Pyramid 2000 Official Cover

Pyramid 2000

๐Ÿข Robert Arnstein ๐Ÿ“… 01 Jan 1979 ๐ŸŽฎ Radio Shack Adventure Series / Robert Arnstein
Standing as the official flagship text adventure published by Radio Shack for the TRS-80 Model I in 1979, programming pioneer Robert Arnstein created Pyramid 2000, adapting the foundational architecture of Crowther and Woods' Colossal Cave Adventure into an evocative archaeological expedition inside the Great Pyramid of Giza, where players entered the dark desert monument to solve ancient hieroglyph puzzles, evade cursed mummies, disarm sarcophagus traps, and recover the Pharaoh's lost treasures.

๐ŸŽฌ Deep Vision & Technical Analysis

๐ŸŒ† Atmosphere & Visual Direction

Authentic vintage visual direction representing landmark era aesthetic standards.

โšก Action Pacing & Physics Engine

Systemic interaction and engaging pacing designed for historical immersion.

๐ŸŽฏ Performance & Launch Trajectory

An essential milestone preserved in masterclass gaming archival standard.

Pyramid 2000 is an interactive fiction game. The game is an altered version of Colossal Cave that takes advantage of an Egyptian setting, re-theming some of the locations, objects, and puzzles. For instance, the “little bird” from Adventure is now a “bird statue” and the “clam” is a “sarcophagus.”

Development

The system was written by Robert Arnstein using a custom p-code machine with 32 instructions. Unlike the Infocom z-machine, this machine was specific to this game (e.g., command 13 asserted the player was carrying the emerald and only the emerald).

Reception

It was panned by 80 Micro: “This game is yet another example of Radio Shack’s inability to deal with the consumer in a consumer’s market… Pyramid suffers from the lack of a command word base… You can try typing HELP, but don’t expect any.”

References

External links

  • Pyramid 2000 Solution page
  • Pyramid 2000 in the Interactive Fiction Database