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When I was a lad, kids would wander into computer stores and play Hunt the Wumpus until the staff kicked us out. It was a simple game, programmable on the home computers of the mid-1970s, machines so rudimentary that instead of chicklet-sized microprocessors, I think some of them probably had real chicklets in there.

Let's evoke that bygone era by reproducing the game on modern hardware.

1. The player starts in a random room on an icosahedral map (thus there are 20 rooms in total, connected to each other like the faces of an icosahedron, and every room has exactly three exits).

2. The wumpus starts in a randomly selected different room. The wumpus stinks, and its odor can be detected in any of the three rooms adjacent to its location, though the direction of the odor is impossible for the player to determine. The game reports only "you smell a wumpus."

3. The player carries a bow and an infinite number of arrows, which he may shoot at any time into the room in front of him. If the wumpus is in that room, it dies and the player wins. If the wumpus was not in that room, it is startled and moves randomly into any of the three rooms connected to its current location.

4. One, randomly selected room (guaranteed not to be the room in which the player starts) contains a bottomless pit. If the player is in any room adjacent to the pit, he feels a breeze, but gets no clue as to which door the breeze came from. If he walks into the room with the pit, he dies and wumpus wins. The wumpus is unaffected by the pit.

5. If the player walks into the wumpus's room, or if the wumpus walks into the player's room, the wumpus wins.

6. The player specifies the direction he is facing with a number (1 = right, 2 = left, 3 = back), and then an action (4 = shoot an arrow, 5 = walk in the specified direction).

7. For the sake of scoring, each game string ("You feel a breeze," "You smell a wumpus," "Your arrow didn't hit anything", etc., can be considered one byte. No abusing this to hide game code in text; this is just for interacting with the player.)

8. Deduct 10% of your byte count for implementing megabats, which start in a random room different from the player (though they can share a room with the wumpus and/or the pit). If the player walks into the room with the bats, the bats will carry the player to another randomly selected room (guaranteed not to be the room with the pit or the wumpus in it), before flying off to their own, new random location. In the three rooms adjacent to the bats, they can be heard squeaking, but the player is given no information about which room the sound comes from.

9. Deduct 35% of your byte count for implementing a graphical interface that shows the icosahedral map and some kind of indication of the information the player has so far about the location of the pit, the wumpus, and the bats (if applicable), relative to the player. Obviously, if the wumpus moves or the player gets moved by the bats, the map needs to reset accordingly.

10. Lowest byte count, as adjusted, wins.

BASIC source code for a version of the game (not necessarily conforming to the rules above and, in any case, utterly ungolfed) can be found at this website and probably others.

When I was a lad, kids would wander into computer stores and play Hunt the Wumpus until the staff kicked us out. It was a simple game, programmable on the home computers of the mid-1970s, machines so rudimentary that instead of chicklet-sized microprocessors, I think some of them probably had real chicklets in there.

Let's evoke that bygone era by reproducing the game on modern hardware.

1. The player starts in a random room on an icosahedral map (thus there are 20 rooms in total, connected to each other like the faces of an icosahedron, and every room has exactly three exits).

2. The wumpus starts in a randomly selected different room. The wumpus stinks, and its odor can be detected in any of the three rooms adjacent to its location, though the direction of the odor is impossible for the player to determine. The game reports only "you smell a wumpus."

3. The player carries a bow and an infinite number of arrows, which he may shoot at any time into the room in front of him. If the wumpus is in that room, it dies and the player wins. If the wumpus was not in that room, it is startled and moves randomly into any of the three rooms connected to its current location.

4. One, randomly selected room (guaranteed not to be the room in which the player starts) contains a bottomless pit. If the player is in any room adjacent to the pit, he feels a breeze, but gets no clue as to which door the breeze came from. If he walks into the room with the pit, he dies and wumpus wins. The wumpus is unaffected by the pit.

5. If the player walks into the wumpus's room, or if the wumpus walks into the player's room, the wumpus wins.

6. The player specifies the direction he is facing with a number (1 = right, 2 = left, 3 = back), and then an action (4 = shoot an arrow, 5 = walk in the specified direction).

7. For the sake of scoring, each game string ("You feel a breeze," "You smell a wumpus," "Your arrow didn't hit anything", etc.) can be considered one byte. No abusing this to hide game code in text; this is just for interacting with the player.

8. Deduct 10% of your byte count for implementing megabats, which start in a random room different from the player (though they can share a room with the wumpus and/or the pit). If the player walks into the room with the bats, the bats will carry the player to another randomly selected room (guaranteed not to be the room with the pit or the wumpus in it), before flying off to their own, new random location. In the three rooms adjacent to the bats, they can be heard squeaking, but the player is given no information about which room the sound comes from.

9. Deduct 35% of your byte count for implementing a graphical interface that shows the icosahedral map and some kind of indication of the information the player has so far about the location of the pit, the wumpus, and the bats (if applicable), relative to the player. Obviously, if the wumpus moves or the player gets moved by the bats, the map needs to reset accordingly.

10. Lowest byte count, as adjusted, wins.

BASIC source code for a version of the game (not necessarily conforming to the rules above and, in any case, utterly ungolfed) can be found at this website and probably others.

When I was a lad, kids would wander into computer stores and play Hunt the Wumpus until the staff kicked us out. It was a simple game, programmable on the home computers of the mid-1970s, machines so rudimentary that instead of little chicklet-sized microprocessors, I think some of them probably had real chicklets in there.

Let's evoke that bygone era by reproducing the game on modern hardware.

1. The player starts in a random room on an icosahedral map (thus there are 20 rooms in total, connected to each other like the faces of an icosahedron, and every room has exactly three exits).

2. The wumpus starts in a randomly selected different room. The wumpus stinks, and its odor can be detected in any of the three rooms adjacent to its location, though the direction of the odor is impossible for the player to determine. The game reports only "you smell a wumpus."

3. The player carries a bow and an infinite number of arrows, which he may shoot at any time into the room in front of him. If the wumpus is in that room, it dies and the player wins. If the wumpus was not in that room, it is startled and moves randomly into any of the three rooms connected to its current location.

4. One, randomly selected room (guaranteed not to be the room in which the player starts) contains a bottomless pit. If the player is in any room adjacent to the pit, he feels a breeze, but gets no clue as to which door the breeze came from. If he walks into the room with the pit, he dies and wumpus wins. The wumpus is unaffected by the pit.

5. If the player walks into the wumpus's room, or if the wumpus walks into the player's room, the wumpus wins.

6. The player specifies the direction he is facing with a number (1 = right, 2 = left, 3 = back), and then an action (4 = shoot an arrow, 5 = walk in the specified direction).

7. For the sake of scoring, each game string ("You feel a breeze," "You smell a wumpus," "Your arrow didn't hit anything", etc., can be considered one byte. No abusing this to hide game code in text; this is just for interacting with the player.)

8. Deduct 10% of your byte count for implementing megabats, which start in a random room different from the player (though they can share a room with the wumpus and/or the pit). If the player walks into the room with the bats, the bats will carry the player to another randomly selected room (guaranteed not to be the room with the pit or the wumpus in it), before flying off to their own, new random location. In the three rooms adjacent to the bats, they can be heard squeaking, but the player is given no information about which room the sound comes from.

9. Deduct 35% of your byte count for implementing a graphical interface that shows the icosahedral map and some kind of indication of the information the player has so far about the location of the pit, the wumpus, and the bats (if applicable), relative to the player. Obviously, if the wumpus moves or the player gets moved by the bats, the map needs to reset accordingly.

10. Lowest byte count, as adjusted, wins.

BASIC source code for a version of the game (not necessarily conforming to the rules above and, in any case, utterly ungolfed) can be found at this website and probably others.

When I was a lad, kids would wander into computer stores and play Hunt the Wumpus until the staff kicked us out. It was a simple game, programmable on the home computers of the mid-1970s, machines so rudimentary that instead of chicklet-sized microprocessors, I think some of them probably had real chicklets in there.

Let's evoke that bygone era by reproducing the game on modern hardware.

1. The player starts in a random room on an icosahedral map (thus there are 20 rooms in total, connected to each other like the faces of an icosahedron, and every room has exactly three exits).

2. The wumpus starts in a randomly selected different room. The wumpus stinks, and its odor can be detected in any of the three rooms adjacent to its location, though the direction of the odor is impossible for the player to determine. The game reports only "you smell a wumpus."

3. The player carries a bow and an infinite number of arrows, which he may shoot at any time into the room in front of him. If the wumpus is in that room, it dies and the player wins. If the wumpus was not in that room, it is startled and moves randomly into any of the three rooms connected to its current location.

4. One, randomly selected room (guaranteed not to be the room in which the player starts) contains a bottomless pit. If the player is in any room adjacent to the pit, he feels a breeze, but gets no clue as to which door the breeze came from. If he walks into the room with the pit, he dies and wumpus wins. The wumpus is unaffected by the pit.

5. If the player walks into the wumpus's room, or if the wumpus walks into the player's room, the wumpus wins.

6. The player specifies the direction he is facing with a number (1 = right, 2 = left, 3 = back), and then an action (4 = shoot an arrow, 5 = walk in the specified direction).

7. For the sake of scoring, each game string ("You feel a breeze," "You smell a wumpus," "Your arrow didn't hit anything", etc., can be considered one byte. No abusing this to hide game code in text; this is just for interacting with the player.)

8. Deduct 10% of your byte count for implementing megabats, which start in a random room different from the player (though they can share a room with the wumpus and/or the pit). If the player walks into the room with the bats, the bats will carry the player to another randomly selected room (guaranteed not to be the room with the pit or the wumpus in it), before flying off to their own, new random location. In the three rooms adjacent to the bats, they can be heard squeaking, but the player is given no information about which room the sound comes from.

9. Deduct 35% of your byte count for implementing a graphical interface that shows the icosahedral map and some kind of indication of the information the player has so far about the location of the pit, the wumpus, and the bats (if applicable), relative to the player. Obviously, if the wumpus moves or the player gets moved by the bats, the map needs to reset accordingly.

10. Lowest byte count, as adjusted, wins.

BASIC source code for a version of the game (not necessarily conforming to the rules above and, in any case, utterly ungolfed) can be found at this website and probably others.

When I was a lad, kids would wander into computer stores and play Hunt the Wumpus until the staff kicked us out. It was a simple game, programmable on the home computers of the mid-1970s, machines so rudimentary that instead of little chicklet-sized microprocessors, I think some of them probably had real chicklets in there.

Let's evoke that bygone era by reproducing the game on modern hardware.

1. The player starts in a random room on an icosahedral map (thus there are 20 rooms in total, connected to each other like the faces of an icosahedron, and every room has exactly three exits).

2. The wumpus starts in a randomly selected different room. The wumpus stinks, and its odor can be detected in any of the three rooms adjacent to its location, though the direction of the odor is impossible for the player to determine. The game reports only "you smell a wumpus."

3. The player carries a bow and an infinite number of arrows, which he may shoot at any time into the room in front of him. If the wumpus is in that room, it dies and the player wins. If the wumpus was not in that room, it is startled and moves randomly into any of the three rooms connected to its current location.

4. One, randomly selected room (guaranteed not to be the room in which the player starts) contains a bottomless pit. If the player is in any room adjacent to the pit, he feels a breeze, but gets no clue as to which door the breeze came from. If he walks into the room with the pit, he dies and wumpus wins. The wumpus is unaffected by the pit.

5. If the player walks into the wumpus's room, or if the wumpus walks into the player's room, the wumpus wins.

6. The player specifies the direction he is facing with a number (1 = right, 2 = left, 3 = back), and then an action (4 = shoot an arrow, 5 = walk in the specified direction).

7. For the sake of scoring, each game string ("You feel a breeze," "You smell a wumpus," "Your arrow didn't hit anything", etc., can be considered one byte. No abusing this to hide game code in text; this is just for interacting with the player.)

8. Deduct 10% of your byte count for implementing megabats, which start in a random room different from the player (though they can share a room with the wumpus and/or the pit). If the player walks into the room with the bats, the bats will carry the player to another randomly selected room (guaranteed not to be the room with the pit or the wumpus in it), before flying off to their own, new random location. In the three rooms adjacent to the bats, they can be heard squeaking, but the player is given no information about which room the sound comes from.

9. Deduct 35% of your byte count for implementing a graphical interface that shows the icosahedral map and some kind of indication of the information the player has so far about the location of the pit, the wumpus, and the bats (if applicable). Obviously, if the wumpus moves or the player gets moved by the bats, the map needs to reset accordingly.

10. Lowest byte count, as adjusted, wins.

BASIC source code for a version of the game (not necessarily conforming to the rules above and, in any case, utterly ungolfed) can be found at this website and probably others.

When I was a lad, kids would wander into computer stores and play Hunt the Wumpus until the staff kicked us out. It was a simple game, programmable on the home computers of the mid-1970s, machines so rudimentary that instead of little chicklet-sized microprocessors, I think some of them probably had real chicklets in there.

Let's evoke that bygone era by reproducing the game on modern hardware.

1. The player starts in a random room on an icosahedral map (thus there are 20 rooms in total, connected to each other like the faces of an icosahedron, and every room has exactly three exits).

2. The wumpus starts in a randomly selected different room. The wumpus stinks, and its odor can be detected in any of the three rooms adjacent to its location, though the direction of the odor is impossible for the player to determine. The game reports only "you smell a wumpus."

3. The player carries a bow and an infinite number of arrows, which he may shoot at any time into the room in front of him. If the wumpus is in that room, it dies and the player wins. If the wumpus was not in that room, it is startled and moves randomly into any of the three rooms connected to its current location.

4. One, randomly selected room (guaranteed not to be the room in which the player starts) contains a bottomless pit. If the player is in any room adjacent to the pit, he feels a breeze, but gets no clue as to which door the breeze came from. If he walks into the room with the pit, he dies and wumpus wins. The wumpus is unaffected by the pit.

5. If the player walks into the wumpus's room, or if the wumpus walks into the player's room, the wumpus wins.

6. The player specifies the direction he is facing with a number (1 = right, 2 = left, 3 = back), and then an action (4 = shoot an arrow, 5 = walk in the specified direction).

7. For the sake of scoring, each game string ("You feel a breeze," "You smell a wumpus," "Your arrow didn't hit anything", etc., can be considered one byte. No abusing this to hide game code in text; this is just for interacting with the player.)

8. Deduct 10% of your byte count for implementing megabats, which start in a random room different from the player (though they can share a room with the wumpus and/or the pit). If the player walks into the room with the bats, the bats will carry the player to another randomly selected room (guaranteed not to be the room with the pit or the wumpus in it), before flying off to their own, new random location. In the three rooms adjacent to the bats, they can be heard squeaking, but the player is given no information about which room the sound comes from.

9. Deduct 35% of your byte count for implementing a graphical interface that shows the icosahedral map and some kind of indication of the information the player has so far about the location of the pit, the wumpus, and the bats (if applicable), relative to the player. Obviously, if the wumpus moves or the player gets moved by the bats, the map needs to reset accordingly.

10. Lowest byte count, as adjusted, wins.

BASIC source code for a version of the game (not necessarily conforming to the rules above and, in any case, utterly ungolfed) can be found at this website and probably others.