Colossal Cave

The Basics

Type commands to navigate an enormous underground cave system. Your goal: find all twelve treasures hidden in the depths and bring them back to the small brick building where you start.

The game understands simple one- and two-word commands. Move with compass directions, pick up items, and interact with the world around you.

Movement Commands

Key Items

• Keys — unlock the steel grate that leads into the cave system. Without them, you can't get underground.
• Lamp — lights your way through dark rooms. Essential for survival — you cannot navigate the cave without it.
• Treasures — twelve in total, scattered throughout the cave. Bring each one back to the building for points.

Magic Words

Two ancient words of power are hidden in the cave. Once discovered, they let you teleport between locations:

These magic words teleport you between key locations — invaluable shortcuts for ferrying treasures back to the building.

Your First 10 Moves

New to Colossal Cave? Here is a safe sequence to get you underground and oriented:

• 1. You start at the small brick building. Read the description. You are standing at the end of a road near a small building.
• 2. Go SOUTH to reach a valley. Take note of the surroundings.
• 3. Go SOUTH again to reach the slit in the streambed.
• 4. Go SOUTH once more to arrive at the grate. It is locked.
• 5. Go back NORTH three times to the building.
• 6. Go INSIDE the building to find the keys and the lamp.
• 7. GET KEYS and GET LAMP. These are the two most important items in the game.
• 8. Go back to the grate (SOUTH, SOUTH, SOUTH). Type OPEN GRATE.
• 9. Go DOWN through the grate into the cave.
• 10. You are now underground. Explore freely. Try every direction. The adventure begins here.

Treasure Points

The primary way to earn points is by finding treasures underground and bringing them back to the small brick building. Each treasure deposited in the building is worth points. There are 12 treasures in total, and returning all of them is the key to achieving the maximum score.

You can check your current score at any time by typing SCORE. The game also awards points for exploration — visiting new rooms adds to your tally.

The 12 Treasures

All twelve treasures are scattered throughout the cave system. Here are some general hints about where to look:

• Gold nugget — found relatively early, near the entrance areas of the cave.
• Diamonds — hidden in the deeper passages, past the first few rooms.
• Silver bars — tucked away in the lower levels of the cave.
• Precious jewelry — keep your eyes open in ornate chambers.
• Rare coins — scattered in an area you might walk right past.
• Treasure chest — requires solving a puzzle to access.
• Golden eggs — found in a nest. Be careful what else is nearby.
• Trident — deep in the cave, near water.
• Ming vase — fragile. Handle with extreme care when transporting.
• Emerald — hidden behind a natural feature. Look carefully.
• Platinum pyramid — in the darkest depths of the cave system.
• Pearl — associated with a living creature. Approach wisely.

Navigating in the Dark

Most of the cave is pitch black. Without a lit lamp, you cannot see room descriptions, items, or exits. Worse, moving through dark rooms risks falling into a pit, which can be fatal.

The lamp has a limited battery. It will eventually run low and begin to dim. When you see the warning message about your lamp growing dim, you need to either finish quickly or find a way to deal with the situation.

• Always carry the lamp. Never drop it underground unless you have a very specific reason.
• Conserve battery. Plan your routes efficiently. Do not wander aimlessly — every move with the lamp lit drains the battery.
• Dark rooms are dangerous. If your lamp dies while you are underground, you are effectively stuck. Plan your lamp usage carefully.

• Auto-save. Your game saves automatically as you play. Close the app and come back — you'll be right where you left off.
• Fresh start. Type NEW to wipe your save and begin a brand new adventure from the building.

• Get the lamp first. It's near the start. Without it, dark rooms are impassable and dangerous.
• Explore systematically. The cave is vast and maze-like. Try every direction in each room and keep a mental map.
• Bring treasures back to the building. That's how you score points. Don't just hoard them underground.
• Learn the magic words. XYZZY and PLUGH are game-changers — they save enormous amounts of backtracking.
• Watch your lamp. It has limited battery life. Don't waste time wandering aimlessly in the dark.
• Check your SCORE. It tells you how many treasures you've returned and how you're progressing toward the maximum.
• Drop items you don't need. You can only carry so many items at once. Leave non-treasure items near the magic word teleport points for easy access.
• The maze is real. Some sections of the cave are genuine mazes where multiple rooms look identical. Drop items to mark rooms you have visited.

Crowther and Woods

Colossal Cave Adventure is widely regarded as the first text adventure game ever created. It was originally written by Will Crowther in 1976, a programmer at BBN Technologies and an avid caver. Crowther based the game's geography on the real Mammoth Cave system in Kentucky, which he had explored extensively.

In 1977, Don Woods, a graduate student at Stanford, discovered Crowther's program and expanded it significantly. Woods added the fantasy elements — the dwarves, the dragon, the magic words, and many of the puzzles — transforming it from a cave simulation into a full adventure game.

The game spread across the early ARPANET and inspired an entire genre. Without Colossal Cave, there would be no Zork, no Infocom, no interactive fiction as we know it. Every text adventure and many modern RPGs trace their lineage back to this program.

The version in Senzall's Casual Games is a faithful adaptation of the Crowther and Woods original, with all 39 rooms, 12 treasures, and the classic two-word parser. It is the same game that captivated programmers in 1976, now playable on your phone.