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The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (video game)

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The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Company typeVideo game
IndustryInteractive fiction, Adventure game
Founded1984; 42 years ago (1984)
FounderDouglas Adams, Steve Meretzky
SuccessorMilliways: The Restaurant at the End of the Universe (cancelled sequel)
Headquarters
United States
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Douglas Adams, Steve Meretzky
ProductsInteractive fiction video game
OwnerInfocom
ParentInfocom

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is an interactive fiction title inspired by the comedic sci-fi franchise of the same name. Created by series originator Douglas Adams alongside Infocom’s Steve Meretzky, it debuted in 1984 on various platforms, including Apple II, Mac, Commodore 64, CP/M, MS-DOS, Amiga, as well as Atari 8-bit computers and Atari ST. This release marked Infocom's fourteenth game.

Plot

The storyline loosely adapts the initial novel’s narrative. Arthur Dent awakens to discover his home is scheduled for demolition to accommodate a new bypass. His companion Ford Prefect, an alien journalist working for The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, assists Arthur in hitching a ride on a Vogon construction fleet moments before Earth is obliterated to make way for a hyperspace bypass.

While aboard the Vogon ship, Arthur and Ford endure the Vogons' poetry before being cast into space. They are subsequently saved by the Heart of Gold, a spaceship powered by the Infinite Improbability Drive. Onboard, they encounter Zaphod Beeblebrox, who has commandeered the vessel as Galactic President, along with Trillian (Tricia McMillan), whom Zaphod brought from Earth. Their destination is Magrathea, a fabled planet rumored to harbor profound mysteries.

Zaphod delegates navigation to the ship’s computer Eddie, while he, Ford, and Trillian retreat to the sauna. Arthur discovers Eddie cannot plot a course to Magrathea without assistance. By utilizing the Nutrimatic device’s tea substitute as an energy source, Arthur briefly experiences the past consciousness of Ford, Zaphod, and Trillian, enabling him to gather components necessary to repair the Nutrimatic. Once restored, it produces authentic tea potent enough to power the Drive toward Magrathea.

As they orbit, two missiles target the ship; Arthur employs the Drive to convert them into a sperm whale and a bowl of petunias, thereby neutralizing the threat. The computer then refuses permission to land. With the others still in the sauna, Arthur retrieves tools from Marvin the Paranoid Android’s closet to repair Eddie. The game concludes as they prepare for descent onto Magrathea.

Gameplay

The Hitchhiker's Guide is a text adventure game placing players in Arthur Dent’s role, requiring puzzle-solving and inventory management to advance the story. Players interact through commands such as "look", "inventory", "north", and "take screwdriver". Most actions consume turns; certain puzzles must be solved within a limited number of turns or necessitate restarting. Commands that do not affect gameplay progression do not count as turns. After acquiring the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, users can query diverse topics that assist in overcoming challenges.

Anniversary editions released on the 20th and 30th milestones introduced graphical enhancements mapping locations while maintaining text-based command input.

Feelies

To enhance immersion, Infocom bundled physical "feelies"—themed collectibles related to gameplay. This game’s feelies included:

  • A pin button emblazoned with "Don't Panic!"
  • A small packet containing "pocket fluff" (cotton ball)
  • An official demolition notice for Arthur Dent’s house
  • Earth’s destruction order inscribed in "Vogon"—an English code disguised with Greek letters
  • An empty plastic bag labeled Official Microscopic Space Fleet
  • "Peril Sensitive Sunglasses"—opaque black cardboard eyewear
  • How Many Times Has This Happened to You?, an advertising leaflet for the fictional guidebook The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
  • A note stating: "No tea: Just like the tea professional hitchhikers don't carry!" (empty)

Reception

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy became notorious for its challenging nature. According to Computer Gaming World, there were whispers that "several key figures in the [video game] industry can't (snicker, snicker!!!) even escape the first room!" Jerry Pournelle cautioned those unfamiliar with the novel against attempting the game, noting that "even if you've memorized the book, these puzzles are difficult." One particularly infamous challenge involved securing a Babel Fish from a dispenser aboard the Vogon ship, requiring players to execute a complicated Rube Goldberg-style sequence within a limited number of moves. Although failing this puzzle did not result in death, it rendered the remainder of the game unwinnable, as subsequent tasks depended on translating Vogon language instructions. This puzzle's notoriety led Infocom to market T-shirts emblazoned with "I got the Babel Fish!" Adams himself acknowledged that both the puzzle’s difficulty and the resulting gameplay shift were deliberate; "Just as players settle into a comfortable rhythm, everything suddenly falls apart!"

The title enjoyed strong commercial performance, moving 59,000 units in 1984—ranking second among Infocom releases after Zork I—and 166,000 copies in 1985, making it Infocom’s top seller that year and outselling Wishbringer by more than twofold. Video magazine placed it as the fourth best-selling game in February 1985 and third in March 1985. Meanwhile, II Computing ranked it sixth among leading Apple II games toward the end of 1985. By November 1989, total sales had exceeded 250,000 copies; eventually reaching 400,000 units sold, it stood as one of the era’s most successful games.

From a critical standpoint, Video magazine lauded its faithful capture of Adams’s quirky and "spaced-out" humor despite minor flaws, describing it as captivating and frequently maddeningly difficult. In May 1985, Antic labeled it an "extraordinary game" and noted that it represented a stylistic shift for Infocom with its challenging yet logically consistent puzzles. Compute! magazine praised it in June 1985 as potentially Infocom’s finest work, emphasizing its comedic absurdity and wit while recommending it to fans of adventure titles. The same publication later included it in their "Our Favorite Games" list in 1988 for its unique humor and honored it with the 1989 Compute! Choice Award for Role Playing/Adventure Game.

In 1996, Computer Gaming World placed it at number 42 on their list of the top 150 games ever made, highlighting how "Douglas Adams' humor truly shines in this text-based adventure."

Legacy

Among Infocom’s best-selling titles, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy was reissued as part of their Solid Gold series, which featured an integrated hint system absent from earlier editions. Following the reversion of rights to Adams, The Digital Village reintroduced the game as a web-based Java applet. Initially launched as a charitable project on the 1997 Comic Relief website, it became a permanent fixture on Adams’ official site by the next year.

The original text-only version was featured in the Game On exhibit—a traveling museum display since 2002—serving as an exemplar of text-driven gaming history.

On 21 September 2004, to coincide with the radio broadcast of the Tertiary Phase, the BBC released a 20th Anniversary Edition. This version incorporated a Flash interface along with artwork by Rod Lord, earning it the Interactive BAFTA Award for Best Online Entertainment.

In 2014, the BBC introduced a 30th Anniversary Edition.

Sequel

A follow-up titled Milliways: The Restaurant at the End of the Universe was intended to pick up where the original concluded but encountered development obstacles between 1985 and its eventual cancellation in 1989. The project struggled primarily due to unclear game design, a shortage of programming personnel, and financial difficulties faced by Infocom. Early drafts that surfaced in 2008 indicated that a significant portion of the content remained incomplete when the project was terminated.

External links

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