SwordQuest: AirWorld

Overview

Swordquest: AirWorld is an Atari 2600 game that was the planned final part of an overall series of games and a contest by Atari. The plan was that players who were able to solve the game could win real life prizes and eventually a chance to win an overall prize from playing all four games, EarthWorld, FireWorld, WaterWorld and AirWorld. However, Atari began facing financial difficulties due to the onset of the video game crash of 1983, and AirWorld was never released. No authentic copies of the game are known to exist.

Gameplay

Similar to the previous games in the series, players of the game had to solve puzzles that involved picking up and dropping items found in the game in different rooms that would then result in clues. The structure of this game in the series was to be based on the Chinese I Ching. The clues could then be looked up in the game's comic book game manual. If all clues in Swordquest: AirWorld were found the player could mail their answers into Atari to be entered into a contest for a valuable prize.

Prize

The prize for this last game in the Swordquest was a Philosopher's Stone. The Stone was made of white jade and came in 18k gold container encrusted with gems and worth approximately $25,000.

This last contest was never conducted and no winner was ever declared. As a result, no winner was ever declared for the final ultimate contest, the culmination of the four proposed earlier contests. The prize for the ultimate contest was to be a gold, jewel encrusted sword purported to be worth $50,000. It is rumored that Jack Tramiel, the CEO of Atari at the time, is in possession of the sword, stone and also the crown from Swordquest: WaterWorld.