Where the Magnet Hits the Metal

At the dawn of the era of home computing, an unusual type of game was the most popular to play. With just a screen of text and a prompt, you would be asked the simple question: What do you want to do next? As you typed in commands and sentences, the games would tell you a story a story fraught with danger, excitement, puzzles and hours of exploration. They were called text adventures, adventure games, and interactive fiction. They dominated the sales charts and introduced millions to the power and flexibility of home computers. No other type of computer game could come close. And then they were gone forever. Or maybe they never actually left. Director Jason Scott interviewed dozens of creators, players, and scholars about the experience and effect of text adventures and interactive fiction. The result is Get Lamp, a documentary with multiple paths that takes you from a cave deep in Kentucky to the arrival of what some think is a brand new form of literature. What do you want to do next? (Trailer for GET LAMP).