Choose Your Own Adventure: A Cultural and Historical Overview The Digital Antiquarian article by Jimmy Maher explores the origins, impact, and legacy of the Choose Your Own Adventure (CYOA) book series, reflecting on its personal and cultural significance, as well as its place in the history of interactive storytelling. --- Introduction to CYOA In 1999, Bantam Books ceased publishing the Choose Your Own Adventure children's paperback series, after about two decades and tens of millions of copies sold. The series was a formative influence on early computer games and interactive fiction. Choose Your Own Adventure books employ a second-person narrative where readers make branching choices, leading to multiple possible endings. --- Personal Connection and Format The author’s first encounter was The Cave of Time (CYOA #1), sparking imagination and fascination with history, adventure, and time travel. Books were inexpensive, accessible, and offered archetypal themes appealing to imaginative children. The branching narrative encouraged active engagement, similar to role-playing and adventure games. --- Origins: Edward Packard and Ray Montgomery Edward Packard invented the CYOA format inspired by bedtime storytelling with his daughters; he created branching stories where the children could choose different plot directions. Packard wrote Sugarcane Island, the first multiple-choice book in the style. Ray Montgomery, owner of Vermont Crossroads Press, discovered Packard’s manuscript and published Sugarcane Island and his own interactive book Journey Under the Sea, branding them as Adventures of You. Amy Berkower, a literary agent at Writers House specializing in juvenile publishing, was instrumental in promoting the concept to bigger publishers. Berkower, along with Joëlle Delbourgo and Barbara Marcus at Bantam, shaped the series into a branded, numbered line called Choose Your Own Adventure launching in 1979. Initial marketing strategy involved giving away books to kids in bookstores, fueling word-of-mouth popularity. --- Growth and Popularity By 1980, over 1 million copies were sold across six titles; 4 million by 1981, and 10 million by 1982. By the late '80s, the series reached sales of 34 million domestically with extensive international reach. Packard and Montgomery wrote roughly half of the series’ 184 volumes. The books generally featured androgynous protagonists but artwork usually depicted boys, based on market research about gender preferences in buyers. CYOA was known for stylized violence where readers could meet many creative deaths but never harm others. --- Cultural Context and Competition The success resulted as much from packaging and marketing (especially the roles of Berkower, Delbourgo, Marcus) as from writing. The format sparked numerous imitators such as Which Way?, Decide Your Own Adventure, Fighting Fantasy, and licensed tie-ins like Doctor Who and Zork. Some series integrated role-playing game mechanics like dice rolling and character stats, e.g., Fighting Fantasy. The boom was intense but relatively brief, with the rise of affordable home computers offering richer interactive storytelling alternative leading to decline by mid-late 1980s. --- Decline and Legacy Attempts to modernize in the 1990s were unsuccessful; Bantam ended the series in 1999. Chooseco, formed by Montgomery in 2003, attempted reboots mainly through republication but met mixed results. They have focused increasingly on legal defense of the brand. The modern digital interactive narratives are often represented by companies like Choice of Games, targeting older teens and adults with diverse, inclusive stories. The CYOA format germinated inspirations for text adventures, interactive fiction, and branching choice-based digital games. Edward Packard remains active with a lasting legacy, with his grandson now portraying