69,105 Keys

David Welbourn's 69,105 keys is not so much a game as it is a parsing excercise presented as a short and well-polished puzzle. You have to find the one unique key in the room, using commands such as "count green round bronze unscratched Acme keys". Tedious rather than fun, but technically impressive. The source code is also provided, so that you can learn from it.

I have to admit: I'd rather work on a logic problem than just about any other type of puzzle. Because of this, I quite enjoyed 69,105. There's no real plot, no sense of tension, but that's not the point. All there is, is you in a locked room with 69,105 keys, all with seven characteristics. Only one is unique, and you must find it.

What starts off as an exercise in tediousness actually becomes quite fun, due largely in part to the game's quirky sense of humor. Another nice touch is that the unique key is chosen at random upon startup. Unfortunately, once you realize what the secret is to achieving the solution, the replay value pretty much drops to zero.

Nevertheless, 69,105 Keys is an amusing little diversion, just perfect for when you don't have 40-50 hours to spend!

In this game, there are 69,105 keys, only one of which will open the door. The key you need is the only unique key.

There are many categories of keys, and you can count each category. The number 69105 is I believe a riff off of Zork I.

As a mathematician, I hoped that the puzzle would involve some kind of bizarre combinatorial computation; instead, it's mostly just trying every category until you find a pattern.