Feelies

These past few years I've found myself somewhat fascinated by interactive fiction. I've dabbled with Infocom classics like The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Zork and more recently Planetfall. Most people I know are unaware of text adventure games or steer clear of them, preferring more visual modes of entertainment. Personally, I'm a big fan of graphical computer games and could just as easily go on about Myst, Deus Ex or Morrowind. However, after playing through a couple of text-based games, I feel like I've taken part in something unique and special. Infocom's text adventures are astoundingly well crafted. They're filled to the brim with humor, wit and thought-provoking scenarios. Just like great novels, they present fascinating worlds filled with interesting and often-hilarious characters. If you play, you'll be impressed by the visuals created from your own limitless imagination! Well, maybe I'm getting carried away. This post is really about feelies anyways. What? You don't know about feelies? Every single Infocom adventure came with physical objects called feelies. These artifacts were relevant to the games and sometimes needed to solve puzzles. They were also mind bogglingly cool! For example, the game Leather Goddesses of Phobos included maps, a 3D comic book, glasses and seven scratch 'n' sniffs to be sniffed synchronously with the game. So, if you're a nerd like me and find all of this fascinating, check out The Infocom Gallery website which is packed with game info and feelie photos.

http://infocom.elsewhere.org/gallery/greybox.html