Gamebooks (Choose Your Own Adventure Style)

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Choose Your Own Adventure:  Treasure Diver Alternate Endings Part 11


Captain Jack outwits the Ocho Reales crew when we follow my character's plan to lose the pirates in the coral reef in CHOICE #12.  One boat in the two-page drawing on Pages 38-39 has the serial number (?) FL83130, and it's probably the Ocho Reales due to the diving flag.  The pirates perform a pincer attack, with the white boat following us and Captain Jack's shrimper on the far side.


We're aground, and CHOICE #13 is whether to try the other channel in the reef that Macaulay points out on Page 77, or dive where we are on Page 80 to flee.


"We're getting out of here!' you tell Macaulay.  'Lightening the bow will help.'  You both heave the spare anchor overboard.  You race to the controls and put the Ocho Reales in full reverse.  There is a terrible crunching and tearing sound, but with the bow lighter, the boat finally comes off the reef.  You back up the Ocho Reales and duck into the other channel.  Just in time!  The white boat comes close enough to fire shots, but they all miss.


For five minutes more you weave and dodge through the maze of coral.  As you put more distance between you and the white boat, you realize you're going to run into trouble with the gray boat.  They have positioned themselves where you'll leave the reef.  If you stop, though, the white boat will catch up to you.


Then Macaulay starts shouting and jumping up and down.  'Yahoo!  Yahoo!'  'What's going on?' you yell, but then you see for yourself.  A Coast Guard helicopter is flying in, and the gray boat is leaving.  The white boat is trying to back through the coral maze, but it's too late.  It'll never get out of the coral in time.


You stop the Ocho Reales's engines, drop anchor, and slump into the pilot's chair.  Your heart is still pounding.  Macaulay comes aft.  'Now all we have to do', he says, 'is find our way out of this maze, pick up Kate and Captain Beech, and go treasure diving.'  You smile up at him.  'Piece o' cake, Macaulay.  Piece o' cake.'  THE END"


I'm imagining my character with Falco Lombardi's voice right now as he delivers the final lines.  No picture since the ending itself took up the whole page, but there was the two-page illustration earlier.  This is a Good Ending because one of the pirates was caught, meaning the characters gained something from the adventure.


Endings So Far


2 Good Endings

6 Deaths

2 Bad Non-Death Endings

1 Neutral Endings

1 Inconclusive Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Choose Your Own Adventure:  Treasure Diver Alternate Endings Part 12


Diving into the coral in CHOICE #13 produces a much flashier ending.


"C'mon, Macaulay,' you say.  'We're going diving.'  'Are you crazy?'  'Nope,' you answer.  'We can't stay here, and they won't follow us underwater.'  Just before you splash into the water, you see that the white boat is almost directly behind the Ocho Reales.  Whew!  That was close.  Then you hear a tremendous low noise.  You are thrown against some coral, cutting yourself.  Your pursuers are throwing dynamite into the water!


There's another explosion, closer this time.  Your ears hurt fiercely after this one.  Your eardrums must be ruptured.  Then there's a third explosion, the closest of all.  Your regulator is torn from your mouth.  You are twisted through the water and violently scraped against the coral, but you don't feel it at all.  THE END"


What kind of pirates are they?  They don't wait long enough for their targets to find the treasure for them before attacking, and the Ocho Reales's default cargo probably isn't worth the risk.  Captain Jack makes no demands of surrender, and in fact has had no dialogue at all so far.  Maybe they're trying to kill the heroes because they think they can earn experience points.


The drawing shows a bright explosion surrounding the player character in their diving suit.  Black spots are close to the edges of the page.


Endings So Far


2 Good Endings

7 Deaths

2 Bad Non-Death Endings

1 Neutral Endings

1 Inconclusive Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Choose Your Own Adventure:  Treasure Diver Alternate Endings Part 13


The only thing left to do is to dive into Captain Jack's waters in CHOICE #10.  Since the game railroaded me into a pirate encounter when I stayed away from his territory, does that mean he'll be absent in this timeline?  Of course not.


Kate and I dive 100 feet while Beech and Macaulay stay on board.  A drawing on Page 26 shows what pieces of eight look like.  Page 31 is a more detailed illustration than most of the rest in Treasure Diver, showing a sloped coral reef, the player character in the diving suit, and a large fish with dark stripes at the top left.  Our probe rods annoy the local "crabs, lobsters, triggerfish, and others that live in holes an small caves in the coral". 


If my memories of marine biology class in high school aren't mistaken, one of the aquariums had a triggerfish that would attack the glass.  So you'd think they'd try to bite the divers rather than just be mentioned in passing.  While we're trying not to "disturb the razor-toothed moray", Kate points out a cannonball to me with her probe rod.  A nearby grouper has a "look of intense curiosity in its eyes", giving it perhaps the most personality of any character in the book.  I find a "gold necklace, perfectly intact" inside a crevice.


The necklace is 2 feet long, and I stuff it inside my diving suit.  Kate and I find no other treasure in the next hour, but we notice a coral cave at 40 feet below the surface.  CHOICE #14 is whether to explore it now on Page 74, or return to the cave later after refilling our air tanks on Page 62.  Let's see what kind of Deaths we can find by being too hasty!


I write "FOLLOW ME"to Kate on the slate.  We notice a "large steel building-an underwater habitat-taking up the entire back half of the coral cave".  Is this going to be one of the many pretenders to Atlantis from Journey Under the Sea?  The habitat is a "semicircular tube" with a ladder leading to a chamber with pressure equivalent to 20 feet.  Divers can come in here to breathe without having to decompress.


Kate writes "WHY IS THIS HERE?" on her slate.  My character thinks it's either a "smuggler's hideout" or "something to do with the dreaded Captain Jack", since it's too concealed to be associated with scientists.  One possibility that hasn't occurred to the protagonist is covert experiments, which was used in Journey Under the Sea if my memory isn't faulty.  Captain Jack is a pirate, which would mean he'd stick to the surface to look for prey.  Unless he's hiding his loot here or something.


CHOICE #15 is whether to ignore the forboding narration and enter the habitat on Page 34, or leave the coral cave immediately on Page 28.  Kate is the more sensible party member and shakes her head when I decide to go inside.  However, she isn't one to leave her companions behind, and she writes "GOING WITH YOU" before I can finish writing "WAIT HERE 5 MIN-".


The room is stocked with scuba gear, and one wall has a "watertight bulkhead door".  Kate points out some small plastic bags with "pebbles" that "glint strangely green", i.e. emeralds.  The bag is labeled "Bogotá, Colombia", hinting that they came smugglers who probably also sell drugs.  (This is the 1980s after all.)  Paul Granger misspells the country as "Columbia" in his drawing of the bag.  (In Spanish, "Columbus" is called "Colón", so the English "u" would not exist in the South American country named after him.)


Kate tells me "Let's get out of here!", and following her CHOICE #15 idea turns to Page 51.  "If you decide you can't resist opening the door, turn to Page 99."


For an underwater smuggler's hideout, it's well-decorated.  "There are brocade chairs, small tables with beautiful crystal lamps, and a red velvet couch.  A Persian rug covers the steel floor.  Off the room you can see a small kitchen and bedroom."  Kate has either forgotten her apprehension, or she's astonished at my character's foolhardiness.  "Why, it's a little apartment".  My character warns "It's a hideout, and a dollar says it belongs to Captain Jack".  Maybe if we feared "El Capitán Juancho", that would be the case, but there are probably other criminals in these waters than some pirate in a cobbled together shrimper.


A "short fat man" advises me to keep my dollar:  "Don't take that bet.  You'll lose for sure."  A two-page drawing shows off his fancy hideout.  Wonder what books he has on his shelf.  (Fighting Fantasy?) 


"How'd you get here?' Kate blurts out.  'The same way you did,' the man replies coolly, rubbing his lips with his left hand.  His right hand is in the pocket of the midnight-blue silk Chinese robe he's wearing.  'You know,' he continues, 'in adventure stories this is when the villain reveals the whole story.  I suppose it can't do any harm, at this point, to let you in on my little secret.  I am'-he smiles crookedly-'Captain Jack, and I am something of a gem trader.  I do a nice little business.  This 'hideout' as you call it, is a necessity.  There are some in my profession who envy my success.'


As he talks, you and Kate are edging back toward the bulkhead door.  'No, I'm afraid you won't be leaving,' he says.  Now you see the automatic pistol in his right hand.  'Sorry.'  There are two small noises from the gun.  You and Kate drop to the floor, still dripping water-and now blood-onto the expensive Persian rug.  THE END"


It'll be hard to get those stains out.  Captain Jack in this timeline actually seems to have an intelligent smuggling operation.  In previous endings, "Captain Jack" just tried to ram random diving vessels where the Coast Guard could find him.  He didn't have dialogue either.  This Death is another one that's obviously the player's fault even when reading Treasure Diver blind.  No illustration on the last page because there was already one showing off the underwater habitat earlier.



Endings So Far


2 Good Endings

8 Deaths

2 Bad Non-Death Endings

1 Neutral Endings

1 Inconclusive Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Choose Your Own Adventure:  Treasure Diver Alternate Endings Part 14


While escaping from Captain Jack's hideout in CHOICE #16, I grab a "small metal chest" to use as evidence.  "The locking wheel on the watertight door-it's turning!"  "You see no one following you, but somehow you feel pursued."  Kate and I get fresh air tanks from the Ocho Reales.  Beech lowers a slate saying "WHAT'S YOUR DIVE PROFILE?' in an illustration.  Paul Granger must be happy to have something so easy to draw.  More CAPS LOCK text ensues than in an entire Game Boy RPG:  "YOU'VE BEEN AT 20 FT LONG ENOUGH.  COME UP TO 10 FT FOR 40 MIN."  "TOO LONG!  WE'VE GOT TO GET OUT OF HERE!  EMERGENCY!!!  WE MUST LEAVE HERE AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE.  RECALCULATE FOR MINIMUM DECOMP TIME."  "ABSOLUTE MINIMUM IS 23 MIN BUT BENDS IS DANGER.  STILL SUGGEST 40 MIN."


My character made sure to put in all three exclamation points for "EMERGENCY!!!".  CHOICE #17 is to wait 20 minutes underwater (not 23?) to avoid Captain Jack on Page 71, or 40 minutes on Page 69 to avoid the bends.


The narration has second thoughts about collecting evidence:  "You look at the metal chest hanging in the bright yellow mesh bag clipped to your waist.  Maybe you shouldn't have taken it."  I write "WE STAY 20 MIN.  READY RECOMPRESSION CHAMBER-AND BOAT FOR QUICK GETAWAY" to Beech.  I lie to Kate with the following slate message:  "WE STAY 40 MIN."  My character rationalizes their deceit with the narration "You know this way she'll stay scared and rid herself of the nitrogen gas faster."  Is that actually how it works?  I doubt it.


Nobody pursues us for now.  We do wait for the full 23 minutes, and I confess to Kate "I LIED.  ASCEND NOW."  The conclusion takes up two pages, but the illustration is a definite Good Ending.


"As soon as you're both on the Ocho Reales' deck, you shout, 'Let's get out of here!'  Beech starts the big diesel while you turn on the radio.  You're flying out of the bay at twenty-five knots by the time you get the Coast Guard on the radio.  Beech and Macaulay listen incredulously as they hear you describe to the authorities the underwater cave with the steel habitat.


'Roger, Ocho Reales, we copy,' the guardsman says when you're done.  'We'll take care of it.  Stay out of trouble.'  That's what you intend to do, anyway.  'And thank you.  We've been trying to find Captain Jack's hideout for a long time.'  'How do you feel?' Beech asks you and Kate.  'Any sign of the bends?'  You both shake your heads no.


'What's this chest?' Macaulay asks, having retrieved it from your equipment.  'I forgot about it,' you say.  'Me, too,' Kate adds.  'Well, open it!' Beech says impatiently.  Macaulay sticks a pry under the lid and the flimsy lock pops open.  Doubloons!  You can't believe your eyes.  The smugglers must have explored the area around the hideout many times and, bit by bit, discovered some of the coins from the lost Spanish fleet.  You've found your treasure after all.  THE END".


Captain Jack was the true Treasure Diver!  He did all the work to find the doubloons, and we just came in and swiped them at the last moment.  Who's the real pirate?  Kate would hate me for treating her that way if these characters had any depth.  The illustration shows an open treasure chest with the coins as you'd expect.


If I were writing this ending, I'd at least give the characters some of the milder bends symptoms since ascending as soon as possible in CHOICE #17 is presented as a dangerous decision in the text.   




Endings So Far


3 Good Endings

8 Deaths

2 Bad Non-Death Endings

1 Neutral Endings

1 Inconclusive Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Choose Your Own Adventure:  Treasure Diver Alternate Endings Part 15


You should put diving safety last when you're being pursued by smugglers, the foes of all gamebook heroes. 


"We can't risk the bends, you think.'  You write on the slate:  '40 MIN.  HAVE BOAT READY TO LEAVE AS SOON AS WE SURFACE' and show it to Kate.  She nods, then you send the slate up to Beech.  When twenty minutes haave passed, you begin to have second thoughts.  You wish the bends weren't such a risk.  With each passing minute, you find it harder to stick to your decision and stay down for the full decompression time.


Finally you can't stand to wait any longer.  You turn to signal to Kate that you're ascending early-and spot four divers heading toward you on scooters.  You try to escape, but you can't outrace their spear guns.  The sharp-tipped spears heading straight for you are the last thing you'll ever see.  THE END"


It wouldn't be a Choose Your Own Adventure without the stock "last thing you ever see" Death text.  This must be the long-delayed karmic payback for shooting at the dolphin drill sergeant with the harpoon gun. Unfortunately, the illustration only shows the spears approaching my character, so I don't get to see what an underwater scooter is.  *Looks up underwater scooter*  Oh, it's the Seaglide from Subnautica!


Endings So Far


3 Good Endings

9 Deaths

2 Bad Non-Death Endings

1 Neutral Endings

1 Inconclusive Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Choose Your Own Adventure:  Treasure Diver Alternate Endings Part 16


Backing out of the coral cave after initially entering it delivers a Bad Non-Death Ending.  Is it intended to be a punishment for failing a Morality Test of courage, or acting halfheartedly?  It's the biggest cheat in Treasure Diver, considering there's no hint of any danger in making this decision.


"Let's get out of here,' you motion to Kate.  You swim into the small tunnel.  It seems longer and darker than before, and you worry that you and Kate have been detected by the inhabitants of the hide-out.  Finally, though, you kick out into the blue sea and back to the Ocho Reales.  You are anxious during your decompression.  The water doesn't seem as friendly to you as it normally does; there is menace in it.


When your decompression is done, you ascend, but in your eagerness to get on board your boat, you rise right into the tentacles of a Portuguese man-of-war jellyfish.  The long thin tentacles brush against your bare arms and face.  The stinging cells release their burning poison.  Knowing better, but disoriented with the pain, you rub against the poisonous stingers in an attempt to remove them.  That releases more poison, causing more pain.


Finally you swim clear of the entangling tentacles and, in agony, rise to the surface.  Beech and Macaulay are there wearing rubber globes, having been alerted by Kate-who watched helplessly, afraid of getting stung herself.  You scream with pain until the sedative Beech gives you takes affect [sic].  He and Macaulay wash the stung parts of your body with alcohol while Kate heads the Ocho Reales toward shore-and the nearest hospital-as fast as possible.  You won't be diving again for a long time.  THE END"


If this were a Fighting Fantasy or an Ultimate Ending book, there would be a coin flip or dice roll CHOICE to save yourself.  The protagonist must have a good sense of intuition to detect "menace" in the water.




Endings So Far


3 Good Endings

9 Deaths

3 Bad Non-Death Endings

1 Neutral Endings

1 Inconclusive Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Choose Your Own Adventure:  Treasure Diver Alternate Endings Part 17


When we decide to ignore the coral cave with Captain Jack's habitat in CHOICE #14, Kate "reluctantly" agrees.  Beech sends us the slate for decompression times, and I produce the necklace when Macaulay asks if I've found anything.  The links are "engraved with a leafed vine".  My character wonders about the life of the original owner.  Beech is astonished, saying "I can't believe it" multiple times while playing with the necklace.  I shout "Treasure!" 


I tell Beech my speculation that the shipwreck is "under the sand bottom below the necklace site".  Kate is relieved at not having to explain our plans:  "Whew, I didn't do any of that heavy thinking".  Beech is alarmed at my proposal to use an "air lift" to collect treasure.  It's a "long, six-inch diameter hose" from the bottom to the surface, with a companion hose that transports air.  The big hose swallows everything around it, and on the surface, we can sift through the loot. 


However:  "Its vices are numerous.  It is hard to control; if you lose track of the mouth for a second, it buries itself in the sand.  Then you have to turn off the air lift, dig it out, clean it out, and start again.  It also has a tendency to try to eat too much and clog up; then it has to be turned off, cleaned out, and started over again.  The air lift is also dangerous.  It's so powerful that if an arm is sucked squarely over the opening, the air lift will pull the blood right through the skin.  On top of that, the compressor on the boat makes an awful racket".


This sounds like the setup to the goriest Death in the book, so I ought to save it for the FINALE on Page 84.  The other CHOICE #18 option on Page 27 is safer, and might not involve the air lift.


Beech and Macaulay are the divers this time, but they find nothing.  Kate and I go underwater again at 7:00 the next morning.  We go to the north because that's where the current sent the treasure.  We run into "the same grouper that watched you yesterday".  Makes me wonder out of character if the fish is a transformed YOU from another Choose Your Own Adventure:  You Are a Shark.  (Despite the name, you can play as many other animals in that book, not all of them aquatic.)


I write "EXPLORE BASE OF REEF" to Kate on the slate since we don't have enough time to do any other exploration.  I see what looks like a "glint of gold", but it's only coral.  My foot is trapped-and it's fishing line again!  It might still be Bill Rounder's fault even if he's no longer there, since the line was attached to the rocks.  When I draw out my knife to free myself, a shark frightens me enough to make me drop it.  "Then you run out of air!"


Not exactly.  I still "have only five minutes more of air" in the main tank, and there's a reserve supply.  The fishing line stops me from using that reserve, and I can't reach the knife.  Kate saves me this time with her own knife.  There's coral, seaweed, and a fish in the distance according to the illustration.


"You feel wobbly as you swim back to the boat with Kate.  You use up the last of your reserve air on the way and must buddy-breathe-share Kate's air-to make it.  Once you're back on board the Ocho Reales, you gobble huge amounts of fresh air as if you can't get enough.  You know you'll go back down eventually-after all, the necklace proves that the treasure exists-but for now all you want to do is sit in the sun and breathe good clean air.  THE END"


What prevents this from being a Neutral Ending is finding the necklace earlier in the story.  That prevents the expedition from being a waste, and it's explicitly stated that I'll look for the rest of the treasure soon.  The illustration here shows the knife and what looks like a strange belt.


Endings So Far


4 Good Endings

9 Deaths

3 Bad Non-Death Endings

1 Neutral Endings

1 Inconclusive Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Choose Your Own Adventure:  Treasure Diver FINALE


When I insist on using the air lift on Page 84, Beech says "I was afraid you'd say that."  Pontoons are necessary to keep the hose afloat, and the "fine mesh bottom" is what sucks up the treasure.  One second of inattention forces me to clean the air lift for a while, and nothing is found by the end of the day.  One illustration shows a fish casually swimming by and another concerned-looking fish looking at me with mouth agape.  The water is dark, and the hose is churning up clouds of sand.


Two days later, and all we have to show for it is "cannonballs, a cannon, and Captain Rounder's anchor".  On Day 4, it's Beech's turn to control the air lift.  We find a "disk" that's "eight inches across and three inches thick, and it's solid gold!"  Kate cries "It weighs ten pounds!" when she puts it on the scales, and an illustration shows her out of her diving suit with long straight hair instead of her usual ponytail.  "Now it seems the sea floor is paved with precious metal.  Practically everywhere you dig you turn up something.  Masses of gold doubloons, more giant gold disks, hunks of sea-corroded silver, tableware, gold and silver jewelry, all come to the surface to join the growing mound of treasure."  It would be an interesting twist if New Jerusalem turns out to be underwater.


"You look in amazement at the riches you have found.  You will split the treasure five ways:  one share to each of the crew, and one to the Ocho Reales for repairs, new equipment, and the financing of other adventures.  You estimate your share with a practiced eye.  It should come to eight or nine million dollars.  You wonder what you'll do with all that money.  You could retire from the dangers of treasure hunting for the rest of your life.  You could do just about anything you want-including nothing.  But you have a growing suspicion that for you searching for treasure-any kind of treasure-may be more reward than finding it.  THE END"


Julius Goodman makes you think the air lift will kill you in the most gruesome way possible, but instead it's the way to the best ending.  I'll have to give him credit for NOT using the "you get nothing, but the real treasure is friendship" plot common in this sort of story.  Continuing a life of treasure hunting sure beats the dissipated lifestyle that plagues lottery winners.


Still disappointed at the lack of air hose maiming, but maybe that's too grotesque for a children's book.


Final Results


5 Good Endings

9 Deaths

3 Bad Non-Death Endings

1 Neutral Endings

1 Inconclusive Endings



The obvious CYOA comparison with Treasure Diver is Journey Under the Sea.  Having fewer endings and a more focused concept makes Treasure Diver the better book of the two.  Treasure Diver plays more fairly as well, except for certain instances like the Portuguese man-of-war.  In structure, it's a conventional CYOA, with no gimmicks such as the time loops found in R.A. Montgomery installments.


If all goes well, the next CYOA will be Edward Packard's Survival at Sea.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Choose Your Own Adventure:  Treasure Diver CHOICE Map


CHOICE #1, Page 3
-Check on Macaulay and Beech on surface, Page 6, 9, 12-13:  Go to CHOICE #10 (CLEAR)
-Check out coral to look for artifacts, Page 10, 16:  Go to CHOICE #2 (CLEAR)
 

CHOICE #2, Page 16
-Explore and risk having to decompress, Page 8, 15, 33:  Go to CHOICE #6 (CLEAR)
-Hoist cannon to surface, Page 20, 23:  Go to CHOICE #3 (CLEAR)
 

CHOICE #3, Page 23
-Yell to get attention, Page 19, 25, 44, 70:  Go to CHOICE #4 (CLEAR)
-Swim to diving platform even with risks, Page 40:  DEATH (CLEAR, dragged behind fishing boat, can’t breathe due to being tangled in line)
 

CHOICE #4, Page 70
-Everyone dive at once, Page 32, 43, 45:  DEATH (CLEAR, eaten by tiger sharks because fishing boat drops chum into water)
-Leave someone on Ocho Reales, Page 55, 61:  Go to CHOICE #5 (CLEAR)
 

CHOICE #5, Page 61
-Throw Beech a line to winch cannon, Page 68, 106:  GOOD ENDING (CLEAR, Beech finds some silver coins under the coral, Macaulay is saved)
-Swim down to free Macaulay that way instead, Page 91:  BAD ENDING (CLEAR, Macaulay eaten by shark before you can reach him)
 

CHOICE #6, Page 33
-Enter current that trapped Kate, Page 53, 64-65:  Go to CHOICE #8 (CLEAR)
-Return to Ocho Reales, Page 36:  Go to CHOICE #7 (CLEAR)
 

CHOICE #7, Page 36
-Remain on surface with bends, Page 60:  DEATH (CLEAR, nitrogen bubble in brain kills you, body discovered 10 minutes later but Kate is never found)
-Try to repressurize underwater, Page 73, 76, 82:  BAD ENDING (CLEAR, survive in hospital with a limp, but Kate is never found)
 

CHOICE #8, Page 65
-Search for Kate by swimming, Page 88:  Go to CHOICE #9 (CLEAR)
-Shine flashlight in Kate’s direction, Page 102, 111:  DEATH (CLEAR, eaten by giant squid hunting for shrimp)
 

CHOICE #9, Page 88
-Go deeper to search for Kate in spite of “nagging” feeling, Page 24:  DEATH (CLEAR, drown while laughing from nitrogen narcosis)
-Try to go up, Page 104, 108, 50, 54:  NEUTRAL ENDING (CLEAR, KATE’S OK slate appears)
 

CHOICE #10, Page 13
-Dive here again, Page 17, 22, 18, 83:  Go to CHOICE #11 (CLEAR)
-Dive in Captain Jack’s waters, Page 26, 31, 58:  Go to CHOICE #14 (CLEAR)
 

CHOICE #11, Page 83
-Drop cannon in Captain Jack’s path, Page 109, 112-113:  DEATH (CLEAR, Captain Jack runs into Ocho Reales, causing his boat to explode and kill you and Macaulay)
-Send air tanks to Kate and Beech, Page 72, 48-49:  Go to CHOICE #12 (CLEAR)
 

CHOICE #12, Page 49
-Lure two boats into ramming each other, Page 78:  INCONCLUSIVE ENDING? (CLEAR, shot in torso, slump down, “It’s up to Macaulay now”.)
-Escape through coral maze, Page 37-39, 110:  Go to CHOICE #13 (CLEAR)
 

CHOICE #13, Page 110
-Go through other channel in coral, Page 77:  GOOD ENDING (CLEAR, white boat pirate stuck in reef when Coast Guard helicopter arrives, but Captain Jack might get away)
-Dive to escape pirates, Page 80:  DEATH (CLEAR, pirates throw dynamite into water, cut open by coral but you don’t feel any pain)
 

CHOICE #14, Page 59
-Explore cave now, Page 74, 89, 92:  Go to CHOICE #15 (CLEAR)
-Return to cave after refilling air, Page 62-63, 66-67:  Go to CHOICE #18 (CLEAR)
 

CHOICE #15, Page 92
-Enter suspicious underwater habitat, Page 34-35:  Go to CHOICE #16 (CLEAR)
-Leave coral cave now, Page 28:  BAD ENDING (CLEAR, stung by Portuguese man-of-war)
 

CHOICE #16, Page 35
-Open bulkhead door in Colombian smuggler’s habitat, Page 99-101, 103:  DEATH (CLEAR, Captain Jack shoots you and Kate in the fancy hideout)
-Get out of smuggler’s underwater habitat, Page 51, 56-57:  Go to CHOICE #17 (CLEAR)
 

CHOICE #17, Page 57
-20 more minutes underwater to avoid Captain Jack, Page 71, 94-95:  GOOD ENDING (CLEAR, take chest of doubloons from Captain Jack’s hideout, safely make it back onto boat, call Coast Guard)
-40 minutes to avoid bends, Page 69:  DEATH (CLEAR, smugglers shoot you with spear gun)
 

CHOICE #18, Page 67
-Don’t use air lift, Page 27, 47, 86:  GOOD ENDING (CLEAR, stuck in fishing line, but Kate helps you return to the surface, still have necklace from earlier)
-Use air lift, Page 84, 97-98:  GOOD ENDING (CLEAR, find millions of dollars in treasure after a few days, split it among crew)

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Choose Your Own Adventure:  Survival at Sea Part 1


Can't believe I wrote a whole playthrough of Treasure Diver without making one Xenoblade 2 reference.  You make money in that game by treasure diving!  Survival at Sea takes place in the South Pacific, unlike the Caribbean Sea in Treasure Diver or the Indian Ocean in La Isla de Los Dodos.  "Danger" on Dolphin Island and Isle of Swimming Cats did occur in the same region as this book, though.


"SPECIAL WARNING!!!!  On page 13, you'll find the ocean chart that shows where the Allegro is sailing.  From time to time, you may need to look at the chart to help you make your decision.  I hope you survive your adventures at sea, and I hope you enjoy them!  Edward Packard"


The author is courteous enough to include a diagram of the 40 foot sloop Allegro, with nautical terms labeled.  As for my chances of Survival at Sea. . .does reading The Last Grain Race by Eric Newby shortly beforehand help?  And remembering "port vs. starboard" from Voyage of the Dawn Treader?


The book begins with a call from our old friend Dr. Nera Vivaldi from Hyperspace and The Perfect Planet.  In Survival at Sea, she "specializes in interspecies communication".  "How would you like to go sailing in the South Pacific?  We'll be searching for the Arkasaur, a dinosaur that we believe may still live in the ocean depths".  Dr.  Vivaldi clearly isn't a paleontologist, as marine reptiles don't fit in that category.


Right now, I'm on "Bariba Island", which may have been named after the people from Benin and Nigeria.  I'm watching TV with captain Eric Zindel and his nephew Pete Karn, Jack Maiko the deckhand, and Dr. Vivaldi.  Paul Granger's cartoon drawing of the cast is much more detailed than what you'd see in a Chooseco reprint of a CYOA, and it's worth checking out the original series for the art. 


My character may be the eager fair-haired kid sitting in front of the TV in a chair with a crown decoration at the top.  Jack Maiko has darker hair, wears a striped shirt, and is standing over the protagonist, looking at them bashfully as if he's attracted.  Dark-haired Dr.  Vivaldi looks a bit smug sitting in a fancy chair with her legs crossed.  Eric Zindel is wearing his captain's hat and has his left arm leaning on top of Dr. Vivaldi's chair.  Jack Maiko must be the tall dark-haired man with a stern expression.


The program on TV is an interview with the "captain of an Australian fishing trawler", who claims to have seen the reptile 400 miles northwest of Bariba Island.  He mistook it for a whale until the "long, thin neck and monstrous head" with ten foot long jaws appeared 30 feet above him.  Harpoon guns were useless since "the monster swung round a great orange flipper and swept them into the sea the way you'd knock a fly off a table".  During the commercial break, Dr. Vivaldi gives her opinion when Eric asks about it.  She wonders if it's a hoax, but considers it worth investigating.  "It could be the one species of dinosaur that still exists.  This encounter took place in an area where a warm current, rich in nutrients, rises from the ocean floor.  If the Arkasaur still lives, that's the only place we can expect to find it".


Two days later, we're on the Allegro.  Eric takes the helm, Dr. Vivaldi is studying a "water sample", Pete is "tending the jib", and Maiko "is sitting on the foredeck staring out at the sea".  My job is to look at the depth finder, but soon I learn the reason why this CYOA is called Survival at Sea.


"Warning!  A volcano has erupted just under the surface of the sea, about 200 miles east of Etuk Island.  A new island is rising from the sea.  All vessels are warned to keep clear of the area.  There may be turbulent seas and tidal waves".


Is this new island going to be called Surtsey II?  A drawing shows thick black smoke rising out of the choppy water.  CHOICE #1 takes place on Page 6, which I flipped to in the normal order.  In a later CYOA, the order would be more like 1-2, 116, 54, 80, 3.  CHOICE #1 is to avoid the eruption zone on Page 18, or enter it to look for the Arkasaur on Page 19.  This book is called Survival at Sea and not Jurassic Park, so I'll take the sensible option for this CANONICAL ENDING.  CHOICE #1 is interesting in the text because it's presented as Eric needing a unanimous decision from the crew, though he wants to advance.  (So they're not obeying some random kid without question.)


"Suddenly you see that it makes no difference what you decide to do.  A tremendous wave-fifty feet high-is about to hit the Allegro."  It's a fake decision, but Edward Packard played it well.  Pages 18-19 are actually a two page illustration of the Allegro sailing into a tsunami.  Eric tells us to tie the lifelines, but he is "thrown violently to the deck" before he can do so.  "The boat is almost set on end by a mountain of foaming water".


I hold on to the ship's wheel as the "boom swings wildly".  The boom conks Eric on the head, and he's represented in the drawing as lying down sideways with his legs kicking up into the air.  My character is screaming wide mouth agape, and looks like they could be a short-haired girl.  Maiko "braced himself in the forward hatch".  The Allegro is on the crest of the wave, and CHOICE #2 is to go straight down the tsunami on Page 21, take a 45 degree angle on Page 11, or go parallel to the tsunami on Page 14.


The Last Grain Race didn't deal with tidal waves, although the Moshulu did experience rough waters in the Roaring Forties region.  Let's try parallel.  If I'm going to die, I might as well die surfing.


The Allegro rolls over on its side, and the tsunami destroys the sails and mast.  Eric, Maiko, and Dr. Vivaldi have disappeared, but Pete is definitely alive.  He may have "cracked a rib".  Pete tells me to inflate a life raft close to the bow.  We only have enough time to salvage a "tin of biscuits and a jug of water" before the Allegro sinks.  "You and Pete say a prayer for your lost friends, and then one for yourselves."  It's rare to see a reference to religion in a gamebook, however generic.


Five days later, and we've run out of water.  "Pete is curled up across from you, mumbling to himself.  It looks as if he was hurt a lot worse than he let on".  I'm "too thirsty" to eat the remaining biscuits (American salty bread, not British cookies!). 


"You slump over the side of the raft and stare down at the trillions and trillions and trillions of gallons of water.  Half the water in the world.  The Pacific Ocean."  I'll have to give Edward Packard credit for resisting the temptation to include the Rime of the Ancient Mariner line about not having any water to drink. . .


CHOICE #3 is whether to drink sea water on Page 54, or remember that it's bad for you on Page 33.  Reyn would have chosen the former, since oceans in his world were fresh water until Shulk killed Zanza.