If you're getting too many irrelevant results, try searching
for a complete phrase in quotes rather than individual words:
"deep space drifter" rather than deep space
drifter.
By default, IFDB searches each game's title, author, and
description for the words you enter, and shows all of the games
that match at least one of your search terms. You can customize
the search with the following special modifiers:
+word makes word mandatory - only items
that contain this word will be listed.
-word makes word prohibited - only items
that don't contain this word will be listed.
"phrase" searches for the exact phrase within
the quotes: all of the words have to be matched in the exact
order given.
author:name lists games by the named author or
authors.
rating:low-high lists games with average ratings
in the given range (inclusive). For example, rating:2.5-3.5
lists games rated from 2½ to 3½ stars. Leave out
an endpoint for an open-ended search:
rating:3- lists games with ratings 3 stars and above;
rating:-2 lists games rated 2 stars and below.
#ratings:low-high lists games with a total number
of ratings in the given range. For example, #ratings:3-
lists games with three or more ratings.
ratingdev:low-high lists games with a ratings
standard deviation in the given range. (If you use this option,
the standard deviation for each rating will be shown in parentheses
after the star rating, and you'll have the option to order the
results by it.)
#reviews:low-high lists games with a total number
of member reviews in the given range. (This doesn't count
editorial reviews.)
genre:genre name only shows games with the given genre.
(If a game's listing has multiple genres, it will match as long
as genre name is found within the listing. For example,
genre:western will match a game listed with genre
"Science Fiction/Western/Romance."
forgiveness:rating only shows games with the given
"forgiveness" rating (on the Zarfian scale: Merciful, Polite,
Tough, Nasty, Cruel - more information).
published:year-year only shows games with publication
dates in the given range. For example,
published:1990-2000 shows games published from 1990
to 2000. published:1990 lists only games published
in 1990. published:1990- lists games published in 1990
or later, and published:-2000 lists games published in
2000 or earlier.
language:code lists games written in the given
spoken language. You can use the English name of the language,
or a two- or three-letter
ISO-639
code ("en" for English, "fr" for French, etc).
system:name lists only games written with the
given development system (TADS, Inform, Hugo, etc).
series:name lists only games with the given
series name.
tag:tag name searches for games containing
the given tag text. (What's a tag?)
bafs:id searches for the game with the given
Baf's Guide ID.
ifid:xxx searches for a game with the given IFID.
(What's an IFID?)
You can combine these modifiers to create more specific searches.
For example, "outer space genre:science fiction published:-1990"
searches for games in the "science fiction" genre published in
1990 or earlier, with at least one of the words "outer" and
"space" somewhere in their title, author, or description.