Book: 50 Years of Text Games (2025-10-23)
I finished reading # 50 Years of Text Games recently. It's amazing. If you have any interest in text, stories, or games, I highly recommend it.
I've been slowly working through it a few chapters at a time over many months. Savoring it. The structure is inspired: deep dive on one game per year, 50 games, 50 years. Each chapter is an essay, both about the specific game and the context and times surrounding it. It works really well. I now have a much better understanding of the history of text games as a whole and mental model of many specific games. Also ended up with a list of them that I want to try at some point. Whee!
I've been alive and using computers for most of that time period... and it's amazing to follow along chapter by chapter... how it sometimes connects to existing experiences (I ran a BBS with one of the door games covered in the book) or fills in blanks that I missed along the way. Some chapters were deeply nostalgic, while others covered games and kinds of games completely new to me. Really enjoyed that contrast.
Would love to read similar books on other topics! Does this remind you of anything? If so, please let me know!