I'm currently helping a kid (from a family which are friends of ours) with his English he does in school. He actually is quite good, but has some difficulties which he could overcome, I think, if he read more English texts.

Since he also likes to play computer games, I thought if I should try to introduce him to some text-based adventure game, so he could have fun and learn better English at the same time.

But now I see a lot of those games on Abandonware sites and don't really know, which one to select. I know that text-based games tend to be quite difficult, so I'm basically searching for one, which isn't too hard to solve but which is still enjoyable. Some graphics would be nice too, but it still should to be a text-based game, i.e. the graphics only accompany the text. The content should be appropriate for kids, too, I know, there are some games which are not.

And of course, the language shouldn't be too complex, so not "Shakespearean" or something...

Can someone recommend me a game or two?

Yeah maniac mansion,indiana jones and monkey island click and point adventures are the easiest now days for kids im trying my hardest to get my bubs into old school text adventures but they are not interested... serious sam and grand theft is what they want.

Only after explaining how cool the story that is happening in the text adventure compared to their one they are playing at the time is then they try and get some old school education with english

In a way if there is enough writing to read and enough problem solving going on which the kids are being absorbed by then it dosen't matter what they are playing they are still learning

Also if your children are learning what you did and maybe better than you as a child then your work as a parent is done and it dosen't matter whether your kids grew up playing games or not

So computers if used in the right way are educational

I suggest click and point for the little ones as only the rare ones will play true text games but far better for their growing minds

A great game with the mix of graphics and education and storyline for even kids of today

I wouldnt recommend Maniac Mansion, but it depends on kid's age of course. MM contains a bit of violence afair.

Check these lists Herbarius, may be helpful:

http://www.the-underdogs.info/genre.php?na...subgen=Language

http://www.mobygames.com/browse/games/educ.../adventure-2nd/

Other games that come to my mind (adventures, but point and click, not text-based) and are definitely aimed at kids are Mixed-Up series (by Sierra), Peter Pan by Electronic Arts and Inherit the Earth. Also Alice in Wonderland by Magnetic Scrolls might be good, it's text-based and besides it's a classic great game, one of the best in genre.

my bubs is 6 he plays maniac mansion 1 and 2 instead of grand theft S/A which took him ages to get away from as all the violence kept him occupied and gave me some peace

but it all depends on age and mentality too