Draft:Master Strategy
| Master Strategy | |
|---|---|
| Genres | Board game, Role-playing, Strategy |
| Developers | Ed Averett Steve Lehner Rob Bradford |
| Publishers | |
| Platform | Odyssey²/Videopac |
| First release | Quest for the Rings July 1981 |
| Latest release | The Great Wall Street Fortune Hunt! April 1982 |
Master Strategy is a series of three video game/board game hybrids designed by Steve Lehner and Rob Bradford of Bradford/Cout Design and programmed by Ed Averett. They were released as cartridges for the Magnavox Odyssey², also known in Europe as the Philips Videopac G7000. Each game has a distinct theme and setting and are connected by their use of a physical game board and game pieces, a highly unusual aspect for the time. The games were published by North American Philips previously Magnavox in North America and by their Dutch counterpart, Philips N.V. in Europe. They were also later released in Brazil.
The first game in the series was Quest for the Rings released in 1981. It was followed up by Conquest of the World later in 1981 and The Great Wall Street Fortune Hunt in 1982. They were designed to make better use out of the Odyssey²'s built-in keyboard and to introduce more complicated games to the system despite strong hardware limitations. On release, they were criticized for their high price point compared to other video games. Despite this, critics heap praise on the games as highly ambitious and innovative.
Games
[edit]Quest for the Rings
[edit]Quest for the Rings is a fantasy themed role playing game inspired by Lord of the Rings and Dungeons & Dragons. Two players team up to find 10 ring tokens that have been hidden around the board by a third player called the "ring master". The ring master hides ring tokens as well as monster tokens underneath castle tokens which are placed in predetermined positions around the game board. When the two players reach a castle, they record the type of castle and which tokens were found underneath. Then they input that information into the Odyssey² using the keyboard. The game console then brings the two players to a randomly generated dungeon with the selected features. Players must either collect the ring placed somewhere on screen or escape the dungeon to progress. One of four classes with different abilities can be chosen by both players.[1]
Conquest of the World
[edit]Conquest of the World is a military strategy game similar to Risk. Up to six players each take the role of a real world country and compete to control the world. Each of the 43 countries has a "power base" score determined by a formula created by former CIA official, Ray S. Cline. Players pick one country to be their homeland and can recruit certain other countries as allies, depending on the power base of their home country. Then players take turns either spending power base points to gain additional allies or attacking other countries to take them by force. When one player attacks any other country, another player gets called to defend that country and both must attempt to defeat each other in a combat encounter played on the video game screen. Three different combat scenarios can be chosen from: a plane duel, a tank duel, and a submarine duel. Once the entire board is filled, all of the remaining players face either other in a final combat scenario and the player with the most power base units remaining wins.
The Great Wall Street Hunt
[edit]The Great Wall Street Hunt is a stock market simulator based on the New York Stock Exchange. Players buy and sell stock in an effort to make as much money as possible. The fluctuating price of stocks is simulated by the video game, including news updates which can cause stocks to trend one way or the other. Each of the stocks available to the player is based off a real public company trading at the time including Lockheed, McDonald's, and Texas Instruments. The game board contains statistics for all of the available stocks as well as two wheels for keeping track of the financial quarter and the current prime rate. The game also includes an investment record pad which can be filled out by the player as the game progresses. The player can trade stocks directly, buy treasury bonds, purchase stocks on margin, or utilize stock options.
Bibliography
[edit]General coverage
[edit]- Bechtold, Alan R. (October 1982). "Of Rings, War, and High Finance". The Logical Gamer. Vol. 1, no. 3. Logical Gamer Publications. p. 5.
- de Boer, Sanne, ed. (2016). "Philips Videopac G7000". Videogames Hardware Handbook. Imagine Publishing Ltd. p. 106. ISBN 978 1785462399.
- Dortch, Chris (February 12, 1982). "Knoxville-based company offers 'Odyssey' to ends of imagination". Kingsport Times-News. p. 28.
- Gaydos, Jeff, ed. (Winter 1982). "Behind the Workings of the Mind". Odyssey² Adventure. Vol. 1, no. 1. Ceco Publishing Company. p. 4.
- Hague, James (March 1997). "Ed Averett". Halcyon Days: Interviews with Classic Computer and Video Game Programmers. Archived from the original on February 14, 2026. Retrieved March 16, 2026.
- Kunkel, Bill; Katz, Arnie, eds. (March 1982). "Inside Gaming". Electronic Games. Vol. 1, no. 2. Reese Publishing Company, Inc. p. 8.
- McCann, Herbert G. (November 19, 1981). "Electronic game wizards: two combine creative talents to produce electronic games". Highland Park News. Highland Park, Illinois. p. 112B.
- Rovin, Jeff, ed. (August 1982). "Odyssey²: Master Strategy Series!". Videogaming Illustrated. Vol. 1, no. 1. Ion International Inc. p. 11.
Series reviews
[edit]- Barbier, Bruno, ed. (July–August 1983). "Tubes". Tilt (in French). No. 6. Editions Mondiales S.A. p. 40.
- Bornemann, Alexander (June 1983). "TeleMatch Test: Philips Setzt Auf Das Brett". TeleMatch (in German). No. 4. TeleMatch Verlag. p. 26.
- "Odyssey²". Electronic Games 1983 Software Encyclopedia. Reese Publishing Company, Inc. January 25, 1983. p. 43. ISSN 0736-8488.
- Weiss, Brett (2011). Classic Home Video Games, 1972-1984: A Complete Reference Guide. McFarland. p. 264. ISBN 978-0-7864-8755-4.
- White, Matthew, ed. (January 1983). "New Games '83: Games for Odyssey2". JoyStik: How to Win at Video Games. Vol. 1, no. 4. Publications International, Ltd. p. 61.
Quest reviews
[edit]- Kunkel, Bill; Katz, Arnie (December 1981). "Arcade Alley: 'Quest for the Rings' and 'Asteroids': Holiday Classics". Video. Vol. 5, no. 9. Reese Communications. pp. 28, 116–117. ISSN 0147-8907.
- Kunkel, Bill; Katz, Arnie (January 1982). "Arcade Alley: The Third Annual Arcade Awards". Video. 5 (10). Reese Communications: 28, 76–77. ISSN 0147-8907.
- GrendalMK2 (November 21, 2011). "Quest for the Rings, The". Hardcore Gaming 101. Archived from the original on April 8, 2019. Retrieved May 15, 2026.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - Kunkel, Bill; Katz, Arnie (Winter 1981). "Programmable Parade". Electronic Games. Vol. 1, no. 1. Reese Publishing Company, Inc. p. 49.
- Lubar, David (December 1981). "Odyssey Hits No Homers". Creative Computing. Vol. 7, no. 4. p. 54.
Conquest reviews
[edit]- Pratt, Terry, ed. (June 1982). "Conquest of the World". Computer & Video Games. No. 8. UK: EMAP National Publications, Ltd. p. 22.
Wall Street reviews
[edit]- Kunkel, Bill; Katz, Arnie (February 1983). "Arcade Alley: The Fourth Annual Arcade Awards". Video. Vol. 6, no. 11. Reese Publishing Company, Inc. p. 30. ISSN 0147-8907.
- "Private Screenings: The Great Wall Street Fortune Hunt". Games. Vol. 6, no. 8. Playboy Enterprises, Inc. December 1982. p. 46.