Gregory Yob

Who was Gregory Yob?

Gregory Yob was an American computer game designer.

Gregory was born in Eugene, Oregon. An article about his experiment on simulating gravitational fields with droplets of water on a soap bubble was published in Scientific American in December 1964, under The Amateur Scientist.

His one published game, Hunt the Wumpus, written while he was attending University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, is one of the earliest adventure games. While living in Palo Alto, California, Yob came across logic games on a mainframe computer named Hurkle, Snark, and Mugwump. Each of these games was based on a 10 × 10 grid, and Yob recognized that a puzzle game on a computer could have a far more complex structure. He created the world for Wumpus in the shape of a dodecahedron, in part because as a child he made a kite with that shape.

In the late 1980s he designed Comfort House. He wrote: "Comfort House is a new form of entertainment. High technology and interactive systems combine with your participation to give you an enjoyable evening uniquely attuned to your senses and mind." It did not get built.

In recent years he had made his home in Santa Cruz, California.

He was an engineer and helped build the first iteration of KDVS, the student radio station at the University of California, Davis, where he ran an avant-garde show.