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Micro Adventure

Micro Adventure is the title of a series of books for young adult readers, published by Scholastic, Inc. during the 1980s.

The books are noted for the inclusion of short BASIC type-in programs related to the plot of the story that the reader could type into their computers, and also for the use of second-person narration (rather like the Choose Your Own Adventure series, though unlike those, Micro Adventure storylines could not be influenced by the decisions of the reader). The combination of these two elements made the Micro Adventure books something of an immersion experience.

Through the second-person narration, the reader took the part of Orion, an agent for the Adventure Connection Team, and followed the action in the continuing struggle against ACT’s nemesis, BRUTE (Bureau of Random Unlawful Terror and Evil).

The plots generally resembled those typically found in other works of the secret agent/adventure genre, ranging from sabotage aboard a space station to android doubles of the President of the United States, but stand out for their clever twists and lack of "dumbing down" often found in similar juvenile literature.

The programs themselves were actually quite impressive, some even being simple “shoot-em-up” games, yet were all designed to be small (none were over 2K in file size, a must given the limitations of some personal computers available at the time, such as the TI-99/4A) and easily typed in by even the most novice programmer. Instructions were included on how to "tweak" the programs to make them run on almost any popular home computer of the time.

As a bonus, an appendix to each book gave step-by-step analyses of each of the programs in that particular book as a method of teaching simple programming theory and construction.

List of Titles

  • Space Attack: Micro Adventure Number One by Eileen Buckholtz and Ruth Glick (1984; Scholastic, Inc.; ISBN 0590331655)
  • Jungle Quest: Micro Adventure Number Two by Megan Stine and H. William Stine (1984; Scholastic, Inc.; ISBN 0590331663)
  • Wizards of Wonder (Magic Micro Adventure, No 3) by Megan Stine and H. William Stine (1984; Scholastic, Inc.; ISBN 0590334786)
  • Time Trap (Micro Adventure, No 4) by Jean Favors (1984; Scholastic, Inc.; ISBN 059033168X)
  • Mindbenders (Micro Adventure, Vol. 5) by Ruth Glick and Eileen Buckholtz (1984; Scholastic, Inc.; ISBN 0590331698)
  • Robot Race (Micro Adventure, Vol. 6) by David Anthony Kraft (1984; Scholastic, Inc.; ISBN 0590331701)
  • Doom Stalker (Micro Adventure, No 7) by Ruth Glick and Eileen Buckholtz (1985; Scholastic, Inc.; ISBN 0590333828)
  • The Big Freeze (Micro Adventure, No 8) by Jean M. Favors (1985; Scholastic, Inc.; ISBN 0590333836)
  • Dead Ringer (Micro Adventure No 9) by Chassie West (1985; Scholastic, Inc.; ISBN 0590333844)
  • Spellbound (Micro Adventure, No 10) by Megan Stine and H. William Stine (1985; Scholastic, Inc.; ISBN 0590333852)
Last updated: 05-23-2005 08:16:13
Last updated: 01-04-2007 01:18:57
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