The Hobbit
1982 · Text Adventure · ZX Spectrum
Overview
The Hobbit (1982) is Beam Software's illustrated text adventure based on Tolkien's novel, whose characters acted on their own in real time — "Thorin sits down and starts singing about gold."
Deep Dive
The game follows Tolkien's 1937 novel, with illustrations for many of its locations. Its "Inglish" parser understood more complex sentences than most adventures of the time. The game runs in real time, so leaving it idle lets events happen, and other characters act independently: Gandalf wanders around some fifty locations. One of its lines, "Thorin sits down and starts singing about gold", has entered popular culture.
Developer Story
Veronika Megler and Philip Mitchell designed the game at Beam Software, and Melbourne House released it for the ZX Spectrum in December 1982. It sold more than 100,000 copies in its first two years and more than 500,000 in Europe.
Did You Know?
- Every copy came with a copy of Tolkien's novel.
- It won the 1983 Golden Joystick Award for best strategy game.
- CRL released a parody, The Boggit, in 1986.
Sources & further reading
- The Hobbit (1982 video game) — Wikipedia
