My journey and experience with games from 1979 ends with Pyramid of Doom. This seems fitting as the Scott Adam’s adventures have represented some of the very best offerings from this period. Mr. Adam’s was an extremely busy man in 1979; publishing no less than 6 games that year. Scott Adams’s did not write the story for Pyramid of Doom. The credit goes to Alvin Files; who never did create another. Alvin, as the story goes, had figured out how the Scott Adams Adventure system worked, wrote this game, and then sent it in to Mr. Adams. Scott Adams then worked to fix and tweak some of the coding and then released it as #8 in the Adventure series.
You begin this game in the desert and the initial premise is that you’re on an Egyptian treasure hunt which will lead you into the dark recesses of a recently uncovered Pyramid. Once inside the Pyramid you’ll discover a meta-plot which involves you having to destroy the heart of a Pharoah who has been darkened by evil.
You’ll need to find the Pharoah’s heart and find a way to destroy it or you’ll be killed by the iron statue of the Pharoah in his throne room. A mural in the throne room reads; “Seek ye well the HEART of Iron” and another cryptic clue explains; “Pharoah’s heart is red like yours, yet evil has darkened it.” I have always been a sucker for games with an Egyptian motif but having to find and destroy the dark heart of a Pharoah in order to be victorious checks a lot of boxes for me. In hindsight; the riddle and clues are well thought out and highly entertaining.
You’ll also encounter a mummy underneath the Pyramid as well as a Purple Worm (a hat tip to the Dungeons & Dragons crowd). There are one or two tougher puzzles in the game; however most of the rest of them are moderate with fair solutions as well. The “one axe I have to grind” here is the inclusion of a Giant Oyster in the game. In the ruins of an ancient Pyramid? In the middle of a hallway? And this Giant Oyster eats dried camel jerky? Come on now. I actually solved this one on my own; not because it made sense; but because many other text adventures in 1979 have had Giant Clams or Oysters in their game that you have to either pry open or feed. Don’t ask me why. Greg Hassett’s Voyage to Atlantis contained a Giant Clam that I had to pry open with a crowbar; this particular Oyster enjoys dried camel jerky. It must be an acquired taste. I believe 4 to 5 different interactive adventures in 1979 contained a Giant Clam or Oyster that you had to get open somehow. We could almost include it as another trope; each interactive adventure had to have a maze, a treasure hunt, and a Giant Clam.
I, despite the Giant Clam/Oyster digression, immensely enjoyed this game and it is one of my favorite Scott Adam’s adventures thus far. I liked the setting and the climax of the story is reminiscent of the unique climax to Voodoo Castle. You need to find 13 different treasures and deposit them in the Hieroglyphics Room AND destroy the heart of the dark Pharoah. We have enjoyed eight different text adventures from the mind of Scott Adams thus far and in my next blog post I’m going to attempt to rank these first eight offerings in order of personal preference. I strongly encourage you to sit down and watch The Mummy starring Brendan Fraser and then grab your favorite beverage and begin your own foray into the Pyramid of Doom.
Ah yes, the mysterious Mr Files! As far as I’m aware, this is the only text adventure that he ever contributed to. Scott did dedicate “The Count” to Alvin so at least he got a mention in another game!
How much of Pyramid of Doom is his work and how much is Adams’ is open to conjecture – stylistically it does feel different to the others so I’m inclined to believe that the game design is mostly Alvin’s work.