Favourite\worst CYOA

[CharlesX]

Name some of your favourite\worst CYOA, give reasons if possible.

There is a lot of CYOA which is 'interesting', which some people will like and others will dislike.

Some of my favourites are the time travel ones, Cave Of Time, Knights Of The Round Table. They're often imaginative and good stories, and slightly educational.

Thought Who Killed Harlowe Thrombey was memorable if not the best in the series (no coincidence the murder victim in Knives Out was Harlan Thrombey 😀).

Dislike The Lost Jewels Of Nabooti for its randomness and anodyne feel. It's generic and uncreative.

Dislike the sports CYOA, they weren't as fantastic and out-there as other CYOA, plus they had less replay value, if only because reading them could be boring.

[a moderator]

I've waxed enthusiastic about The Mystery of Ura Senke before. After a few attempts, it might look like one of those annoying gamebooks where the facts vary depending on the choices you make, but when you've played it often enough to be able to piece together the whole story, it turns out that the seemingly contradictory explanations all fit together neatly to make a more complex but consistent solution.

Hyperspace is bonkers in a good way. A gamebook within a gamebook, the potential for your character to discover that he is fictional, bringing the adventure to an abrupt end by going somewhere the author has never been (and thus cannot describe)... Mind-expanding stuff for the target audience.

Outlaws of Sherwood Forest deserves a mention for the bit where you can meet a version of yourself who chose the option you didn't way back at the first decision.

Mountain Survival is one of the more realistic gamebooks, with occasional educational elements. It demonstrated to my teen self that real-world natural perils could make for just as thrilling an adventure as realms of fantasy. 

At the other end of the scale, War with the Evil Power Master actually manages to be even worse than the schlocky title suggests it's going to be.

[stevendoig]

In search of the mountain gorilla's is a cracker imo. The author is writing based on their own experiences and it shows!

A fun, thrilling and educational book.

[bloodbeasthandler]

Who Killed Harlowe Thrombey was the stand-out for me and I still have it.
The Horror of High Ridge stuck with me too mainly because of the gory deaths.
That (and Mountain Survival) was one of the ones that came from an offer in Weetabix.


edit: I don't know what happened to those Weetabix CYOA images I posted up here. I didn't take them down so I dunno where they went. 

[bloodbeasthandler]

A bit off-topic but I see the books were 95p when that advert came out in 1984. An online inflation calculator makes that approx £3.12 in 2020's money. Pretty good value I'd say?
And then what about FF books - £1.50 in 1984 puts them at about £4.90 in 2020 - absolute bargain also considering the physical quality of the books and the illustrations.


On topic: I don't know my least favourite. I was never greatly into CYOA and have forgotten the one that made least impression on me.
There were some intriguing titles in the series, I'll give them that.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Choose_Your_Own_Adventure_books

You Are a Shark, The Case of the Silk King, The Brilliant Dr. Wogan, Blood on the Handle.

[pessimeister]

CYOA was certainly my gateway into an enjoyment of reading and a lifelong love for role-playing games. I discovered them in primary school in around 1985-86, with Fighting Fantasy and Lone Wolf coming several years later. Even as an adult, I enjoy reading the titles I didn't see back in the day and I like to have fun with the choices and paths. 

I still collect the books of my childhood and intend to obtain the first 100 CYOA books. I have around 10 to find mostly in the 60s and 80s. I joined Demian Katz' Gamebooks.org a few years ago to database my collection and potentially set up trades with fans around the world.

Some of my favourites include:

1. Who Killed Harlowe Thrombey? This was my introduction to the series and I loved its sense of danger within the authentic problem solving. Shortly after reading it, I bought 52 Ghost Hunter as it included many of the same characters in a new continuing story line.
2. The Mystery of Chimney Rock. I read this with House of Hell one summer at my Nana's place on holidays. It was quite terrifying and yet very gripping; I couldn't get enough of both of them. An excellent creepy and atmospheric book.
3.The Throne of Zeus. This served as a nice introduction to reading about Greek Myth. I remember reading it back to back with the First Olympics.
4. Return of the Ninja. This coincided very heavily with my fascination for reading about ninjutsu - like any normal 80s kid I guess!
5. The Horror At High Ridge. This was a later discovery for me and I quite enjoyed its atmosphere. There's some grim endings as well which I always liked!

Less favoured:
1. The Mona Lisa is Missing. Got it one christmas and never really connected with it. Some of the science fiction titles didn't quite do it for me either. But they are quite fun to look at again through the lens of adulthood.