Raise you hand if you like playing games. OK good, now keep your hand raised if you have heard of "text adventure" games. Not as many, but still a good number. Finally, keep your hand raised if you have actually played one of these "text adventures." Not too many, just as I thought. Those of you who still have your hands raised can take a nap, while I tell the others about what they are missing.

In the world of 3D graphics, directional high quality sound, and Gigabytes of game files, is their really room for a game without any graphics, no sound, and only takes up about 100KB on your hard drive? I can hear some of you saying "That game would suck!" But that's what the genre of text adventures is all about. These games have plot. And plot is what makes a game great.

Take for instance Zork. Zork is one of the most widely popular text adventure games ever created. You play the role of and adventurer, seeking out treasures. By using simple text commands "drink water", "eat bread", "fill canteen", "light lantern", "go north", etc. You control every aspect of your player. That might not sound like much, but the game describes everything to a T. Every action you make effects the outcome of the game. When you play this game, you feel like you are a part of it.

A Zork I screen shot

Zork was such an intriguing game, that it inspired Zork II, Zork III, Zork the Undiscovered Underground, Return to Zork, Zork Nemesis, and many more. Not only that, Infocom (the company that brought us Zork) made hundreds of other games including Starcross, Enchanter, Spellbreaker, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, etc. All these games can be found at this page. However, it seems as though these bundles are getting more and more scarce everyday. Better get your soon.

But wait, you don't have to purchase an entire package just to try out this type of game. If you scroll down to the bottom of my Old Shareware Archive, you will find 4 of the Zork titles, absolutely free. I would never have been able to do this if Activision wouldn't have kindly released these games to the public. These four games will provide you with hours of puzzle solving, adventuring, and pure fun.

Moreover, you can't beat Text adventures for their portability. With the right interpreters, these games can be played on any Mac, PC, or even Unix machines. Try running Diablo 2 on a MacSE, it just can't be done. But these games can be played on the MacSE, 128K, G4, iMac, Portable, and even Apple IIs.

So, click on a few links, download a few games, and start playing. You'll be glad you did. Oh yeah, you can put your hands down now.

Helpful Links
• Zork I
• Zork II
• Zork III
• Zork: The Undiscovered Underground
• Infocom home
• Buy Infocom games cheap.
• Buy Infocom Masterpeices
• Play Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Java version (takes a while to load).