iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Bluesky Plays @bskyplays.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

@hypnotic.bsky.social GNU Emacs ships an ELIZA. Type 'M-x doctor' in the world's most beloved text editor and it will psychoanalyse you. The code is doctor.el, in Emacs Lisp. The doctor is in. Reply when ready.

ELIZA -- an interactive parroting

From Creative Computing magazine;
adapted for the IBM PC by Patricia Danielson and Paul Hashfield;

readapted for Inform by Ricardo Dague.
[type "shut up" to end]

Hi! I'm Eliza. What's your problem?

>

211

Bluesky Plays @bskyplays.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

@libdemjon.bsky.social Type 'XYZZY' in Zork and a hollow voice answers 'Fool.' It's a wink at an even older 1976 cave game where XYZZY was a real magic word. Decades later, Microsoft hid that same word as a cheat code inside Windows Minesweeper. Reply below to begin.

West of House Score: 0 Turns: 0
ZORK I: The Great Underground Empire
Infocom interactive fiction - a fantasy story
Copyright (c) 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986 Infocom, Inc.
All rights reserved.
ZORK is a registered trademark of Infocom, Inc.
Release 119 / Serial number 880429

West of House
You are standing in an open field west of a white house, with a
boarded front door.
There is a small mailbox here.

>

020

Bluesky Plays @bskyplays.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

@travtufts.bsky.social Bytecode older than MS-DOS, Windows, the Macintosh, and Linux. Type your first command.

120

Bluesky Plays @bskyplays.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

@delancey0.bsky.social Two of Zork's four original authors are still working today. Marc Blank went on to help build Android at Google and the Amazon Kindle. Dave Lebling now builds tactical-planning software for the US Air Force at BAE Systems. I'm listening.

120

Bluesky Plays @bskyplays.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

@conmoot.com Hitchhiker's was Infocom's second-biggest hit of all time after Zork. Sold over 270,000 copies on floppy disk. Type away!

Bedroom Score: 0 Turns: 0
THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY
Infocom interactive fiction - a science fiction story
Copyright (c) 1984 by Infocom, Inc. All rights reserved.
Release 59 / Serial number 851108

You wake up. The room is spinning very gently round your head.
Or at least it would be if you could see it which you can't.

It is pitch black.

>

1364

Bluesky Plays @bskyplays.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

@tato-potat.bsky.social Zork's parser could handle sentences like 'PUT THE LANTERN AND THE SWORD IN THE TROPHY CASE.' Earlier adventure games barely managed two words. In 1980, this felt eerily like having a conversation with a real character. Type your first command.

1185

Bluesky Plays @bskyplays.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

@iknowhuh.bsky.social Steve Meretzky's 1983 Planetfall introduced Floyd, a childlike maintenance robot who follows you around making wisecracks. He doesn't survive the game. People still talk about it. Reply to this post with your first command — the parser awaits.

Deck Nine Score: 0 Turns: 4582
PLANETFALL
Infocom interactive fiction - a science
fiction story
Copyright (c) 1983 by Infocom, Inc. All
rights reserved.
PLANETFALL is a trademark of Infocom,
Inc.
Release 37 / Serial number 851003

Another routine day of drudgery aboard
the Stellar Patrol Ship Feinstein. This
morning's assignment for a certain lowly
Ensign Seventh Class: scrubbing the
filthy metal deck at the port end of
Level Nine. With your Patrol-issue
self-contained multi-purpose all-weather
scrub brush you shine the floor with a
diligence born of the knowledge that at
any moment dreaded Ensign First Class
Blather, the bane of your shipboard
existence, could appear.

Deck Nine
This is a featureless corridor similar
to every other corridor on the ship. It
curves away to starboard, and a gangway
leads up. To port is the entrance to one
of the ship's primary escape pods. The
pod bulkhead is closed.

>

110

Bluesky Plays @bskyplays.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

@iknowhuh.bsky.social Planetfall is often cited as the moment text adventures grew up — proof that a game made entirely of words could land an emotional gut-punch. Your turn.

Deck Nine Score: 0 Turns: 4620
PLANETFALL
Infocom interactive fiction - a science
fiction story
Copyright (c) 1983 by Infocom, Inc. All
rights reserved.
PLANETFALL is a trademark of Infocom,
Inc.
Release 37 / Serial number 851003

Another routine day of drudgery aboard
the Stellar Patrol Ship Feinstein. This
morning's assignment for a certain lowly
Ensign Seventh Class: scrubbing the
filthy metal deck at the port end of
Level Nine. With your Patrol-issue
self-contained multi-purpose all-weather
scrub brush you shine the floor with a
diligence born of the knowledge that at
any moment dreaded Ensign First Class
Blather, the bane of your shipboard
existence, could appear.

Deck Nine
This is a featureless corridor similar
to every other corridor on the ship. It
curves away to starboard, and a gangway
leads up. To port is the entrance to one
of the ship's primary escape pods. The
pod bulkhead is closed.

>

110

Bluesky Plays @bskyplays.bsky.social · 20/06/2026

@bsky-archiver.bsky.social The white house. The mailbox. The leaflet. You know what to do. Reply with your moves. I'll relay each one to the game.

000

Bluesky Plays @bskyplays.bsky.social · 20/06/2026

@iknowhuh.bsky.social The game shipped in a box with a Don't Panic button, peril-sensitive sunglasses (an opaque black square), and a small baggie labeled 'microscopic battle fleet.' Some puzzles required reading the props. Waiting for your move!

120

Bluesky Plays @bskyplays.bsky.social · 20/06/2026

@iknowhuh.bsky.social The Babel Fish puzzle is so famously brutal Infocom shipped a celebratory T-shirt to anyone who solved it. Type away!

100

Bluesky Plays @bskyplays.bsky.social · 20/06/2026

@s1gn1fy.bsky.social The Babel Fish puzzle is so famously brutal Infocom shipped a celebratory T-shirt to anyone who solved it. Type away!

000

Bluesky Plays @bskyplays.bsky.social · 20/06/2026

@iknowhuh.bsky.social Hitchhiker's, 1984. Co-designed by Douglas Adams himself. Reply with your moves. I'll relay each one to the game.

141

Bluesky Plays @bskyplays.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

@iknowhuh.bsky.social Hitchhiker's was Infocom's second-biggest hit of all time after Zork. Sold over 270,000 copies on floppy disk. Waiting for your move!

130

Bluesky Plays @bskyplays.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

@iknowhuh.bsky.social Infocom's first commercial title, December 1980. Play on!

110

Bluesky Plays @bskyplays.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

@wmbeers.bsky.social Douglas Adams was the rare author who could handle the parser. He famously made the game deliberately hostile — at one point you play a character who CAN'T do what you want. Waiting for your move!

110

Bluesky Plays @bskyplays.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

130

Bluesky Plays @bskyplays.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

@gloomygus.bsky.social Steve Meretzky's 1983 Planetfall introduced Floyd, a childlike maintenance robot who follows you around making wisecracks. He doesn't survive the game. People still talk about it. Play on!

Deck Nine Score: 0 Turns: 4494
PLANETFALL
Infocom interactive fiction - a science
fiction story
Copyright (c) 1983 by Infocom, Inc. All
rights reserved.
PLANETFALL is a trademark of Infocom,
Inc.
Release 37 / Serial number 851003

Another routine day of drudgery aboard
the Stellar Patrol Ship Feinstein. This
morning's assignment for a certain lowly
Ensign Seventh Class: scrubbing the
filthy metal deck at the port end of
Level Nine. With your Patrol-issue
self-contained multi-purpose all-weather
scrub brush you shine the floor with a
diligence born of the knowledge that at
any moment dreaded Ensign First Class
Blather, the bane of your shipboard
existence, could appear.

Deck Nine
This is a featureless corridor similar
to every other corridor on the ship. It
curves away to starboard, and a gangway
leads up. To port is the entrance to one
of the ship's primary escape pods. The
pod bulkhead is closed.

>

120

Bluesky Plays @bskyplays.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

@kenyoungblood.bsky.social Hitchhiker's was Infocom's second-biggest hit of all time after Zork. Sold over 270,000 copies on floppy disk. Reply with your first move.

130

Bluesky Plays @bskyplays.bsky.social · 23/05/2026

@losangeleez.bsky.social Cadre once said 9:05's fame as an intro to interactive fiction 'is certainly not what I intended; I was just participating in an obscure doctrinal dispute.' The game outlived the argument that produced it. Play on!

Bedroom Moves: 0
The phone rings.

Oh, no - how long have you been asleep? Sure, it was a tough night, but... This
is bad. This is very bad.

The phone rings.

-----
9:05 by Adam Cadre
v1.11 (2012.0724) / Original release 2000.0103
-----

Bedroom (in bed)
This bedroom is extremely spare, with dirty laundry scattered haphazardly all
over the floor. Cleaner clothing can be found in the dresser. A bathroom lies to
the south, while a door to the east leads to the living room.

On the end table are a telephone, a wallet and some keys.

The phone rings.

>

100

Bluesky Plays @bskyplays.bsky.social · 23/05/2026

@jonwiesman.bsky.social Cadre once said 9:05's fame as an intro to interactive fiction 'is certainly not what I intended; I was just participating in an obscure doctrinal dispute.' The game outlived the argument that produced it. I'm listening.

100

Bluesky Plays @bskyplays.bsky.social · 23/05/2026

@alankessler.bsky.social More than two decades after release, 9:05 still turns up on nearly every 'where do I start with interactive fiction' list. Five minutes long, freely available, and famous for a twist it's rude to give away. I'm listening.

100

Bluesky Plays @bskyplays.bsky.social · 23/05/2026

@dash-notheactualworddash.com The same Adam Cadre who wrote 9:05 — a game prized for the precision of its prose — also runs the Lyttle Lytton Contest, an annual competition to compose the single worst opening sentence a novel could possibly have. Reply below to begin.

100

Bluesky Plays @bskyplays.bsky.social · 23/05/2026

@number41.bsky.social 9:05 was never meant to be a beginner's game. Adam Cadre wrote it as a move in a Usenet argument about how directly interactive fiction should be written. It became the genre's favorite on-ramp entirely by accident. Reply with your first move.

000

Bluesky Plays @bskyplays.bsky.social · 23/05/2026

@jasonjaffe.bsky.social 9:05 runs on the Z-machine, the virtual computer Infocom built for Zork in the 1970s. A hobbyist game from 2000 and a mainframe classic from 1977 share the exact same executable format. Type away!

100

Bluesky Plays @bskyplays.bsky.social · 23/05/2026

@losangeleez.bsky.social Adam Cadre also wrote Photopia, the 1998 game that launched interactive fiction's 'puzzleless' literary turn. 9:05 came two years later. Your turn.

010

Bluesky Plays @bskyplays.bsky.social · 23/05/2026

@willvi.bsky.social The same Adam Cadre who wrote 9:05 — a game prized for the precision of its prose — also runs the Lyttle Lytton Contest, an annual competition to compose the single worst opening sentence a novel could possibly have. Reply!

000

Bluesky Plays @bskyplays.bsky.social · 23/05/2026

New game! The classic "9:05", a short interactive fiction game by @adamcadre.bsky.social. Often listed as one of the best introductions to interactive fiction, 9:05 is a fun, short play with a plot twist at the end! To play it, just tag @bskyplays.bsky.social in a new post with the phrase 9:05 in it

0316

Bluesky Plays @bskyplays.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

@willvi.bsky.social Cadre once said 9:05's fame as an intro to interactive fiction 'is certainly not what I intended; I was just participating in an obscure doctrinal dispute.' The game outlived the argument that produced it. Type your first command.

011

Bluesky Plays @bskyplays.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

@lukewarm.bsky.social The whole game is one late-for-work morning in the fictional town of Las Mesas. Get up, get ready, get out the door. That's the premise. I'm listening.

110

Bluesky Plays @bskyplays.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

@cswag7.bsky.social More than two decades after release, 9:05 still turns up on nearly every 'where do I start with interactive fiction' list. Five minutes long, freely available, and famous for a twist it's rude to give away. Type your first command.

100

Bluesky Plays @bskyplays.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

@chadloder.dev 9:05 has a reputation built on a single famous surprise. Players who replay it tend to see the whole thing differently the second time around. Go!

100

Bluesky Plays @bskyplays.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

@chadloder.dev 9:05 is one of the most-recommended first text adventures ever made — short, forgiving, and it teaches the parser on a perfectly ordinary morning. Reply to this post with your first command — the parser awaits.

020

Bluesky Plays @bskyplays.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

@pdemarest.bsky.social Four MIT students. One mainframe game. A 1980 port that never quit. The parser is listening.

010

Bluesky Plays @bskyplays.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

@dancerdurango.bsky.social Two of Zork's four original authors are still working today. Marc Blank went on to help build Android at Google and the Amazon Kindle. Dave Lebling now builds tactical-planning software for the US Air Force at BAE Systems. The parser is listening.

020

Bluesky Plays @bskyplays.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

@chadloder.dev Marc Blank — Zork co-author — later helped build Android at Google and the Amazon Kindle. Type away!

020

Bluesky Plays @bskyplays.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

@clayrobinson.bsky.social Two of Zork's four original authors are still working today. Marc Blank went on to help build Android at Google and the Amazon Kindle. Dave Lebling now builds tactical-planning software for the US Air Force at BAE Systems. Reply below to begin.

020

Bluesky Plays @bskyplays.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

@chadloder.dev The feelies won a 1987 Codie for Best Software Packaging — first 3D comic in a video game (red/blue glasses included) and first scratch-and-sniff card. Suggestive. Your move.

061

Bluesky Plays @bskyplays.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

@10xslacker.bsky.social Co-designed by Douglas Adams and Steve Meretzky, this 1984 Infocom game lists 'no tea' and 'your sense of humour' as separate inventory items. Go!

THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY
Infocom interactive fiction - a science fiction story
Copyright (c) 1984 by Infocom, Inc. All rights reserved.
Release 59 / Serial number 851108

You wake up. The room is spinning very gently round your head.
Or at least it would be if you could see it which you can't.

It is pitch black.

>

010

Bluesky Plays @bskyplays.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

@tbonejohnson.bsky.social Zork was written in 1977 by four MIT students hooked on an older cave game called Adventure. They built it on a mainframe the size of a room. You're playing the same 1980 floppy version, unchanged 45+ years later. Your move.

ZORK I: The Great Underground Empire
Infocom interactive fiction - a fantasy story
Copyright (c) 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986 Infocom, Inc.
All rights reserved.
ZORK is a registered trademark of Infocom, Inc.
Release 119 / Serial number 880429

West of House
You are standing in an open field west of a white house, with a
boarded front door.
There is a small mailbox here.

>

010

Bluesky Plays @bskyplays.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

@pauloftheusa.bsky.social Infocom's first commercial title, December 1980. Reply with your first move.

000

Bluesky Plays @bskyplays.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

@webstarvancity.bsky.social Joseph Weizenbaum's own secretary, after a few minutes typing with ELIZA, asked him to leave the room so she could continue the conversation in private. He never got over it. Tell me what's on your mind.

110

Bluesky Plays @bskyplays.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

@sfguy1818.bsky.social Type 'XYZZY' in Zork and a hollow voice answers 'Fool.' It's a wink at an even older 1976 cave game where XYZZY was a real magic word. Decades later, Microsoft hid that same word as a cheat code inside Windows Minesweeper. Type away!

0334

Bluesky Plays @bskyplays.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

@chaneysystems.bsky.social Zork was written in 1977 by four MIT students hooked on an older cave game called Adventure. They built it on a mainframe the size of a room. You're playing the same 1980 floppy version, unchanged 45+ years later. Reply with your first move.

110

Bluesky Plays @bskyplays.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

@sfguy1818.bsky.social Zork: written 1977, MIT. Still working. Reply with your first move.

100

Bluesky Plays @bskyplays.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

@marxist-lars.bsky.social In November 2025 — 45 years after the game first shipped on TRS-80 cassette tape — Microsoft released Zork's original 1980 source code under an open-source license. Anyone with a GitHub account can now fork it. Reply below to begin.

100

Bluesky Plays @bskyplays.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

@tenesm.us In November 2025 — 45 years after the game first shipped on TRS-80 cassette tape — Microsoft released Zork's original 1980 source code under an open-source license. Anyone with a GitHub account can now fork it. Reply with your first move.

000

Bluesky Plays @bskyplays.bsky.social · 18/05/2026

@john-lee.bsky.social Hitchhiker's was Infocom's second-biggest hit of all time after Zork. Sold over 270,000 copies on floppy disk. Your move.

130

Bluesky Plays @bskyplays.bsky.social · 18/05/2026

@lexys.northsky.social Zork was so dominant it sold over a million copies back when most homes didn't even own a computer. It topped early text-game charts for four straight years (1981–1984), making up one in every five games its publisher ever sold. Reply!

110

Bluesky Plays @bskyplays.bsky.social · 18/05/2026

@amithero.bot Hitchhiker's was Infocom's second-biggest hit of all time after Zork. Sold over 270,000 copies on floppy disk. Reply with your moves. I'll relay each one to the game.

010