Tales of the Unknown: The Bard's Tale

(aka: Bard's Tale 1)

About the Game Game Downloads
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BT1 BT2 >> BT3 >> BT:R >>

Full BT1 Game Downloads

by operating system

Game Manuals

You can download the Bard's Tale 1 Manual alone in PDF form, or as HTML or plaintext.

Official Software Releases

The Bard's Tale Trilogy: Remastered is available for purchase through Steam and GOG, as of August 14, 2018. And was provided as a tier reward to backers of Bard's Tale IV.
[Instructions for obtaining a download key]
The trilogy was launched initially with the first Bard's Tale installment; the 2nd and 3rd games are to follow in fall and winter 2018, along with Legacy mode.

Available for purchase and download here:

In 2004 inXile Entertainment released a spinoff game called The Bard's Tale, A Quest for Coin and Cleavage.
Included in the game are playable emulated versions of the original Bard's Tale 1, 2, and 3.
You can buy/download The Bard's Tale on available platforms/devices, and gain access to all three classic games:

Free for backers of the Bard's Tale IV Kickstarter campaign, inXile has re-packaged and re-released the MSDOS versions of Bard's Tale 1-3 in a single downloadable bundle, which has been made available via the Backer's Portal site.
Here are download instructions

In 1993, Interplay compiled a collection of classic of games celebrating 10 years. Included in the anthology are Mindshadow, Tass Times In Tone Town, The Bards Tale, Battle Chess, Wasteland, Dragon Wars, Castles, Lord Of The Rings, Star Trek 25th Anniversery, and Out Of This World - still available for purchase from Amazon.
Buy @ Amazon

Original platform versions

DOS (PC/Tandy)

Year released: 1985

Confirmed setup: Win7 & v0.74
Emulator: DOSBox latest version
Download original characters and Garth's inventory files below

Available at Archive.org

SCREENSHOTS

Additional downloads:

Original characters and Garth's inventory files Size: 1438b

16 color IBM PCjr patch for The Bard's Tale (for Tandy/PCjr) Size: 917b

Apple II-GS

Year released: 1987

Confirmed setup: Win7 & v3.7.1019
Emulator: ActiveGS
Character disk is original state

DOWNLOAD

[2MG disks 1,2 .zipped]

Size: 0.7MB

VISIT

Play in-browser @ VirtualApple.org

SCREENSHOTS

Additional downloads:

Apple II-GS Command Summary Card [PDF] Size: 4.6MB

Amiga

Year released: 1986

Confirmed setup: Win7 & v3.1.0
Emulator: WinUAE latest version
Requires: Kickstart 1.3 ROMs [5.1MB]
Setting: Amiga 500 + Any 1.3 ROM
Character disk is original state

DOWNLOAD