There are more apparent connections between Avalon and the c.1981 computer game ‘Wizardry’ that Alex Seltsikas and Paul Beentjes have already noted.
Just as the names of the characters of the party attempting to get to Special A include the Wizardry spells Makanito, Zilwan and Badi, the names of three members of the Wizard party may also be based on Wizardry – Copper, Cuisinart, and Masher. In the computer game, the armour that could be worn by fighters included copper gloves, while the high-level weapons included a Mage Masher, and a sword named Cusinart.
Even more intriguing was the name of a Wizardry monster who was worth hunting down and defeating, since his death would earn the party a large number of experience points – a bit like Special A (“It’s dangerous, but you can earn a hell of a lot of points†– Stunner). This monster was named Murphy’s Ghost
Murphy’s Ghost could always be found at a specific location in the game – useful information that an experienced player would be able to pass on to an inexperienced player. That location was on level 1 of the game’s ‘maze’ (playing area), so would be accessible to a player whose newly-created characters had only basic beginner’s equipment. (In practice, a party of newly-created characters would have been unlikely to survive a meeting with Murphy’s Ghost.)