Literally Geeky discussion

If you were born before the 2000s, chances are you've read a Choose Your Own Adventure book or two in your life.

There were over a hundred to choose from (no pun intended) covering almost every genre you could think of.

When I think back to the CYOA craze, I recall escaping from Dracula's castle, thwarting alien invaders, and even helping Sherlock Holmes solve a mystery. Also dying. A lot. Then going back to the previous choice and opting for Plan B.

The cover was always an important factor in helping me decide which book I was going to read and there were some memorable ones (for both good and bad reasons - looking at you Space Vampire.)

Which Choose Your Own Adventure memory has this month's pick, To Be or Not To Be, brought back for you?

Constantly died in CYOA. I remember one book, not a CYOA brand but a similar fantasy orientated product with a cash prize for the person who solved the book first....

My eyeballs were eaten by ravens.

I was also a big fan of the Masquerade puzzle book. Again not strickly a CYOA but an interactive art puzzle that lead the victors to a genuine jewelled golden hare. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masqu...

There was a pretty good documentary on Kit Williams, Masquerade, the hare and the filthy cheating swines who faked a victory.

I read a lot of CYOA knock-offs rather than the actual brand, and clearly remember one where there just wasn't ANY way to win! No matter what I tried. I think it was broken.

@Vincent_SKP I quite like the idea of choose your own fatalist adventure as a means of introducing kids to the injustice of life.

Was never actually into CYOA (although I might have read one or two) - all of that kind of action for me in the 80s was handled by Fighting Fantasy, Lone Wolf, and Sorcery! books. Of these, the Lone Wolf books by the late Joe Dever were the best, because you could take a consistent character through the series of books, rather each book being a stand-alone deal. Vincent, I think you might be referring to the final book in the Sorcery! series, The Crown of Kings, which I always put down to my own stupidity for not being able to complete, but which it transpires was almost impossible to complete in its original edition because of an error in its writing. Sadly Ez, the Richard Taylor CYOA Logical Fatalism book is yet to written...

Oh, and as for Masquerade, I was hugely fascinated by that when I was a kid, although nowhere near clever enough to even begin to figure it out. I was, however, somewhat freaked out by the fact that Bamber Gasgoine was linked to the project - don't know why, although it might have been something to do with this wild, fantastical, almost mythical book being linked to a bloke off the telly that I could see any week...

I very vaguely remember having some Lone Wolf books!