Colossal Cave Adventure
Ranked 3 of 3 text adventure games by recommenders
Free text adventure that people say defined the genre, with a well-regarded Spanish port and a readable overview of its source code.
Free text adventure that people say defined the genre, with a well-regarded Spanish port and a readable overview of its source code.
6 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 5
- criticize it
- 1
- approval share
- 83%
Recommended in 5 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 5 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 5 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 5 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Good ports and source code overviews
“the Spanish one it's really great, with even the backstory on creating the game perfectly translated”
Comment from 20 Nov 2025 in “Microsoft makes Zork open-source” “A nice overview of the source code for that is”
Comment from 20 Nov 2025 in “Microsoft makes Zork open-source”
Other text adventure games people recommend
The two most recommended other text adventure games, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zork | 20 | 8 | 71% | 8 | — | Approved |
| AI Dungeon | 9 | 3 | 75% | 4 | — | — |
| Colossal Cave AdventureThis page | 5 | 1 | 83% | 5 | — | — |
What people said
6 of the 8 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Now none of this makes any sense.”
“which really defined the genre”
“having an "odd" geometry matched perfectly the environment of a cave”
“The effect was mesmerizing.”
“the Spanish one it's really great, with even the backstory on creating the game perfectly translated”
“A nice overview of the source code for that is”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.