''Pimania'' is a text-and-graphics

adventure game An adventure game is a video game genre in which the player assumes the role of a protagonist in an interactive story, driven by exploration and/or puzzle-solving. The genre's focus on story allows it to draw heavily from other narrative-based m ...

written by

Mel Croucher Mel Croucher (born 1948) is a British entrepreneur and video games pioneer. Originally an architect, he moved into computers and in 1977 launched one of the very earliest games companies, Automata UK, as an extension of his publishing business. ...

and released by

Automata UK Automata UK was a software house which developed and published ZX Spectrum video games between 1982 and 1985. Significant releases included '' Pimania'' (1982), '' My Name Is Uncle Groucho, You Win A Fat Cigar'' (1983) and ''Deus Ex Machina'' (19 ...

in 1982 for the

BBC Micro The BBC Microcomputer System, or BBC Micro, is a family of microcomputers developed and manufactured by Acorn Computers in the early 1980s as part of the BBC's Computer Literacy Project. Launched in December 1981, it was showcased across severa ...

ZX Spectrum The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer developed and marketed by Sinclair Research. One of the most influential computers ever made and one of the all-time bestselling British computers, over five million units were sold. ...

Dragon 32 The Dragon 32 and Dragon 64 are 8-bit home computers that were built in the 1980s. The Dragons are very similar to the TRS-80 Color Computer, and were produced for the European market by Dragon Data, Ltd., initially in Swansea, Wales, before mo ...

, and

ZX81 The ZX81 is a home computer that was produced by Sinclair Research and manufactured in Dundee, Scotland, by Timex Corporation. It was launched in the United Kingdom in March 1981 as the successor to Sinclair's ZX80 and designed to be a low-c ...

. It was the first real-life video game treasure hunt to be released. It was inspired by the 1979

Kit Williams Christopher "Kit" Williams (born 28 April 1946) is an English artist, illustrator and author best known for his 1979 book '' Masquerade'', a pictorial storybook which contains clues to the location of a golden (18 carat) jewelled hare created ...

book ''

Masquerade Masquerade or Masquerades may refer to: Books * ''Masquerade'' (book), a 1979 children's book by Kit Williams that sparked a worldwide treasure hunt * ''Masquerades'' (novel), a 1995 Forgotten Realms novel by Kate Novak and Jeff Grubb * ''Masq ...

''. Automata gave a prize of a golden sundial worth £6,000 () for the first person to solve the various cryptic clues to its location that were hidden within ''Pimania''.

Gameplay

The player negotiates a surreal landscape with the aid of the mysterious Pi-Man, Automata's mascot. The

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...

of the game cassette features a bizarre Pimania song played on a VL-Tone and vocals. The Pi-Man also starred in his own long-running, surreal, comic-strip, soap opera in the company's adverts on the back page of ''

Popular Computing Weekly ''Popular Computing Weekly'' was a computer magazine in the UK published from 1982 to 1990. It was sometimes referred to as ''PCW'' (although that abbreviation is more commonly associated with ''Personal Computer World'' magazine). Overv ...

'' magazine and appeared in several subsequent games by the company of different kinds, such as '' Piromania'' and '' Piballed''. The sundial was eventually won in 1985 by Sue Cooper and Lizi Newman, who correctly worked out that it could only be found on 22 July (because π is sometimes rounded to 22/7) at the

Litlington White Horse The Litlington White Horse is a chalk hill figure depicting a horse, situated on Hindover Hill (locally known as High-and-Over) in the South Downs. It overlooks the River Cuckmere to the west of the village of Litlington, East Sussex, Litling ...

on Hindover Hill near Litlington, East Sussex.

Legacy

The

BASIC Basic or BASIC may refer to: Science and technology * BASIC, a computer programming language * Basic (chemistry), having the properties of a base * Basic access authentication, in HTTP Entertainment * Basic (film), ''Basic'' (film), a 2003 film ...

source code In computing, source code, or simply code or source, is a plain text computer program written in a programming language. A programmer writes the human readable source code to control the behavior of a computer. Since a computer, at base, only ...

listing of the game is available online. In 2010 Feeding Tube Records, a small label in the United States, released "Pimania: The Music of Mel Croucher & Automata U.K., Ltd.", a deluxe vinyl

LP album The LP (from long playing or long play) is an analog sound storage medium, specifically a phonograph record format characterized by: a speed of rpm; a 12- or 10-inch (30- or 25-cm) diameter; use of the "microgroove" groove specificati ...

of the musical B-Sides to the Pimania games, as well as tracks from other Automata releases. The album came with extensive liner notes by Croucher and Caroline Bren, as well as a large poster featuring selections from the original Automata print campaigns and was issued in a one time edition of 500 copies."Pimania: The Music of Mel Croucher & Automata U.K., Ltd."
LP on feedingtuberecords.com

References

External links

*{{WoS_game, id=0003714
"Pimania: The Music of Mel Croucher & Automata U.K., Ltd." LP''Pimania''
ZX81 Collection entry with the original inlay scan and program listing. An emulator is available on the site to play the game online. 1982 video games BBC Micro and Acorn Electron games Commercial video games with freely available source code Dragon 32 games Puzzle hunts Video games developed in the United Kingdom ZX81 games ZX Spectrum games Automata UK games