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There are (mainly) fantasy stories where you have to jump on and on inside the story by your decisions. What is the appropriate word for these books?

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2 Answers

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Gamebook.

A gamebook (also sometimes referred to as choose your own adventure books or CYOA books, not to be confused with the series by that title) is a work of fiction that allows the reader to participate in the story by making choices that affect the course of the narrative, which branches down various paths through the use of numbered paragraphs or pages.

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I've never heard the phrase gamebook before, and if you asked me I wouldn't know what that was. Choose-your-own-adventure is the only term I've ever heard for this type of story. – JSBձոգչ Apr 17 '11 at 18:51
(Psst, @JSBangs, same here.) – RegDwighт♦ Apr 17 '11 at 19:00
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Choose-your-own-adventure tends to suggest the series of that title, which was unlike a lot of others in that it included no dice rolling, other random number generation, or tally-keeping of any kind. – Marcin Apr 17 '11 at 20:26
up vote 5 down vote

I've heard choose-your-own-adventure used before.

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I think there is a shorter version, but this is also good. – zapata_the_tall Apr 17 '11 at 18:16

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