9:05, by Adam Cadre JasonMel's rating: Average member rating: (544 ratings) The phone rings. Oh, no — how long have you been asleep? Sure, it was a tough night, but... This is bad. This is very bad. The phone rings. |
According to Cain, by Jim Nelson JasonMel's rating: Average member rating: (48 ratings) Two brothers. One murder. And a mystery as old as mankind. You are a medieval investigator sent back in time to learn the secrets behind mankind's first murder. Using a novel alchemy system, observation, and... |
Aisle, by Sam Barlow Average member rating: (326 ratings) "Late Thursday night. You've had a hard day and the last thing you need is this: shopping. Luckily, the place is pretty empty and you're progressing rapidly. On to the next aisle... Aisle started out as a... |
Anchorhead, by Michael Gentry Average member rating: (409 ratings) You take a deep breath of salty air as the first raindrops begin to spatter the pavement, and the swollen, slate-colored clouds that blanket the sky mutter ominous portents amongst themselves over the little... |
Being Andrew Plotkin, by J. Robinson Wheeler Average member rating: (58 ratings) "Zarf? you think to yourself. Could it be? The one and only Zarf? Xyzzy Award winner? IF Competition winner? The mighty Inscruitable One? Gosh. What it must be like to be Zarf... You begin to crawl forward,... |
Beyond Zork, by Brian Moriarty JasonMel's rating: Average member rating: (52 ratings) Dread times have befallen the Kingdom of Quendor. The wizards have mysteriously disappeared. The Enchanter's Guild Hall lies in ruins. Villages are abandoned, drunken men mutter strange tales, and vicious... |
Bronze, by Emily Short JasonMel's rating: Average member rating: (290 ratings) When the seventh day comes and it is time for you to return to the castle in the forest, your sisters cling to your sleeves. |
Bureaucracy, by Douglas Adams, The Staff of Infocom Average member rating: (49 ratings) IMPORTANT! Our records show that you do not have a license to operate this software. Normally, you would be required to complete a License Application Form and mail it (with proof of purchase) to our... |
City of Secrets, by Emily Short JasonMel's rating: Average member rating: (105 ratings) |
Counterfeit Monkey, by Emily Short Average member rating: (253 ratings) Anglophone Atlantis has been an independent nation since an April day in 1822, when a well-aimed shot from their depluralizing cannon reduced the British colonizing fleet to one ship. Since then, Atlantis... |
Delightful Wallpaper, by Andrew Plotkin ('Edgar O. Weyrd') JasonMel's rating: Average member rating: (78 ratings) |
Dr Ludwig and the Devil, by SV Linwood Average member rating: (48 ratings) Join esteemed mad scientist Dr Ludwig as he faces the greatest challenge of his nefarious career: making a deal with the Devil and coming out on top. ... |
The Dreamhold, by Andrew Plotkin JasonMel's rating: Average member rating: (177 ratings) The Dreamhold is interactive fiction — a classic text adventure. No graphics! No point-and-click! You type your commands, and read what happens next. The Dreamhold is designed for people who have never... |
Dual Transform, by Andrew Plotkin JasonMel's rating: Average member rating: (110 ratings) This game takes place in a single room — but not always the same one. The room contains just one item, but again, there's more to it than that. Experiment and enjoy. |
Earth and Sky, by Paul O'Brian Average member rating: (84 ratings) It's been almost a month since your parents disappeared. One Tuesday, they just didn't come home, and there's been no sign of them since. For the University and the rest of the town, the mystery is beginning... |
Earth and Sky 2: Another Earth, Another Sky, by Paul O'Brian Average member rating: (55 ratings) |
The Edifice, by Lucian P. Smith Average member rating: (84 ratings) "Something new in your everyday hunter-gatherer routine: where did this strange edifice come from? Dare you enter and explore the secrets of this... thing, or do you try to face your enemies? Like you have a... |
Enchanter, by Marc Blank, Dave Lebling Average member rating: (110 ratings) In Enchanter, the first of a spellbinding series in the tradition of Zork, you are a novice magician whom Fate has chosen to do singlehanded combat with a dark and fierce power. But worldly weapons will... |
Endless, Nameless, by Adam Cadre JasonMel's rating: Average member rating: (56 ratings) The first time I ever saw someone play a text adventure was in fifth grade. One of the sixth-graders didn't go to outdoor ed, and therefore spent the week in my fifth-grade classroom, playing Scott Adams's... |
Exhibition, by Ian Finley Average member rating: (27 ratings) "The Hartman Gallery extends their invitation to an exhibition of Anatoly Domokov's "American Paintings." Who draws the line between art and life? HTML enhanced." [--blurb from Competition '99] |
Fail-Safe, by Jon Ingold Average member rating: (115 ratings) |
Floatpoint, by Emily Short Average member rating: (101 ratings) It is night on this side of the planet. Settled areas are lit: a jagged crescent in the tropics, lining the inland sea. The bright splatter along the top of the curve is Tanhua, as bright from space as New... |
For a Change, by Dan Schmidt Average member rating: (117 ratings) "The sun has gone. It must be brought. You have a rock." [--blurb from Competition '99] |
Fragile Shells, by Stephen Granade JasonMel's rating: Average member rating: (51 ratings) You don't know how long you've been hammering against the station's wall, but you stop as soon as you realize what you've been doing. |
Galatea, by Emily Short Average member rating: (346 ratings) Emily Short's description: A conversation with a work of art. "47. Galatea. White Thasos marble. Non-commissioned work by the late Pygmalion of Cyprus. (The artist has since committed suicide.) Originally... |
Gateway, by Mike Verdu, Michael Lindner, and Glen Dahlgren Average member rating: (36 ratings) In the early twenty-second century, adventurous citizens of Earth can travel to a place called "Gateway": a long-abandoned alien space station, now rediscovered by humans and turned into a jumping-off point... |
Hadean Lands, by Andrew Plotkin JasonMel's rating: Average member rating: (69 ratings) Marooned in an alien, airless wasteland -- your starship fractured -- your crewmates missing. Can an apprentice alchemist learn how to survive? |
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams and Steve Meretzky Average member rating: (188 ratings) Don't Panic! Relax, because everything you need to know about playing The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is contained in the pages of this manual. In this story, you will be Arthur Dent, a rather ordinary... |
Hoist Sail for the Heliopause and Home, by Andrew Plotkin JasonMel's rating: Average member rating: (86 ratings) A far-future story of discovery. |
I-0, by Anonymous Average member rating: (158 ratings) Stranded on Interstate Zero after your car broke down, you are miles away from the last sign of civilization. It's twenty minutes to noon and the temperature is well over 120°F. It's beginning to look like... |
Lock & Key, by Adam Cadre Average member rating: (78 ratings) |
Lost Pig, by Admiral Jota JasonMel's rating: Average member rating: (500 ratings) Pig lost! Boss say that it Grunk fault. Say Grunk forget about closing gate. Maybe boss right. Grunk not remember forgetting, but maybe Grunk just forget. -- IFComp 2007 blurb |
Metamorphoses, by Emily Short Average member rating: (133 ratings) You wake to stillness. The hammering, banging, and shouting that kept you awake half the night are gone. The air is cold, and something smells burnt. Your master's experiments must be finished, but with what... |
The Meteor, the Stone and a Long Glass of Sherbet, by Graham Nelson (as Angela M. Horns) Average member rating: (51 ratings) Another day wasted as guest of the Empress, a wretchedly long tour of the breath-taking Boreal Falls, conducted as ever by the Lady Amilia. As if she weren't bad enough, an honour guard of soldiers, their... |
A Mind Forever Voyaging, by Steve Meretzky Average member rating: (118 ratings) "If you can look into the seeds of time, and say which grain will grow and which will not..." --Shakespeare It's 2031. The world is on the brink of chaos. In the United States of North America, spiraling... |
Necrotic Drift, by Robb Sherwin Average member rating: (18 ratings) Necrotic Drift is a survival horror text adventure... but with graphics and sound! An homage to the old Magnetic Scrolls game in presentation, Necrotic Drift follows the story of gaming store employee Jarret... |
Photopia, by Adam Cadre JasonMel's rating: Average member rating: (568 ratings) "Will you read me a story?" "Read you a story? What fun would that be? I've got a better idea: let's tell a story together." |
Planetfall, by Steve Meretzky Average member rating: (121 ratings) "Join the Patrol, and see the Galaxy!" You took the poster's advice, bait and all, and marched right over to the recruitment station near your home on the backwater planet of Gallium. Images of exotic... |
Rameses, by Stephen Bond Average member rating: (127 ratings) |
Shade, by Andrew Plotkin Average member rating: (421 ratings) "A one-room game set in your apartment." [--blurb from Competition Aught-Zero] |
Shogun, by James Clavell, Dave Lebling Average member rating: (17 ratings) Experience the sweeping drama and power of James Clavell's Shogun. The year is 1600. You are John Blackthorne, Pilot-Major of a privateering merchant ship and the first Englishman to set foot on Japanese... |
Slouching Towards Bedlam, by Star Foster and Daniel Ravipinto Average member rating: (219 ratings) In the beginning was the Word, and it was hungry. ... |
Sorcerer, by Steve Meretzky Average member rating: (68 ratings) Sorcerer, the second of a spellbinding fantasy series in the tradition of Zork, takes you on a magical tour through the darker side of Zorkian enchantment. Your journey begins with a cryptic diary - the last... |
The Space Under the Window, by Andrew Plotkin Average member rating: (100 ratings) A new, experimental game that has no puzzles but uses only words that change your focus on things, thereby adapting the story. [--blurb from The Z-Files Catalogue] |
Spider and Web, by Andrew Plotkin JasonMel's rating: Average member rating: (318 ratings) A vacation in our lovely country! See the ethnic charms of the countryside, the historic grandeur of the capital city. Taste our traditional cuisine; smell the flowers of the Old Tree. And all without... |
Starcross, by Dave Lebling Average member rating: (51 ratings) Starcross, Infocom's science fiction mind-bender, launches you headlong into the year 2186 and the depths of space. And not without good reason, for you are destined to rendezvous with a gargantuan starship... |
Stationfall, by Steve Meretzky Average member rating: (47 ratings) What a trotting krip! Since your incredible heroics in Planetfall, where you risked life and limb to save the planet Resida, things have hardly changed at all. Sure, you were promoted to Lieutenant First... |
Tapestry, by Daniel Ravipinto Average member rating: (44 ratings) You were born; you lived; you died. Not everyone gets a second chance to go back and change crucial decisions. You have been granted one and must go back to critical moral dilemmas; but do you change the... |
Textfire Golf, by Adam Cadre Average member rating: (24 ratings) Stand steady at the tee... head down... slow backswing. Now, drive your tee shot 220 yards down the fairway, splitting a pair of sandtraps. Loft a five iron onto the green. And sink a twenty foot putt for a... |
Trouble in Sector 471, by Arthur DiBianca Average member rating: (30 ratings) The power just went out in Sector 471. You had better go take a look. (The Glulx version was entered in IFComp 2022. A browser-based version was released subsequently, in 2024.) |
Wearing the Claw, by Paul O'Brian Average member rating: (32 ratings) A traditional fantasy quest in which you and your village have been cursed with a slow transformation into various animals. The only way to stop the curse is to retrieve the Pendant of Elinor from the... |
Worlds Apart, by Suzanne Britton JasonMel's rating: Average member rating: (91 ratings) For over 20 years, I dreamed about an alternate universe I called the Higher World. For three of those years, I poured almost all of my creative energy into a novel-length story set in that universe. Worlds... |
Zork I, by Marc Blank and Dave Lebling JasonMel's rating: Average member rating: (222 ratings) Many strange tales have been told of the fabulous treasure, exotic creatures, and diabolical puzzles in the Great Underground Empire. As an aspiring adventurer, you will undoubtedly want to locate these... |
Zork II, by Dave Lebling, Marc Blank JasonMel's rating: Average member rating: (100 ratings) The Wizard appears, floating nonchalantly in the air beside you. He grins sideways at you. The Wizard incants "Fantasize," but nothing happens. He shakes his wand. Nothing happens. With a slightly... |
Zork III, by Dave Lebling, Marc Blank JasonMel's rating: Average member rating: (79 ratings) An old, oddly youthful man turns toward you slowly. His long, silver hair dances about him as a fresh breeze blows. "You have reached the final test, my friend! You are proved clever and powerful, but this... |
Zork Zero: The Revenge of Megaboz, by Steve Meretzky JasonMel's rating: Average member rating: (61 ratings) The Great Underground Empire is in its heyday. Upscale condos crowd the massive caverns. Subterranean highways stretch from Aragain to the Fublio Valley. And no adventurer has yet set foot in the open field... |