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Choose Your Own Adventure #142
The Reality Machine
Offered a summer job at a local video arcade, the reader tries out the new Virtual Reality machine that has been installed. Original.
118 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 1993
1 person is currently reading
78 people want to read
About the author
Edward Packard
170 books125 followersEdward Packard attended and graduated from both Princeton University and Columbia Law School. He was one of the first authors to explore the idea of gamebooks, in which the reader is inserted as the main character and makes choices about the direction the story will go at designated places in the text.
The first such book that Edward Packard wrote in the Choose Your Own Adventure series was titled "Sugarcane Island", but it was not actually published as the first entry in the Choose Your Own Adventure Series. In 1979, the first book to be released in the series was "The Cave of Time", a fantasy time-travel story that remained in print for many years. Eventually, one hundred eighty-four Choose Your Own Adventure books would be published before production on new entries to the series ceased in 1998. Edward Packard was the author of many of these books, though a substantial number of other authors were included as well.
In 2005, Choose Your Own Adventure books once again began to be published, but none of Edward Packard's titles have yet been included among the newly-released books.
The first such book that Edward Packard wrote in the Choose Your Own Adventure series was titled "Sugarcane Island", but it was not actually published as the first entry in the Choose Your Own Adventure Series. In 1979, the first book to be released in the series was "The Cave of Time", a fantasy time-travel story that remained in print for many years. Eventually, one hundred eighty-four Choose Your Own Adventure books would be published before production on new entries to the series ceased in 1998. Edward Packard was the author of many of these books, though a substantial number of other authors were included as well.
In 2005, Choose Your Own Adventure books once again began to be published, but none of Edward Packard's titles have yet been included among the newly-released books.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
January 26, 2025
A savvy eye for the future was always a strength of Edward Packard's. How well did his vision of virtual reality hold up in the years after The Reality Machine's 1993 debut? You are fascinated by SURREAL ACTION, a new science fiction virtual reality game at your local arcade. You've invested serious coin into mastering its incredibly realistic gameplay; no one can approach your skill level. Nonetheless, you're surprised one Saturday to see a man in a business suit watching you play. The man—Dr. Telos—owns Reality Unlimited, the company that created SURREAL ACTION, and he'd like you to test out the latest version, which is in research and development. The new concept is called the Reality Machine; players wear small adhesive chips that pass data directly to the brain. Which program will you enter first, SUPER TIME or SUPER SPACE?
Your appetite for space travel gaming is best satisfied by SUPER SPACE. As the simulation blasts you off in a rocket beyond earth's orbit, crablike creatures attack. It feels creepy and real; can you ignore these slimy aliens so your real body's stress levels don't eject you from the game? This is level one; Dr. Telos is eager to usher you into level two, but the experience will be even more intense. He offers to let you put on the level two black chip in your own home, but experimenting outside his supervision may result in health complications. No human has interacted with a VR so sophisticated. If you test out the black chip at Telos's lab, you have a plethora of scenario options; would you like to be an Olympic skier? Hunt for treasure in the deep sea? Skydive from an airplane? Land on Mars and roam its hazardous surface? These experiences and more sit at your fingertips, but even an intrepid gamer may not be ready for sensory immersion to this degree.
One couldn't be blamed for choosing SUPER TIME instead. Two sets of electronic chips—red to slow down time and green to speed it up—can be applied not just in the game, but to elevate your metabolic process and change your body in the real world. Wearing the green chip transforms your life almost immediately. You move so rapidly that you break the one hundred meter dash world record in private on your first attempt; continue wearing the chip and you'll become the world's most famous athlete and accomplish things beyond human limits. The chip is priceless...but will there be negative effects years down the road? If you chose not to wear the chip in the first place, Dr. Telos puts it on himself, but the side effects are severe in a grown man. As you follow him to the hospital, a thug named Wolfie abducts you with a gun to your head. He knows about the chips and will kill to take them for himself; will you attach a green chip to your body so you can fight back, despite your misgivings about the unproven technology? You'll have to push the limits of the chips to survive...but what more effective stress test of the equipment could there be?
The Reality Machine is a book with flaws—occasionally the technology is presented inconsistently, and your forays into virtual reality are disappointingly limited—but it's a fun, thoughtful story. The best action occurs in the real world, such as when Wolfie hounds you to hand over Dr. Telos's VR secrets. A watermark question inhabits each story path: how much virtual reality is too much? Can hacking the human body to eliminate every weakness end up stripping away what makes life worthwhile? Your wisest decisions in these pages may involve stepping back from the edge while you still have the option, but don't be afraid to get a little crazy; a book like this exists so you can play with radical possibilities and not be in real danger. I'd rank The Reality Machine in the upper half of the original Choose Your Own Adventure series; it's an entertaining, well-calibrated episode.
Your appetite for space travel gaming is best satisfied by SUPER SPACE. As the simulation blasts you off in a rocket beyond earth's orbit, crablike creatures attack. It feels creepy and real; can you ignore these slimy aliens so your real body's stress levels don't eject you from the game? This is level one; Dr. Telos is eager to usher you into level two, but the experience will be even more intense. He offers to let you put on the level two black chip in your own home, but experimenting outside his supervision may result in health complications. No human has interacted with a VR so sophisticated. If you test out the black chip at Telos's lab, you have a plethora of scenario options; would you like to be an Olympic skier? Hunt for treasure in the deep sea? Skydive from an airplane? Land on Mars and roam its hazardous surface? These experiences and more sit at your fingertips, but even an intrepid gamer may not be ready for sensory immersion to this degree.
One couldn't be blamed for choosing SUPER TIME instead. Two sets of electronic chips—red to slow down time and green to speed it up—can be applied not just in the game, but to elevate your metabolic process and change your body in the real world. Wearing the green chip transforms your life almost immediately. You move so rapidly that you break the one hundred meter dash world record in private on your first attempt; continue wearing the chip and you'll become the world's most famous athlete and accomplish things beyond human limits. The chip is priceless...but will there be negative effects years down the road? If you chose not to wear the chip in the first place, Dr. Telos puts it on himself, but the side effects are severe in a grown man. As you follow him to the hospital, a thug named Wolfie abducts you with a gun to your head. He knows about the chips and will kill to take them for himself; will you attach a green chip to your body so you can fight back, despite your misgivings about the unproven technology? You'll have to push the limits of the chips to survive...but what more effective stress test of the equipment could there be?
The Reality Machine is a book with flaws—occasionally the technology is presented inconsistently, and your forays into virtual reality are disappointingly limited—but it's a fun, thoughtful story. The best action occurs in the real world, such as when Wolfie hounds you to hand over Dr. Telos's VR secrets. A watermark question inhabits each story path: how much virtual reality is too much? Can hacking the human body to eliminate every weakness end up stripping away what makes life worthwhile? Your wisest decisions in these pages may involve stepping back from the edge while you still have the option, but don't be afraid to get a little crazy; a book like this exists so you can play with radical possibilities and not be in real danger. I'd rank The Reality Machine in the upper half of the original Choose Your Own Adventure series; it's an entertaining, well-calibrated episode.
July 26, 2023
The Reality Machine starts out badly with its illogical premise. A video game company wants to stick a device on the protagonist kid's head, one version that can alter their speed and the other that can alter their perception of reality. It's somewhat strange that the speed-changing one actually turns the point of view character into a Flash-like speedster, while the other one just creates an elaborate illusion in their brain. Shouldn't the speed version just be changing the protagonist's perception of time? If not, shouldn't the reality version allow the protagonist to actually alter reality? How did a video game company even come up with something that could give a person a superpower?
The speed path is dominated almost entirely by a criminal named Wolfie (which I guess was the best Edward Packard could come up with for a villainous appellation, but it sounds more like the name of a cute dog) who tries to steal the video game superpower technology. Luckily the protagonist has super-speed! Except it's never used to any great effect and is completely inconsistent in precisely how fast the POV character can go. The protagonist is tied up for a large portion of this set of paths, yet somehow can't use the world moving at a snail's pace around them to get free. When things are moving at 1% or even 25% of their usual speed (depending on how fast the plot requires the speed boost to be at any given moment) that should give a resourceful kid the chance to do something other than sit around as a hostage.
The reality path is a virtual reality video game. The protagonist either handles playing it calmly or freaks out like a moron despite the lack of actual danger. Nothing of note happens because nothing is real. In one instance the protagonist plays a game that involved flying a spaceship into orbit and with absolutely no explanation he's suddenly covered in crabs. How did crabs get into Earth orbit? How did they survive in space? How did they get into a sealed space ship? Why do they then use their crab tentacles (I don't think Packard knows what a crab is) to molest the protagonist? Why is it treated as a real threat when it's just a video game? Why was Packard allowed to write so many CYOA books when he's a terrible writer? None of these are explained and the crabs eventually just leave. All paths lead to the point of view character deciding to stick to normal video games.
In both paths, the scientist that created the machines is an idiot who uses the machines himself and almost dies as a result. He clearly should've stuck to video games. You should also stick to video games instead of reading this book.
The speed path is dominated almost entirely by a criminal named Wolfie (which I guess was the best Edward Packard could come up with for a villainous appellation, but it sounds more like the name of a cute dog) who tries to steal the video game superpower technology. Luckily the protagonist has super-speed! Except it's never used to any great effect and is completely inconsistent in precisely how fast the POV character can go. The protagonist is tied up for a large portion of this set of paths, yet somehow can't use the world moving at a snail's pace around them to get free. When things are moving at 1% or even 25% of their usual speed (depending on how fast the plot requires the speed boost to be at any given moment) that should give a resourceful kid the chance to do something other than sit around as a hostage.
The reality path is a virtual reality video game. The protagonist either handles playing it calmly or freaks out like a moron despite the lack of actual danger. Nothing of note happens because nothing is real. In one instance the protagonist plays a game that involved flying a spaceship into orbit and with absolutely no explanation he's suddenly covered in crabs. How did crabs get into Earth orbit? How did they survive in space? How did they get into a sealed space ship? Why do they then use their crab tentacles (I don't think Packard knows what a crab is) to molest the protagonist? Why is it treated as a real threat when it's just a video game? Why was Packard allowed to write so many CYOA books when he's a terrible writer? None of these are explained and the crabs eventually just leave. All paths lead to the point of view character deciding to stick to normal video games.
In both paths, the scientist that created the machines is an idiot who uses the machines himself and almost dies as a result. He clearly should've stuck to video games. You should also stick to video games instead of reading this book.
October 10, 2019
This book has two main story threads; one where you are able to speed up your movements, and one where you are able to experience what you wish simply by willing it so. Both are quite interesting.
July 9, 2013
the adventures that I went through when I was bored I just read these books over and over again you would never get to the end of the story.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews