Top 10 Games of 1980 | Number 8: The Prisoner #shorts

The Prisoner is a 1980 Apple II computer game produced by Edu-Ware. The game was loosely based on the 1960s television series The Prisoner and incorporates that show's themes about the loss of individuality in a technological, controlling society. The player's role is that of an intelligence agent who has resigned from his job for reasons known only to himself, and who has been abducted to an isolated island community that seems designed to be his own personal prison. The island's authorities will use any means—including coercion, disorientation, deception, and frustration—to learn why their prisoner has resigned, and every character, location, and apparent escape route seem to be part of a grand scheme to trick the player into revealing a code number representing the prisoner's reason for resigning. The game occasionally breaks the fourth wall by acknowledging that a game is being played.

Considered unique among interactive fiction games of its era, The Prisoner was reportedly used as a training tool by the Central Intelligence Agency.

In 1982, Edu-Ware released a remake, Prisoner 2, with improved graphics and a limited number of design changes.