The Choose Your Own Adventure book series has been resurrected and re-released in app form. The interactive element has been seized on by developers as being ripe for converting to app format, although you’ll no longer be able to cheat by skipping back 10 pages after being mauled by a bear.

For those of you that are unfamiliar with the books, Choose Your Own Adventure allowed the reader to pick their own ending. Published long before video games had entered mainstream culture, they were the original interactive art form. As prolific graphic designer Christian Swinehart says “…[the] books were the gateway drugs of interactive entertainment”. The series enjoyed phenomenal success, selling over 250 million copies between 1979 and 1998. It has even led to the launch of a club night named CYOA in London.

The books were co-authored by Edward Packard and Raymond Montgomery. Sadly, the pair have been involved in a dispute over the direction of the series, with Montgomery being reluctant to bring the books to a digital format. However, Packard believes that the iPhone is the perfect platform to host his interactive stories.

The first book, Cave of Time, is available on the US iTunes store for £2.50; hopefully it’s popular enough to warrant a UK release.

Via Slate