The Hobbit

Relive Tolkien's The Hobbit as Bilbo Baggins. A piece of Interactive fiction (with graphics to illustrate locations), you follow the plot of Tolkien's book (before the Lord of the Rings trilogy), starting with an encounter with Gandalf and Thorin. The other characters can make their own moves independently of the player and their actions can sometimes result in a situation where it is not possible to complete the game. Every character and object in the game has a calculated mass which affects how they can be manipulated by the player.

The implementation is rich enough that you can play entirely without pictures if you wish. Also, gameplay happens in realtime, uncommon for interactive fiction. The game's parser, called Inglish took as long to develop as the rest of the game. In contrast to other text-based games of the period which were based on simple verb-noun parsers, Inglish allowed for complete sentences to be entered.

Followed By The Fellowship of the Ring
Added September 21, 2020
Published By Melbourne House
Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Inc.
Developed By Beam Software
Front Cover (United Kingdom) (ZX Spectrum) from mobygames.com
Media (United Kingdom) (ZX Spectrum) from mobygames.com
Front Cover (United Kingdom) (ZX Spectrum) from mobygames.com
Front Cover (United Kingdom) (ZX Spectrum) from mobygames.com
Back Cover (United Kingdom) (ZX Spectrum) from mobygames.com
Spine/Sides (United Kingdom) (ZX Spectrum) from mobygames.com
Media (United Kingdom) (ZX Spectrum) from mobygames.com
Manual (United Kingdom) (ZX Spectrum) from mobygames.com
Manual (United Kingdom) (ZX Spectrum) from mobygames.com
Back Cover (United States) from mobygames.com
Front Cover (United States) from mobygames.com
Inside Cover (United States) from mobygames.com
Inside Cover (United States) from mobygames.com
Inside Cover (United States) from mobygames.com
Media (United States) from mobygames.com
Front Cover (United Kingdom) (Commodore 64) from mobygames.com
Back Cover (United Kingdom) (Commodore 64) from mobygames.com
Front Cover (United States) (Commodore 64) from mobygames.com
Back Cover (United States) (Commodore 64) from mobygames.com
Media (United States) (Commodore 64) from mobygames.com
Front Cover (United Kingdom) (Commodore 64) from mobygames.com
Back Cover (United Kingdom) (Commodore 64) from mobygames.com
Media (United Kingdom) (Commodore 64) from mobygames.com
Front Cover (United States) (Commodore 64) from mobygames.com
Inside Cover (United States) (Commodore 64) from mobygames.com
Inside Cover (United States) (Commodore 64) from mobygames.com
Inside Cover (United States) (Commodore 64) from mobygames.com
Back Cover (United States) (Commodore 64) from mobygames.com
Other (United States) (Commodore 64) from mobygames.com
Media (United States) (Commodore 64) from mobygames.com
Front Cover (United States) (Apple II) from mobygames.com
Back Cover (United States) (Apple II) from mobygames.com
Manual (United States) (Apple II) from mobygames.com
Manual (United States) (Apple II) from mobygames.com
Map (United States) (Apple II) from mobygames.com
Reference Card (United States) (Apple II) from mobygames.com
Advertisement (United States) (Apple II) from mobygames.com
Media (United States) (Apple II) from mobygames.com
Media (United Kingdom) from mobygames.com
Front Cover (United Kingdom) from mobygames.com
IGDB Cover from igdb.com
Loading screen (ZX Spectrum) from mobygames.com
You start the game in your house (ZX Spectrum) from mobygames.com
Outside your house are lots of hills (ZX Spectrum) from mobygames.com
Troll's footprints (ZX Spectrum) from mobygames.com
The troll camp (ZX Spectrum) from mobygames.com
Title Screen from mobygames.com
The beginning of the game, and it's graphic... from mobygames.com
...and the much more rich text interactive fiction that goes with it. from mobygames.com
A gloomy, dreary land from mobygames.com
A small clearing -- with a kettle... from mobygames.com
Through the trees from mobygames.com
You have been eaten by Trolls. from mobygames.com
Through the Misty Mountains from mobygames.com
I was captured and thrown into this dungeon from mobygames.com
Gate to Mirkwood from mobygames.com
A lovely spot.. from mobygames.com
..that's what he said. And then I died. from mobygames.com
Your home in the Shire. (Commodore 64) from mobygames.com
Waiting in the forest. Because of the ANIMACTION system, creatures moved around the world, so sometimes waiting was a good strategy. (Commodore 64) from mobygames.com
The troll's clearing - about two locations from your home, and your first good chance to get killed. (Commodore 64) from mobygames.com
Title screen (Apple II) from mobygames.com
Full description of starting location, plus a request to flip disks. (Apple II) from mobygames.com
Illustration for first location; compare the descriptions and see how slim this one has become! (Apple II) from mobygames.com
Departing the Shire (Apple II) from mobygames.com
This doesn't look so bad, but whose cauldron is that? (Apple II) from mobygames.com
Mr. Baggins is no tank, that's for certain. (Apple II) from mobygames.com
Title screen from mobygames.com
Gandalph gives you... from mobygames.com
Talk... from mobygames.com
Trolls clearing from mobygames.com
Trolls cave from mobygames.com
At the gate of Mirkwood from mobygames.com
Trees that look like they're in water from mobygames.com
Title screen (Macintosh) from mobygames.com
Starting location (Macintosh) from mobygames.com
Trolls clearing picture (Macintosh) from mobygames.com
Text description of the clearing (Macintosh) from mobygames.com
Wandering through the Misty Mountains. (Macintosh) from mobygames.com
Misty valley (Macintosh) from mobygames.com
In a cave (Macintosh) from mobygames.com
Beorn's house (Macintosh) from mobygames.com
At the gate of Mirkwood (Macintosh) from mobygames.com
Waterfall (Macintosh) from mobygames.com

Year of Release:
1982

Genre(s):
Interactive Fiction Traditional

Graphic Style:
2D

Camera View:
First-Person

Control Type:
Text Parser

Setting/Theme:
Fantasy

Available From: