How did you feel about Choose Your Own Adventure books, if you encountered them back in the day? How do you feel about them now? And/or what's your all-time favourite CYOA book? Tell me right here in comments. Satan demands it! ❤ Buy me the time to make more videos like this by supporting me at Patreon: www.patreon.com/jasonarnopp 🚀 Sick of getting trolled for being a happy Doctor Who fan? Hating the online hate? Escape to The Time Lord's Retreat, my safe space to hang out, geek out and make new like-minded friends: www.skool.com/doctorwho 🧠 Build and test-drive your own online business for free on the amazing Skool platform, with a 14-day trial: bit.ly/skoolrefer
At the time I kind of overlooked them in favour of Fighting Fantasy. But years later the cover designs look fantastic, and it's quite nice to have a format where you don't have to muck about with a dice and pencil (if you can find them), and you can just dive right in. Strong memories of book number two - think it reminded me of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. :-)
Oh man I remember the one when you found a briefcase of cash in the bushes, i think it was called 'Millionaire!'... So much fun Absolutely loved these as at a kid
Read every one I could find at the library as a kid in the 80s. I distinctly remember a haunted house one, different from the one you showed, that I really liked. There was also a time travel book series, they were knock offs, that I loved. They had one set in the French Revolution that I was able to buy as a kid...that was a lot of fun, as I loved history.
As a child in the 80's I would read these books by candlelight during a thunder storm and enter in some crazy adventures right in my bedroom. True escapism for me at that time. How I love these books. You have a great collection.
The Mystery of Chimney Rock, The Mystery of Echo Lodge, and The Horror of High Ridge were my favorites when I was a kid. I used to stay up late reading Chimney Rock alone in my bed... That book was seriously TERRIFYING and I LOVED it!!
Thanks for showing this. This is one of the reasons , growing up as a kid in the 80s was awesome.... Retro music, cool games, unbelievable sitcoms and list goes on....
I remember spending hours reading these. I grew up in a rual are here in America. We had 3 channels on an old black and tv. So it was watch day time soaps phil Donahue go out and play or read. Im not say time was better or anything just i read alot. But my favorite book was and still is i guess was "horrors of high ridge."
Hey there! Lovely memories, thank you. And yes, for a while now, I've been meaning to make a video specifically about The Horror Of High Ridge! Must do that soon. :)
LOL I remember holding the choice page with my finger as a kid of the 80's... I think I read every single book in the series plus OTHER series books. I love that and Interactive Fiction (Text Adventures) on the computer as well.
Till this day CYOA's Hyperspace is perhaps the most mind-bogglingly unique and atmospheric piece of sci-fi I've every read or watched (and I've read Philip K Dick's sci fi too) .. it left such a deep impression in me that even after decades of first reading (and re-reading) it as a child, I can now still recall that it is issue no. 21 of the CYOA series ! Things like walking into an uncanny valley parallel universe where everything seems like home but surreally different in kooky ways .. meeting yourself from another time , etc ... its so bizarrely good that all the subsequent CYOA books I read later felt underwhelming .. its that great ..
I whole-heartedly agree with 88feji. Hyperspace was brilliant and when I reread it last year (after about 33 years of first reading it) I was still completely captivated and found it more enjoyable than anything contemporary for adults my age.
Just when I thought I couldn't be astonished and surprised with another piece of retro gold; I then spot a video about choose your own adventure!!! Glorious! Many thanks 😊
Oh the 1st book in your left hand at the intro was my jam! Space Patrol has the funky 80s Sci Fi illustrations that burned in my brain. Definitely a great way to get a kid like me to read in the 1980s. Great video homage!
I had a book which was from the same people who did the choose your own adventure series, called Time Machine, & it had a wooly mammoth on the front. Fighting Fantasy was all the rage back in the 80s, & I had quite a lot of books from that series, as well as a big book called Titan from the same authors. I also loved the Way of the Tiger series which spanned across I think 7 novels & you played a ninja.
floyd75dylan Ah yes, Time Machine! I still have perhaps the first four books in that series. The FF series are proper delights, as were the Way Of The Tiger books. Can definitely see myself covering more gamebooks on this channel! Thanks for commenting.
The adventure books were massive back in the 80s, and it would be really cool if you did an indepth look in to the phenomena that unfortunately lost its popularity when the 90s arrived.
@@floyd75dylan Hehe! If this CYOA video eventually has a good reception, I could do a playthrough video with one of those books. Perhaps The Mystery Of Chimney Rock...
I absolutely LOVED these books back in the early 80's. My friend and I would devour them in elementary school during reading time. He had the entire collection. Last year, while watching "Knives Out" I had a flashback about these Choose Your Own Adventure Books because I felt like the storyline was almost like "Who Killed Harlowe Thrombey"...
Thank you so much for the walk down memory lane !! it's been so long since I thought of those books , I used to reread them till they were just warned to pieces, thank you again! 💕
"The horror of High Ridge" was one of the most memorable reading of my childhood. Its uneasy and ominous mood (highlighted by the gory endings) was unmatched even by the adult horror and gothic novels I've read later. Plus the old series was graced by iconic handmade cover art and sometime by evocative illustrations such as those of Ralph Reese and Frank Bolle.
These were big at my school back in the 80s. Some of those covers have come right back to me. I was sort of into them for a while I think but then Fighting Fantasy took over my life. Looking forward to a video on those!
I always preferred RA Montgonery’s books. They were a little more action packed, and a little easier to digest, especially as a kid. Packard was more dry but also a bit darker with some gruesome endings. But those original CYOA books were my absolute favorites as a grade schooler
I just discovered game books a few hours ago, and I’ve just noticed that both CYOA and FF series’ 50th entry are a “return to (earlier instalment)” issue. :)
Can anyone remember the name of the Endless Quest type books that were two player. One player would read their book playing as say "the wizard" and the second player would read their book. Each had henchmen and all had character sheets, hit points and a battlechart. Its driving me crazy!
After hours searching I figured it out. Advanced Dungeons and Dragons 1 on 1. There are various titles. Dragon vs Warrior, etc. They are insanely difficult to acquire and I saw prices as high as $500!
These were the first books that I was excited to read. Your Code Name is Jonah, Who Killed Harlow Thrombey?, and Mountain Survival are my favorites of the early titles. For those interested, Nathan Penligton did a wonderful theatre production involving CYOA that was turned into a free online experience. Highly recommended! www.theboyinthebook.co.uk
I owned one of the first Tracker books,from 1973! (I bought it a few years later...1976/77) Secret of the Seventh Star. It was far shorter than the books in the 'CYOA' series, though. One page was text,the other was an illustration (usually containing visual clues). The story was a mystery,and it had only three endings (fail; partially succeed in solving it;succeed) My twelve year old self thought it was the best thing since sliced bread, though;as nothing like it had ever been published before. I recently did a search on Amazon - there were no copies available;but apparently they still turn up once in a while. I'm now feeling very old.
Thanks so much for this, Ian - very interesting! I hadn't even heard of the Tracker books until I came to do this video and carried out an extensive 30 seconds of research. :D
Our teacher read us the mystery of Chimney Rock in 1982 when I was in grade 2, although it seems aimed primarily at older kids. Maybe the series for younger children hadn’t come out yet. Anyways, we loved it.
I had one of these as a kid (not sure which one I'm afraid) but I started with (and had more of) the Fighting Fantasy books. As a kid I wasn't much of a reader, and it was those books that got me hooked, probably because of the gaming nature. They had such and effect that I actually tried writing some myself!
That's great, Marc, that CYOA books got you more into reading AND writing. Thinking about it, I probably found 'proper' books fairly dull and long-winded, even as a kid, and so gamebooks must have helped drag me in, too.
The first branching adventure book I saw was in the mid-70s, a Tracker Book called something like The Secret of the Seventh Star (title possibly inspired by Bram Stoker's The Jewel of the Seven Stars). It was a scary deserted-house thing with evocative illustrations. Definitely published in the UK I believe? No real game system though, just choices in a branching narrative (I've got one now, a pirate story, and the branches are very limited and soon return to the main plot).
Favorite books hands down were #9 (Who Killed Harlowe Thrombey?) and # 28 (Mountain Survival). Both written by Edward Packard. I have others, but these are great fun to read!
Great video, Jason! Very jealous of your collection there... Absolutely loved these as a kid. They were a gateway to other great gamebook series (Fighting Fantasy, Lone Wolf... Grail Quest, anyone? Fantasy gamebook satire, but also a fiendishly difficult series of gamebooks) and probably lots of genre fiction as well. I've been keeping an eye out for them recently because we have one at home and my little boy loves it. They used to be ubiquitous, but seem to have disappeared from 2nd hand shelves. Typical! Was surprised when reading with the boy just how short they were - you can whip through two or three completely different scenarios in a few mins. They were more taxing when I was the 7-yr-old!
Hey there Stephen! Thank you. And oh yes indeed, Grail Quest! Loved those books, even though they were tough. And Demonspawn was like the adult version of those, by the same author.
@@jarnopp I've developed a bit of a Herbie Brennan obsession lately... Recently picked up his Castle Dracula gamebook, which was exciting, but some of the Grail Quests go for silly money.
@@smcmullin2001 My God, so they do. Just had a look on eBay and saw that the eighth and final Grail Quest book sold for £100! That's delivered, mind, so fair enough, obvs.
I gobbled up these when I was a kid - although they may not have been the original brand, can’t say for sure as they were translated into Norwegian. But my favourite was a ninja/samurai one - I don’t know how many times I got that one out of the library! One thing I learned: always choose the matches.
Hey Lisa! I'm guessing the CYOA books were so big at the time that they were translated for countries all over the world. Hmmm, I wonder what the ninja/samurai one was - there were so many of these books. Does anyone know?
Jason Arnopp's Terrifying House Of Obsession I found it! It was actually a different series called Time Machine (but published by the same people who made CYOA, it says on the cover) - the title was Sword of the Samurai. Soooo good, at least 9 year old me thought so!
@@heavenlycute Ah yes! Time Machine! I have a few of these books. I know they released at least six of them, because I just spotted Number 6 among a few stacks of gamebooks I need to sort out. :D
Mystery of the chimney rock. It is unquestionably number one. There is a strange mystery in that book and a different atmosphere that is unlike any other book. I cannot fully understand and solve it. But it is truly unique.
Hello! Oh yes indeed, the first two titles there are classics! I don't believe I've had the pleasure of the third one, or at least I can't remember. Was that an earlier title too, or more of a later one?
Cool!! I had Horror of High Ridge! Remember it being pretty gruesome (pretty sure one path ended with all the protagonists with knives in their backs!). xD
@@jarnopp It's essentially based on the Fighting Fantasty books, and uses their art style and way of presenting rooms and encounters. The game sets out a random dungeon you have to escape from. It can be hard to win, but it's a lot of fun.
The good thing is, they don't SEEM to be too expensive these days. F'rinstance, here's one of the books from the video for £2.98 delivered: rover.ebay.com/rover/1/710-53481-19255-0/1?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fitm%2FEscape-Choose-Your-Own-Adventure-No-20-R-A-Montgomery-Used-Good-Book%2F312679241041%3Fepid%3D89934975%26hash%3Ditem48cd229551%3Ag%3Awk4AAOSwZexdGBtO&campid=5338479300&toolid=20008
That was a great look back at a great series. Spies, UFOs, and time travel are all over the Choose Your Own Adventure books. For about a year now, my friends and I have been doing a podcast where we read these books to each other, and it's been a lot of fun. If you're interested, you can check us out at IncrediblyDaring.com
@@jarnopp ive bought some old American and Canadian books ive loved. But these books were before advent of great video games such as Fallout 4 and Yakuza series.
The PlayStation game Shadow of memories comes to mind. Must check it out again.I did like these books as I was not a reader it did motivate people like me to read.
It has various diversions that created various endings depending on how you travel in time to different key points. I guess different endings is old hat now but it was quite new then in the early 2000s and it reminded me then of the concept used in the books.
I had all of them it makes me sick I didn't keep them. #5 is best. I heard inside UFO 54-40 is broken and you can't get one of the endings that's in the book. There is no path to the best result. They are impossible to find in thrift shops
It's not broken, it's part of the storyline - you can't go to Ultima via normal methods, which is stated in the book. Having choices leading to that ending would be "normal methods" in a gamebook, so you have to do what you're normally told not to do; read (or rather, skim) through the book from start to end, and then you find the ending (which is easy to find by accident, as there's a picture before it.) The book is designed so that you can only get the best ending this way, and knows that there are no choices leading to it - the page even starts with something like "You did not make any choices..."
yes "race forever" one of the best and well planned I think, it had two big story branches, when you finish one it sends you to the other one and you can do that indefinetely, that made it actually "forever"
How did you feel about Choose Your Own Adventure books, if you encountered them back in the day? How do you feel about them now? And/or what's your all-time favourite CYOA book? Tell me right here in comments. Satan demands it!
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At the time I kind of overlooked them in favour of Fighting Fantasy. But years later the cover designs look fantastic, and it's quite nice to have a format where you don't have to muck about with a dice and pencil (if you can find them), and you can just dive right in. Strong memories of book number two - think it reminded me of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. :-)
@@mrceadge Thanks for watching, Carl! And yes, these cover designs really have stood the test of time, I think.
Oh man I remember the one when you found a briefcase of cash in the bushes, i think it was called 'Millionaire!'...
So much fun
Absolutely loved these as at a kid
Read every one I could find at the library as a kid in the 80s. I distinctly remember a haunted house one, different from the one you showed, that I really liked. There was also a time travel book series, they were knock offs, that I loved. They had one set in the French Revolution that I was able to buy as a kid...that was a lot of fun, as I loved history.
I LOVED choose your own adventure books as a kid!
As a child in the 80's I would read these books by candlelight during a thunder storm and enter in some crazy adventures right in my bedroom. True escapism for me at that time. How I love these books. You have a great collection.
Thank you. Loving your vivid memories! 😊👊
The Mystery of Chimney Rock, The Mystery of Echo Lodge, and The Horror of High Ridge were my favorites when I was a kid.
I used to stay up late reading Chimney Rock alone in my bed... That book was seriously TERRIFYING and I LOVED it!!
Awesome! Such happy and yet scary memories. :D
Thanks for showing this. This is one of the reasons , growing up as a kid in the 80s was awesome.... Retro music, cool games, unbelievable sitcoms and list goes on....
You're so right. There was so much fun to be had! 😊👊
I remember spending hours reading these. I grew up in a rual are here in America. We had 3 channels on an old black and tv. So it was watch day time soaps phil Donahue go out and play or read. Im not say time was better or anything just i read alot. But my favorite book was and still is i guess was "horrors of high ridge."
Hey there! Lovely memories, thank you. And yes, for a while now, I've been meaning to make a video specifically about The Horror Of High Ridge! Must do that soon. :)
I'm from rural Canada, and my favorite book since childhood is #102 Master of Tae Kwon Do.
LOL I remember holding the choice page with my finger as a kid of the 80's... I think I read every single book in the series plus OTHER series books. I love that and Interactive Fiction (Text Adventures) on the computer as well.
Love it! Great memories, right? Back when we had a far greater attention span. 👀
One of the biggest reasons I got into reading as a youth. These really made you feel part of the story, it made reading feel like a game.
Till this day CYOA's Hyperspace is perhaps the most mind-bogglingly unique and atmospheric piece of sci-fi I've every read or watched (and I've read Philip K Dick's sci fi too) .. it left such a deep impression in me that even after decades of first reading (and re-reading) it as a child, I can now still recall that it is issue no. 21 of the CYOA series !
Things like walking into an uncanny valley parallel universe where everything seems like home but surreally different in kooky ways .. meeting yourself from another time , etc ... its so bizarrely good that all the subsequent CYOA books I read later felt underwhelming .. its that great ..
88feji Hey there! Excellent comment, thanks - and one that really makes me want to pull Hyperspace back off the shelf! 👊
Do it ... do it !
.. but remember to reading Edward Packard's special warning before you start (O.o)
I whole-heartedly agree with 88feji. Hyperspace was brilliant and when I reread it last year (after about 33 years of first reading it) I was still completely captivated and found it more enjoyable than anything contemporary for adults my age.
Just when I thought I couldn't be astonished and surprised with another piece of retro gold; I then spot a video about choose your own adventure!!! Glorious! Many thanks 😊
Barry Pook Hello again Barry - hooray, glad you like! 👌😎
@@jarnopp has now become daily viewing for me - an arnopp away keeps the dr away! 😉
@@barrypook8506 Haha - excellent. You, sir, are a model subscriber!
Oh the 1st book in your left hand at the intro was my jam! Space Patrol has the funky 80s Sci Fi illustrations that burned in my brain. Definitely a great way to get a kid like me to read in the 1980s. Great video homage!
Awesome- thanks! Hope you got a kick out of seeing the book again ☺️👊
Space Patrol was also my favorite - read it over and over. “You are proud to wear the crimson badge of the patrol…”
Man oh man, but I'm right back to my school library 1980.
This makes me happy. :)
I had a book which was from the same people who did the choose your own adventure series, called Time Machine, & it had a wooly mammoth on the front.
Fighting Fantasy was all the rage back in the 80s, & I had quite a lot of books from that series, as well as a big book called Titan from the same authors.
I also loved the Way of the Tiger series which spanned across I think 7 novels & you played a ninja.
floyd75dylan Ah yes, Time Machine! I still have perhaps the first four books in that series. The FF series are proper delights, as were the Way Of The Tiger books. Can definitely see myself covering more gamebooks on this channel! Thanks for commenting.
The adventure books were massive back in the 80s, and it would be really cool if you did an indepth look in to the phenomena that unfortunately lost its popularity when the 90s arrived.
@@floyd75dylan True, I could do an overview video, as well as looks at the individual gamebook lines...
Jason Arnopp's Terrifying House Of Obsession
Could do a quick play through, but you’ll have to put on your best Jackanory storytelling on.
@@floyd75dylan Hehe! If this CYOA video eventually has a good reception, I could do a playthrough video with one of those books. Perhaps The Mystery Of Chimney Rock...
I absolutely LOVED these books back in the early 80's. My friend and I would devour them in elementary school during reading time. He had the entire collection. Last year, while watching "Knives Out" I had a flashback about these Choose Your Own Adventure Books because I felt like the storyline was almost like "Who Killed Harlowe
Thrombey"...
They're so much fun! And haha, I have yet to watch Knives Out, but when I do I shall look out for the Thrombey comparisons! :)
Thank you so much for the walk down memory lane !! it's been so long since I thought of those books , I used to reread them till they were just warned to pieces, thank you again! 💕
Fire pixie you’re very welcome! Makes me happy to think of people stumbling upon videos like this and being delighted!
"The horror of High Ridge" was one of the most memorable reading of my childhood. Its uneasy and ominous mood (highlighted by the gory endings) was unmatched even by the adult horror and gothic novels I've read later. Plus the old series was graced by iconic handmade cover art and sometime by evocative illustrations such as those of Ralph Reese and Frank Bolle.
Great assessment - thank you! Yes, I do remember that book as actually having been scary, especially for a kid!
These were big at my school back in the 80s. Some of those covers have come right back to me. I was sort of into them for a while I think but then Fighting Fantasy took over my life. Looking forward to a video on those!
Hi David - glad these book covers gave you that nostalgia buzz! And yes, a FF video must and will happen.
I always preferred RA Montgonery’s books. They were a little more action packed, and a little easier to digest, especially as a kid. Packard was more dry but also a bit darker with some gruesome endings. But those original CYOA books were my absolute favorites as a grade schooler
I just discovered game books a few hours ago, and I’ve just noticed that both CYOA and FF series’ 50th entry are a “return to (earlier instalment)” issue. :)
This is a very good point! I don't think I had consciously noticed this. Thanks for watching and commenting!
Im currently about to put some on ebay. I also have The Mystery of Chimney Rock as well as a few others. Maybe I'll make a video about it
I loved Your Code Name is “Jonah.”
Ah yes, a spy story, right? 🕵️♀️ 😊👊
@@jarnopp That’s the one. I easily read every combination of story.
Can anyone remember the name of the Endless Quest type books that were two player. One player would read their book playing as say "the wizard" and the second player would read their book. Each had henchmen and all had character sheets, hit points and a battlechart. Its driving me crazy!
After hours searching I figured it out. Advanced Dungeons and Dragons 1 on 1. There are various titles. Dragon vs Warrior, etc. They are insanely difficult to acquire and I saw prices as high as $500!
These were the first books that I was excited to read. Your Code Name is Jonah, Who Killed Harlow Thrombey?, and Mountain Survival are my favorites of the early titles. For those interested, Nathan Penligton did a wonderful theatre production involving CYOA that was turned into a free online experience. Highly recommended! www.theboyinthebook.co.uk
Hey there, thanks for these thoughts and memories! And that link looks interesting.
Where did you get all those books
I owned one of the first Tracker books,from 1973! (I bought it a few years later...1976/77)
Secret of the Seventh Star.
It was far shorter than the books in the 'CYOA' series, though. One page was text,the other was an illustration (usually containing visual clues). The story was a mystery,and it had only three endings (fail; partially succeed in solving it;succeed)
My twelve year old self thought it was the best thing since sliced bread, though;as nothing like it had ever been published before.
I recently did a search on Amazon - there were no copies available;but apparently they still turn up once in a while.
I'm now feeling very old.
Thanks so much for this, Ian - very interesting! I hadn't even heard of the Tracker books until I came to do this video and carried out an extensive 30 seconds of research. :D
Our teacher read us the mystery of Chimney Rock in 1982 when I was in grade 2, although it seems aimed primarily at older kids. Maybe the series for younger children hadn’t come out yet. Anyways, we loved it.
Of course you did! :) What a great book.
I had one of these as a kid (not sure which one I'm afraid) but I started with (and had more of) the Fighting Fantasy books. As a kid I wasn't much of a reader, and it was those books that got me hooked, probably because of the gaming nature. They had such and effect that I actually tried writing some myself!
That's great, Marc, that CYOA books got you more into reading AND writing. Thinking about it, I probably found 'proper' books fairly dull and long-winded, even as a kid, and so gamebooks must have helped drag me in, too.
The first branching adventure book I saw was in the mid-70s, a Tracker Book called something like The Secret of the Seventh Star (title possibly inspired by Bram Stoker's The Jewel of the Seven Stars). It was a scary deserted-house thing with evocative illustrations. Definitely published in the UK I believe? No real game system though, just choices in a branching narrative (I've got one now, a pirate story, and the branches are very limited and soon return to the main plot).
Wow, thanks Frank, that's very interesting to hear. Never heard of these books! 👊😊
Mystery of Chimney Rock was also my favorite book! The pictures of Jervis the Caretaker, were especially creepy!!
Ah yes, I remember him! Bent over almost double, wasn't he? 😆
Favorite books hands down were #9 (Who Killed Harlowe Thrombey?) and # 28 (Mountain Survival). Both written by Edward Packard. I have others, but these are great fun to read!
Inspector Pruffrock.
Loved Who Killed Harlowe Thrombey? I got it for Xmas as a kid. I had so much fun
Great video, Jason! Very jealous of your collection there...
Absolutely loved these as a kid. They were a gateway to other great gamebook series (Fighting Fantasy, Lone Wolf... Grail Quest, anyone? Fantasy gamebook satire, but also a fiendishly difficult series of gamebooks) and probably lots of genre fiction as well. I've been keeping an eye out for them recently because we have one at home and my little boy loves it. They used to be ubiquitous, but seem to have disappeared from 2nd hand shelves. Typical!
Was surprised when reading with the boy just how short they were - you can whip through two or three completely different scenarios in a few mins. They were more taxing when I was the 7-yr-old!
Hey there Stephen! Thank you. And oh yes indeed, Grail Quest! Loved those books, even though they were tough. And Demonspawn was like the adult version of those, by the same author.
@@jarnopp I've developed a bit of a Herbie Brennan obsession lately... Recently picked up his Castle Dracula gamebook, which was exciting, but some of the Grail Quests go for silly money.
@@smcmullin2001 My God, so they do. Just had a look on eBay and saw that the eighth and final Grail Quest book sold for £100! That's delivered, mind, so fair enough, obvs.
I gobbled up these when I was a kid - although they may not have been the original brand, can’t say for sure as they were translated into Norwegian. But my favourite was a ninja/samurai one - I don’t know how many times I got that one out of the library! One thing I learned: always choose the matches.
Hey Lisa! I'm guessing the CYOA books were so big at the time that they were translated for countries all over the world. Hmmm, I wonder what the ninja/samurai one was - there were so many of these books. Does anyone know?
Jason Arnopp's Terrifying House Of Obsession I found it! It was actually a different series called Time Machine (but published by the same people who made CYOA, it says on the cover) - the title was Sword of the Samurai. Soooo good, at least 9 year old me thought so!
@@heavenlycute Ah yes! Time Machine! I have a few of these books. I know they released at least six of them, because I just spotted Number 6 among a few stacks of gamebooks I need to sort out. :D
Because when I search online in comes as a set of 5 or 6?
Hey there Sharmilah! I'm guessing that those sets are reissues of the books. I bought these books individually in book shops, back in the 80s!
Oh ok ty
@@sharmilahsukumaran2176 I'm pretty sure eBay will help you out here - the original books don't seem TOO expensive, last time I looked 🤔
Mystery of the chimney rock. It is unquestionably number one. There is a strange mystery in that book and a different atmosphere that is unlike any other book. I cannot fully understand and solve it. But it is truly unique.
Yes! Great atmosphere 👊
i had only three of them as a kid, but they're burned into my brain: Who Killed Harlowe Thrombey, Horror of High Ridge, The Case of the Silk King.
Hello! Oh yes indeed, the first two titles there are classics! I don't believe I've had the pleasure of the third one, or at least I can't remember. Was that an earlier title too, or more of a later one?
@@jarnopp If I recall it was later than the first two - had a more 'realistic' cover.
Cool!! I had Horror of High Ridge! Remember it being pretty gruesome (pretty sure one path ended with all the protagonists with knives in their backs!). xD
Blue Planet Cheers! And yes, the knives in the backs certainly rings a bell. Tremendous stuff.
Thank you for sharing!
You're welcome! You might want to check out a follow-up CYOA video I made, with better production values! th-cam.com/video/Xcw8TzazVm8/w-d-xo.html
the forbidden castle is also a 'cave of time' book, that how you end up in the middle ages!
Aha! Cool. Thank you!
Have you tried "Escape the Dark Castle" board game?
I haven't, but it sounds good! How is it? 🤔😊👊
@@jarnopp It's essentially based on the Fighting Fantasty books, and uses their art style and way of presenting rooms and encounters. The game sets out a random dungeon you have to escape from. It can be hard to win, but it's a lot of fun.
I rememeber the first book from the library because if the art on the back. Crazy!
Hey there. Glad to bring these memories back! Thanks for watching and commenting!
The finger cheat lol, I had 3 to 4 fingers branched in
lol! same
Hehe, somehow missed these comments a while back. Yes indeed! The cheat was great. :)
Loved cyoa when I was a youngster, brilliant books and I wish I'd kept them. I had about 20.
The good thing is, they don't SEEM to be too expensive these days. F'rinstance, here's one of the books from the video for £2.98 delivered: rover.ebay.com/rover/1/710-53481-19255-0/1?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fitm%2FEscape-Choose-Your-Own-Adventure-No-20-R-A-Montgomery-Used-Good-Book%2F312679241041%3Fepid%3D89934975%26hash%3Ditem48cd229551%3Ag%3Awk4AAOSwZexdGBtO&campid=5338479300&toolid=20008
Loved these!
Awesome! Then this was hopefully the video for you. :)
Loved those books. I had so many of them...
Hello! Awesome. It's never too late to get a few back... 😈
"Space Patrol" led me to watch Star Trek. I also had "The Cave of Time". It was also my favorite book.
Great titles! Lovely nostalgic stuff. :)
Space patrol was soooo morbid!
That was a great look back at a great series. Spies, UFOs, and time travel are all over the Choose Your Own Adventure books. For about a year now, my friends and I have been doing a podcast where we read these books to each other, and it's been a lot of fun. If you're interested, you can check us out at IncrediblyDaring.com
Hey there! So sorry to take one whole year to reply to your kind comment. Glad you enjoyed the video!
My favorite was The Worst Day of your Life!
Hey there Joe! You know, I don't think I have this one. Did it fall somewhat later in the series?
Loved these in the 80s
So much fun, aren't they! Would you ever buy one again, do you think?
@@jarnopp ive bought some old American and Canadian books ive loved. But these books were before advent of great video games such as Fallout 4 and Yakuza series.
The PlayStation game Shadow of memories comes to mind. Must check it out again.I did like these books as I was not a reader it did motivate people like me to read.
Hello there! Thanks for stopping by. And that's interesting - why does Shadow Of Memories come to mind?
It has various diversions that created various endings depending on how you travel in time to different key points. I guess different endings is old hat now but it was quite new then in the early 2000s and it reminded me then of the concept used in the books.
MultiShriek Ah yes, I see - makes sense! Sounds like an interesting game.
Sweet
I had all of them it makes me sick I didn't keep them.
#5 is best.
I heard inside UFO 54-40 is broken and you can't get one of the endings that's in the book. There is no path to the best result.
They are impossible to find in thrift shops
Are they expensive now, though? I didn't get the impression they'd gone up in price that much? 🤔
@@jarnopp in fair condition they are minimum $10 usd.
It's not broken, it's part of the storyline - you can't go to Ultima via normal methods, which is stated in the book. Having choices leading to that ending would be "normal methods" in a gamebook, so you have to do what you're normally told not to do; read (or rather, skim) through the book from start to end, and then you find the ending (which is easy to find by accident, as there's a picture before it.)
The book is designed so that you can only get the best ending this way, and knows that there are no choices leading to it - the page even starts with something like "You did not make any choices..."
I have lots of gamebooks but i dont have CYOA.
All gamebooks are good in my, uh... book!
the cave of time is expensive as hecc
Hi there. Wow, yeah, I'll bet the first edition really is, these days! Thanks for watching. Do you still have any copies of the books yourself?
actually, no, because i am living here in austria, and I just found this video.
I could buy one. Also, nice video!
I remember I had one based on a card race....anybody?
Hello! Ah - a car race? That does ring a bell. Was it across a desert or something?
yes "race forever" one of the best and well planned I think, it had two big story branches, when you finish one it sends you to the other one and you can do that indefinetely, that made it actually "forever"
“Behind the Wheel”
I love grailquest by Brennan
Sorry I missed this comment at the time, Ian! Yes, I very much enjoyed grailquest as a kid. Should go back and try it again sometime!