Jeff Green, Eric Neustadter and I are old guys — at least, old enough to remember games before graphics existed. They were called text adventures (or interactive fiction, if you prefer the fancier term) and they were novels you read while deciding what you, the lead character, did at every turn. The grandaddy of the genre is Zork. We played it live at PAX Prime 2013, while also discussing the origins of the IF genre, and we solicited moves from the audience in exchange for Child’s Play donations — and we were also able to give every donor a copy of The Zork Anthology, thanks to our friends at Good Old Games. We raised more than $360 — thanks to all who attended!

Since this was a visual panel, there are some uncomfortable pauses — it was a “you had to be there” thing, I’m afraid. But if you want to play along at home, The Zork Anthology for PC and The Lost Treasures of Infocom for iOS are two options (and Zork I is free with the iOS version, so hey, good deal), but if you have your old files from a previous collection, you will find third-party interpreters that work on just about any system. This might come in handy too.

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