The following list of text-based games is not to be considered an authoritative, comprehensive listing of all such games; rather, it is intended to represent a wide range of game styles and genres presented using the text mode display and their evolution across a long period.
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Years listed are those in which the game is believed to have originally appeared. Often these games were continually modified and played as a succession of versions for years after their initial posting. (For purposes of this list, minicomputers are considered mainframes, in contrast to microcomputers, which are not.)
| Title | Year Created | Creator | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| BBC | 1961 | John Burgeson | Baseball simulator |
| HAMURABI | 1969 | Richard Merrill | |
| Highnoon | 1970 | Christopher Gaylo | |
| Baseball | 1971 | Don Daglow | |
| Oregon Trail | 1971 | Don Rawitsch | |
| Star Trek (text game) | 1971 | Mike Mayfield | |
| Hunt the Wumpus | 1972 | Gregory Yob | |
| Star Trek | 1972 | Don Daglow | Script game |
| TREK73 | 1973 | William K. Char, Perry Lee, and Dan Gee | |
| dnd | 1975 | Gary Whisenhunt and Ray Wood | |
| Dungeon | 1975 | Don Daglow | |
| Colossal Cave Adventure | 1976 | Will Crowther | |
| Empire | 1977 | Walter Bright | |
| Mystery Mansion | 1977 | ||
| Oubliette | 1977 | Jim Schwaiger | M |
| Zork | 1977 | Tim Anderson, | |
| Acheton | 1978 | Jon Thackray, David Seal and Jonathan Partington | |
| Decwar | 1978 | ||
| Avatar | 1979 | Bruce Maggs and Andrew Shapira | M |
| Battlestar | 1979 | David Riggle | |
| Brand X | 1979 | Peter Killworth and Jonathan Mestel | aka Philosopher's Quest |
| HAUNT | 1979 | John Laird | |
| Martian Adventure | 1979 | Brad Templeton and Kieran Carroll | |
| New Adventure | 1979 | Mark Niemiec | |
| Hezarin | 1980 | Steve Tinney, Alex Shipp and Jon Thackray | |
| Kingdom of Hamil | 1980 | Jonathan Partington | |
| Monsters of Murdac | 1980 | Jonathan Partington | |
| Quondam | 1980 | Rod Underwood | |
| Rogue | 1980 | Michael Toy, Glenn Wichman, and Ken Arnold | |
| Legend of the Red Dragon | 1981 | Olli J. Paavola | |
| FisK | 1982 | ||
| Avon | 1983 | Jonathan Partington | Shakespearean game |
| Castle | 1983 | Barry Wilks | |
| Dunnet | 1983 | Ron Schnell | |
| Fyleet | 1986 | Jonathan Partington | |
| Crobe | 1987 | Jonathan Partington | |
| MIST | 1987 | M | |
| Nidus | 1987 | Adam Atkinson | |
| Quest of the Sangraal | 1987 | Jonathan Partington | |
| Spy Snatcher | 1989 | Jonathan Partington and Jon Thackray | |
| Rise to Glory | 1997 | Jason Granium | |
| Torn | 2004 | Chedburn Networks | |
| DEAD (Zombie) RAGE | 2005 | Tate Productions |
These are commercial interactive fiction games played offline.
| Title | Year Created | Creator | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adventureland | 1978 | Scott Adams of Adventure International | series |
| Zork I: The Great Underground Empire | 1980 | Tim Anderson, Marc Blank, Bruce Daniels and Dave Lebling | series |
| C.I.A Adventure | 1980 | Hugh Lampert of CLOAD | |
| Madness and the Minotaur | 1981 | for Spectral Associates | |
| The Hobbit | 1982 | Philip Mitchell and Veronika Megler of Beam Software | |
| Forbidden Quest | 1983 | Pryority Software | |
| Valley of the Minotaur | 1983 | Nicolas van Dyk of Softalk | |
| The Wizard of Akyrz | 1983 | Brian Howarth of Mysterious Adventures and Cliff J. Ogden for Adventure International | |
| The Biz | 1984 | Chris Sievey of Virgin Games | Music band simulator for the ZX Spectrum |
| High Stakes | 1984 | Angelsoft | |
| The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy | 1984 | Douglas Adams and Steve Meretzky of Infocom | |
| Mindwheel | 1984 | Robert Pinsky for Synapse Software | |
| Zyll | 1984 | Marshal W. Linder and Scott B. Edwards for IBM | |
| A Mind Forever Voyaging | 1985 | Steve Meretzky of Infocom | |
| Brimstone | 1985 | James Paul for Synapse | |
| Essex | 1985 | Bill Darrah for Synapse | |
| Hampstead | 1985 | Peter Jones and Trevor Lever for Melbourne House | |
| Breakers | 1986 | Rodney R. Smith for Synapse | |
| Terrormolinos | 1986 | Peter Jones and Trevor Lever for Melbourne House | |
| Amnesia | 1987 | Thomas M. Disch | The only entirely non-graphical text adventure ever published by Electronic Arts |
| Braminar | 1987 | ||
| Dodgy Geezers | 1987 | Peter Jones and Trevor Lever for Melbourne House | |
| Jacaranda Jim | 1987 | Graham Cluley | |
| Nord and Bert Couldn't Make Head or Tail of It | 1987 | Jeff O'Neill for Infocom | |
| Sherlock: The Riddle of the Crown Jewels | 1987 | Bob Bates for Infocom | |
| Dr. Dumont's Wild P.A.R.T.I. | 1988 | Michael and Muffy Berlyn | |
| The Hound of Shadow | 1989 | for Eldritch Games | |
| Humbug | 1990 | Graham Cluley | |
| Danger! Adventurer at Work! | 1991 | Simon Avery | |
| Spy Snatcher | 1992 | Jonathan Partington and Jonathan Thackray for Topologika | |
| dead rage | 2005 | Tate Productions |
| Title | Year Created | Creator | Website |
|---|---|---|---|
| combatgrounds | 2008 | war games | |
| Wizard's Castle | 1978? | Joseph R. Power | |
| Snipes | 1983 | SuperSet | |
| Beast | 1984 | Dan Baker, Alan Brown, Mark Hamilton and Derrick Shadel | |
| Kingdom of Kroz | 1987 | Scott Miller of Apogee Software | |
| ZZT | 1991 | Tim Sweeney of Epic MegaGames | |
| Sleuth | 1993 | Eric N. Miller | |
| MegaZeux | 1994 | Gregory Janson of Software Visions | |
| Chibot Ultra Battle | 1999 | ||
| PAEE | 1999 | Enrique D. Bosch |
These are play-by-email games played online.
| Title | Year Created | Creator |
|---|---|---|
| Lords of the Earth | 1983 | |
| Quantum Space | 1989 | |
| Atlantis PbeM | 1993 | |
| Eressea PbeM | 1996 | |
| WW2 The Big One PbeM | 2010 | |
| Llama Adventure | 2010 | John on Armorgames |
These are games that emulate text based games in Flash. Most are online games.
| Title | Year Created | Creator |
|---|---|---|
| Thy Dungeonman | January 2004 | The Brothers Chaps |
| Thy Dungeonman II | April 2004 | The Brothers Chaps |
| Thy Dungeonman III | April 2006 | The Brothers Chaps |
These are BBS door games played online.
| Title | Year Created | Creator |
|---|---|---|
| TradeWars 2002 | 1987 | Gary Martin for Martech Software |
| Legend of the Red Dragon | 1989 | Seth Able Robinson |
| Title | Year Created |
|---|---|
| MUD1 | 1978 |
| Island of Kesmai | 1980 |
| Scepter of Goth | 1983 |
| MUD2 | 1985 |
| Federation | 1988 |
| Avalon | 1989 |
| BatMUD | 1990 |
| JediMUD | 1992 |
| LegendMUD | 1994 |
| Materia Magica | 1996 |
| ifMUD | 1997 |
| Achaea, Dreams of Divine Lands | 1997 |
| OtherSpace | 1998 |
| Aetolia, The Midnight Age | 2001 |
| Federation II | 2003 |