If you’ve ever struggled to remember the name of an old game, there’s a Subreddit for that.
For years I’d been struggling recall the name of an edutainment game I played as a kid.
All I could remember is that it came with a PC encyclopedia disk and seemed to have a fantasy aesthetic that combined elements of trivia and board games.
I knew you could pick from several characters (I was always the prophetess) and you had to collect gems, similar to the coloured wedges from Trivial Pursuit.
The one line I could remember was “prophetess, roll the dice!”
I had only ever stumbled across one other person who vaguely remembered the game — but neither of us could recall the name.
After years of racking my brains (and figuring out it was not Encarta’s Mind Maze), it came to my attention that a specific Subreddit could help.
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r/tipofmyjoystick is dedicated to helping people find games they can’t fully remember. All you have to do is post the info you have, or a screenshot, and the community members band together to help.
It’s incredibly wholesome as well as downright fascinating.
While they can go off very little information, there is a recommended guide for the best results. This includes specifying (if possible) the platform, genre, estimated time of release, art style and any notable characters or gameplay mechanics.
In addition to helping people find long lost games, the Tipofmyjoystick has also managed to debunk at least one.
One of the pinned posts on the subreddit is titled The Evil Farming Game Has Been Found. Who am I to resist a title like that?
Incredible.
In my case, the answer to my query was posted in less than a day. While one person asked if it was in fact Mind Maze, another came to my rescue.
As it turns out the game I was looking for was called FireFang: The Quest For Knowledge, and it was part of a PC version of Websters Encyclopedia.
I also wasn’t the first person who came looking for it. It had been inquired about in other posts on the Subreddit. Some legend even put it up on the Internet Archive.
If I can be bothered to install Windows 95 again maybe I’ll give it a whirl again. Even if I don’t it’s nice for this low-stakes mystery to be solved.
So if you’re trying to remember a game, or want to help others find them, head over there!