Treasures

The primary quest object, also known as the Enchanted Chalice, in the 1979 Atari 2600 game Adventure.

Action

Games

1979

Years

Platforms

About

In Adventure (1979) and its Tele-Games releases, the player's ultimate goal is to find the Enchanted Chalice (often referred to as the treasure) and return it to the Golden Castle. The item is guarded by dragons and must be recovered using various tools found throughout the game world. Retrieving this item successfully wins the game.

Designed by Warren Robinett for the Atari 2600, Adventure (1979) was conceived as a graphical adaptation of the text-based computer game Colossal Cave Adventure. While the text predecessor required players to gather dozens of different treasures, Robinett consolidated the objective into a single, flashing key item due to the strict 4-kilobyte memory limitations of the Atari cartridge format. This design choice streamlined the quest, establishing a clear, singular focus for players navigating the game's mazes.

The item's legacy is closely tied to the birth of the video game "Easter egg." During development, Atari did not credit programmers on packaging or in-game screens. In response, Robinett hid a secret gray dot in the Black Castle catacombs. When carried alongside other objects to a specific corridor, this dot allowed the player to bypass a wall and enter a room displaying the text "Created by Warren Robinett."

Through its initial release and subsequent packages like Adventure [Tele-Games] (1979) and the Adventure [Text Label] (1980) cartridge reissue, this pioneering item design laid the structural groundwork for the action-adventure genre, directly influencing later exploration-based titles.