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MOTAS

2001 online graphic adventure video game

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJul 25, 2026
Entity authorityQ4581383 ↗
Source-derived summary

The Mystery of Time and Space (commonly known as MOTAS) is a popular online graphic adventure game created by Jan Albartus (LOGAN). The game was produced using Macromedia Flash (now Adobe Flash) and was an early influential example of the escape the room genre. There are 20 levels of varying length, some consisting of a single room and others consisting of a large network of rooms. Though advertised as a constant work-in-progress with "new levels coming soon," MOTAS has not been updated since May 2008.

The game is currently available in 15 languages, including English, French, German, Japanese, and both traditional Chinese and simplified Chinese. There is also a moderated chat room available for players to discuss the game.

The levels have been noted for their jazz soundtrack, especially the Christmas-themed Level 8 and its jazz representation of "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town". Levels 9 and 13 play a MIDI version of "The Way You Look Tonight".

Gameplay

As with most games of this genre, the player interacts with the environment within the game by pointing at and clicking the elements within the game's environment in order to solve the game's puzzles, with many of them exhibiting a high technology and science fiction influence. The environment may be "searched" by clicking at various spots within the game's environments to uncover hidden items; for example, in the first room, the player has to retrieve a hidden key under the bed's pillow.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “MOTAS” is 2001 online graphic adventure video game. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through MOTAS, online and graphic, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA practical starting point whose main value is the path it opens into stronger specialist and primary sources. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2008—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 2001-11. For this dossier, MOTAS, online and graphic is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “2001 online graphic adventure video game” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 25, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4581383. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2008.

Critical limits

A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “MOTAS”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow MOTAS primary sources, MOTAS archive and MOTAS research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “MOTAS”?
  2. Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
  3. What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “MOTAS” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.