newman_r@cho006.cho.ge.com (11/16/90)
In article <1990Nov11.040756.27552@zorch.SF-Bay.ORG>, xanthian@zorch.SF-Bay.ORG (Kent Paul Dolan) > kirkaas@makaha.cs.ucla.edu (paul kirkaas) writes: > >>What the heck is the history behind "xyzzy" ???? I've seen so many >>references to it here I feel like I'm missing a vital piece of >>historic computer lore. > >>What gives? What is the origin of xyzzy, what is it supposed to >>do; how have so many people heard of it??? > [] > By the way, Adventure is also the source of the line "you are in a maze of > twisty little passages, all alike", in case that one also had you confused. > or any number of permutations of the same, like (if memory serves) "you are in a maze of little twisty passages, all alike." I think that the particular permutation served as a clue as to which way to get out through the maze. -- Bob Newman internet: newman_r@cho006.CHO.GE.COM GE DECNET: CHO006::NEWMAN_R GE Fanuc Automation, Inc. uunet: ...uunet!virginia!edison!rfn
dcon@cbnewsc.att.com (david.r.connet) (11/20/90)
In article <1990Nov15.131017.311@cho006.cho.ge.com>, newman_r@cho006.cho.ge.com writes: >In article <1990Nov11.040756.27552@zorch.SF-Bay.ORG>, xanthian@zorch.SF-Bay.ORG (Kent Paul Dolan) >> By the way, Adventure is also the source of the line "you are in a maze of >> twisty little passages, all alike", in case that one also had you confused. >> > > or any number of permutations of the same, like (if memory serves) "you are > in a maze of little twisty passages, all alike." I think that the particular > permutation served as a clue as to which way to get out through the maze. Yup. I eventually drew a map and discovered there's only 12 (if memory serves) rooms. But, oh, the number of passages... Dave Connet dcon@iwtng.att.com
ee5391aa@hydra.unm.edu (Duke McMullan n5gax) (11/20/90)
In article <1990Nov19.193604.10075@cbnewsc.att.com> dcon@cbnewsc.att.com (david.r.connet) writes, regarding "You are in a maze of twisty little pass- ages, all alike,": >Yup. I eventually drew a map and discovered there's only 12 (if memory >serves) rooms. But, oh, the number of passages... Ahhhh, yes, the Vending Machine Maze. Actually, there are eleven rooms, with the topology (almost!) of an 11-point, fully connected graph. Note that there are ten passages from each room: n, s, e, w, ne, nw, se, sw, up & down. Now, imagine eleven rooms, each connected by one of those passages to each of the other ten. Now, pick one passage at random. Break it in two, and connect one of the half-passages to the vending maching room, and the other to the... I guess it was one end of the Long Hall...it's a little dim. But, that _is_ the topology of that particular maze. There are other mazes, depending on your version of Adventure. They all have the Pirates Maze, which follows no easily described pattern. Some versions will have the Ice Maze, which follows a _very_ definite pattern. If you don't discover that pattern, you'll die there. There's also a maze where "You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all different." Is that the Ice Maze? Shouldn't this get moved to rec.games before someone starts complaining? ;^) d -- "I purr, therefore I am." -- Rene Decates Duke McMullan n5gax nss13429r phon505-255-4642 ee5391aa@hydra.unm.edu
roelofs@nas.nasa.gov (Cave Newt) (11/20/90)
xanthian@zorch.SF-Bay.ORG (Kent Paul Dolan) writes: >>> By the way, Adventure is also the source of the line "you are in a maze of >>> twisty little passages, all alike", in case that one also had you confused. newman_r@cho006.cho.ge.com writes: >> or any number of permutations of the same, like (if memory serves) "you are >> in a maze of little twisty passages, all alike." I think that the particular >> permutation served as a clue as to which way to get out through the maze. dcon@cbnewsc.att.com (david.r.connet) writes: >Yup. I eventually drew a map and discovered there's only 12 (if memory >serves) rooms. But, oh, the number of passages... There were two mazes, were there not? One with 12 rooms, including (or plus) one with the vending machine in it, and one with perhaps 8 or 9 rooms, in which the pirate hid the stuff he stole. One of them used different per- mutations of "little twisty passages," but the other called them all the same thing, I think. The big one was extremely interconnected--of the 10 possible directions of movement, each room had passages going in 8 of them, for a total of 48 tunnels (I think :) ). The little one was more strung out, and some of the passages connected back to the room of origin. This was the 350-point version, I believe, on an old PDP-11 micro.