External Links

dunnet.tar.Z
(Compressed with the Unix-style .tar.Z "tarball" format. Free unpacking tools are available for most platforms.)
DunnetPredecessor.zip
MacLisp source code for the predecessor to Dunnet, written by Ron Schnell in 1982.
(Compressed with ZIP. Free Unzip tools are available for most systems at www.info-zip.org.)
Emacs dunnet solved
Includes a kind of "amusing" section.
Emacs Dunnet solution
Includes a short FAQ.

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Dunnet

by Ron Schnell

Surreal
1992

Web Site

About the Story

A text adventure that is built into almost every copy of the Emacs text editor.

It can be run by running "emacs -batch -l dunnet" in a shell or the key sequence "M-x dunnet" within Emacs, the former being the preferred and official way to run it.


Game Details

Off-Site Reviews

Dickens of a Blog
Doug Bolden, Dunnet (IF)
You have to type commands into two different computers throughout. One is a VAX and the other is, um, something like a PC (I forget). In both cases, there are clues to be found by knowing your way around the interface. This is a game for computer folk, so most who play it will have a sense of how to type "ls" or "dir" depending on the OS. But not all, will. Beating the game requires a general sense of computer literacy. You must know what types are in ftp. You must know how to determine what type a file is. You must know how to read a text file on a DOS style prompt. You must know something about protocols and etiquette for logging into ftp servers. All this sort of thing. If you do, or are willing to learn (I looked up some of the stuff online) then you can get past this portion with no problem. But this can be like the maze to some people, requiring several replays to get things right.

The end result is a quirky but fun game that I wish I had known about before because now I have the feeling that my computer is hiding other secrets from me. Glad to have played. Will likely play again to see how many ways I can die.
See the full review

nPoly.com
Dunnet - The Ancient Game Hidden on Millions of Modern Computers
There's something unmistakably unique about Dunnet. I play a lot of video games. A lot. But I've never seen anything so... so... avant garde? Meta? I'm not sure, but Dunnet completely destroys the 4th wall of gaming, the same way that Uplink did. There's several gameplay conventions that I've never seen, even in the most modern of games. It's very fun and obscenely hard... If your a true, true gamer. You owe it to yourself to play this treasure that you may already own.
See the full review

Macworld
Play an 'old-school' adventure game
There’s no way this will replace modern gaming, but if you’re umm, of my vintage, or just want to know what we considered leading edge back in the day, give this a shot.
See the full review

Page Update History

  v.12: 01-Mar-2024 02:35 - JTN (Current Version) - Edit Page - Normal View
Changed download links
v.11: 11-Feb-2024 07:54 - Cerfeuil
Changed download links
v.10: 07-Jan-2024 08:18 - Zape
Changed download links
v.9: 29-Sep-2018 18:23 - Dan Fabulich
Changed description
v.8: 27-Oct-2010 18:39 - Ron Hale-Evans
Changed description, download links
v.7: 27-Oct-2010 07:20 - Ron Hale-Evans
Changed download links
v.6: 27-Oct-2010 07:10 - Ron Hale-Evans
Changed download links
v.5: 27-Oct-2010 07:04 - Ron Hale-Evans
Changed Web site URL, external review links
v.4: 27-Oct-2010 06:45 - Ron Hale-Evans
Changed external review links
v.3: 24-Oct-2010 15:28 - Ron Hale-Evans
Changed external review links
v.2: 24-Oct-2010 06:04 - Ron Hale-Evans
Changed description
v.1: 29-Sep-2007 20:49 - IFDB
Created page