Explore Middle-earth as Bilbo in this JavaScript version of the 1982 adventure. The game preserves the original words, puzzles, characters and illustrations.
Begin the adventure#
Open the game. It restores an existing browser save or opens the title. Click the game screen to focus it. Press N for text only, or Space for illustrations.
Type directly on the screen and press Enter to submit a command. Use Backspace to correct a word. Press Space when a picture or page of text waits for you. Keep the game screen focused while typing.
Useful commands#
| What you want to do | Example |
|---|---|
| Look around | look |
| Check what you carry | inventory |
| Examine something | examine door |
| Open or close something | open door |
| Move | east, north, up |
| Pick something up | take rope |
| Put something inside a container | put map in chest |
| Give an order | say to Thorin "open door" |
| Attempt a sequence | open door then east |
| Wait for events | wait |
The game can ask which object or character you mean. Answer with a distinguishing name, such as hideous when it asks which troll. Characters have their own plans and may refuse orders or move elsewhere.
Time is part of the adventure#
Characters act while you think, and leaving the tab does not pause the game. An automatic WAIT can interrupt slow typing, just as it could in the original. A plan that worked once may play out differently next time.
Save and return#
Use Save game after a completed turn to preserve your position in this browser. Load game restores it; Restart begins again. Typing save or load also uses browser storage.
Saves belong to this site and browser. They do not transfer automatically to another site, browser or device. A save made in a local copy of the game will not appear on this hosted site.
About this edition#
The game runs entirely in JavaScript with decoded Hobbit data. It needs no original executable binaries or Spectrum emulator. Its new random generator can produce different character actions and combat outcomes from the 1982 version.
Read how this edition works and the tested behavior and limits. The credits name the original creators and the work that informed this port.