How did you discover the Adventure Easter Egg?

[zzip]

How did you first become aware of the Easter Egg in Adventure?   Did someone tell you about it?   Did you find it on your own?  Did someone show you?

 

For me it was a complete accident.   I liked to mess around in Adventure,  get swallowed by dragons and have the bat take you on a tour of the kingdom, use the bridge at all the edges to see where it goes, etc

 

I had noticed that there was something odd about that room in the black castle that caused it to flicker with fewer objects on screen than the other rooms..   but it never occurred to me that there might be a hidden object in there.    After all how could there be hidden objects, the magnet would find them, right?

 

But one day I was messing around with the bridge in the castle,  went into the hidden area (which I didn't even realize was hidden until I got inside and there was no other way out).   I heard the "pick up object" sound,  and noticed I picked up a "dot"?   Totally wasn't expecting that.   I think my first thought was "I must show this to the bat!".   My brother and I were a bit obsessed with the bat.   We liked to torture him by showing him shiny objects and not allowing him to take them. 

 

But on the way to show the bat,  I noticed that the dot made the barriers turn a funny color.   Then noticed that with other objects on the screen, I could go right through the barrier.

 

It's funny, my reaction to finding the hidden room with the Warren Robinett credit wasn't "wow the game designer put his name in here",  it was more "Wow, I bet I can hide objects from the bat in here!"

 

So I feel like I completely stumbled into it without realizing what I found, or knowing how significant it was going to be to videogame history.   To me it was just a room to hide from the bat ?

 

Oh and slightly disappointed that the bat was completely unimpressed with my dot ?

[keithbk]

I remember someone telling me at school. I don't know how he found out about it, but I went back home that day and found it.

[InfoMan]

I read about it in Atari Age (the original magazine, not this website   - see page 15 of the pdf at the link earlier in this sentence).

[ComputerSpaceFan]

4 hours ago, zzip said:

How did you first become aware of the Easter Egg in Adventure?   Did someone tell you about it?   Did you find it on your own?  Did someone show you?

 

For me it was a complete accident.   I liked to mess around in Adventure,  get swallowed by dragons and have the bat take you on a tour of the kingdom, use the bridge at all the edges to see where it goes, etc

 

I had noticed that there was something odd about that room in the black castle that caused it to flicker with fewer objects on screen than the other rooms..   but it never occurred to me that there might be a hidden object in there.    After all how could there be hidden objects, the magnet would find them, right?

 

But one day I was messing around with the bridge in the castle,  went into the hidden area (which I didn't even realize was hidden until I got inside and there was no other way out).   I heard the "pick up object" sound,  and noticed I picked up a "dot"?   Totally wasn't expecting that.   I think my first thought was "I must show this to the bat!".   My brother and I were a bit obsessed with the bat.   We liked to torture him by showing him shiny objects and not allowing him to take them. 

 

But on the way to show the bat,  I noticed that the dot made the barriers turn a funny color.   Then noticed that with other objects on the screen, I could go right through the barrier.

 

It's funny, my reaction to finding the hidden room with the Warren Robinett credit wasn't "wow the game designer put his name in here",  it was more "Wow, I bet I can hide objects from the bat in here!"

 

So I feel like I completely stumbled into it without realizing what I found, or knowing how significant it was going to be to videogame history.   To me it was just a room to hide from the bat ?

 

Oh and slightly disappointed that the bat was completely unimpressed with my dot ?

Okay I feel better now cuz my friend in school told me he did exactly the same thing you did. I've always been a little suspicious of his claim because he also was on a lot of bulletin boards online in those days so part of me thought maybe he read about it, tested it, then showed me claiming he found it all by himself.

But given you noticed the same things he claimed he noticed makes me feel like my suspicions were wrong.

Maybe I'll buy him a beer next time I see him.

[+-^CrossBow^-]

I can't recall exactly where, but I'm pretty sure I stumbled on it by using the bridge at the edge of a screen. I couldn't get into the room, but found that if I just kept pressing in the direction I was trying to move in, that the room would stay on the screen. However, I had no idea at the time that it even said anything and just thought it was some random glitching of the game graphics since I was basically looking into a screen or part of the map that to me, didn't really exist. I didn't know what it said and was until much later when read about it, likely during the 2600 Nexus days.

 

[tripled79]

There's an easter egg in Adventure?

SPOILER ALERT!

[+Karl G]

My sister found it after reading about it in the magazine. The blinking objects in the room where it is was a big hint.

[eegad]

I was playing it in my room late one night a few weeks after getting it.  I think i was messing around with the bridge trying to find a shorter way to get to the mazes exit,  but i stumbled upon the sealed off box and heard the pickup object sound. Then noticed i was carrying a dot.  Hmmmm.   So i just carried it with me for a while. Noticed the border color change in the rooms below the yellow castle.  Tried to pass through but couldnt.  Tried while holding dot and after dropping dot,  and was hanging out thinking about why those 2 rooms had those thin line walls while every other room had only thick walls.  Then i think the bat flew in carrying something and the line started pulsing and i was able to walk through.  Must have sat there for 10 minutes staring at the message, afraid to hit reset and try doing it again for fear of it not working again.  I also wrote a letter to atari customer service the next day about what I'd found. Got a letter back a month or so later confirming the games programmer put a secret message in the game and congratulating me on finding it - see attached. 

[zzip]

On 8/20/2021 at 5:04 PM, ComputerSpaceFan said:

Okay I feel better now cuz my friend in school told me he did exactly the same thing you did. I've always been a little suspicious of his claim because he also was on a lot of bulletin boards online in those days so part of me thought maybe he read about it, tested it, then showed me claiming he found it all by himself.

But given you noticed the same things he claimed he noticed makes me feel like my suspicions were wrong.

Maybe I'll buy him a beer next time I see him.

haha,  it feels unlikely in retrospect.   But I really did stumble into it, not even knowing such a thing existed.  So I imagine others did as well.

 

20 hours ago, eegad said:

I also wrote a letter to atari customer service the next day about what I'd found. Got a letter back a month or so later confirming the games programmer put a secret message in the game and congratulating me on finding it - see attached. 

That's awesome!   But no prizes?   Oh well, at least the letter didn't say "Thank you for making us aware of this.  Disciplinary action has been taken against Mr. Robinett."

[mhedges]

My friend Louie told me back in the day, a lifetime ago.  I started the game and proceeded to find the dot, then the signature shortly after.

 

Still friends, a lifetime later.  ?

[Lauren Tyler]

I learned about it when I was in high school.  My homeroom teacher showed me how to do it by drawing out an improvised map.

[Zonie]

I found the dot just looking around with the bridge. I was looking because the room was blinking. I didn't try it anyplace other than the gold castle, then I heard about the Easter egg, so my friends and I called Atari (yes we called the 800 number from the payphone at school) and they sent us the instructions.