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The current Twine edition of the game.
Escape.zip
Contains Escape.gam
The 2006 TADS2 edition of the game.
Requires a TADS interpreter. Visit IFWiki for download links. (Compressed with ZIP. Free Unzip tools are available for most systems at www.info-zip.org.)

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Escape from the Crazy Place

by J. J. Guest profile, Loz Etheridge, and friends

Surreal, Humor
2006

Web Site

(based on 10 ratings)
3 reviews

About the Story

You've been locked in a padded cell for no obvious reason with only a deranged hamburger-eating clown for company. The cell doesn't even have a door. So begins an adventure that will take you to many places including custard-filled caverns, the world's worst Indian restaurant, the planet Venus, and the inside of a cereal packet. You'll meet such strange characters as the peculiar Plugalug, the mysterious Cow of Honour, Rampateuay of the Hills (a prophet who predicts things he's about to do) and the sinister Boss.

Can YOU make it alive through the forest of the Ostrich People? Fathom the mysteries of the marmalade satnav? Survive the mutiny on the 'Milky Way'? Discover why you have ham on the brain, ham on the brain, ham on the ham on the ham on the brain? Can YOU escape from the Crazy Place?

A 90,000 word choice-based game, Escape from the Crazy Place has been in production on and off since it began in manuscript form back in 1984. An interactive round-robin story, it combines the talents of around 20 different authors. Some wrote just a page or two, others wrote dozens.

The current TWINE version includes around 450 new passages by J. J. Guest, Loz Etheridge and Mark Bailey. The game will continue to grow as we add more.

"Like the twisted literary lovechild of Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo and Homsar, Escape From the Crazy Place is quite possibly one of the funniest things I've ever touched!" Ryusui - rec.arts.int.fiction.

"I've been playing your online Escape from the Crazy Place for the last half hour and I have to say it's... well, the best damn thing I've ever seen ever." Sprite - The Adrift Forum.


Game Details


News

Escape from the Crazy Place is a preposterous blob of literary jelly that has been slowly distending for thirty-three years. The new TWINE edition is two and a half times as large as the 2006 TADS2 release, and shows no sign of stopping. The authors disclaim any responsibility for damage to nerves.
Reported by J. J. Guest | History | Edit | Delete
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Editorial Reviews

SPAG
Irritating and unfunny
... The admittedly bug-free play reads like something written by a 13 year old.
... The play, the “puzzles” (such as they are) and the illustrations are simple,
sophomoric and pointless.
See the full review

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Member Reviews

5 star:
(3)
4 star:
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3 star:
(2)
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Average Rating:
Number of Reviews: 3
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
A sprawling absurd Twine game with a tangled and deep backstory, August 21, 2018
by MathBrush
Related reviews: 15-30 minutes

Escape from the Crazy Place is a sprawling, labyrinthine Twine game with significantly more content than games such as Birdland. It's absurdist, surreal, dreamlike, and ridiculous.

It's history is almost more absurd (parts of this may be inaccurate; play the TADS version to see more). It began as a physical handwritten CYOA book in school over 30 years ago, passed around by students and added to over time. That copy was lost, rewritten from memory.

It became an online html game before anyone was doing much CYOA html, then it became TADS in 2006. Now, years later, it's been redone in Twine.

It has dozens of authors. It has parts that are clever and exciting.

But it also has parts that are less exciting. One reason passing around a physical CYOA book in school is thrilling is because you can see the heft and size of it and think, "oh man, this puppy is huge!". Flipping through can give you an idea of its contents.

Escape from the Crazy Place is online, though, so you don't really know what you're getting. And the first passages are the oldest, by those with the least experience, referencing 80's and adolescents. The first about also loops around itself somewhat, making it even harder to get a grip on the size of the game.

I kept pushing through (playing with my 6 year old son) and we found a lot of really great content. That experience made me think that this is a good game to play collaboratively, just as it was written.

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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
Rown the dabbit-hole., April 13, 2017

I've played "Escape from the crazy place" on and off since I was introduced to it about 6 years ago and every time I'm in I find odd new locations and mix-ups, mashups and reminders of our mortality.

I've had tantalisingly close moments of near-escape but the path is long, absurd and complex, like life itself.

It's often laugh-out-loud fun regardless and new releases get new branches and storylines, so I'll keep on searching for a way out.
The deeper I go, the better it gets.

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
Great fun, January 12, 2015
by Bad Dog Studios
Related reviews: cyoa, tads

This is a surrealist gem.

I've never beaten it, despite spending some time on it, but the remarkably surreal world kind of sucks you and drags you along.

Normally I dislike CYOA games as they tend to offer small variations on a theme, but this was created over a long period of time and is HUGE and so constantly offers something fresh.

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Escape from the Crazy Place on IFDB

Recommended Lists

Escape from the Crazy Place appears in the following Recommended Lists:

Games I've Designed Cover Art For by J. J. Guest
As well as writing games, I enjoy making cover art for them. This list includes all the games I've designed the cover art for. The top four covers on the list are my favourites, and I'd like to do more in a similar vein. If you have a...

Opus Ignored: Big games that didn't take off by MathBrush
It happens over and over: an author spends hundreds of hours on a game, often setting up a commercial company, and then releases it to almost total silence. This list contains such games, as well as other big games where the author was...

Polls

The following polls include votes for Escape from the Crazy Place:

Milking by CMG
After playing Hard Puzzle by Ade McT, which centers around assembling a "milking stool" under rather sinister circumstances, it struck me how odd it can be to feature milking in a game. This poll is for any games that include or...

Games with NPCs that tag along by Ghalev
List here any games that feature a (preferably memorable!) "sidekick" character - an NPC who follows the viewpoint character around for most or all of the game, as per Floyd in Planetfall or Trent/Tiffany in Leather Goddesses of Phobos.

I'm looking for a great surreal game. by Bishopofbasic
It's pretty hot up here in Canada and I was wondering if anyone knew of any great surreal type games. Something I can spend my time in front of the AC or in my office hiding from the world. Thanks you guys.

See all polls with votes for this game




This is version 27 of this page, edited by J. J. Guest on 10 February 2022 at 11:53am. - View Update History - Edit This Page - Add a News Item - Delete This Page