Play in the MUD with me, he says~ He is from the distant past, yet he speaks of a recent-past memory. Time ceases to have relevance. He prattles on about a Commodore 64 computer and an early quest game, Rivers of Light. It took him about a month, he said, to go through the whole game environment, solve all the puzzles and reach the end. The graphics were crude and the gameplay was fairly simple, but when it ended, he wanted more.

Since then, along has come the Internet and with it online text games. He was fascinated. A player creates a character and password, goes through a brief "training" phase and then plays by killing creatures for gold and experience points in order to advance to higher and higher levels. It had no graphics at all, just text. "It is called a MUD, or Multi-User Dungeon," he explains, leading you toward an alcove. "I was squeamish about killing anything, but I eventually came up with a sort of code about it: I only kill bad creatures or thieves and leave the others alone."

You reach the alcove, and, to your surprise, it houses a computer logged in to the Barren Realms website. "If you can find Mystique," the jester suggests, "she is a Druid and will help you. She often multi-plays with Bisque, a human. The other players are nice, the areas are fun, and the challenge is enough at times to break my palms into a sweat." The jester rolls his eyes at you.

What really surprises you, though, is the game turns out to have some hidden benefits. As your characters gain in experience and skill, you actually feel more confident, and beginning players start asking you for help. "Because grouping with other players makes fighting safer against the creatures," the jester adds, "I've overcome some of my shyness and made some great friends. Now, if I could only type 'flee' correctly under pressure...."

"Let's play with LEGOs," he suggests~ and the next thing you know, he's going on about it being a bit of a wait for the "Mini-mizer" at reasonablyclever.com to load, but the payoff is you get to build a Lego person of your own choosing that you can then save. No sooner does he get to the site but he's grabbing Lego parts, and Mystique takes shape as a Lego figure. "The is what she would look like if you could see her," he says dreamily.

We could find the pink and blue pages~ The jester proceeds to show you his favorite computer adventure game, MYST, all the while lamenting that he's never found another to equal the fully immersive and intense experience it offers. "If anyone knows of one, I do wish they'd please let me know," he says, eyeing you hopefully.

Or we could just get the diamonds~ The jester shows you another Commodore game, Boulder Dash, that's been remade for the PC because it developed such a following. The game was developed by First Star Software, which offers its history and current versions (for sale) at its website, firststarsoftware.com. "You can download a free version from freeoldies.com," the jester tells you.