Steve Jackson's game-changing fantasy telephone title F.I.S.T. comes to mobile

• Steve Jackson's F.I.S.T. is returning as part of the Sound Realms catalogue
• Use your touchscreen to dial in numbers and listen to the narration of your adventure through Castle Mammon
• Find treasure, fight monsters and avoid a gruesome end with this fully voiced audio CYOA

Audio RPG platform Sound Realms is set to tackle one of the most important, but oft-forgotten phone games of all time as Steve Jackson's F.I.S.T. launches tomorrow, September 7th. This choose-your-own-adventure follows in the footsteps of the Fighting Fantasy game series, letting you adventure your way through the mysterious and deadly Castle Mammon.

Steve Jackson, not to be confused with the other Steve Jackson (also of tabletop gaming fame), was the co-founder of Games Workshop and also helped produce F.I.S.T. (Fantasy Interactive Scenarios by Telephone) way back in 1988 in collaboration with phone company Computerdial.

How does (or did) it work? Simple, you listen to audio narration and sound effects, guiding you through Castle Mammon to defeat the demon prince Kaddis Ra. Then you're given choices, much like a choose-your-own-adventure book, to make that may lead to amazing treasure or a gruesome death.

Back in the day, this would have been accomplished via tapping a number on your phone's keypad (or even rotary dial) but now you can enjoy F.I.S.T. using your touchscreen, and without the excessive phone bill!

A mailed F.I.S.T.

Funnily enough, I own more than a few old copies of White Dwarf (the tabletop roleplaying magazine from Games Workshop) back before it became a Warhammer-centric mag. One of the perennial advertisements I saw when browsing these hallowed tomes was for F.I.S.T., and I was always surprised to find out just how prevalent roleplaying by phone was back in the day.

It's truly astounding just how innovative it was, there was even a line called The Black Claw Tavern where you could converse with other players! No word yet on if that'll make a return, or if the top-scoring players in F.I.S.T. will receive a gold coin for their efforts.

But if you don't fancy making a leap back into the past, why not take a look at our list of the best mobile games of 2024 (so far) or our other list of the top 25 free-to-play games on iOS and Android for some top picks?