Return to Ditch Day

“Return to Ditch Day” by Michael J Roberts is a classic plot-driven puzzle fest with engaging location and characters. I have never visited Cal-tech myself, but the text makes this setting come to life so I can easily imagine the campus buildings, the students and staff, and their community traditions. Central to those traditions is the annual Senior Ditch Day, during which seniors set up puzzles or “stacks” at their dorm room entrances, for undergraduates to solve while seniors are away.

The player character is an alumnus, now on campus representing his small tech company, to recruit graduating tech wiz Brian Stamer to join his firm. Brian is also being wooed by Frosst Belker, a villanous man representing a wealthier rival firm. Belker and the other NPCs come alive in ways which are difficult to achieve through parser fiction. NPCs move around, they talk to you, they cooperate and compete to solve the various zany stacks.

I think I may have started playing this game when it was first released. The opening scene felt familiar to me, but I’m sure I never completed it until yesterday, in about six hours, resorting only infrequently to online or in- game hints. I chose to play this game because it had been recommended to me as a good example of TADS3 source code, which I didn’t want to look at until after I had played it. The game was designed as a showcase for TADS3 and the ADV3 library. But even if you are not an author, or someone wanting to know more about TADS3, “Return to Ditch Day” is well worth your time. The puzzles are well designed and well clued, and great care has been taken to integrate the puzzles into the world building of this comic-nerdy version of Cal Tech.