--- layout: page title: "Adventures in Math (1983)" permalink: /apps/pcx86/1983/adventmath/ machines: - type: pcx86 id: ibm5150 config: /devices/pcx86/machine/5150/cga/256kb/machine.xml autoMount: B: path: /apps/pcx86/1983/adventmath/ADVENTMATH100.json --- Adventures in Math (1983) ------------------------- {% include machine.html id="ibm5150" %} This game is available from the [Internet Archive](https://archive.org/details/msdos_Adventures_in_Math_1983). The contents of their ZIP archive contains: -rwxr-xr-x@ 1 Jeff staff 18688 Dec 24 1996 Adventur.bas -rwxr-xr-x@ 1 Jeff staff 0 Dec 24 1996 Adventures in Math (1983).ba1 -rwxr-xr-x@ 1 Jeff staff 54277 Dec 24 1996 Basica.exe -rwxr-xr-x@ 1 Jeff staff 11904 Dec 24 1996 Castle.bas -rwxr-xr-x@ 1 Jeff staff 6400 Dec 24 1996 Exit.bas -rwxr-xr-x@ 1 Jeff staff 4992 Dec 24 1996 Help.bas -rwxr-xr-x@ 1 Jeff staff 1418 Dec 24 1996 Maze1 -rwxr-xr-x@ 1 Jeff staff 2179 Dec 24 1996 Maze2 -rwxr-xr-x@ 1 Jeff staff 3892 Dec 24 1996 Maze3 -rwxr-xr-x@ 1 Jeff staff 10496 Dec 24 1996 Monocode.000 -rwxr-xr-x@ 1 Jeff staff 15 Dec 24 1996 Run.bat -rwxr-xr-x@ 1 Jeff staff 13 Dec 24 1996 Sn -rwxr-xr-x@ 1 Jeff staff 369 Dec 24 1996 Topten What's a little disturbing about the above archive is that all the files are dated "Dec 24 1996". However, if you dig around a bit more on the Internet Archive, you discover that [A Large Collection of DOS Collections](https://archive.org/details/large_dos_collection_2013_08) contains: - DOS Collection v0.7/DVD1/Adventures In Math (1983)(Ibm).zip - main torrent/1983/Adventures in Math (1983)(IBM) [Educational].zip In the first ZIP file: -rw-r--r--@ 1 Jeff staff 18688 Dec 24 1996 adventur.bas -rw-r--r--@ 1 Jeff staff 16 Dec 24 1996 autoexec.bat -rw-r--r--@ 1 Jeff staff 54277 Dec 24 1996 basica.exe -rw-r--r--@ 1 Jeff staff 11904 Dec 24 1996 castle.bas -rw-r--r--@ 1 Jeff staff 4964 Dec 24 1996 command.com -rw-r--r--@ 1 Jeff staff 6400 Dec 24 1996 exit.bas -rw-r--r--@ 1 Jeff staff 4992 Dec 24 1996 help.bas -rw-r--r--@ 1 Jeff staff 1418 Dec 24 1996 maze1 -rw-r--r--@ 1 Jeff staff 2179 Dec 24 1996 maze2 -rw-r--r--@ 1 Jeff staff 3892 Dec 24 1996 maze3 -rw-r--r--@ 1 Jeff staff 10496 Dec 24 1996 monocode.000 -rw-r--r--@ 1 Jeff staff 13 Dec 24 1996 sn -rw-r--r--@ 1 Jeff staff 369 Dec 24 1996 topten And in the second ZIP file: -rw-r--r--@ 1 Jeff staff 18688 Aug 11 1983 Adventur.bas -rw-r--r--@ 1 Jeff staff 54277 Sep 17 1999 Basica.exe -rw-r--r--@ 1 Jeff staff 11904 Aug 11 1983 Castle.bas -rw-r--r--@ 1 Jeff staff 6400 Aug 11 1983 Exit.bas -rw-r--r--@ 1 Jeff staff 4992 Aug 11 1983 Help.bas -rw-r--r--@ 1 Jeff staff 1418 Aug 11 1983 Maze1 -rw-r--r--@ 1 Jeff staff 2179 Aug 11 1983 Maze2 -rw-r--r--@ 1 Jeff staff 3892 Aug 11 1983 Maze3 -rw-r--r--@ 1 Jeff staff 10496 Dec 19 1985 Monocode.000 -rw-r--r--@ 1 Jeff staff 15 Jan 4 2003 Run.bat -rw-r--r--@ 1 Jeff staff 13 Aug 11 1983 Sn -rw-r--r--@ 1 Jeff staff 369 Sep 17 1999 Topten -rw-r--r--@ 1 Jeff staff 170 Jan 22 2011 file_id.diz I decided to start with the contents of the second ZIP file. One strange file common to *all* these archives is **MONOCODE.000**. Dumping that file reveals: 00000c60 20 4d 4f 4e 4f 50 4f 4c 59 20 69 73 20 61 20 72 | MONOPOLY is a r| 00000c70 65 67 69 73 74 65 72 65 64 20 74 72 61 64 65 6d |egistered tradem| 00000c80 61 72 6b 20 6f 66 20 50 61 72 6b 65 72 20 42 72 |ark of Parker Br| 00000c90 6f 74 68 65 72 73 2c 20 49 6e 63 2e e8 f7 7d e8 |others, Inc...}.| 00000ca0 a1 64 e8 d4 79 e8 d6 7d 3c 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 |.d..y..}< | 00000cb0 20 20 20 20 20 20 4d 53 2d 44 4f 53 20 61 64 61 | MS-DOS ada| 00000cc0 70 74 61 74 69 6f 6e 20 28 43 29 20 31 39 38 35 |ptation (C) 1985| 00000cd0 20 44 6f 6e 20 50 68 69 6c 6c 69 70 20 47 69 62 | Don Phillip Gib| 00000ce0 73 6f 6e 20 5b e8 96 7d 03 35 2e 31 b8 5d 00 50 |son [..}.5.1.].P| So at some point, unrelated ("MONOPOLY") files were mingled with this game. I deleted the file. Another unexpected file is **BASICA.EXE** (54277 bytes) from 1999. It seems unlikely that IBM would have distributed *any* BASIC binary with this game, because DOS was a prerequisite, and at the time, all versions of DOS included BASIC. IBM's PC-DOS shipped with **BASICA.COM**, and OEM versions of DOS shipped with either **GWBASIC.EXE** or **BASIC.EXE**. The closest matching binary I'd seen up to this point was **BASICA.EXE** from [COMPAQ DOS 1.12](/disks/pcx86/dos/compaq/1.12/) (54304 bytes). And sure enough, examining the strings contained inside this **BASICA.EXE** revealed that it is a close relative: The COMPAQ Personal Computer BASIC Version 1.13 (C) Copyright COMPAQ Computer Corp. 1983 It's safe to say that IBM would not have distributed a COMPAQ binary; if IBM had distributed any BASIC binary at all, it would have been their own **BASICA.COM**. Of course, the problem with IBM's **BASICA.COM** is that it also requires an IBM PC with ROM BASIC installed, which is why someone copied the COMPAQ version of BASIC (it has no ROM dependencies). Anyway, I've deleted **BASICA.EXE**. The proper thing to do -- and what any purchaser of this game would have to do -- is boot a machine with an appropriate version of DOS and use the BASIC binary included with DOS to run this game. Finally, there was **FILE_ID.DIZ**: Adventures in Math (1983)(IBM) [Educational].zip Name:Adventures in Math Version:1.0 Language/Country:English Flags: Year:1983 Publisher:IBM Genre(s):Educational and **RUN.BAT**: basica castle and **TOPTEN**: The Ultimate One,83519,LARGE,07-15-81 MathsWhiz,78613,LARGE,01-01-80 [z],70946,LARGE,07-13-81 [z],56728,LARGE,04-24-80 [z],56727,LARGE,07-25-81 [z], 56277,LARGE,07-28-81 [z],56157,LARGE,07-24-81 [z],55677,LARGE,07-24-81 [z],55197,LARGE,07-23-81 [z],54792,LARGE,07-23-81 ^Z,07-28-81 [z],56157,LARGE,07-24-81 Z[z],55677,LARGE,07-24-81 [z],55197,LARGE,07-23-81 All those files have been deleted as well, leaving 8 files dated "Aug 11 1983". Next, I created a disk image from the directory containing just those files: diskdump --dir=archive --format=json --output=ADVENTMATH100.json --manifest