Mountain Valley Software — Australian made text adventure 1981–1987 — tribute site
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King Solomon's Mines box artwork

King Solomon's Mines

Commodore 64CassetteDisk

Hidden somewhere in the depths of darkest, unexplored Africa lie the fabled mines of King Solomon, a legendary treasurehouse of gold and gems. Many intrepid explorers have set out to find them, but none has returned alive. Are you ready to pit your wits and skill against the dangers of an unknown continent? You begin your safari in a deserted Trading Post at the edge of the jungle — beyond lies the unknown . . .

Transcribed from the cassette inlay.

1984 · No year on either loading screen; advertised October 1984

Play it

The disk image is under “From the archive” below. It runs in VICE, which is free for Windows, macOS and Linux, or on a THEC64. Two-word commands: DIG, HELP, GET BEADS, GO NORTH, DROP SKULL. The hint sheet below has the solutions.

How it plays

Commands the manual gives as examples: DIG, HELP, GET BEADS, GO NORTH, DROP SKULL.

Screens

In game
In game
Loading screen — cassette
Loading screen — cassette
Loading screen — disk
Loading screen — disk

Design notebook

From Brian Betts’s working notes, scanned flat. Open a page to read it full size.

King Solomon's Mines location grid and abbreviation key, handwritten in pencil and pen
The location grid and a long abbreviation key: the canteen, bullets, crocodiles, the pygmies, the ants, the ghost and the skull. Location 1 is the trading post the inlay says the safari begins at, and 19 is the entrance to the mine. At the foot: “11000 – CONGRATS”.

Earlier cover

A second, unbordered cover design for this title, and most likely the packaging it had before October 1984. That autumn Mountain Valley told dealers it had “completely redesigned and upgraded” its cover artwork, and the list of titles it sent out with the October offer shows every game in the bordered design at the top of this page. Only titles already in the range have a design like this one: the two released with the redesign, Himalayan Odyssey and The Volcano of Raka-Tua, do not. The letters are in the archive.

King Solomon's Mines — earlier, unbordered cover artwork
Open the image to see it full size.

Reviewed

  • 82% — Commodore Magazine, vol. 5 no. 6, c. 1985 Read it

From the archive