<!--
	Title: (Product Reviews) Fooblitzky
	Author: Michael Lasky
	Source: Antic, v5(6)
	Date: October 1986
	Transcription by Steve Derby
-->

Infocom, Inc.<br>
125 Cambridge Park Drive<br>
Cambridge, MA 02140<br>
(800) 262-6868<br>
2-4 players, age 14 to adult<br>
$39.95, 48K disk

**Fooblitzky** is a graphics-filled strategy game that I actually found
dull. The most surprising thing about this cumbersome computerized
boardgame is that it is the first graphics software from the interactive
fiction geniuses at Infocom.

<img class="float-left" src="/public/img/articles/antic-fooblitzky-review/fooblitzky-packaging.png" alt="Fooblitzky packaging">

Fooblitzky City is inhabited by dogs. The object of the game is to
move around and collect four objects secretly pre-selected by the other
players. Then you race back to a checkpoint. If you have the correct
objects, you win.

Obstacles to prevent you from quickly succeeding include being hit
by a car, opponents bumping into you and taking your possessions, and the
Chance Man, a con artist/mugger who prowls the streets. A spinning wheel
determines how many spaces you move in each turn.

You buy things like bananas, teddy bears and light bulbs, using "foobles"
for money and noting the objects and their prices on a memo board. If a
store is out of stock, you must go to another quadrant of the city to buy,
but you can call ahead from a telephone booth to avoid a wild goose
chase. And there is a subway to get you across town quickly.

Anything you do in Fooblitzky seems to cost money. If you go broke,
you can earn more by working in the restaurant or selling possessions in the
pawnshop. You start each game with exactly twice the amount needed to
buy one set of correct items.

As with other Infocom games, the disk drive responds to virtually every
command you make. The program, however, doesn't always react to the
joystick the first time you push it. I preferred using the keyboard instead.
The flipping graphics and page scrolling are well-defined "pixel-ated"
drawings -- somewhat primitive in design but still whimsical. The only
sound effects are a few low-volume tones that can be toggled off.

Fooblitzky requires musical chairs logistics where each player takes a
turn at the keyboard. there are so many rules and procedures to remember
that the package contains four memo boards with colored oil pens
for player notes and three -- count 'em -- different sets of instructions.
The screen can accommodate only 25% of the playing field. Pushing the
joystick button at the right time produces a miniature map of the entire
board, but it's hard to read. A status line quadrant locator is of little
help.

Variations to the default "house rules" can be made when booting the
disk. You can change the Chance Man's mood, make crossing the streets
safe, even start players with more foobles. About the only thing you can't
do is make Fooblitzky more exciting.