Your very first game. - an IFDB Poll
by DustyCypress
RSS FeedDo you still remember when you played your very first IF? How did you get drawn (and perhaps addicted) to IF and have been playing still? What was the title that started it all for you?
I started with a collection called "The Adventure Blaster" including ten fine games - no. 1 was Theatre.
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| Zork I, by Marc Blank and Dave Lebling 12 votes "Remember playing it at the computer store" [+]"Remember playing it at the computer store: I think it was a demo, too. I managed to get into the cellar, and I was thrilled with myself--then I found Meretzky's gamebook. Fun." ( ) --Andrew Schultz... "zork was my very first dungeon crawl. i still love it." [+]"zork was my very first dungeon crawl. i still love it.: Zork is just simply the best." --myxtlplyx... "Not actually my first (that was Castle Adventure), but my first "normal" text adventure. I was fascinated by the simulation and the game's ability to respond to almost anything I tried." [+]"Not actually my first (that was Castle Adventure), but my first "normal" text adventure. I was fascinated by the simulation and the game's ability to respond to almost anything I tried." () --DJ... "My first (and possibly my favorite) IF game" [+]"My first (and possibly my favorite) IF game" --Ant-Fan... "Amazed" [+]"Amazed: I first played this in 2012, technically my second game, and I was blown away by how you could make a world seem alive just with text." --Sam Jackson... "After playing..." [+]"After playing Zork: Grand Inquisitor, I looked up its heritage and stumbled on this gem." () --Jim Kaplan... "I spent all night..." [+]"I spent all night with a buddy solving the Hades puzzle. That was 30 years ago. I've been hooked ever since." () --Mr. Patient... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Muskie... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Spike... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Lance Campbell... (No comment) [+](No comment) --Drew Cook... (No comment) [+](No comment) --Amanda Walker...  Vote for this game | |
| Adventure, by William Crowther and Donald Woods 10 votes "Found this on some Windows Shareware CD" [+]"Found this on some Windows Shareware CD: I don't remember the title of the CD exactly, but I do know that it came with one of Adventure's many versions. I'm not totally sure which version it was, though. I know it had the orange smoke that resurrected you." --Molly... "Utter amazement!" [+]"Utter amazement!: Far too young to know anything about programming, but totally entranced by the computer "talking back" to me. Apparently, I've never recovered." --OtisTDog... "Without a computer." [+]"Without a computer.: 1979, in a dark attic. My brother told about the game he had played, acting as the computer, and I gave my input." --Biep... "Before the personal computer there was Advent" [+]"Before the personal computer there was Advent: Play on a IBM 360 under a TSO timeshare account while a freshman at UCLA" --Chuckles... "Even though I was..." [+]"Even though I was introduced to IF in 2009, I still started with Adventure, which I found looking for games to play on my android." --baywoof... (No comment) [+](No comment) --Dannii... "The version I..." [+]"The version I encountered was the Level 9 port for the Lynx. It seemed amazing at the time (circa 30 years ago?)." --Eric Eve... (No comment) [+](No comment) ( ) --rec53... (No comment) [+](No comment) --darint... (No comment) [+](No comment) --Keltena... Vote for this game | |
| The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams and Steve Meretzky 8 votes "I'm an odd duck,..." [+]"I'm an odd duck, I was introduced to IF through Infocom, like many - but in 2003! I was 11. I had just read the books and was excited for the upcoming movie, and was overjoyed to see there was a game! Afterwards I enjoyed it so much I explored the other Infocom classics, which eventually led me to the modern IF community." --Pinstripe... "My story is..." [+]"My story is pretty similar to Pinstripe's, actually, though I'm a few years older. My dad was the one who introduced me to the H2G2 game, having played it back when it was hip and cool." --EJ... (No comment) [+](No comment) --DB... (No comment) [+](No comment) ( ) --four1475... "This is the first..." [+]"This is the first one I remember by name, at any rate." () --katz... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Rotonoto... (No comment) [+](No comment) --Floating Info... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Malasana... Vote for this game | |
| Adventureland, by Scott Adams 4 votes "One of the first..." [+]"One of the first games my father brought home for the TRS-80. It was the original BASIC version, and paused significantly to process each command. Solving it was a family effort, involving multiple pages of notes." --baf... (No comment) [+](No comment) ( ) --Zoltar... (No comment) [+](No comment) --Jason Lautzenheiser... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --NorkaBoid... Vote for this game | |
| Wishbringer, by Brian Moriarty 3 votes "My mom thought Wishbringer was a good start" [+]"My mom thought Wishbringer was a good start: I was pretty young - about 8? - and my mom bought a whole infocom set on CD-ROM and she thought Wishbringer would be the perfect place to start. It's such a fun world, that it didn't bother me that I couldn't solve anything!" --PNervous... "Discovered on a..." [+]"Discovered on a family computer with no explanation or feelies, but it hooked me into playing until I finally understood what it was all about..." ( ) --E.K.... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --shornet... Vote for this game | |
| L: A Mathemagical Adventure, by members of the Association of Teachers of Mathematics co-ordinated by Richard Phillips, and including Derek Ball, Tony Corbett, David Rooke, Heather Scott, Alan Shaw, Margaret Stevens, Ruth Townsend, Jo Waddingham, Roger Waddingham, John Warwick, Alan Wigley, John Wood, and David Wooldridge. 2 votes "We played this in..." [+]"We played this in primary school as a class on their newly acquired BBC Micro Computer, and I was able to continue the game in the after-school computer class (which at times was just myself). It was unusual in that it had maths content. It fired the imagination, and my journey continued with the ZX Spectrum+ and Gremlins, Marie Celeste, Secret Mission, Colossal Cave (Adventure) and many others." --smartgenes... (No comment) [+](No comment) ( ) --Anthony Hope... Vote for this game | |
| Castle Adventure, by Kevin Bales 2 votes "This was one of four games on my Grandpa's computer. I was drawn in by the ability to explore a simulated location, collecting treasures, and discussions with cousins about how to solve the puzzles." [+]"This was one of four games on my Grandpa's computer. I was drawn in by the ability to explore a simulated location, collecting treasures, and discussions with cousins about how to solve the puzzles." ( ) --DJ... "Not just my first IF, but my first *game*" [+]"Not just my first IF, but my first *game*: I played this game like crazy on my dad's old Kaypro 286... Not sure if I ever actually beat it as a three-year-old, though. I think the next IF that I played was Moonmist, probably a good 8-10 years later." --Hikari Starshine... Vote for this game | |
| Deadline, by Marc Blank 2 votes "Got me hooked on Infocom games." [+]"Got me hooked on Infocom games.: My first exposure to IF. I still rate it among the all-time best." ( ) --Puddin Tame... "Proud to have started out beating my head against the hard ones" [+]"Proud to have started out beating my head against the hard ones: First IF game ever was Deadline. It opened the world of IF to me; playing it, I could feel my imagination expanding. I had no idea you could do that with a computer. Led me to devour all of Infocom's catalog." () --The Custodian... Vote for this game | |
| Castle Adventure, by David Malmberg 2 votes "The game that inspired me to write IF" [+]"The game that inspired me to write IF: I played the heck out of this game in elementary school - no matter that I had to check every second word from the dictionary (I remember, for example, learning the word "iridescent" from this game :) Once I was through playing it, I delved into its code and got a couple of interesting epiphanies about how a parser and world mapping should work. " --Janos Honkonen... (No comment) [+](No comment) --deathbytroggles... Vote for this game | |
| Skullduggery, by David Jewett 1 vote "I can't for the..." [+]"I can't for the life of me remember where I found this, but it's what really got me hooked on old-school gaming. I guess I'm just a sucker for nostalgia..." --Mrs. Zelda F.... Vote for this game | |
| Leather Goddesses of Phobos, by Steve Meretzky 1 vote "Quirky fun!" [+]"Quirky fun!: Odd, funny, unpredictable twists galore. " --Cobangrrl... Vote for this game | |
| A Dark Room, by Michael Townsend 1 vote (No comment) [+](No comment) --OverThinking... Vote for this game | |
| Questprobe Featuring The Hulk, by Scott Adams, John Romita Sr., Mark Gruenwald, and Kem NcNair 1 vote "You are Bruce Banner, tied hands and feet to a chair. " [+]"You are Bruce Banner, tied hands and feet to a chair. : Great graphics. Also, simple English (I didn't speak English at all, at the time)." --Marco Innocenti... Vote for this game | |
| The Neverending Story, by Ian Weatherburn, Simon Butler, and Fred Gray 1 vote "I got lured in by the packaging." [+]"I got lured in by the packaging.: Just a little kid when I got this game and not very proficient in English, this game was played with a English-Danish dictionary by my side. I returned to this game many times before finally solving it. Good beginner adventure. Not too hard although the Amstrad version I was playing, was easier than intended. A bug made it possible to skip a puzzle. " --TorbenB... Vote for this game | |
| Supernova, by Scott Miller and Terry Nagy 1 vote "Was curious about IF. Found this was free. Never finished." [+]"Was curious about IF. Found this was free. Never finished." --Sam Jackson... Vote for this game | |
| The Wizard's Castle, by Joseph R. Power 1 vote "I played this..." [+]"I played this game over and over as a little kid." ( - Full review) --Rymbeld... Vote for this game | |
| Forbidden Castle, by Mercer Mayer 1 vote (No comment) [+](No comment) ( - Full review) --tggdan3... Vote for this game | |
| The Hobbit, by Philip Mitchell and Veronika Megler 1 vote (No comment) [+](No comment) ( ) --Felix Pleșoianu... Vote for this game | |
| Secret Mission, by Scott Adams 1 vote "The VIC-20..." [+]"The VIC-20 version I played was titled Mission Impossible, and obviously tied with the TV series. I thought it was great, even though at first I did not realize that you could LOOK... It may also have been the first game I ever played to the end." ( ) --Fredrik... Vote for this game | |
| The Count, by Scott Adams 1 vote "I was completely..." [+]"I was completely beguiled by this game. I loved everything about it; the bad puns, the fiendish puzzles, the amateurish cover art, the split-screen display (which I spent years trying to emulate) and the fact that it was American, which made it seem very exotic." --J. J. Guest... Vote for this game | |
| When in Rome 1: Accounting for Taste, by Emily Short 1 vote "I probably..." [+]"I probably learned about IF from Hitchhiker's Guide, but this is the first IF game I remember seeking out circa 2010. I don't remember much about it, other than it was one of the more traditional games from Emily Short. Was it on a list recommended for new IF players? Maybe." --P. B. Parjeter... Vote for this game | |
| Mystery House, by Ken Williams and Roberta Williams 1 vote "The first..." [+]"The first adventure game my dad bought for our new Apple II was the first ever adventure game with graphics. It really freaked us out when the lights went out in the game and the graphics window went black." ( ) --Wade Clarke... Vote for this game | |
| Dracula, by Rod Pike 1 vote "My first IF ever." [+]"My first IF ever." --tekket... Vote for this game | |
| The Case of the Mixed-Up Shymer, by Sandra Sharkey 1 vote "Nursery rhymes gone wrong" [+]"Nursery rhymes gone wrong: I have very specific memories of starting this game, but not getting very far! But I think this was what introduced me to IF" --Wynter... Vote for this game | |
| Ship of Doom, by Charles Cecil 1 vote "This was the ZX..." [+]"This was the ZX spectrum version, not sure if I ever finished it!" --Endian... Vote for this game | |
| Dunnet, by Ron Schnell 1 vote (No comment) [+](No comment) ( ) --Elizabeth DeCoste... Vote for this game | |
| Llama Adventure, by John Cooney 1 vote "This was the game that shifted my allegiances from Flash/graphical games to IF. " [+]"This was the game that shifted my allegiances from Flash/graphical games to IF. " ( ) --verityvirtue... Vote for this game | |
| Abracadabra, by Jorge Blecua 1 vote "Back in 1988" [+]"Back in 1988: First IF I played, back in 1988. The game's written in PAWS." ( ) --LaFey... Vote for this game | |
| The Pesach Adventure, by Avi Gobbler 1 vote "It came in a magazine's CD in mid 90's here in Chile" [+]"It came in a magazine's CD in mid 90's here in Chile: In the CD there was also a version of Adventure, but I played first The Pesach Adventure." ( ) --Egas... Vote for this game | |
| Aunts and Butlers, by Robin Johnson 1 vote "Witty and Wodehouse inspired. And- unlike many other games of the time- available to be played online, which meant I could play it at work in between calls." [+]"Witty and Wodehouse inspired. And- unlike many other games of the time- available to be played online, which meant I could play it at work in between calls." ( ) --Tortoiseshell Bat... Vote for this game | |
| Madness & the Minotaur, by Tom Rosenbaum 1 vote "You always remember your first" [+]"You always remember your first: CLOADM, EXEC, DIE, & REPEAT. " ( ) --PCBToxin... Vote for this game | |
| Mindshadow, by Brian Fargo 1 vote "Part of a retro compilation" [+]"Part of a retro compilation: It was around the time that I played this game that I decided I like the older games better. Games with a text parser just had a certain charm." ( - Full review) --mjhayes... Vote for this game | |
| It Is Your Responsibility, by Tom McLean 1 vote (No comment) [+](No comment) ( ) --CharlietheSpiffy... Vote for this game | |
| The Deed of the York, by Dwight Logan 1 vote "Simple type-in" [+]"Simple type-in: This game is not very good, but it is short and simple to type-in, which back in the early 80s, when many of us had to type most of our software in ourselves, was reason enough to like it." ( - Full review) --jgerrie... Vote for this game | |
| Anchorhead, by Michael Gentry 1 vote "It was either..." [+]"It was either this or Cryptozookeeper. It definitely helped shape my tastes in IF." --req... Vote for this game | |
| Curses, by Graham Nelson 1 vote (No comment) [+](No comment) ( ) --Zape... Vote for this game | |
| Around the World In Eighty Days, by Anonymous 1 vote (No comment) [+](No comment) --jcompton... Vote for this game | |
| Jacaranda Jim, by Graham Cluley 1 vote "I didn't..." [+]"I didn't understand much of it, it was a weak Douglas Adams ripoff, and it had horrible old-school design. But it was clear from playing it that this was a fascinating form that could do a great deal more." --Sam Kabo Ashwell... Vote for this game | |
| Zork III, by Dave Lebling, Marc Blank 1 vote "Watching a friend play ..." [+]"Watching a friend play ...: I never played any IF, really, until around 1992-93(?), and my first game then was Plundered Hearts (I was, over the course of the 90s, drawn toward IF by working at a magazine doing a feature on Steve Meretzky, and by hearing of the Anchorhead beta-tests from a friend of mine who did some of the testing, and by being handed some Infocom leftovers from another friend ...). But my first real introduction to IF was watching my friend Shawn play Zork III (and then Beyond Zork) over his shoulder. Shortly after that, I watched a different friend play "Adventureland" from a tape drive, which already felt all old-fashioned and stuff :)" ( ) --Ghalev... Vote for this game | |
| Enchanter, by Marc Blank, Dave Lebling 1 vote "In the corner of..." [+]"In the corner of the Mac lab in my high school was an ancient Apple IIe along with some floppies. My best friend and I would spend our lunches on it. I never beat Enchanter (kept getting sacrificed in the temple), but it got me hooked. Years later, I stumbled upon the modern IF scene." --Robert Patten... Vote for this game | |
| The Black Knight, by Mandy Rodrigues 1 vote "The first I completed" [+]"The first I completed" ( ) --Denk... Vote for this game | |
| Planetfall, by Steve Meretzky 1 vote (No comment) [+](No comment) ( ) --Greg Frost... Vote for this game | |
| Wearing the Claw, by Paul O'Brian 1 vote "First adventure game I ever won." [+]"First adventure game I ever won.: The second Inform game on the list provided by the front-end application of the Adventure Blaster collection. I technically began playing Theatre first, and I did have fun messing around with the parser there, but I soon got lost. The simple adventure fantasy of Wearing the Claw hooked me (I was either 11 or 12). The linearity, the simple but real puzzles, and the comprehensive hint menus allowed me to win the game, and it was one of the most fun experiences of my life!" --strivenword... DustyCypress says: It's the same story for me! I think I was 13 or 14 that time. Took me ages to go through the Theatre, so I went on and beat Wearing the Claw, the Tortoise and the Underoos first. The other games are also classic and very good intro to IF! Losing Your Grip, Spider and Web, So Far and Edifice really got me hooked - never got away from IF since then! Vote for this game | |
| Korenvliet, by Alexander van Oostenrijk 1 vote "Dutch game...." [+]"Dutch game. Deeply terrible, makes the most primitive Scott Adams games look like models of user friendliness, but I didn't know anything better. It would be many years before I found any other IF game, but Korenvliet showed my enough that I made two small (and terrible) IF games as a kid. To be clear, it was the original, not the remake by Van Oostenrijk." ( - Full review) --Victor Gijsbers... Vote for this game | |
| Nord and Bert Couldn't Make Head or Tail of It, by Jeff O'Neill 1 vote (No comment) [+](No comment) ( - Full review) --Lance Cirone... Vote for this game | |