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Submitted by P Lee
“Cave of Time” was the first in the series-which by the time it wrapped up in 1998-totaled 185 books.
We here at OUAW found you some CYOA titles that were never in stores (all photos via somethingawful):
by Cosmo DNA
by Invarilin
by Shmorky
Raise your hand if you play that game every day!
The awesomeness of CYOA has even gone online. Say buh-bye to your productivity today!
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My 11 and 12 year olds love these, as well as “Encyclopedia Brown.”
Gotta say I have been stealing and rereading …
I was addicted to these
)
I had to go back and follow all the different adventures. Sooo WIN!!
I don’t know why, but Tattoo of Death just appeals to me a’plenty.
But why is Stonehenge in New Zealand, and Inca Gold is in Russia?
I LOVE these books.
I found some in the garage years ago, and man do they ever rock.
I always liked a book that you started out on like page 7, and if you had to turn to page 1, it meant that a giant rat just ate your hear or something horrific. These books were awesome, and pretty much the non-computer text adventure (I did go from playing HHGG on my C64 [why is there no C64 on OUAW yet?] to reading the actual books, so…). These books were great.
There were also their cheap knock-offs called “Which Way Books”.
And then there was the Fighting Fantasy application of the concept, beginning in 1982, which were generally FTW.
Another form of knock off were the Goosbumps “Reader Beware; You Choose The Scare” books, which were win. Except for the one with the genie, I had to read it like…..sixteen times before I got it.
I actually found these somewhere in a fleamarket, didn’t know what they were but they were totally worth my 2 bucks
*Raises hand reluctantly*
OK, ‘fess up…who cheated at those books? You know what I’m talking about: you turn to the page of your choosing, with your finger still on the previous page, so that if you picked poorly you could go back and go to the other option. Anyone? Me only?
I did that every time. Have you seen the Family Guy episode when Peter was reading the books? He does the same thing. “Ah! Ah! Death! I didn’t really pick that one! Go back!”
All the time
Me! I totally cheated with those books. If I didn’t like it, I picked the other one. If I missed any choice I’d go back later and reread to find out what happened with those.
Are you kidding me? I would have something like 2 or 3 fingers in different pages, just in case an entire line of choices didn’t pan out!
Surf Wisely!
I didn’t consider that cheating. That was just an early form of quicksave.
That was me too! Sometimes your death wasn’t right away, what looked like a good choice at first could land you dead at the bottom of a ravine in three more choices!
I loved these books as a kid. As I would go through the book, I would use my fingers as placemarkers so I could back up a few spots if I made a bad decision.
lyk totez.
I meant to reply to Maerlyn’s post, BTW.
I love the made vup books you posted. Too funny!
Oh man – “Get Up or Go Back to Bed” is like every weekday morning for me. heh
Some people have started making these for Youtube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oPi73WczOU
Yeah, I commented about mine before I saw your post.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dBQZKHZUL4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIc-4XGmSSk
(Still shameless, still plugging.
)
Surf Wisely!
Thos books win at life.
omg i read these baby religiously in Jr High !!! which is too long ago for me to admit online lol many many hours of reading pleasure and swearing wheni chose the the wrong way and got killed XD
The odd (and possibly OCD) part of me, when we first got our computer (well, word processor) would take all my books and type out each and every possible storyline. I will say that although it took quite a bit of time, it got me to type fairly well and quickly. It also kept me out of my mother’s hair.
I totally loved these books, I wish they’d bring them back.
These are no nostalgic win around my parts! I pick them up at garage sales and thrift stores all the time for my kids. They LOVE em! Who wouldn’t…
Oh wow. I totally forgot about these books.
WOW did I love these books. My favorite was “The Third Planet from Altair.”
And yes, of course I cheated – who didn’t?
I was just describing these to someone the other day! Love it!
A blog friend of mine came up with two stories. About 30 other bloggers participated. They are just as awesome as the books (maybe more since there are zombies in one of them).
http://nancypearlwannabe.com/blog/?page_id=829
And I also cheated.
the one and only CYOA book i ever tried was something like, “Find El Dorado!” i went through that book for hours, trying to reach the golden city. but nothing worked! i found the pages that had the city, and then i looked through every single page to try and figure out which path was supposed to lead to it.
none of them did. >_< after all that trouble, i read on the inside back cover that it was impossible to actually reach El Dorado, because it doesn’t exist. but hey, kids, have fun trying to get there!
that pretty much ruined CYOA books for me. bleh.
Cripes, is that supposed to teach kiddies that life sucks and you can never make your dreams come true? I guess that’s “educational” but DAYUM.
Oh, and GET UP OR GO BACK TO BED killed me.
Chose Your Own Adventure was the omly way I could get my son to read. it got to the point that he would make all the “wrong choices” ust to see how many ways he could “die”.
These books were great and I miss them. They tought kids not only to read but to make moral choices. I loved them!!
I read the hell out of these books as a kid. Actually, the first ones I read were basically the same thing, but under the Dungeons and Dragons name (but were not really D&D). Those types of books inspired me to create these:
WARNING: SHAMELESS PLUG (but really awesome stuff, if you like CYOA)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dBQZKHZUL4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIc-4XGmSSk
Annotations, FTW! Surf Wisely!
There’s one about Nazis. And another about apartheid. I have both of those, and they’re freaking hilarious. I blogged through the Nazi one on my LJ (with audience participation, of course), and wow, were there ever some horrible deaths in that one. In one, you end up hung for attempting to break someone out of a concentration camp.
What book is the cover for You’re Going to Die taken from? It looks like another “serious” one – I must have it!
A Nazi-themed CYOA? That sounds like a fun read (Godwin’s Law be damned). Link to your LJ? Surf Wisely!
My favorite was a really girly one about trying to find a unicorn to save your villages poisoned well. My second fav was about a haunted house. I can’t remember either of the names though.
Oh man I loved these books! My fave was the one about the Mona Lisa going missing…it was the first one I ever read and it was the best one.
I need to get my hands on more for my kids, when I have kids….
The best books ever. Some of them really scared me. I was always afraid someone would be eaten or kidnapped.
My favorite was #5 Mystery of Chimney Rock. First and all time win.
I remember Mystery of Chimney Rock, only the title and cover, there was one about kids on a house on a ridge and the town below was a town full of ghosts
You’re Going to Die.
I don’t think that title would make it today for that age group.
And yet, that cover is my favorite because it handily summarizes the entire “Choose Your Own Adventure” series in four little words. Honestly, they came up with more creative ways to kill a character than all the “Nightmare on Elm Street”, “Final Destination”, and “Saw” movies combined. The fact that the characters was “you” just added a whole other level to it.
I think it’s awesome …
I don’t know where they got the great book titles and pictures though that just made this whole thing even more worth it… but yes it’s amazing. Do they still make them at all?
And I fought my mom tooth and nail when she wanted to donate these to the church library. I still read them, and I’m 27.
choose from ONE possible ending?
Mystery of the shrooms?? – i thought these were children’s books?
I loved those books! I have lots of the originals. Don’t read them anymore, but maybe for my kids in later years
I love the one you’re going to die one possible ending lmao XD
I love that one you’re going to die one possible ending lmao XD
wow.look at the possible endings if they have them.they are clearly fake!
Yep. I call photoshopped.
I loved the sports ones where you simulated out a game over the course of the book.
I had a couple of these, including The Cave Of Time. There were always soooooo many horrible endings. D:
And yes, I cheated. It saved a lot of time.
That last one, man. Story of my life.
I’ve got an overdue Doctor Who one of these from the library. I need to take it back but it’s soooo addicting -.-
DARN! now I’m going to have to go to work on creating a book for my hubby-cause the one that had me cracking up is a fake. and does he ever have trouble deciding between getting up and staying in bed. I can just see it. we had a circular, semi-humorous discussion-the more so because it didn’t start out to become one. I could invent that sort of thing with the book, and his cousin and I could put it together-between the two of us we’d have a riot putting it together! and we’re senior citizens, lol! never too old to have fun!
i cheated on these. but i still love them.
wonderful book series. i enjoyed these very much.
I remember they also made these books with nintendo characters like mario, luigi, and link