The Book of Adventure Games

Kim Schuette's 1984 classic publication The Book of Adventure Games is much more than a collection of walkthroughs, hints, and elaborate maps. It is a thorough study of the early text-based days of the genre, and you can grab yourself a well-priced and decently preserved copy over at eBay.

Seller ships only within the US.

Quest for Glory III: The Hint Book

Sealed in what must be the most uncomfortable packaging ever devised for a book, this highly intriguing Quest for Glory 3 Hint Book by Sierra has been put up for auction on eBay. It is in obviously great condition and contains hints and tips for QfG III.

Seller ships to most places worldwide.

The Zork Chronicles by George Alec Effinger

When I started reading George Alec Effinger's The Zork Chronicles I was expecting a decent, possibly humorous fantasy novel that would mainly interest me due to its Zorkian theme. I never expected the brilliant, incredibly clever, well written and decidedly weird piece of fiction I encountered and can't help but heartily recommend.

So, here's a Zork Chronicles eBay auction you might want to check out. Seller ships worldwide.

AD&D Monster Manual (TSR, 1st edition)

Retro analog gamers and collectors will be ecstatic to know that a 1st print of the 1st edition of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual book has surfaced on eBay and can be bought via this Monster Manual auction. It is one of TSR's rare offerings that dates back to 1977. Seller ships only within the US and the auction will be over in less than 15 hours from the time of posting.

Infocom Invisiclues: Cutthroats & Seastalker

Two classic Invisiclues hint books by Infocom that have remained unopened for 30 years and come with their magic markers are quite the adventure collector's dream. Happily, they are not exorbitantly priced either (not at the time of writing, at least) and you can grab them both via this Cutthroats & Seastalker Invisiclues auction. Seller ships worldwide.

Fantastic ZX Spectrum Collection

The Sinclair ZX Spectrum, the 8-bit micro of the people, doesn't usually make itself available for retro collectors outside Europe. The fact then that the seller of this pretty fantastic ZX Spectrum collection ships worldwide should be reason enough for a Retro Treasures post. Impressively though there's much more to this auction than that. This particular 48k Speccy comes complete in an oh-so-tidy computer case and with all its expansions, namely Interface 1, Interface 2, the Microdrive and the Sinclair printer.

What's more, you'll also be getting an unused roll of printer paper (!), quite a few Microdrive cartridges, an interesting selection of related books and some pretty fantastic games. Among said games do expect to find Jetpac, Ant Attack, Galaxians and Hungry Horace.  

The Guide to Classic Graphic Adventures

Hardcoregaming101 has finally presented the world with the best book on classic adventure games so far: The Guide to Classic Graphic Adventures. It's an excellently written and well illustrated 772 pages behemoth of a book that covers over 250 games from the 1984-2000 era, in what can only be described the closest thing to an adventure encyclopedia we've ever had. Every Sierra, Lucasarts/Lucasfilm and Legend game is obviously covered, as are classic games from all major developers (including Infocom, Microprose, Revolution, Cyan, Access) and major contemporary and indie releases. You can grab the book via Amazon. It is an essential read for all adventure game gamers and collectors.

Replay: The History of Video Games

I think I've been waiting for this book for quite some time. It is after all the first serious attempt at tackling the history of video games. You know, the history, not just their history in the US and Japan, but everywhere, which of course is bound to mean a ton of Speccy references. You can grab a copy of Replay here.

Dungeons and Desktops

Haven't read it just yet, but I'm pretty sure that Dungeons and Desktops: The History of Computer Role-Playing Games is an amazing book. It is after all written by Matt Barton, whose depth of knowledge you can check both via his amazing YouTube channel and from his CRPG history Gamasutra articles. As for the book itself, well, get it from Amazon. They are having sort of a sale right now.

The Fantasy Art of Oliver Frey

The Fantasy Art of Oliver Frey is a spectacular and highly informative book, that will help everyone remember just how stunning a magazine cover could be. You do remember Crash and Zzap! 64 magazines don't you? Well, all of Mr. Frey's game related art (thus them covers too) can be found in those lovely 192 pages. The book has been out for quite some time, mind, but as I've just now gotten my copy, I couldn't help but recommend it.

The Spectrum Games Bible

If you are anything like me, which I sincerely wish you not, you're probably aware of the twisted pleasure of discovering an unplayed retro game and experiencing the hidden gaming joys and gems of, well, the ZX Spectrum. Now, truth be said, you could just search eBay for Spectrum games and hope to be lucky or -and that's the way of the wise- go for the amazing collective work that is the Spectrum Games Bible. I did.

It's a series of books, you see, chronologically presenting hundreds of games with some truly well-written reviews directly from the huge community of Speccy lovers. The third book, covering the golden Spectrum years of 1987 and 1988, has just been released and sports over 350 reviews. Happily you can easily grab it (the first two too -hoho) here for a very reasonable price.

The Weird Computer Games Book

It's oddities like the aptly named Weird Computer Games book, that make randomly searching through eBay such a pleasure. The book, the same small thing pictured above mind you, is a type-in games compilation for the C64, ZX Spectrum, Apple II, TRS 80, Electron and Vic-20 (or so it claims) and was published back in the early 80s by Usborne.

For a chance at flicking through it, do try this Weird Computer Games Book eBay auction. Seller ships worldwide. More info on the games included can be found here, provided you scroll down.