L - A Mathemagical Adventure

L is a BBC Micro game (and now, a Windows game) which I played at school when I was 10 or 11 years old. It's a text based adventure with mathematical problems to solve along the way. It's as old as me (published 1984)! Myself and two friends at the time were allowed to play on it weekly, and although we got reasonably far with it, we hadn't completed it within the year, and left for another school.

(Aside - this game probably first got me into programming. When a friend the next year showed me how to program with simple commands in BASIC, I spent most of that year - and consecutive years - attempting to reproduce what I'd remembered of L.)

Twelve years later, and some random Wikipedia browsing turned up a reference to L, along with its full name, which I hadn't previously known of. Such information allowed me to Google the name and find out more about it.

So, I played it! I'm pleased to say that my brain power has increased in the last twelve years, and I was able to solve the Skeleton Key puzzle that I'd not managed in Year 6, as well as getting to the courtyard with the shady figure in it. I've finished the game now.

Up until recently I had a map on this page, based on tracking my movements through the game. I received an e-mail from the Association of Teachers of Mathematics (ATM) with the exciting news that the game will be re-released for Windows in collaboration with one of the original authors! They asked me to remove the maps "for 6 months or so to give children a chance of that original experience we both shared." I'm quite happy to comply with this; after all, I had great fun in Year 6 with my friends trying to come up with a less high-tech map, represented with snap-together plastic cubes!

The new Windows version of the game is available from ATM.org.uk

If you wish to contact me about this page, e-mail my first name at this domain.