This paper reflects on qualitative research into the design and reception of The Hobbit. It draws on contemporary and historical interviews with the developers of the game and on player experiences shared online in retro gamer sites and personal blogs. Email interviews with Veronika Megler were conducted
in 2006 and 2013, and audio interviews in 2015. Personal correspondence and the generous sharing of email conversations between Megler and historian, Jim Maher, further supported these. Video and audio interviews with Alfred Milgrom were conducted in 2006 and 2012. Accounts by players of The Hobbit have been sourced from letters in period magazines and memories of play from online archives of retro gamers and personal blogs. Some of these have been supplemented by direct correspondence with their authors, as in the case of CH. In addition, I have studied hints, maps and tips from 1980s magazines and fan generated game walkthroughs including those of Dorothy Millard. I have embarked on multiple adventures as Bilbo, utilizing emulators, predominantly for the ZX Spectrum tape version and the later Commodore 64 disc 92 version. Published originally for the ZX Spectrum (see Figure 1) The Hobbit does not play identically on each of the differing micro-computers it was ported to. The later disc version created by Melbourne House in 1985 included additional content and features. In my research, I have been able to reproduce some of the events described by players, but due to the dynamic nature of the gameworld and the game’s randomizing routines, this is not always possible – for, as Melbourne House promised in 1982, “No two games are alike”.
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