Years ago, when the world of computer games was young, a little computer gaming company created a game called Zork. This game was one of the first text-adventure games.  In other words, the computer told you in text form (no graphics required) where you were, and you were a character in the midst of it. You entered in commands like “North” or “West” or “Down” to go places, and other other basic commands such as “Look at” or “Open” to interact with the environment. You had to use your imagination to see where you were, and your mind to solve the immensely hard puzzles therein. 

In the mid-80’s, these text adventures were the best around, and Zork led the pack.  These games cost you 20-30 bucks back then, but now they are available free online. 

I suggest starting on Zork 1, where you are a character exploring dark caverns. You get to meet a lot of interesting creatures, including a theif, a troll, and a cyclops. You also amass a lot of treasure along the way, which is the whole point of the game. There’s a lot of puzzles to be solved, and some of them are very difficult. There was one which I almost had, but could never get until I got the strategy guide. That was the one obstacle which kept me from solving the game.

Right now, I’m playing Zork 2, and I’m really stuck on it. I’ve done everything that I can think of, and I can only get to a certain point within the game. However, I know that eventually I will, and it will be because my mind will evolve to a point where I can see something new.  At that point, the solution will become totally obvious, and I’ll feel like an idiot for not seeing it before.  I’m not even going to try on Zork 3 yet, but I’m tempted to just to get away from Zork 2.

Anyway, I highly suggest all those who think they’re so smart need to try the Zork trilogy. You can download them here.

This entry was posted on Friday, October 27th, 2006 at 6:43 am and is filed under Main. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.