External Links


Play online
Play the BBC Micro version of the game online, or download it
Play this game in your Web browser.
Avon.z5
Requires a Z-Code interpreter. Visit IFWiki for download links.
Avon.zip *
MS-DOS Application
Avon​_Murdac.pdf
documentation
To view this file, you need an Acrobat Reader for your system.
topologika​_manuals.zip *
documentation in HTML format
avon​_solve.pdf
solution
To view this file, you need an Acrobat Reader for your system.
Avon
T/​SAL source code
* Compressed with ZIP. Free Unzip tools are available for most systems at www.info-zip.org.

Have you played this game?

You can rate this game, record that you've played it, or put it on your wish list after you log in.

Playlists and Wishlists

RSS Feeds

New member reviews
Updates to external links
All updates to this page

Avon

by Jon Thackray and Jonathan Partington

Literary
1982

(based on 3 ratings)
2 reviews

Game Details

Editorial Reviews

Baf's Guide


A large, solidly built game with a promisingly starting plot. And even if the latter finally doesn't live up to the expectations, turning into a treasure hunt; the parser is rather primitive by modern standards; the player is treated most unfairly (not to mention such trifles as sudden deaths without the possibility of undoing the fatal action, and landing in a "cul-de-sac" without warning, this is the only game I've ever encountered that can be made unwinnable by simply saving it! As the authors explain, that's done to avoid "brute-force" solutions to some of the puzzles; still, it'd be nice if the players at least received a warning about it); and the game requires from you to slay a few people for no apparent reason, this work still remains admirable in several respects. Among them are the clever Shakespeare references (the game starts with the player character being magically transferred to Shakespearian time), the humour (admitted, it may appear odd to some people, but fortunately for me, I seem to share the authors' preferences in this regard), and, of course, the fulcrum of the whole game, the puzzles (to tell the truth, the ones in the last of the three structural sections of the game appeared to overuse the "try a random object in a random situation and see what happens" kind of approach (at least, to me), but most of them were logical and elegant). Thus, if you are a puzzle-lover, and the aforementioned issues don't scare you away, you should give it a try.

-- Valentine Kopteltsev

IF-Review
Gunther Upon Avon
Of the Topologika games out there, Avon is definitely one of the easier ones. Don't, however, expect an intricate plot or story; Avon is, at its heart, a collection of puzzles written by an University professor for a group of University students and therefore the story is "you're trapped in this strange world; try and escape while enjoying the tons of Shakespeare references" -- but due to its nature it's great fun to play, and the lack of hideously devious puzzles helps, too. (Gunther Schmidl)
See the full review

SynTax
If you are fond of Shakespeare you will enjoy the numerous quotations and meeting familiar characters .... the King and his three daughters,the lady with the caskets (which one will you chose?) Shylock asking for his pound of flesh, the ghost at the banquet, Falstaff who challenges you to a drinking bout, and many more. You will visit Bosworth Field and the Forest of Arden and the Capitol, but beware the Ides of March, or you will come to an untimely end.
See the full review

Tags

- View the most common tags (What's a tag?)

(Log in to add your own tags)
Tags you added are shown below with checkmarks. To remove one of your tags, simply un-check it.

Enter new tags here (use commas to separate tags):

Member Reviews

5 star:
(0)
4 star:
(2)
3 star:
(1)
2 star:
(0)
1 star:
(0)
Average Rating:
Number of Reviews: 2
Write a review


4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
Avon - If Shakespeare Had Been A Stand Up, February 10, 2024
by Canalboy (London, UK.)
Related reviews: Comedy, Treasure Hunt, Shakespearean, Topologika

Avon, the 1982 game from the Phoenix stable which released fifteen very challenging pieces of old school adventuredom between 1978 and 1989, is often considered to be one of the less difficult from that group of talented mathematical boffins. Having just completed it after many a long hour of brain torture, I would have to disagree with those who consider it so. In fact, the game has "strict statutes and most biting laws" if I may borrow some Shakespearean verse to mine own ends.

The first problem you will literally stumble across is how to find some light and the solution to this is pretty unfair I think. To those of you who remember the horrible puzzle in the shop at the start of Philosopher's Quest it should come as no surprise. Choosing the wrong object from four will immediately leave you in the dark and you will have to start again.

The game itself is written by the most prolific of the Phoenix adventure authors, Dr. Jonathan Partington and his love for all things Shakespearean really shines forth. Sir John Falstaff, the Lady Portia, Banquo's Ghost and a whole host of others tumble across the screen in a marvellously evocative caravanserai of characters. There are a lot of stabbings, poisonings, kisses and drownings so if you already get a lot of this at home you may find Avon a bit overkill. In my chastened, secluded monastery it was pulsating stuff indeed however.

Avon is studded with quotations and situations from Shakespeare's plays and here is where I need to take issue with previous reviewers of the game; it is claimed that no prior knowledge of the Bard's work is needed to complete it. In fact there are two scenarios where the solution depends on knowing famous quotes from his works. So prior knowledge is needed, and not just of the Swan of Avon but also that of a certain musical composer.

In common with many games in the Phoenix stable it is very easy to put the game into an unwinnable state and to lose or miss a vital object. As the game plays out over three days using the same set of locations (that is Twelfth Night, The Ides Of March and Midsummer's Day) I sometimes found it difficult to work out which puzzles could be solved on the date I was currently in and which needed solving at a later date. There is also one recurring problem which must be visited on all three dates. The puzzles themselves are, as usual from Dr. Partington, extremely clever and humorous, and more than one relies on committing an outrageous pun. The solution to escaping the gaol and one inside the Boar's Head Inn would be amongst the funniest I have ever come across. Think Tommy Cooper with a chainsaw.

Be careful where you Save (avoid saving the game just after you have received one of the many secret words you will learn during the game as it can render the whole experience unwinnable). Save after applying the word or phrase in the appropriate place. Some items have more than one use as well so avoid discarding them after their first application. The inventory limit is seven items which is standard practice with the T/SAL coding used for these games; it is not too difficult however to store your ammassed collection somewhere central.

The triptych of the game (if so it may be called) is unevenly proportioned. The third section is probably the longest, followed by the first and then the second. There are several pseudo mazes and the solutions to them all are very imaginative as none rely on the tried and trusted "drop one item per location" rule. The game weighs in at just under ninety locations which is somewhat smaller than most Phoenix offerings, however the three days' setting made it seem bigger to me than it actually is.

The marvellously evocative descriptions and responses are neither prolix nor too short. The two word parser eschews EXAMINE and OOPS but does cater for TAKE ALL and VERBOSE and it was never a problem for me expressing what I wanted to do or say. The whole was a perfect exercise in mimetic immersion for me and I really felt I was in Shakespearean England when I played this.

Nearly all of the puzzle solutions are very clever / very funny with two notable exceptions. As portended by the first puzzle mentioned above it is easy to make the whole thing unwinnable. There are several mazes but all are solvable without dropping your hard won inventory. No lamp/thirst/hunger daemons. If you like puzzles and puns and don't mind learning through death and taking notes on a piece of paper you'll love Avon. If you love Twine and hypertext, 'twere well it were not done at all.

Was this review helpful to you?   Yes   No   Remove vote  
More Options

 | Add a comment 

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
"Once more into the breach, dear friend?", January 17, 2021
by Rovarsson (Belgium)
Related reviews: Fantasy

That is the tempting question the game asks you after you've typed QUIT. Many times I responded YES to just try and avoid that last nasty trap one more time.

Avon was originally written in 1982 in Cambridge University as a mainframe game. It was later released by the Topologika company. After reading some background information, I get the impression that the good folks at Topologika have shaved and polished off a lot of the splinters and rough edges of the original.

While it is still possible to die, you only do so when you have actually made a wrong move or choice. There are lots of unhinted traps where you die on entry. In these instances you are asked "Now you probably wish you didn't do that, don't you?", giving you the chance to continue the game from that location. You do lose the opportunity to "solve" the trap and get the points this way.

I put "solve" between quotation marks because there are very few actual puzzles in Avon. There are many unannounced death-traps, a lot of riddles where you get only one chance and you must have found a clue beforehand (no lucky guesses!) and a few easy mazes. A few playthroughs are needed to locate the traps and the clues and passwords, and only then can one hope to put them in the right order and solve the game.

I know that if I were to read a game described as above, I'd probably run away. Fortunately I had almost no information on it when going in. Avon is actually a really fun game. The generous helping of Shakespeare quotes (often in inappropriate contexts) are funny, the parser and narrator are friendly and polite, descriptions are over the top in a good way...
Two more things to persuade you to play: a) at one point you get an ass's head on your neck, and b) this game contains one of the dumbest and funniest puns in any IF I have ever played.

Unfair, sure, but fun!

Was this review helpful to you?   Yes   No   Remove vote  
More Options

 | Add a comment 

Avon on IFDB

Recommended Lists

Avon appears in the following Recommended Lists:

I Was A Teenage Adventure Gamer by J. J. Guest
I grew up playing IF on the Acorn Electron, and later the BBC Master Compact. My aim here is to create a complete list of all the games that were in my collection back in the 8-bit era. It is not a Recommended List as such. Most of the...

Polls

The following polls include votes for Avon:

Non-Infocom games of commercial era worth playing by tekket
What commercial games published between 1980-1993 other than those by Infocom do you think are worth playing?




This is version 16 of this page, edited by Lance Campbell on 8 May 2023 at 4:15pm. - View Update History - Edit This Page - Add a News Item - Delete This Page