[7] Before entering the computer security industry, Cluley achieved notoriety for two interactive fiction PC games: Jacaranda Jim (1987) and Humbug (1990).

[8] Both games were independently distributed as shareware, with Cluley advertising in computer magazines and sending them out on 5½- and 5¼-inch disks.

[13] The premise of the game, as presented in promotional materials, is: Following an attack on his cargo-ship by a crack squad of homicidal beechwood armchairs, space cadet Jacaranda Jim is forced to crashland into the strange world of Ibberspleen IV.

Can you help Jim escape back to the safety of Earth?In its original incarnation, the game was named Derek the Troll in honour of its central character, based upon one of Cluley's lecturers.

[10] Humbug is Cluley's second and final text adventure computer game, first distributed as shareware with the February 1991 issue of PC Plus.

Jasper, a particularly sadistic dentist, is after Grandad's crumbling manor.While maintaining the playful tone of its predecessor, Humbug is considerably more difficult than Jacaranda Jim, with one contemporary reviewer noting that it "is not, perhaps, an adventure for novices".