I learned to type by playing Zork on an Apple IIGS. When you couldn’t look up the answers to puzzles on internet it really made for a different gaming experience.
I had a similar experience playing it on an Apple II when I was 12. Not having much guidance but just spent hours exploring and trying different commands--it was about 15 years later that I learned the ultimate goal was collecting treasures and putting them in the trophy case. I remember being at the gates of Hades trying so many combinations, thinking this must be the end game--so close!
And mapping out the Great Underground Empire on graph paper, before you could just get a map from the interweb.
Even if some games came with maps, some versions didn't. For example, the Commodore-distributed Infocom games were just floppy disks in large cardboard sleeves. You figured it all out on your own.
