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The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Game is 30 years old and now works nicely on iPad

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The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Game is 30 years old and now works nicely on iPad

Douglas Adams teamed up with Infocom to create a comedic text adventure based on his The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series back in 1984.

Due to the ceaseless march of time, it's 30 years old now. To celebrate, the BBC have put the original game up on the Radio 4 Extra website where you can play it for free.

It's a little awkward, but I've been able to play it on my iPad just fine. I suspect it would work on mobiles too, but whether you can actually play it on such a small screen is the problem.

Being a text adventure, you have to type in the commands on a small keyboard, you see. You want a big screen for such a task. It would be great to have a native app, you know, BBC (that's a hint).

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - 30th Anniversary Edition

That aside, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Game retains its sense of humour, which is immediate in the opening few minutes.

You'll still die frequently as well, so prepare yourself for that. Typing in SAVE before triggering an event is useful. You'll then want to type RESTORE if you should die. And you will.

You can play The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Game - 30th Anniversary Edition in your web browser.

Pocket Tactics
Chris Priestman
Chris Priestman
Anything eccentric, macabre, or just plain weird, is what Chris is all about. He turns the spotlight on the games that fly under the radar.