Alkemstone

Alkemstone is a 1981 video game published by Level-10.

Alkemstone
Publisher(s)Level-10
Release1981
Genre(s)puzzle

Contents

Alkemstone is a puzzle in which the character explores a graphic dungeon and attempts to decipher the clues on the walls, floor and ceiling, in order to determine the location of the Alkemstone.[1] The Alkemstone was hidden in the real world and the publisher offered a $5000 reward for the first person to decipher its location. This program is likely inspired by the popularity of the Masquerade armchair treasure hunt which was published in 1979 and was still unsolved at the time of Alkemstone's release. The rear cover of the manual claims that this was the first computer game to offer a cash prize for solving it.

The dungeon size is 32 rooms wide x 16 rooms deep, however some clues appear intermittently and therefore rooms must be carefully inspected over many visits.[2]

The prize was never awarded and it is unknown if anyone solved the clues or recovered the Alkemstone from the location it was hidden.[3]

Reception

Forrest Johnson reviewed Alkemstone in The Space Gamer No. 48.[1] Johnson commented that "Don't buy this one unless you seriously intend to win the five thou and have a high tolerance for boredom."[1]

gollark: Hmm, could be interesting.
gollark: Single-letter commands, with extremely high failure tolerance.
gollark: ***__BORING__***
gollark: Yes, exactly.
gollark: We should really make Keymash.

References
  1. Johnson, Forrest (February 1982). "Capsule Reviews". The Space Gamer. Steve Jackson Games (48): 36.
  2. Dyer, Jason. "Alkemstone". All the Adventures Project. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
  3. Hubbard, Reed. "Alkemstone". Museum of Computer Adventure Game History. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
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