👨💻 Then I discovered there are lots of other related blog articles. Like LOTS ‘lots’ 😯 Dating back to 2011 😳
I scrolled through the ToC thinking, “I’d like to read lots of these.”
🎮 #VideoGames ⌨️ #TextAdventures #InteractiveFiction 🗺️ #Infocom 🧑💻
🧐 Earlier I was reading one of @eblong.com’s toots, which led me to the blog, which linked to another article that I put in a separate browser tab to read later.
Turns out it was long, but I was interested since it’s about Infocom.
🎮 #VideoGames ⌨️ #TextAdventures #InteractiveFiction 🗺️ #Infocom 🧑💻
We’ve brought the Great Underground Empire to life with this new 8-bit phosphor green tee. Complete with the iconic square cursor. Don't forget your brass lantern.
thewitsendstore.com/products/gru...
#Zork #RetroGaming #Atari #Infocom #8Bit #TheWitsEnd
📺 Watching somebody get Zork running on a very old CPU, and the memory paging that was required to succeed 🤓
It’s also a memory test for old initialisms 🤔
🎮 #VideoGames ⌨️ #TextAdventures #InteractiveFiction 🗺️ #Infocom 🧑💻
C64 Ultimate File Viewer: Put Manuals and InvisiClues Beside Your Games
#Commodore64 #C64Ultimate #RetroComputing #Retrogaming #TextAdventure #Infocom #Wasteland #C64Tips #Preservation #Chiptune
theoasisbbs.com/c64-ultimate...
D. Ardito & S. Meretzky, Zork Users Group
Maps of Zork I, Zork II, & Zork III
1982
#mapart #illustration #interactivefiction #infocom #mit #dungeon #textadventure #classicgame
BUREAUCRACY was released 39 years ago on Feb 12, 1987. Written by Douglas Adams. It's Infocom's 24th text adventure. You must confront a series of hurdles from a recent change of address. The game monitors your BP, and if it gets too high you die and the game ends. #Commodore #C128 #Amiga #Infocom
Digital contents of “feelies” from the “Plundered Hearts” box includes a manual, banknote, letter and a velvet pouch.
Looking closer at the banknote that was included in the “Plundered Hearts” box shows Lafond on one side holding a book entitled “Treatise of Power”, wearing an expensive hat, while resting his arm across a wooden globe. All items found in the library room of his mansion.
📕 Still fiddling around in Lafond’s library room in #PlunderedHearts because of an apparent secret passage.
I‘ve tried the knob/hat (underfloor vibrations) and book (behind wall mechanisms. 🤔 significance of globe in banknote image.
🎮 #VideoGames ⌨️ #TextAdventures #InteractiveFiction 🗺️ #Infocom 🧑💻
A diagram of rooms that have been mapped for the Zork text adventure from Infocom (circa 1982). Several of the rooms are connected via circuitous routes which make mapping on the 4 cardinal directions impossible, so the map reflects this with a number of curves connecting the mapped rooms.
If I wasn't mapping as I go I'd be totally lost.
Zork I
#infocom #textadventure #gaming
The sea of spectators parts to admit you, murmuring approval. Ballroom Lafond's party is well attended: you can hardly move for the crush. However, the room is oddly silent, no talk interrupting the musical efforts of the musicians to the west. Despite the heat, no one ventures south to the veranda, nor through the opening east. The foyer is north of you. A fashionably bewigged man stalks up to you and bows deeply, "Will you dance?" he asks, with a light French accent. "Not that you have much choice. If you turn me down, your father dies." ›examine man Wigged in dark brown curls, dressed in velvets and brocade, he is warmly attractive. Until you meet his eyes, stone gray and cold. The man's smile hardens. slightly stresses the word "intimate, your father's eyes. I am Lafond - I have recently become intimate with that gentleman." е "Now, tell me 'yes.' And remember, I am a man of my word." > lafond, yes You summon a gracious smile, "Why yes, I'd love to." He laughs triumphantly and pulls you into the dance. >ask lafond about father He fails to notice you've spoken. "So you know I am not your father's friend," Lafond says, offering a hand for the promenade. "Unfortunately, you are in my power, he is in my dungeon and I am still King of these waters." A gold ring flashes on his hand. It seems vaguely familiar. >examin ring It's an ancient gold band, with a curious design of gargoyles, curled tongues extended, on its flat face, with "Sal Sapit Omnia" engraved at the bottom. Lafond's eyes rake your body. "When I am ready, the butler will summon you to sup with me in my room; it may be some time. We will find much in common before dawn, I am sure. Then I may free your father." Lafond bows as the dance ends, and kisses your hand. He cocks his head, curious, "You have far less spirit than your father credited you. He swore you would have him freed in no time at all. A pity, I prefer doyennes with mettle." He moves to speak with the butler, then drifts into the crowd.
💃 Currently exploring Lafond’s mansion house in #PlunderedHearts.
A borrowed fancy outfit and I’m at the ball. Both Jamison and Lafond are getting way too familiar 💋🫣
There are mechanisms to fiddle with in the Library…
10/11pts.
🎮 #VideoGames ⌨️ #TextAdventures #InteractiveFiction 🗺️ #Infocom 🧑💻
Play classic Infocom text adventures with an AI companion. Via @boingboing.net #Zork #Infocom #InteractiveFiction #TextAdventures #TextBasedGames #ComputerGames #LegendaryComputerGames #AIAssistedGaming | boingboing.net/2026/01/28/p...
Heute erstmal schön "Wishbringer" und Infocom-Adventure-laufenlass-Programm gezogen. Zeit für Textadventures.
#infocom #wishbringer #textadventure #interactivefiction
Daily Hack Notices: #summitglobalenergy, #fsbgroup, #nebulabio, #kruss-scientific, #chuyangdental, #valbifrut, #infocom-de, #tahkoutgroup, #nesscampbell, #myk104, #kvheli-wordpress, #sensiblesolutions...
Play classic Infocom text adventures with an AI companion
boingboing.net/2026/01/28/play-classic-...
#AI #Games #infocom #retro_gaming #text_adventures #zork #boingboing
White paper with a map drawn in pencil and outlined in ink. Title of the game in a scary font is upper right. Island name is centered above. Pen, pencil, and mechanical eraser lie in wait.
If you like maps you’ll love this hand drawn view of Hardscrabble Island from the #Infocom game Cutthroats.
#RetroGames
Image of the classic grey box Infocom games, this one titled Cutthoats in red letters. Image on the cover is a diver underwater and it appears his oxygen line has been cut.
Scratching the #Infocom itch for interactive fiction #WritingCommunity. I attribute part of my love of writing to these games. Have never won at Cutthroats so I’m going back in.
Will thread some content …
Just in time for the #INFOCOM Project @leibniz-ifz.bsky.social's final year, the @leibniz-gemeinschaft.de has published a portrait of the project and my research on rumors under National Socialism. Stay tuned for the Project's final events!
www.leibniz-gemeinschaft.de/fileadmin/us...
Game Studies Study Buddies #89 on Get Lamp
https://rangedtouch.com/2025/12/31/89-get-lamp/
#textadventures #infocom #interactivefiction
> S Main Deck It is a deceptively quiet evening on the ship, the pirates singing low shanties as they repair cannon, twist ropes and sharpen daggers. The mainmast casts an inky shadow over the canvas screening the hatch. A tangled mass of rigging hangs down from the mast, like many rope ladders woven together. Two large barrels stand near the stair to the foredeck. ›examine barrels mouth of the rum barrel. The two open barrels contain rum and water, you can tell by the smell of each. They are identical but for the dark stains around the >tear frock You rip a large rag out of the cotton frock. >dip rag in water Keeping hold on the rag, you soak it with water. > d The canvas hatch is closed. >open hatch You pull a corner of canvas out of the frame. Steep stairs descend into murky darkness. > d You glance around to see that no one is watching, and duck through the open corner of the canvas hatch. Hold Moonlight shines down the stairs through an open corner of the canvas hatch above. Rats' scratchings counterpoint the lullaby of bilge water sloshing in the bulkheads, punctuated by footsteps slapping the deck overhead. You may move fore or aft. Behind a high fence, decorated by a sign, are stacked the food and ammunition supplies; casks of rum, water, flour and salt meat interspersed with kegs of gunpowder and shot. A closed gate is the only way in. A tiny glow of fire creeps across a stretch of floor -- inside the cage full of ammunition. >throw rag through gap You throw the rag over the gate. Luckily, it lands directly on the burning end of the fuse. With a sputter and a sigh, the flame dies.
🛢️ Sometimes I send myself to sleep at night pondering a puzzle in an adventure game. Juggling around my acquired knowledge can work well 😴
The other night I came up with two ideas for #PlunderedHearts. Gave one a go. Bosh, 6pts 🥹
🎮 #VideoGames ⌨️ #TextAdventures #InteractiveFiction 🗺️ #Infocom 🧑💻
Some text from Plundered Hearts which is too long to include in its entirety. Suddenly you appreciate what it is to be a ball in an exploding cannon. The intense heat, the push of fire, and the sense of release when spit from the cannon's mouth -- these you feel when the lighted fuse finally burns up to the largest keg of gunpowder in the hold. *** You have died *** In 152 turns, you have achieved a score of 5 out of 25 points. This gives you the rank of Missish Minx. You may start over, restore a saved position, or end this session of the game. (Type RESTART, RESTORE, or QUIT): >
💥 I think I’ve halted the ship’s drift into the reef in #PlunderedHearts, which was my most pressing untimely demise.
Now it appears that I need to figure out how to stop the lit fuse from blowing me up. I’d found Cookie’s blunt 🗡️ 🤔
🎮 #VideoGames ⌨️ #TextAdventures #InteractiveFiction 🗺️ #Infocom 🧑💻
Plundered Hearts Current game progress 4 points, 72 turns, 0:37.22 time
Transcript of early(ish) scenes in Plundered Hearts. Here be spoilarrrs!!! >throw coffer at window You hurl the coffer through the window, sending it and a shower of glass into the sea. The ledge now looks deep enough to sit upon. The end of a rope ladder blows past the window. The reefs seem a little larger than you thought before. >climb out window You climb onto the ledge. The ladder drifts within reach. ›grab ladder You put everything in your reticule and reach out for the ladder and over-balance, tumbling from your perch. Your hand closes on a slimy hemp rung as you fly out over the waves, clinging tenuously, feet free, to the ladder. On the Ladder You are clinging to a slimy ladder, tied to a rail of the poop deck above you. Not far from your feet, waves kiss the stern of the ship. ›climb ladder You climb up the ladder. All air is driven out of you as the ladder slams into the stern. ›climb ladder You climb up the ladder, passing the halfway point. Rebounding, the ladder twists you around to face the Helena Louise. ›climb ladder You climb up the ladder. The ladder swings back towards the Helena Louise. >climb ladder You heave yourself over the stern rail and sink breathless to the deck of the Helena Louise. Poop From this platform deck you can see the whole of the two-masted ship, shadowy forms moving about here and there. A railing protects you from stepping off the deck in any direction but to the fore. A rope ladder is tied to the railing at the stern of the ship. The reefs seem a little larger than you thought before. > score In 72 turns, you have achieved a score of 4 out of 25 points. This gives you the rank of Damsel in Distress. >
⚓️ Progress! Made it out of the cabin in #PlunderedHearts after spending waaay too long in the hold 🤦♂️ 4pts!
I’d been fiddling with gate, lobbing things over it, trying to deal with a fuse, open a canvas hatch, get out via grate, etc.
🎮 #VideoGames ⌨️ #TextAdventures #InteractiveFiction 🗺️ #Infocom 🧑💻
Ballyhoo was released 40 years ago today on Dec 18, 1985. Written by Jeff O'Neill it was Infocom's 19th game and their 4th mystery. You went to watch a circus, and after the show you overhear a conversation about the owner’s daughter being kidnapped. #Commodore #C64 #Commodore64 #Infocom
>l Crew's Quarters The crew sleeps, in shifts, in this cramped space under the forecastle. A breeze blows in on a moonbeam through a grate in the ceiling. A low doorsill is abaft. Strewn about the floor are various powders and spills of malodorous potions. In one corner, a large blood stain indicates an amputation; in another is the smear of a leech, dropped off a bloodletting. >i You have a bit of mirror, a leather bottle, an invitation, a jewelled brooch, a missive, your reticule (hanging from your wrist) and a cotton frock. It seems that your reticule contains smelling salts and a banknote. You are wearing a shirt, breeches, your kid slippers and a linen chemise. ›tear frock You rip a large rag out of the cotton frock. You can't go that way. > S Hold Steep stairs lead up in the dimness to a canvas hatch above. Rats' scratchings counterpoint the lullaby of bilge water sloshing in the bulkheads, punctuated by footsteps slapping the deck overhead. You may move fore or aft. Behind a high fence, decorated by a sign, are stacked the food and ammunition supplies; casks of rum, water, flour and salt meat interspersed with kegs of gunpowder and shot. A closed gate is the only way in. A tiny glow of fire creeps across a stretch of floor -- inside the cage full of ammunition. >throw rag over gate You throw the rag over the gate. It flaps haplessly in the air, settling to the floor not far from the burning fuse. >throw mirror over gate spits and resumes burning. You throw the bit of mirror into the ammunition area. It skids into the darkness, over the burning end of the fuse. The fuse falters, spits and resumes burning. >
🏴☠️ Just 2pts in #PlunderedHearts so far. Haven’t figured my way out of the hold yet 🫣 And this is introductory level 🤭
Can’t reach the fuse (doesn’t seem critical yet).
Can’t open canvas hatch (a person behind it?) 🤔
🎮 #VideoGames ⌨️ #TextAdventures #InteractiveFiction 🗺️ #Infocom 🧑💻
“Plundered Hearts” game menu screen on “The Lost Treasures of Infocom” game running on my iPad.
A physical copy of “The Lost Treasures of Infocom Vol.2” on a desk, with the boxed manual open at the “Plundered Hearts” chapter. This features a copy of the printed letter that was included with the original game box ‘feelies’.
![Opening scene from “Plundered Hearts”.
›SHOOT THE PIRATE
Trembling, you fire the heavy arquebus. You hear its loud report over the roaring wind, yet the dark figure still approaches. The gun falls from your nerveless hands.
"You won't kill me," he says, stepping over the weapon. "Not when I am the only protection you have from Jean Lafond." Chestnut hair, tousled by the wind, frames the tanned oval of his face. Lips curving, his eyes rake over your inadequately dressed body, the damp chemise clinging to your legs and heaving bosom, your gleaming hair. You are intensely aware of the strength of his hard seaworn body, of the deep sea blue of his eyes. And then his mouth is on yours, lips parted, demanding, and you arch into his kiss...
He presses you against him, head bent. "But who, my dear," he whispers into your hair, "will protect you from me?"
[Press RETURN or ENTER to begin.]
PLUNDERED HEARTS
Infocom interactive fiction
Copyright (c) 1987 by Infocom, Inc. All rights reserved.
PLUNDERED HEARTS is a trademark of Infocom, Inc.
Release 26 / Serial number 870730
LATE ONE SPRING NIGHT IN THE WEST INDIES...
A crash overhead! Pirates are boarding the Lafond Deux! The first mate hurries you into Captain Davis's cabin.
"Good, you brought the girl," Davis smirks. "She'll keep the pirates busy. She was only a tool of Lafond's, anyway. Let me just find that cof-_" A man on deck screams in agony and Davis starts. "Let's go." The captain thrusts you on the bed and walks out, locking the door.
His laugh echoes. "Best get comfortable, girl. You're likely to be there for the rest of your life."
Cabin, on the bed
You are in an officer's cabin, lit by the firelight glowing through a porthole. A door is to starboard. Except for the built-in bed,
the room seems to have been emptied thoroughly, if hurriedly.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:hixljzo4eonoi2qa5dbqvcsz/bafkreidjl4ukxwzemgx6edke36g7tlwwobnz6ixo7t7nfup554g73i2xnu)
Opening scene from “Plundered Hearts”. ›SHOOT THE PIRATE Trembling, you fire the heavy arquebus. You hear its loud report over the roaring wind, yet the dark figure still approaches. The gun falls from your nerveless hands. "You won't kill me," he says, stepping over the weapon. "Not when I am the only protection you have from Jean Lafond." Chestnut hair, tousled by the wind, frames the tanned oval of his face. Lips curving, his eyes rake over your inadequately dressed body, the damp chemise clinging to your legs and heaving bosom, your gleaming hair. You are intensely aware of the strength of his hard seaworn body, of the deep sea blue of his eyes. And then his mouth is on yours, lips parted, demanding, and you arch into his kiss... He presses you against him, head bent. "But who, my dear," he whispers into your hair, "will protect you from me?" [Press RETURN or ENTER to begin.] PLUNDERED HEARTS Infocom interactive fiction Copyright (c) 1987 by Infocom, Inc. All rights reserved. PLUNDERED HEARTS is a trademark of Infocom, Inc. Release 26 / Serial number 870730 LATE ONE SPRING NIGHT IN THE WEST INDIES... A crash overhead! Pirates are boarding the Lafond Deux! The first mate hurries you into Captain Davis's cabin. "Good, you brought the girl," Davis smirks. "She'll keep the pirates busy. She was only a tool of Lafond's, anyway. Let me just find that cof-_" A man on deck screams in agony and Davis starts. "Let's go." The captain thrusts you on the bed and walks out, locking the door. His laugh echoes. "Best get comfortable, girl. You're likely to be there for the rest of your life." Cabin, on the bed You are in an officer's cabin, lit by the firelight glowing through a porthole. A door is to starboard. Except for the built-in bed, the room seems to have been emptied thoroughly, if hurriedly.
🏴☠️ I decided to fire up #PlunderedHearts as my next IF game.
I’m not a Romantasy reader and an adventure game in the romance genre may not be one for me. It’s in the Introductory range so I’m having a go for completeness.
🎮 #VideoGames ⌨️ #TextAdventures #InteractiveFiction 🗺️ #Infocom 🧑💻
Game end screen in “Moonmist”. “You achieved a personal best time of 0:52:24 to complete the game!”
🕵️♂️ Eventually learned that searching rooms in #Moonmist was insufficient. It turned out I needed a bit more specificity 🤦♂️
I was playing the Yellow variation. TBH I’ve had enough, not yet inclined to other variants.
🎮 #VideoGames ⌨️ #TextAdventures #InteractiveFiction 🗺️ #Infocom 🧑💻
![A screenshot of me quickly loading a “Moonmist” save game so that I can retrieve a summary of where I was at:
Moonmist
Infocom interactive fiction - a mystery story
Copyright (c) 1986 by Infocom, Inc. All rights reserved.
Moonmist is a trademark of Infocom, Inc.
Release number 9 / Serial number 861022
You drove west from London all day in your new little British sports car. Now at last you've arrived in the storied land of Cornwall.
Dusk has fallen as you pull up in front of Tresyllian Castle. A ghostly full moon is rising, and a tall iron gate between two pillars bars the way into the courtyard.
What would you like to do?
›restore
Which slot [0-9]? 4 [Okay.]
(You are in the sitting room.)
It looks even lovelier than it sounds in the tourist brochure.
It's a comfy place to read a book, play the piano, or just relax.
Lord Jack and all his guests are here. They smile pleasantly but, with typical British reserve, seem willing to leave you to your own devices.
> score
[Well, so far you've met Lord Jack and all of the guests, worn the proper outfit to dinner, discovered secret passages, ghost, discovered the hidden treasure... but you haven't enough evidence of why Tamara haunted Tresyllian Castle!]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:hixljzo4eonoi2qa5dbqvcsz/bafkreie5at5fzvkbuafcymkgxs7gtqp2ncswmbtfcwxrxu73bm5pyaigme)
A screenshot of me quickly loading a “Moonmist” save game so that I can retrieve a summary of where I was at: Moonmist Infocom interactive fiction - a mystery story Copyright (c) 1986 by Infocom, Inc. All rights reserved. Moonmist is a trademark of Infocom, Inc. Release number 9 / Serial number 861022 You drove west from London all day in your new little British sports car. Now at last you've arrived in the storied land of Cornwall. Dusk has fallen as you pull up in front of Tresyllian Castle. A ghostly full moon is rising, and a tall iron gate between two pillars bars the way into the courtyard. What would you like to do? ›restore Which slot [0-9]? 4 [Okay.] (You are in the sitting room.) It looks even lovelier than it sounds in the tourist brochure. It's a comfy place to read a book, play the piano, or just relax. Lord Jack and all his guests are here. They smile pleasantly but, with typical British reserve, seem willing to leave you to your own devices. > score [Well, so far you've met Lord Jack and all of the guests, worn the proper outfit to dinner, discovered secret passages, ghost, discovered the hidden treasure... but you haven't enough evidence of why Tamara haunted Tresyllian Castle!]
🕵️♂️ I stalled in #Moonmist for a fair while, wandering about wondering what I was looking for.
That statement by Gladys was my main focus, but I was a mostly directionless as I lacked evidence of why someone was haunting.
🎮 #VideoGames ⌨️ #TextAdventures #InteractiveFiction 🗺️ #Infocom 🧑💻
Microsoft makes Zork source code freely available. Via @boingboing.net #Zork #ZorkSourceCode #Infocom #ComputerGames #IconicComputerGames #InteractiveFiction #TextAdventures #Microsoft | boingboing.net/2025/11/21/m...
