In 1993, there was a BBS that I'd log into using my 14.4 modem and play a text only game that was a combination of text adventure and trivia.

So ... given your example, when you see a rock, you'd type "pick up rock", then it would tell you there is a scorpion under it, do you want to attack? (Y/N)

If you chose Y, you would be asked ... "Who recorded the song "American Pie"?: A) Bob Dylan, B) Kirk Cobain, C) Don McLean, D) Rolling Stones.

Then it would time your answer. The sooner you answered, the better chance you had of winning the contest.

The exploit in the code was that I could immediately send a <PAUSE> which would pause the execution (server side). If I was able to hit it before the timer started, I would always get a 100% attack.

After hours of playing the game, I could recognize the questions as they scrolled, then just used muscle memory to answer them. So, as soon as I saw "American Pie", I'd press 'C'.

I can't remember if I ever finished the game, but I can recall that was one of the first exploits I'd ever found.