I had this (the Apple II edition) as a kid, but I didn't have the books it was based on, and between that and the poor controls combined with easy and easily re

I had this (the Apple II edition) as a kid, but I didn't have the books it was based on, and between that and the poor controls combined with easy and easily repeatable failure states, it felt extremely opaque and unfair - especially because there so obviously was something there of interest and possibly even lasting value, in the sense any story can have that, but the game was so poor at being a game as to reliably frustrate my every attempt to find out what that "something" might actually be. I suppose I'm glad there were people with whom it landed very well, but I also wouldn't exactly call it a must-play, or even a classic. Much more I'd class it alongside the middle- and late-period Sierra games, which likewise remain fondly remembered among those few who were able to think sufficiently along with the particular logic of their authorship - and among all us others, not so fondly.