Dot & Tot of Merryland

This game is modeled on the L. Frank Baum book by the same name. You play a young girl who has been whisked away to a magical land and must get home again (apparently L. Frank Baum was lacking original plot ideas by this point in his career.) The land of Merryland, like Oz, contains many interesting and unusual creatures that can be 'looked' at.

The parser is primitive, but workable since the author lists the few working verbs in an accompanying text file. There are few verbs in this game and very few required actions, making it a potentially good game for young children. The puzzles are very straightforward and consist almost entirely of picking up objects -- which are clearly displayed in an "object" box at the bottom of the screen -- and giving those objects to the creatures that ask for them.

The game cannot be made unwinnable. The only snag with the game is that the objects must be given in a certain order, otherwise the characters in the game give the rather strange response "You're not royalty." Other than that, the game is short and simple. The object box makes it simple for young kids to identify which objects need to be manipulated and which characters are present. To add to the charm, the game ends when you hug your dad.