Gregory Yob

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Gregory Yob (18 June 1945 – 13 October 2005) was an American computer game designer.

Gregory was born in Eugene, Oregon. An article about his experiment on simulating gravitational fields with droplets of water on a soap bubble was published in Scientific American in December 1964, under The Amateur Scientist.

His one published game, Hunt the Wumpus (1972), written while he was attending the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, is one of the earliest adventure games. While living in Palo Alto, California, Yob came across logic games on a mainframe computer named Hurkle, Snark, and Mugwump. Each of these games was based on a 10 × 10 grid, and Yob recognized that a puzzle game on a computer could have a far more complex structure. He created the world for Wumpus in the shape of a dodecahedron, in part because as a child he made a kite with that shape.

In the late 1980s he designed Comfort House. He wrote: "Comfort House is a new form of entertainment. High technology and interactive systems combine with your participation to give you an enjoyable evening uniquely attuned to your senses and mind." It did not get built.

In recent years he had made his home in Santa Cruz, California.

Gregory Yob (also known as Hara Ra) had changed his name to Gregory H. Coresun shortly before he died in Scottsdale, Arizona, where he underwent neurosuspension at the Alcor Life Extension Foundation.