Give Yourself Goosebumps
Give Yourself Goosebumps is a children's horror fiction gamebook series by R. L. Stine. After the success of the regular Goosebumps books, Scholastic Press decided to create this spin off series in 1995. In fact, Stine had written gamebooks in previous years.
Fifty books in the series, including the "special editions" were published between 1995 and 2000.
General Plotline
For the most part, play is rather simple, as the books are merely novels with branching plots. The books are written in the second person and enlivened by puzzles or choices. Rather than being simply from beginning to end, the reader is told to turn to a certain page at the bottom of the current page, at certain pages the reader will be given at least two choices of which page to turn to, depending on what they want the main character (one's self) to do. If readers make poor choices, the book may come to a "bad" ending that will feature a horrid fate for the main character but the readers are always able to go back and choose a new choice. It is also worth noting that the main character is never named and is always of ambiguous gender; therefore the reader can easily imagine themselves as the main character regardless of what sex they are. There is however a "friend character" who is named and given a gender, these characters are normally present through out the storyline but there are times when they are not. The only thing linking the main character in each story is that they are self proclaimed "Goosebumps Experts".[citation needed]
Endings
Because of the choices and page connections, there are many ways the story can end. The ways vary depending on which book is being read, but largely the endings involve the reader's character dying, being permanently turned into something other than human, getting trapped somewhere inescapable (implying that one will die eventually), being put in a state of immobility such as becoming a statue, or - if the correct choices are met, getting back home. The ending pages are the only ones which don't have any choices, and simply have the words "The End", usually in bold, where the choices would usually be. Occasionally it will just say "End" because it is supposed to be part of the final sentence.
There are also endings that combine the above options, such as being transformed, and then being killed because of whatever it is they are now or an almost "good" ending in which - despite the reader's transformation the ending is still relatively satisfying, in one of the books the reader can become a dog if the wrong choice is chosen, but still gets home in one ending.
In addition, each book involves at least one page where the reader is asked a question, relating to one of the actual Goosebumps books, the reader is given the choice of turning to one of two pages - one where they give the correct answer and one where they give the wrong answer (which usually has some subtle similarities to the correct one). Answering correctly will allow the story to continue, but answering incorrectly will normally result in death.
List of Give Yourself Goosebumps books
All of the books in the series are now out of print, except for Alone in Snakebite Canyon, which is still printed in the US.
- Escape from the Carnival of Horrors
- Tick, Tock, You're Dead
- Trapped in Bat Wing Hall
- The Deadly Experiments of Dr. Eeek
- Night In Werewolf Woods
- Beware of the Purple Peanut Butter
- Under the Magician's Spell
- The Curse of the Creeping Coffin
- The Knight in Screaming Armour
- The Diary of a Mad Mummy
- Deep in the Jungle of Doom
- Welcome to the Wicked Wax Museum
- Scream of the Evil Genie
- The Creepy Creations of Professor Shock
- Please Don't Feed the Vampire!
- Secret Agent Grandma
- Little Comic Shop of Horrors
- Attack of the Beastly Babysitter
- Escape from Camp Run For Your Life
- Toy Terror: Batteries Included
- The Twisted Tale of Tiki Island
- Return to the Carnival of Horrors
- Zapped in Space
- Lost in Stinkeye Swamp
- Shop 'Til You Drop...Dead!
- Alone in Snakebite Canyon
- Checkout Time at the Dead-End Hotel
- Night of a Thousand Claws
- Invaders from the Big Screen
- You're Plant Food!
- The Werewolf of Twisted Tree Lodge
- It's Only a Nightmare
- It Came from the Internet!
- Elevator to Nowhere
- Hocus-Pocus Horror
- Ship of Ghouls
- Escape from Horror House
- Into the Twister of Terror
- Scary Birthday to You
- Zombie School
- Danger Time
- All-Day Nightmare
Special Editions
This short-lived spin off series features more complex adventures.
- The Ultimate Challenge: Into the Jaws of Doom
- Return to Terror Tower
- Trapped in the Circus of Fear
- One Night in Payne House
- The Curse of the Cave Creatures
- Revenge of the Body Squeezers
- Trick or...Trapped!
- Weekend at Poison Lake