It is loosely based on the 1960s television series The Prisoner and incorporates that show's themes about the loss of individuality in a technological, controlling society.

The player's role is that of an intelligence agent who has resigned from his job for reasons known only to himself, and who has been abducted to an isolated island community that seems designed to be his own personal prison.

Each of the locations offers a different gameplay experience: In addition, each section of the map has a central kiosk where the player can check inventory and other statistics.

For example, the Milgram Experiment building is thematically similar to the episode "Once Upon a Time"; the Gemini Diner references clones whereas the TV series has No.

6 is briefly in charge of the Village in "Free for All," an episode that (like the game) also features a pub called the Cat and Mouse.

This was a common error message in the Apple II's BASIC programming language, and the logical step for users of the time would be to review the erroneous line of code with the command "List ###" (again substituting the specific number in question).

The solution to the game was to enter a special string in the Caretaker's Residence, which would display a "plug" that the player could pull out, although doing so required use of the built-in screen editing keys.

The dual challenges of learning about the Island while avoiding the subtle and not-so-subtle traps laid by the computer make the game both interesting and exciting".

Hats off to Dave Mullich and Edu-ware Services for bringing real mental challenge to the game industry".

It warned, "if you follow the rules, trust your fellow man, or display anything less than a total commitment to anti-social, anti-island behavior, you will be hopelessly doomed to repeated failure", and concluded," it will appeal to puzzle solvers and seekers of the bizarre".