⚓ Pirate Adventure by Scott Adams

Released in late 1978, Pirate Adventure was the second text-based game created by interactive fiction pioneer Scott Adams and co-designed with his wife, Alexis. Serving as a thematic departure from his fantasy-centric debut, the game casts players as an explorer who discovers a mysterious, blood-stained book inside a London flat and is magically transported to a treacherous pirate island. Relying on a primitive yet charming two-word parser - where players typed simple commands like "GET RUM" or "READ BOOK" - the adventure challenged players to outsmart deadly hazards and navigate logical, object-based puzzles to uncover Long John Silver's hidden treasure. Its clever environment-as-story approach proved that engaging narratives could be achieved on early microcomputers despite severe memory restrictions.

Decades after its original release on cassette tapes and floppy disks, I wanted to give Pirate Adventure new life and make it easily accessible for today's players. To do this, I coded a brand-new conversion of the game using HTML5 and JavaScript. While the underlying engine and puzzles remain completely faithful to Scott Adams' original game logic, I designed a brand-new user interface to give it a slick, modernized look and feel. I also took the opportunity to expand the text of the game; by fleshing out the historically stark and simplistic room descriptions, the experience now offers a much richer and more immersive atmosphere. Ultimately, this web-centric port strips away the need for clunky emulators, allowing a new generation to experience the classic retro adventure effortlessly right in their browser.

Pirate Adventure (1978) by Scott Adams | Modern Web Port (2026) by John Patuto