Canalboy

London, UK.

Top 50 Reviewer
Member since February 15, 2016
Last visited February 27, 2026
Profile ID (TUID): yin4qf9ohkuqdbqf

E-mail: [click to reveal]

55 year old IT analyst, Wine Buff and Arsenal supporter. IF acolyte. A bit battered with pieces falling off. Lover of the Seventies and cheese. Although not cheese from the Seventies as it tends to be a bit too mouldy.

A magnificent life defining second place in the egg and spoon race at Manor Junior School 1978. Alright yes I glued the egg to the spoon when no-one was looking.

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Recommended Lists by Canalboy

Games Where The Shape Of The Map Is Relevant To Game Completion - 4 items   March 7, 2025
As an inveterate cartographer of text adventures I was considering which games require accurate map construction to solve at least one...

Excellent IF Games With Unfair Puzzles - 5 items   May 18, 2017
A Selection Of Enjoyable IF That Contain(s) Ridiculous Puzzles. All the games mentioned are enjoyable to me and of a very high standard...

Polls by Canalboy

Games With Particularly Nasty Mazes - 13 votes for 11 games; created February 11, 2026
One man's meat is another man's revolting quorn burger, but back in the days when good old fashioned sausages had sawdust from the...

Games Where Moving In The Dark Is Essential - 19 votes for 16 games; created March 16, 2025
As a compulsive map maker I recently came across two games where you have to know your location exactly as you need to move in complete...

Games With Extended Underwater Sequences - 27 votes for 25 games; created October 24, 2024
That is games that have immersive (pun intended) sub aqua areas of more than, say ten locations.

The Most Humorous Scenarios /Characters in IF - 18 votes for 18 games; created August 1, 2022
I was recently re-essaying Castle Ralf and if you "Cogitate" in a certain location there is a seemingly authentic sequence which appears...

Games That No-one Has Ever Knowingly Finished - 8 votes for 7 games; created June 23, 2022
I mean games that have no posted solutions. I realise that a lot of these could be buggy and therefore unfinishable but some will be just...

See all 6 polls by Canalboy

Reviews by Canalboy

Undercover, by William Quinn   February 25, 2026 (edited: February 26, 2026)
"This spy caper from the early nineties has an interesting premise but is let down badly by non-intuitive puzzle solutions, an..." - See the full review

Blood of the Mutineers, by Rob O'Leary, Mike O'Leary   February 11, 2026 (edited: February 12, 2026)
"Blood Of The Mutineers was to be the first in a projected trilogy of text only games with Captain Blizzard as the protagonist; a..." - See the full review

The Island, by Ken Bond   January 14, 2026
"The Island is the fourth Ken Bond game I have tried; The Test and The Base are both two parters and I couldn't access the second halves..." - See the full review

Castle Warlock, by Ken Bond   November 9, 2025
"Castle Warlock was the third of five games written by the admirable Ken Bond; it is one of the best examples of the castle/dungeon romp..." - See the full review

Project Thesius, by Mike O'Leary and Robert O'Leary   October 24, 2025
"This is the second of the Rick Hanson trilogy and is another excellent offering from the O'Leary stable. This time Rick is sent to steal..." - See the full review

See all 61 reviews by Canalboy
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Canalboy's Played Games List

Undercover, by William Quinn
Blood of the Mutineers, by Rob O'Leary, Mike O'Leary
The Island, by Ken Bond
Castle Warlock, by Ken Bond
Myorem, by Mike O'Leary and Robert O'Leary

See all 127 entries in the Played List