The Retro Adventurers

Miss Congeniality and Miss Clairol are in the news this month as we recap the results in the unofficial Neo-Retro Division of this year's IFComp, share the developing story of putting a "beauty computer" to its best use as a text adventure platform, and much more. Jason, Nick, and Tim are on the mic in a busier-than-usual month for our ever-changing genre. (And don't let Rockbox purge Frotz!) Retro Adventurers on Discord Visible Zorker project IFComp 2026 results Carl Muckenhoupt's remarks ECTOCOMP 2026 PAW for Dragon Plague on the Discovery River Software David Bitton's Apple II collection David Bitton episode (French w/English subtitles) Futuria (Forbidden Planet Part II) for Apple IIGS Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less (IFDB) The Mystery of Silver Mountain StoryTllr engine Colossal Cave Adventure for Pascal HOME.BASE Z6 support for Agon Light Clarion/Clairol Computer research Bex's call for other Aegis Visionary users Shadowgate Commodore 64 STAG adventure creator for Spectrum A Ceia Inesperada (STAG example game) Famous Five: Five on a Treasure Island CPC Disk fix Textadventures.co.uk content policy Text Adventure 2600 Rockbox RFC Frotz removal (!) Andrew Plotkin's Roguelike Celebration presentation The Problems of Dreaming lost edition found Magic Mushroom ZX Spectrum DAAD Builder Intro to DAAD Builder Another DAAD Builder demo video Mark Hardisty's blog (DAAD tutorials) DAAD Sam Coupe support Call for testers on rebuilt Not Just an Ordinary Ballerina Flathead Electric Cooperative Graeme Cree's Flathead discovery Cover photo by Bex

Fourteen (!) capsule reviews of games submitted to this year's Interactive Fiction Competition (IFComp 2026), all with at least one claim to neo-retro status. Joining regulars Jason, Tim, and Nick are three guests from past episodes: Robin Raymond, Christian Neuhaus, and Dudley of Yesterzine. Some of this year's entries can be played in ancient languages (Hittite!) and on ancient devices (Atari 2600!) Let us know what you think of this experiment and if you'd like to see adjustments made if there is a next-time! Games covered: Copper Tavern (Tavern Heist) The Rat Demonstration Ruined Temple Bob the Barbarian Forensic Necromancy 9:00 AM Train Gambler’s Quest Meet the Timesheet Wait-Our-Way Tower Ḫattušumna Laḫḫa (Hittite Adventure) The Count and the Communist The Two Seasons: Encounter With a Vampire Logic Land

It's our 50th episode! Jason, Nick, and Tim make it a working holiday with news on the peak of competition season (Ectocomp! Introcomp! Iron ChIF! And of course IFComp!), news on developments for Z-Machine developers and Å-Machine players, five new Fairlight releases on C64, and, yes, reverb Ramsberg. Iron ChIF Adventuron wrapup: https://intfiction.org/t/iron-chif-season-one-episode-3-flacrabbit-vs-dee-cooke-using-adventuron/81129/138 Iron ChIF TADS sought: https://intfiction.org/t/iron-chef-looking-for-tads-challengers/75758/36 Introcomp: https://introcomp.org/ ECTOCOMP 2026: https://itch.io/jam/ectocomp-2026 ReZet80: https://rezet80.blogspot.com/p/rezet80-sentinel.html Tiny Text Adventure Engine: https://rezet80.blogspot.com/2026/02/tiny-text-adventure-engine.html Haunted House: https://rezet80.blogspot.com/2023/09/haunted-house.html Adventure Family Tree: https://www.ifwiki.org/Adventure_Family_Tree Adventure Family Tree discussion: https://intfiction.org/t/adventure-family-tree-using-ifwiki-to-record-and-display-information/77211/2 ZigZag: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZigZag_(software) Lantern: https://textadventure.net Swiss Family Robinson/FLT: https://csdb.dk/release/?id=263890 FairLight TV 159 (Synapse cracks): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2x1xYSHCFQ The Demon Jar: https://qladventures.itch.io/the-demon-jar AGI-64/AGI-ANTIC: https://meanhamster.com/games/agi-64 Vanyar: https://johanberntsson.itch.io/vanyar I'm Still a Cannibal For the FBI: https://cannibalforthef.bi/ Dialog interpreter for Apple II: https://intfiction.org/t/help-dialog-choose-a-commodore-64-color-palette/81746/9 SCUMMVM MADS support: https://www.scummvm.org/news/20260826/ Fish on Apple platforms?!: https://www.gamesthatwerent.com/2026/09/fish Magnetic Scrolls' Upon Westminster Bridge: https://www.gamesthatwerent.com/2026/09/upon-westminster-bridge/ DAAD tutorials: https://markhardisty.wordpress.com/ The Greedy Dwarf: https://mjhardisty.itch.io/the-greedy-dwarf/devlog/1674561/the-greedy-dwarf-now-available Adjunct of Computing #1: https://youtu.be/tojYY6hdnNY Plague On the Discovery testers wanted: https://intfiction.org/t/testers-needed-for-new-bdb-project-s-game-plague-on-the-discovery-morgan-tyler-series-3/82097 Dracula Spectrum Next: https://giadacu.itch.io/dracula-english-zx-spectrum-next-illustrated-edition A Spy's Heist: https://ifdb.org/viewgame?id=au4s1nyuqonq10fw PARANOID blog: https://play-paranoid.online/blog/best-mystery-text-adventure-games Legends: https://ifdb.org/viewgame?id=3xgiq6kxz60zvff2  

It's Infocom and Iron Curtain classic text adventures from the final years of the Cold War! With special guest Ana Meisel (ana.help), Nick and Jason take on two entertaining political-statement classics of the 1980s. First up is PRESTAVBA, aka PERESTROIKA, a once-anonymous satire set in the Prague Spring of 1968 and published (very carefully and also anonymously) in the former Czechoslovakia for ZX Spectrum. Then it's a not-so-distant flash-forward to Rockvil in the year 2031 for A Mind Forever Voyaging, Steve Meretzky's immersive statement on Reagan-era socioeconomic policies in the United States. Does Perry Simm have free will? Is a Soviet lighter reliable in a pinch?  It's the first (and last?) time both our games are the standout selections of Aaron Reed's 50 Years of Text Games project: are they worthy? Join us and find out! A Mind Forever Voyaging (IFDB) A Mind Forever Voyaging docs (code table for Simulation Mode on p31) A Mind Forever Voyaging (playable online) Přestavba, original Czech and English translation downloads (ZXArt) Prestavba (IFDB) 50 Years of Text Games (features both games as the standout of 1985 and 1988, respectively) Gaming the Iron Curtain London Permacomputing Club Our Friend the Computer podcast Bonus - 1980s Czech film recommendations from Ana: Rozpuštěný a vypuštěný (https://www.oneplay.cz/film/1102-rozpusteny-a-vypusteny) Vážení přátelé, ano (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vážení_přátelé,_ano) any Cimrman movies (https://www.themoviedb.org/collection/134221-divadlo-jary-cimrmana-kolekce)

Contest deadlines, international reviews, and some Ramsberg groveling lead our news coverage for text adventure enthusiasts this month. Tim, Jason, and Nick bring you the latest for one of the oldest gaming disciplines... aside from that one story we accidentally repeated from last month. Nick's a little heavy on the reverb filter in this one, let us know if you get seasick. Spanish discussion of RetroAdv: https://mastodon.social/@DekaBlack/117166787290154461 https://mastodon.social/@textualizame/117166805431903978 Madman, port of 1983 VIC-20 game by the dread Ramsberg: https://ifdb.org/viewgame?id=6ymufgd24jnxg256 Wyrmward, Z6 PunyInform title: https://johanberntsson.itch.io/wyrmward Darkwood V: The Lost God found and preserved: https://csdb.dk/release/index.php?id=263342 https://www.facebook.com/groups/EightBitAdventures/posts/28558175203785812/ Inform 6 DM4: https://inform-fiction.org/manual/about_dm4.html Inform 6 Programmer's Guide: https://jxself.org/inform-guide/ OS9 Infocom interpreter: https://github.com/rlucente-retro/infocom-os9-port/releases/tag/v1.0.0  https://www.facebook.com/groups/2359462640/posts/10164528820297641/ Raaka-Tu: https://github.com/DrPitre/raakatu  CoCo Nation Podcast Episode 474:  Galaxy's Edge, BBC Micro title by Graham Nelson: https://ahopeful.wordpress.com/2015/09/03/galaxys-edge-1984-by-graham-nelson/ Oo-Topos C64 cracked: https://csdb.dk/release/?id=263365 FairLight TV #156: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ewUo92awZ0 Z-Machine BBS details: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1814239092232631 David Youd hacks Secrets of the Pyramid (duplicate, oops): https://youtu.be/OiUZ7qtRHB4 Inform Trail Camera: https://www.twitch.tv/informtrailcamera Zork NES: https://github.com/lupinthird/zorknes AGI-64: https://meanhamster.com/games/agi-64  Beatle Quest Python runner: https://www.amigaretro.com/projects/blakes-7-beatle-quest/ Blake's 7 for Oric: https://defenceforce.itch.io/blakes-7  Wander System for Ubuntu Touch: https://mastodont.cat/@cibersheep/117151878472175318 Clash of the Type-Ins returns: https://rcveeder.net/clash/  The Hobbit for TI-99 4/A: https://forums.atariage.com/topic/392212-the-hobbit-for-ti994a  Classic Infocom playable library: https://jamiedurrant.com/infocom/ Iron ChIF Adventuron battle: https://intfiction.org/t/iron-chif-season-one-episode-3-flacrabbit-vs-dee-cooke-using-adventuron/81129 Out of Luck: https://ifdb.org/viewgame?id=n1y41pmdrk8ikk26 A Bonded Harvester: https://ifdb.org/viewgame?id=mbsybax9swkzp81o Adventurer's Rest channel: https://youtu.be/fgg_-9Rb2zY PARANOID game: https://www.play-paranoid.online Astaria MUD: https://ifdb.org/viewgame?id=6x86ablx3lg3u2y2