Mystery House
1980 · Adventure · Apple II
Overview
Mystery House (1980) is Roberta and Ken Williams' Apple II murder mystery — the first graphical adventure game and the first release of the company that became Sierra On-Line.
Deep Dive
The player is shut inside an abandoned Victorian mansion with seven other people. While searching the house for a hidden cache of jewels, the player finds the other guests being killed one by one, and must identify the murderer before becoming the next victim. Commands are typed in, as in the text adventures of the time, but each location is shown as a simple line drawing.
Developer Story
After playing Colossal Cave Adventure, Roberta Williams designed, wrote and illustrated Mystery House and Ken Williams programmed it. Their company, On-Line Systems, released it on 5 May 1980. It first sold more than 10,000 copies by mail order and reached 80,000 including a 1982 re-release.
Did You Know?
- Roberta Williams drew on Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None and the board game Clue.
- Sierra released the game into the public domain in 1987 to mark the company's seventh anniversary.
Sources & further reading
- Mystery House — Wikipedia
