Computer Company|People's Computer Company Newsletter]] |publisher=People's Computer Company |url=https://purl.stanford.edu/sd114rg2966 |volume=2 |issue=1 |page=20 |date=September 1973 |access-date=2018-01-27 |archive-date=2020-11-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201114001607/https://purl.stanford.edu/sd114rg2966 |url-status=live}}</ref>
<ref name="PCCnov73">{{cite magazine |title=Hunt the Wumpus |magazine=[[People's Computer Company|People's Computer Company Newsletter]] |publisher=People's Computer Company |url=https://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/access/text/2017/09/102661095/102661095-05-v2-n2-acc.pdf |volume=2 |issue=2 |page=23 |date=November 1973 |access-date=2019-01-10 |archive-date=2024-07-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240718213758/https://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/access/text/2017/09/102661095/102661095-05-v2-n2-acc.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref>
<ref name="BOCC2_244">{{cite book |title=The Best of Creative Computing |volume=2 |editor-last=Ahl |editor-first=David |editor-link=David H. Ahl |publisher=[[Creative Computing (magazine)|Creative Computing Press]] |date=1977 |isbn=978-0-916688-03-5 |url=https://archive.org/details/bestofcreativeco00ahld/page/244 |page=[https://archive.org/details/bestofcreativeco00ahld/page/244 244] |url-access=registration}}</ref>
<ref name="return">{{cite book |title=What to Do After You Hit Return: A Computer Games Book from People's Computer Company |publisher=Hayden Book Company |author=People's Computer Company |date=1977 |pages=63–64 |isbn=<!--not found for the 1977 edition, only the 1980-->|author-link=People's Computer Company}}</ref>
<ref name="CPiB">{{cite book |title=Computer Programs in BASIC |last=Friedman |first=Paul |publisher=[[Prentice Hall]] |date=1981 |page=91 |isbn=978-0-13-165225-5}}</ref>

<!-- Legacy -->
<ref name="PCCjan75">{{cite magazine |title=Wumpus |magazine=[[People's Computer Company|People's Computer Company Newsletter]] |publisher=People's Computer Company |url=https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/tm228cf3459 |volume=3 |issue=3 |page=24 |date=January 1975 |access-date=2019-01-10 |archive-date=2019-01-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190110223143/https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/tm228cf3459 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
<ref name="PCCjan74">{{cite magazine |title=Order Form |magazine=[[People's Computer Company|People's Computer Company Newsletter]] |publisher=People's Computer Company |url=https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/tw627qp9263 |volume=2 |issue=3 |page=23 |date=January 1974 |access-date=2019-01-11 |archive-date=2016-01-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160101162725/https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/tw627qp9263 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
<ref name="super">{{cite book |title=Superwumpus |last=Emmerichs |first=Jack |date=1978 |publisher=[[Byte (magazine)|Byte Publications]] |isbn=978-0-931718-03-8}}<!--advertisement in Byte magazine: http://thedoteaters.com/?attachment_id=9284--></ref>
<ref name="Thompson">{{cite magazine |url=https://www.bell-labs.com/usr/dmr/www/ken-games.html |title=Ken, Unix, and Games |last=Ritchie |first=Dennis |author-link=Dennis Ritchie |magazine=[[ICGA Journal]] |publisher=International Computer Games Association |volume=24 |issue=2 |date=June 2001 |issn=1389-6911 |access-date=2019-01-11 |archive-date=2016-06-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160601063929/https://www.bell-labs.com/usr/dmr/www/ken-games.html |url-status=live}}</ref>
<ref name="Thompson74">{{cite book |title=Unix Programmer's Manual, Fifth Edition |first1=Ken |last1=Thompson |author-link1=Ken Thompson |first2=Dennis |last2=Ritchie |author-link2=Dennis Ritchie |url=https://www.tuhs.org/Archive/Distributions/Research/Dennis_v5/v5man.pdf |publisher=[[Bell Labs|Bell Telephone Laboratories]] |page=278 |date=June 1974 |access-date=2019-07-05 |archive-date=2019-04-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190414211525/https://www.tuhs.org/Archive/Distributions/Research/Dennis_v5/v5man.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref>
<ref name="Debian">{{cite web |url=http://packages.debian.org/stable/games/bsdgames |title=Package: bsdgames |website=Debian Packages |publisher=[[Software in the Public Interest]] |access-date=2018-11-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181106092341/https://packages.debian.org/stable/games/bsdgames |archive-date=2018-11-06 |url-status=live}}</ref>
<ref name="librach198102">{{cite magazine |url=https://archive.org/stream/byte-magazine-1981-03/1981_03_BYTE_06-03_Programming_Methods#page/n231/mode/2up |title=Hunt the Wumpus with Your HP-41C |magazine=[[Byte (magazine)|Byte]] |date=February 1981 |access-date=2013-10-18 |last=Librach |first=Hank |pages=230, 232 |publisher=[[UBM plc|UBM]] |issn=0360-5280 |volume=6 |issue=3}}</ref>
<ref name="TI">{{cite web |url=https://blog.codinghorror.com/the-history-of-wumpus/ |title=The History of Wumpus |date=2005-12-05 |last=Atwood |first=Jeff |author-link=Jeff Atwood |publisher=Coding Horror |access-date=2019-01-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160513203826/http://blog.codinghorror.com/the-history-of-wumpus/ |archive-date=2016-05-13 |url-status=live}}</ref>

<ref name="Mueller">{{cite book |last1=Fischer-Hornung |first1=Dorothea |last2=Mueller |first2=Monika |year=2016 |title=Vampires and Zombies: Transcultural Migration and Transnational Interpretations|publisher=[[University Press of Mississippi]] |page=235 |isbn=978-1-4968047-7-8 |quote=A comparatively well-established subgenre of the horror game, survival horror aims to create an experience of entrapment, persecution, tension, suspense, and discomfort. Traditionally, the protagonist of such games is an ordinary individual trapped in some isolated, monster-infested location . . . ''Hunt the Wumpus'', ''Sweet Home'', and ''Alone in the Dark'' represent early examples of the genre.}}</ref>
<ref name="Kirkland2005">{{cite journal |last=Kirkland |first=Ewan |title=Restless Dreams in Silent Hill: Approaches to Video Game Analysis |journal=Journal of Media Practice |volume=6 |issue=3 |date=2005 |pages=167–178 |doi=10.1386/jmpr.6.3.167/1 |s2cid=144390289 |quote=From a historical perspective the genre's roots lie in ''Hunt the Wumpus''.}}</ref>
<ref name="scarygames">{{cite book |title=The World of Scary Video Games: A Study in Videoludic Horror |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |last=Perron |first=Bernard |date=2018-05-31 |isbn=978-1-5013-1622-7 |pages=142–146 |quote=It is, however, a bit of a stretch to talk about the game in these generic terms and to place it in a horrific context.}}</ref>
<ref name="1up">{{cite web |url=http://crucialclassics_10.1up.com/ |title=Crucial Classics: Wumpus |last=Cogger |first=Kevin |date=2005-03-31 |website=[[1Up.com]] |publisher=[[Ziff Davis]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051228134442/http://crucialclassics_10.1up.com/ |archive-date=2005-12-28 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
<ref name="time">{{cite magazine |last=Grossman |first=Lev |title=All-Time 100 Video Games |url=https://techland.time.com/2012/11/15/all-time-100-video-games/slide/hunt-the-wumpus-1972/ |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |date=2012-11-15 |access-date=2016-09-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121118054313/http://techland.time.com/2012/11/15/all-time-100-video-games/slide/hunt-the-wumpus-1972|archive-date=2012-11-18 |url-status=live}}</ref>
<ref name="mtg">{{cite web |url=http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=hunted%20wumpus |title=Hunted Wumpus |publisher=[[Wizards of the Coast]] |access-date=2018-01-30 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180131024025/http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=hunted%20wumpus |archive-date=2018-01-31}}</ref>
<ref name="mule">{{cite book |title=Classic Home Video Games, 1985–1988: A Complete Reference Guide |last=Weiss |first=Brett |chapter=M.U.L.E. |publisher=McFarland & Company |date=2012-11-12 |isbn=978-1-4766-0141-0}}</ref>
<ref name="Cory">{{cite web |url=https://www.tor.com/2011/11/01/progress-or-change-cory-doctorows-the-great-big-beautiful-tomorrow/ |title=Progress or Change? Cory Doctorow's The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow |work=[[Tor.com]] |publisher=[[Tor Books]] |last=Raets |first=Stefan |date=2011-11-01 |access-date=2019-01-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180828170243/https://www.tor.com/2011/11/01/progress-or-change-cory-doctorows-the-great-big-beautiful-tomorrow/ |archive-date=2018-08-28 |url-status=live}}</ref>
<ref name="AIbook">{{cite web |url=https://www.eecs.wsu.edu/~holder/courses/AI/wumpus/ |title=Wumpus World Simulator |publisher=[[Washington State University]] |last=Holder |first=Larry |access-date=2020-06-18}}</ref>
<ref name="cleveland2011a">{{cite web |url=https://www.cleveland.com/musicdance/2011/09/clevelands_ingenuityfest_an_in.html |title=Cleveland's Ingenuityfest kicks off Friday with an intriguing blend of art, technology |publisher=[[The Plain Dealer]] |last=Donald |first=Rosenberg |date=2011-09-15 |access-date=2022-09-16 |archive-date=2022-09-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220920171106/https://www.cleveland.com/musicdance/2011/09/clevelands_ingenuityfest_an_in.html |url-status=live}}</ref>
<ref name="ideastream2012">{{cite web |url=https://www.ideastream.org/programs/sound-of-applause/lombardi-jared-bendis-mary-davis-and-road-trip/ |title=Lombardi, Jared Bendis, Mary Davis and Road Trip! |publisher=[[Ideastream]] |last=DeOreo |first=Dave |date=2012-09-12 |access-date=2022-09-16 |archive-date=2022-09-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220920163621/https://www.ideastream.org/programs/sound-of-applause/lombardi-jared-bendis-mary-davis-and-road-trip/ |url-status=live}}</ref>
<ref name="azimuthcave">{{cite web |url=http://azimuthcave.com/ |title=Azimuth Cave |last=Bendis |first=Jared |access-date=2022-09-16 |archive-date=2022-09-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220920170837/http://azimuthcave.com/ |url-status=live}}</ref>
}}

==External links==
* Playable versions of ''[https://archive.org/details/Hunt_the_Wumpus_1977_Creative_Computing Hunt the Wumpus]'' and ''[https://archive.org/details/Hunt_the_Wumpus_II_1977_Creative_Computing Hunt the Wumpus 2]'' as published by ''Creative Computing'' (1977) can be found at the [[Internet Archive]]
* A playable version of ''[https://archive.org/details/WUMPUS3 Wumpus 3]'', aka ''Super Wumpus'', as published by the People's Computer Company (1974) can be found at the [[Internet Archive]]
* Playable version of ''[https://www.hpmuseum.org/software/41td/wumpus.htm Hunt the Wumpus]'' for the [[HP-41C]] handheld calculator
* [https://archive.org/details/hunt-the-wumpus-1980 Game manual] for the TI-99/4A version of ''Hunt the Wumpus''

[[Category:1970s horror video games]]
[[Category:1973 video games]]
[[Category:Adventure games]]
[[Category:Mainframe games]]
[[Category:Public-domain software with source code]]
[[Category:Single-player video games]]
[[Category:TI-99/4A games]]
[[Category:Video games developed in the United States]]
[[Category:Video games with textual graphics]]