#
ISSUE #29 - June 20, 2002

          ___.               .___              _             ___.
         /  _|               |   \            / \           / ._|
         \  \                | o_/           |   |          | |_.
         .\  \               | |             | o |          | | |
    The  |___/ociety for the |_|romotion of  |_|_|dventure  \___|ames.

                             ISSUE #29

               Edited by Paul O'Brian (obrian SP@G colorado.edu)
                           June 20, 2002

               SPAG Website: http://www.sparkynet.com/spag

    SPAG #29 is copyright (c) 2002 by Paul O'Brian.
    Authors of reviews and articles retain the rights to their contributions.

    All email addresses are spamblocked -- replace the name of our magazine
    with the traditional 'at' sign.

    ARTICLES IN THIS ISSUE ----------------------------------------------------

    The SPAG Interview with Emily Short

    REVIEWS IN THIS ISSUE -----------------------------------------------------

    Depravity Bites
    First Things First
    The Tale of the Kissing Bandit
    Voices

    EDITORIAL------------------------------------------------------------------

    When I first became the SPAG editor, I quickly realized that there were
    two things I didn't like about it. The first is the name. "Society for
    the Promotion [or Preservation, if you like] of Adventure Games" sounds
    like the name of a club. What it does not sound like is the name of a
    webzine. Plus, for me it's a reminder of these amazingly cheesy
    commercials that used to be on television, with members of a made-up
    "Seventies Preservation Society" hawking copies of K-Tel's latest
    compilation of disco hits. Not exactly the image one yearns for. So
    okay, maybe nobody ever thinks about what the letters stand for -- they
    just use the abbreviation. SPAG. Really, "SPAG"? It's flat-sounding,
    unpleasant, and just one letter away from "SPAM." But it's been around
    for eight years now, is linked to all over the web, and is even
    mentioned on the Masterpieces of Infocom cd. Plus, we've got that nifty
    logo. So the name isn't changing, at least not anytime soon.

    The other thing I didn't like was the scoreboard. Back when I was just a
    SPAG reader rather than its editor, I would never, ever read the
    scoreboard. Few things, it seemed to me at the time, could be less
    interesting than trying to quantify the appeal of IF into little
    categories, then compare wildly disparate games to each other based on
    how three or four people rank those categories. In time, though, I
    gained a little more appreciation for SPAG scores. I'm a music fan, and
    I grew up listening to Casey Kasem's radio show "American Top 40", which
    counted down the top singles on Billboard's Pop chart each week. Through
    this practice, I acquired a bit of a fascination with the charts: why
    some songs rose quickly and others not at all, the heights they
    attained, the length of time they held on, the special cachet of
    attaining the top spot, and all the fortunes of the other songs as they
    arrived, rose, plateaued, perhaps fluctuated a bit, and finally fell.
    After a while, it began to seem to me that the SPAG scoreboard had the
    appeal of a Billboard chart, but applied to IF. It was rather fun to
    watch new games like Varicella and Worlds Apart make their way onto and
    off of the top ten, not to mention the (admittedly bogus) ego building
    it let me do with my own games. ("Hey, according to this, Wearing The
    Claw was better than Zork II!") And not only did the Top 10 listing make
    me feel like Casey Kasem, it provided a handy reference point in those
    "What are some good games?" discussions that come up all the time on the
    newsgroups.

    Of course, there were still problems. Probably the biggest of these was
    that there just isn't that much real data in those listings. Unlike the
    Billboard charts, which are compiled from tons of different sources, the
    SPAG scoreboard tended to average just under four votes per game, with
    many scores set by just one or two voters, and lots of games having no
    score at all for lack of any votes. The statistics lack much real
    meaning, because the sample size surveyed is just far too small.
    Moreover, the fact that voters are a self-selecting sample introduces
    other problems, such as the guy who sent in scores of 0.0 for every Adam
    Cadre game while rating his own "adult" IF game a 10.0. (Yes, I
    discarded those scores.) There have been a few people who sent in lots
    and lots of votes, trying to proffer a really representative portrait of
    their views on IF, but there are many more who just send in a score when
    they are moved by a particularly positive or negative reaction to a
    game, thus preventing the scores on those games from truly reflecting a
    community consensus. Not that I can blame anyone for this. Like I said,
    before I was the editor, I had zero interest in the scoreboard, and
    certainly never sent in a score myself.

    Another of the scoreboard's problems was well-stated by Adam Cadre early
    last year:

       SPAG's readers' scoreboard selects for games which attract some
       positive response and, more importantly, little negative response.
       It only takes a few low votes to drag a game off the leaderboard.

    In point of fact, it only takes *one* low vote. Scores are calculated
    according to this formula:

       (Old score * old # of votes + new score) / new # of votes

    Because of that ongoing averaging, an especially low new score can take
    a game down several whole numbers, while a high new score doesn't lift
    it all that much. Several excellent games have fallen prey to this math,
    sunk by just one or two strong dissenters.

    Yet another hitch to the scoreboard is its categories: atmosphere,
    gameplay, writing, plot, and "wild card". SPAG founder Kevin Wilson was
    wise enough to make "puzzles" and "characters" optional categories from
    the get-go, not affecting the final tally, but even the remaining
    "mandatory" categories are enough to strangely bias the scoreboard's
    results. For me, the textbook example of this is Ad Verbum, by Nick
    Montfort. Ad Verbum is a tremendously clever game in the Nord And Bert
    vein, but does it have much atmosphere? No. Does it have *any* plot? No.
    Because it suffers in those categories, its scores are lower than it
    deserves. "Gameplay" is another area in which some great IF suffers,
    particularly if it's designed to be more literature than game.

    Then there's the most telling evidence of all: SPAG's readers are
    gradually losing interest in the scoreboard. Every issue I get fewer and
    fewer votes; it's been down to a trickle for many months now. Between
    that and the shortcomings I mention above, I've just about returned to
    the disinterest level I had as a reader, but now I'm the editor, which
    means I get to say this: the sun has set on the SPAG scoreboard. This
    will be its last issue. It's been around for eight years, has been
    useful or fun to some number of people for at least some of that time,
    and I'm happy to have been a part of that, but it's time to move on. The
    scoreboard will no longer appear in SPAG, though I will leave it on the
    web page, minus the voting mechanism, along with a note explaining that
    it now serves a historical purpose only. Please note, reviewers: you
    should no longer include scores with your submitted reviews.

    As Homer Simpson says, when told he's about to eat a poison eclair: "Eh,
    I've had a good run."

    NEWS ----------------------------------------------------------------------

    NEW GAMES
    It's been an amazingly fertile period for new game releases. In fact,
    during one glorious week in April, we were seeing a new game *every two
    days*. Among these fresh arrivals is Savoir-Faire, a feature-length game
    by Emily Short, the subject of this issue's SPAG Interview. Another new
    epic is Chip Hayes' Tinseltown Blues, a Hollywood-themed game several
    years in the making. We've also got works by other promising newcomers
    like Matt Rohde and Brandon Allen, as well as an international sprinkle
    of non-English games. Behold:
       * Amissville by "Santoonie"
       * Katana by Matt Rohde
       * The Oracle by Brandon Allen
       * Unease by Brendan O'Brien
       * Savoir-Faire by Emily Short
       * Taipan (Z-abuse) ported to Z-machine by D. Jacob Wildstrom
       * The Land Of The Cyclops by Francesco Cordella
       * Der Angstbaum (in German) by Jens Bojaryn
       * Pecos Town (in Italian) by Tommaso Caldarola
       * Tinseltown Blues by Chip Hayes
       * Amishville by Jacob Amman

    MOST COMP-LICATED
    Along with our slew of new games (in fact, sometimes hand in hand with
    it), we've had a slew of mini-comps. We had the IntroComp, which
    challenged authors to come up with a compelling *beginning* to an IF
    game, in playable form. (As opposed to last year's PrologueComp, whose
    entries could simply be text.) First place was taken by Caleb Wilson's
    "Hey, Jingo!". Then there were the IFLibraryComp and the Spring Thing,
    both of which were experiments in altering the rules of the big Fall
    comp, to see what would happen. The IFLibraryComp garnered three
    entries, the highest-ranking of which was a game called Familiar, by
    Papillon, author of Desert Heat and Triune. (To see the others, check
    out http://www.iflibrary.com/default.aspx?pageid=Home&contentid=4.)
    There was one entrant to the Spring Thing: the aforementioned Tinseltown
    Blues.

    A DIFFERENT KIND OF WEB PORTAL
    Some of the people who remember actually going to a computer game store
    and *buying* text adventures may have fond memories of "Portal", a C64
    game by Rob Swigart about a deserted future world. Now those memories
    can be relived for free, as Salim Fadhley has reconstructed the entire
    thing on the web at http://portal.stodge.org.

    NELSON AHOY!
    One of the USA's goofiest holidays is Grouhdhog Day, whereupon the
    country's attention centers on the burrow of one famous rodent, whose
    shadow (or lack thereof) supposedly forecasts the next six weeks'
    weather. We have a local equivalent on the IF newsgroups, on or around
    April 30, the anniversary of the first release of Inform. Roundabout
    this time, Graham Nelson will often make his annual newsgroup
    appearance, heralding some exciting new development in the world of
    Inform. This year, it was the unveiling of the fully-revamped, super-
    helpful new Inform home page, at http://www.inform-fiction.org. This
    page has tons of resources for the aspiring or experienced Inform
    author, all presented in elegant Nelsonian style.

    BEGINNER'S LUCK
    Speaking of nifty new web pages, Frederik Ramsberg has just debuted
    IFGuide, a page specifically aimed at newcomers to IF. The page goes
    through all the basics, from what IF is, to how to play, what to play,
    and where to get it, and it's available at http://IFGuide.ramsberg.net.

    STARVATION DIET
    You may have noticed that SPAG has lost quite a bit of weight lately.
    Don't offer it your compliments, though, because this loss is not a good
    thing. Indeed, the event I always prophesied has come to pass: Duncan
    Stevens' real life has finally prevented him from submitting SPAG
    reviews, at least for this issue anyway. This is his first absence from
    the zine since his debut in December of 1997, and as you can can see,
    SPAG is a pale shadow of itself without him. This is your chance: step
    up to the plate and rescue our beloved SPAG from Kate Moss hell. There's
    certainly no dearth of games that need reviewing. Try, for example, one
    of these:

    SPAG 10 MOST WANTED LIST
    ========================
    1.  Acheton
    2.  Bad Machine
    3.  Dr. Dumont's Wild P.A.R.T.I.
    4.  Familiar
    5.  Heroine's Mantle
    6.  Katana
    7.  The Oracle
    8.  Savoir-Faire
    9.  Tinseltown Blues
    10. Unease

    THE SPAG INTERVIEW---------------------------------------------------------

    Emily Short has accomplished a prodigious amount in a short time and
    shows no sign of stopping. Already a major figure in IF for such works
    as Galatea and Metamorphoses, she has since cemented her reputation with
    thoughtful articles, technical innovations, and the co-editorship of an
    upcoming book on IF Theory, not to mention several other rockin' games.
    Somehow, in the midst of all this, she managed to find time to answer a
    few questions from us, too.

                                   ---===---

       SPAG: When we last checked in with you, you were working on a Ph.D.
       in Classics and annoying your advisors with your passionate interests
       in other areas. How goes the degree, the travel, the cooking, the
       writing, the teaching, and the rest?

    ES: I'm almost through my last set of exams; once that's done, I'll be
    on dissertation status, which I've been looking forward to for a long
    time. It'll still be another two or more years before I can leave with
    degree in hand, but from now on I'll have a bit more freedom to pursue
    my own set of interests. So that should be fun.

    Otherwise, I've been a little too busy, and a little too broke (in the
    way of all grad students), to do very much traveling, unfortunately. But
    soon. I wound up with a free Alaska Airlines ticket at one point, so
    I've been looking up exotic northern places on the web trying to decide
    where to go with it.

       SPAG: A corollary question: how in the world do you manage to create
       so much IF work while still maintaining all those other activities?
       Do you have a $70 time machine, or is it just supreme time-management
       prowess?

    ES: Ha. No, none of the above. It's more that I tend to neglect stuff
    that I should be doing while I work on IF, and then I work rabidly on
    academics for a while to make up for it.

    This is not a recommended lifestyle for sane people.

       SPAG: Let's talk about your big new release, Savoir-Faire. The game
       is quite traditional in some ways, but it's set in a milieu we
       haven't seen before -- similar to 18th century France, but with the
       addition of magical elements. What inspired this choice of setting?

    ES: It was chance more than deliberate thought. Sometimes out of boredom
    I sit down and write the opening of a piece of static fiction or the
    first room of an IF game with no planning or preparation; this is just
    an exercise.

    99% of the time the result is dreadful, and the opening room I wrote for
    SF isn't an exception to that rule. It had a lot of randomly chosen
    objects in it, and was kind of silly. (It was removed from the game long
    before the final version.) But it did have some references to a
    "Countess," along with Rococo furnishings, because those were the first
    things that came into my mind.

    In that first writing the furniture was extremely old and falling apart;
    I intended it to be antique, and the game to be set in the late 19th or
    even 20th century. Once I got serious about the game design, though, I
    decided that I preferred to set it in the 1770s or 1780s. This wasn't a
    conscious attempt to pick a setting we haven't encountered before; it
    was more that the flavor of the game required this decadent yet (from
    our point of view) technologically primitive setting.

       SPAG: Why did you choose to write a game with so many "old-school"
       elements, a treasure hunt with a hunger timer, look-under puzzles,
       and other such contrivances?

    ES: Two reasons. One, I got into writing IF because of how much I liked
    old-school games. I originally learned Inform because I wanted to
    emulate something like Curses. And there's a certain effect of being
    really wrapped up in a puzzle game for hours and hours that is just not
    captured by a narrative 30-minute art piece. No matter how good the
    latter is, it's just not the same experience.

    The other reason is that people kept posting about how IF has gotten all
    pretentious these days and no one can be bothered to write good
    old-school IF the way it Used to Be. So I thought, well, ok, I'll try
    that, then.

       SPAG: What is your process for creating these large games? Can you
       give us an idea of how such a project starts, and how it develops to
       fruition?

    ES: As mentioned, SF began pretty haphazardly. Once I'd made the opening
    room, I decided that the game needed as its central feature a magic
    system we haven't encountered previously. I thought about something that
    would involve composing spells from component pieces. I tossed this
    around a bit with Dan Shiovitz, and he suggested that a) this has been
    done before and that b) magic-as-programming is not sufficiently cool.

    So the linking idea was my second concept. I worked out the basics of
    how it would function -- I'd use a simulation that accounted for size,
    shape, and material, lifted from Metamorphoses, and then allow the game
    to determine linkability from there. A while went into developing this
    system, which turned out to be a bit of a pain to code and require a lot
    of special cases. I find that this is typical for my game design in
    general: I get a bit of a feel for what the game will require, then
    design the system or systems that are going to be the backbone of
    interaction (conversation systems, simulation, whatever). Then I come up
    with particular things to do with the system and build the rest of the
    game.

    The next stage for Savoir was brain-storming up a bunch of puzzles and
    solutions, and then making a puzzle chart to show where they would occur
    and which things would lead to which others. The brainstorming was fun:
    I paged through the DM4 for different categories of puzzle. My basic
    plan was: take the most cliche'd, bog-standard puzzles in existence, and
    then force the player to solve them in a different way with the new
    system.

    Implementation ensued. This was the stage at which I developed the
    backstory of the game. I'd stick in a reference to a character early in
    the implementation process, and then I'd have to come up with a bunch of
    supporting material -- who is this person? where did they live? what
    were their interests? why did their relationship to the protagonist form
    up the way it did?

    I also did (a tiny amount of) research on the setting of the game -- a
    couple afternoons' worth of looking at antiques websites and reading up
    on the social situation just before the French Revolution. Of what I
    came up with, I used very little: it seemed too artificial and ludicrous
    for someone, even an aesthete like Pierre, to go around describing all
    the furniture he encountered with an antique dealer's vocabulary. "Now
    here is a nice rocaille console with a black-and-red marble top..."
    Period paintings turned out to be a lot more useful -- they gave a sense
    of how a whole room might have felt, as opposed to an image of a single
    table isolated in a studio.

    Then there was a lot of beta-testing. The main messages of the testing
    were that I'd provided too little help early in the game (which led to
    the addition of some simple early puzzles and extra ways to earn points)
    and that it took a bit more than my estimated 2-3 hours to play. I
    rounded this up to an estimate of 4 hours for the first release, and was
    soundly mocked. Oops. (It took me about 300 turns to play through to
    completion, so I figured: multiply that by 4, granting that someone who
    hasn't played it before will look around more, and you get a game of,
    say, 1200 turns. That doesn't really seem so big, right? Averaging
    several turns a minute, one should make nice steady progress...)

       SPAG: You're also serving as editor for an upcoming collection of "IF
       Theory" essays. Would you give us a little preview of what this
       project will include and when we can expect to see it?

    ES: Second question first: I expect that we won't get through with all
    of the proofreading, revising, layout, and printing arrangements until
    spring of next year. (I won't pin myself down to a month here; too many
    variables.)

    The book covers a bit of history, a bit of craft, and a bit of theory.
    (The list of specific articles is here:
    http://www.iftheory.com/topics2.html.) As far as history goes, we tried
    to cover things that haven't been presented extensively yet: discussion
    of the history of IF in languages other than English, the history of the
    Level 9 games, and so on. There's a broad coverage of specific issues
    that come up in writing IF, from planning your map to dealing with
    specific genres to beta-testing and finishing up. There's a new Graham
    Nelson article, which is quite cool.

    The idea here is both to provide practical advice for people doing game
    design and to serve as a talking point. I'm quite excited about the
    material that has been turned in so far, and I think we'll accomplish
    both of those things.

       SPAG: How has IF influenced your graduate studies?

    ES: In graduate seminars I've repeatedly found myself trying to
    extrapolate things about the development of ancient literary genres on
    the evidence of the development of IF. This doesn't necessarily get me
    very far, though. Also, don't try starting a sentence in a humanities
    grad seminar with, "Well, I'm in this internet community and I've
    noticed that people on usenet generally..."

       SPAG: How about the other way around?

    ES: Galatea, Metamorphoses, and to an extent Best of Three rely fairly
    extensively on classical references. Francesco Cordella referred to me
    once in a review as being unable to sleep unless I stuck Castor and
    Pollux into all my games. I've since tried to reduce that effect as much
    as possible.

       SPAG: Of the technical innovations you've introduced over the last
       couple of years, which ones are you the most excited about and why?

    ES: Hmm. From my point of view I've managed to raise more problems than
    I've solved.

    I once hoped to develop a comprehensive set of library extensions that
    would handle liquids, fire, frangible objects, ropes, and recording
    devices. This was more ignorance than hubris. As far as I can tell the
    real progress in terms of systematic simulationism is going on over in
    the camp of TADS 3 -- nifty sense-passing stuff, more complex ways to
    disallow actions, and so on. I'm eager to see what that develops into.

    I still want to do goal-seeking, conversational NPCs, too, but the task
    seems much more daunting to me than it did two years ago. I'd say that's
    what I care about most, at this point, though.

       SPAG: What are you planning to work on next?

    ES: I have assorted projects lying around at the moment, most of which
    in some way focus on expanded/more interactive NPCs. Preferably in a
    context where there's more to do than *just* talk to the NPC. We'll see.

    KEY TO SCORES AND REVIEWS--------------------------------------------------

    Consider the following review header:

    NAME: Cutthroats
    AUTHOR: Infocom
    EMAIL: ???
    DATE: September 1984
    PARSER: Infocom Standard
    SUPPORTS: Z-code (Infocom/Inform) interpreters
    AVAILABILITY: LTOI 2
    URL: Not available.

    When submitting reviews:  Try to fill in as much of this info as you can.
    If you choose, you may also provide scores for the games you review, as
    explained in the SPAG FAQ. The scores will be used in the ratings
    section.  Authors may not rate or review their own games.

    More elaborate descriptions of the rating and scoring systems may be found
    in the FAQ and in issue #9 of SPAG, which should be available at:

            ftp://ftp.ifarchive.org/if-archive/magazines/SPAG/
     and at http://www.sparkynet.com/spag

    REVIEWS -------------------------------------------------------------------

    From: Jim Cooper

    NAME: Depravity Bites
    AUTHOR: samjones
    EMAIL: samanthamisunderstood SP@G hotmail.com
    DATE: 2002
    PARSER: TADS standard
    SUPPORTS: TADS interpreters
    AVAILABILITY: Freeware
    URL: ftp://ftp.ifarchive.org/if-archive/games/tads/depravityBITES.zip
    VERSION: 1.4

    I read Stas Starkov's review of this game in SPAG 28 and wondered how
    much of his obvious dislike for it stemmed from the game's subject
    matter. Being quite broad-minded myself, I thought I'd download the game
    and see what it was all about. I really shouldn't have bothered.

    The game starts off with you waking up a prisoner in a cellar. Your
    naked girlfriend is chained up, and your first task is to try to free
    her. The game then proceeds through a series of tasks masterminded by
    the owner of the house you're in before culminating in a sex scene in
    the back of a van.

    Unfortunately, the game falls down not only on the content, which goes
    out of its way to be offensive rather than erotic, but is filled with
    numerous technical flaws, some of which make the some of the puzzles
    unnecessarily difficult -- you play "guess the verb" a few times, for
    example. Certain other flaws also make the big sex scene at the end
    laughable rather than arousing. To give a more specific example, at one
    point you are given an object to perform a task with. Later on, the game
    assumes you still have the object, whether you have dropped it since or
    not. These obvious flaws disrupt the flow of the game, destroying any
    sense of atmosphere that might otherwise build up.

    The puzzles themselves aren't actually too bad, although they were
    fairly easy -- I managed to complete it in about 4 hours without
    reference to the provided hint sheet. The game also comes with the
    source code, if the hint sheet isn't enough for you. One or two puzzles
    are quite difficult, the initial one for instance, which the game itself
    gives you hints about.

    All in all, this game isn't worth playing even if you are into this kind
    of thing. It deliberately sets out to shock rather than excite or
    interest and, for me, it failed to even do that. Sorry, samjones, but
    you can see far worse than this with just ten minutes on a decent
    internet search engine. If you are easily shocked, avoid this game. If
    you're not, this game will bore you. Even a dedicated sado-masochist
    will find nothing of interest here, unless putting up with all the
    errors counts as masochism.

    ATMOSPHERE: Technical errors interfere too much (0.3)
    GAMEPLAY: Bad parser, plagued by errors         (0.5)
    WRITING: Tries quite hard but, well, fails      (0.6)
    PLOT: Well, there is one, and it's reasonable   (1.2)
    WILDCARD: This really isn't a good game, so I'm
          not going to give it any Wildcard points. (0.0)
    TOTAL: Just don't bother.                       (2.6)

    -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

    From: Adam Myrow

    TITLE: First Things First
    AUTHOR: J. Robinson Wheeler
    EMAIL: rob.wheeler SP@G stanfordalumni.org
    DATE: February 2002
    PARSER: Tads 2.5.
    SUPPORTS: Standard Tads interpreters
    AVAILABILITY: If-archive, freeware
    URL: ftp://ftp.ifarchive.org/if-archive/games/tads/ftf.gam
         Also available: ftp://ftp.ifarchive.org/if-archive/games/tads/ftf_manual.pdf
    VERSION: 2.0 (02/20/2002)

    Have you ever wished you could go back in time and prevent a mistake?
    Have you ever wished all those time travel games would let you change
    things for the better rather than preserve history the way it is? Well,
    wish no more! First Things First is a recent game that lets you do just
    that. You start out in the present, as an eccentric person who dreams of
    building a time machine. You just came back from the library, where as
    usual, you were reading on the subject. It is late, so you were thinking
    of just going to sleep. However, you've done what we've all done in the
    past. You've locked yourself out of your house! The spare key is nowhere
    around. As you begin to hunt for your spare key, something else begins
    to get your attention. Why is the roof in such lousy shape after only 10
    years? What's this squirrel doing on my roof? Why didn't I ever plant a
    tree on the south side of my house? In the midst of all your wondering,
    a time machine appears, and the real game begins.

    This game reminds me of Curses in a lot of ways. Like Curses, you are
    doing something ordinary, and gradually get yourself into something
    else. Like Curses, this is a puzzle fest. It got the XYZZY award for
    best puzzles for a good reason. Most of the puzzles are very logical,
    and some have multiple solutions. For example, there are at least 2,
    maybe 3 ways to get rid of the dog, and 2 ways to repair the wheel
    barrow. Be warned, the game can be made unwinnable, so save early, and
    keep multiple saves especially before doing something that will put an
    item out of play. Be extremely careful with money! Some items serve no
    purpose, while others have multiple uses. Still others are optional
    depending on how you go about solving puzzles. There is a contraption
    called a herring detector which will tell you if something is a red
    herring or not. It really breaks the mimisis of the game, so I would
    advise not using it unless you are truly desperate.

    This game has a maze, but it has a solution that doesn't involve
    dropping things. The best part is that once you get through it, you
    never need to go through it again.

    Overall, I liked this game. It has a few bugs here and there, but no
    real show stoppers. It is refreshing to actually be able to do something
    about the past instead of being told to accept it for what it is. My
    only real complaint is that the ending leaves a few loose ends, and I
    think the environmental tone is a bit too obvious. Also, some
    descriptions are a bit awkward. There is one place where the word
    "prettily" appears twice in the same sentence. Other than that, it's not
    a bad game, and there is even an Easter Egg room with a unique surprise.
    I found it to be difficult, but not insanely so. Anybody who wants a
    good old-fashioned puzzle-filled IF experience, and has some time on
    their hands should give this one a try.

    -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

    From: Adrian J. Chung

    NAME: The Tale of the Kissing Bandit
    AUTHOR: J. Robinson Wheeler
    EMAIL: rob.wheeler SP@G stanfordalumni.org
    DATE: February 2001
    PARSER: Infocom Standard
    SUPPORTS: Z-code (Infocom/Inform) interpreters
    AVAILABILITY: Freeware
    URL: http://www.plover.net/~emily/smoochie/bandit.zip
    VERSION: Release 1 (SmoochieComp original)

    Oh this is sweet -- a delightful little story of a night of adventure.

    You play a mysterious secretive character who steals kisses from women
    caught unaware. The whole game is like this. Well, most of it. Really.
    Go play it if you have 5 minutes to spare. The game is as compact as it
    is amusing.

    The light-hearted mood is sustained by excellently conceived prose
    heavily peppered with overt prompting to move the player along. I found
    myself using verbs I would never think to use in any other game. There
    are no puzzles to speak of and the story is very much on rails after the
    first few rooms. It never ceases to amaze me what can be accomplished
    with such sparse geometry, objects, and NPC interaction -- a sign of
    very effective writing.

    And lastly, if you haven't done so already, play through "Shade" (Zarf's
    Comp 2000 entry) prior to this one for maximum effect. That should quiet
    any feelings of missing out that those who're not ifmud regulars may
    have.

    -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

    From: Adrian J. Chung

    NAME: Voices
    AUTHOR: Aris Katsaris
    EMAIL: katsaris SP@G otenet.gr
    DATE: February 2001
    PARSER: Infocom Standard
    SUPPORTS: Z-code (Infocom/Inform) interpreters
    AVAILABILITY: Freeware
    URL: http://www.plover.net/~emily/smoochie/voices.z5
    VERSION: Release 1 (SmoochieComp original)

    I debated with myself whether or not I should submit a review for this
    one. The recent jump in the adventure gaming audience swayed me in the
    affirmative. Stating that newcomers who were expecting a game are in for
    a surprise would be a bit of an understatement. The opening text:

       Voices
       An Interactive Romance
       (...)
       Ladies' Tree
       We like to play and dance in this place around the tall beech,
       (...)  but I've never seen them myself. Nor have I ventured alone
       much to the south of here - the town of Domremy is in the north.

    suggests a romance told in the first person -- features of the Comp98
    2nd place game, "Muse". As it turns out, this work really orbits in the
    same system as the Comp98 1st placer, "Photopia". The tightly scripted
    (almost on rails) story and heavy reliance on "talk to" are the features
    to which I refer. Not to mention the interface manipulation gimmicks
    pioneered by "Shrapnel" -- one gimmick is also to be found in another
    SmoochieComp game, "Pytho's Mask". Enough references for you?

    There's not much more I can say without contributing to the spoilery for
    a work as short as this -- it takes no more than ten minutes to
    experience. The prose conveys some rather strong emotions via a story
    design that can be debated for days, which is exactly what happened on
    r*if. If emotional impact per line of non-library source code were a
    valid measure, this would probably rank as high as Photopia or Shade;
    perhaps even higher due to the sparse implementation. It takes courage
    to use the minicomp format (and SmoochieComp, no less!) to tackle much
    debated philosophy and religious theology. Admittedly my Catholic
    upbringing could be a factor in my slight disagreement in the portrayal
    of some of the major characters. It was also disconcerting to have to
    make decisions for them at critical points in the story. The rapid
    switching of person perspectives -- between 1st and 2nd, interspersed
    with 3rd -- only added to this discomfort. Maybe this was intentional.

    At least it avoids the risks of trivialising the belief systems of a
    major religion as can often happen in this medium. This is testimony to
    the author's writing skill and well-planned design. Did I mention the
    historical setting? There is almost too much packed into something of
    this size. Does it work? I'd venture a conditional yes. But like I said,
    it depends greatly on what expectations you bring to the table. Perhaps
    that's why it was released in a minicomp.

    READERS' SCOREBOARD: THE FINAL CHAPTER ------------------------------------

    As I mentioned in the editorial section, this issue's SPAG scoreboard
    will be the last, so what you see here is what will remain. For those of
    you unfamiliar with the concept of this scoreboard, it was an ongoing
    feature of SPAG, charting the scores that SPAG readers and reviewers
    gave to various IF games from the time SPAG began. The codes in the
    Notes column give information as to a game's availability and the
    platforms on which it runs. For a translation of these codes and for
    more detailed information on the scoreboard's format, see the first
    issue of SPAG, available at ftp.ifarchive.org or on the SPAG web page at
    http://www.sparkynet.com/spag.

    Name                   Avg Sc     Chr     Puz # Sc  Issue Notes:
    ====                   ======     ===     === ====  ===== ======
    1-2-3...                  4.1     0.9     0.5    3     23 F_INF_ARC
    9:05                      6.6     0.7     0.5   11     20 F_INF_ARC
    Aayela                    7.0     1.0     1.3    6     10 F_TAD_ARC
    Abbey                     6.8     0.6     1.4    1     24 S10_I_ARC
    Above and Beyond          7.3     1.5     1.6    5     24 F_TAD_ARC
    Acid Whiplash             5.2     0.7     0.2    5     17 F_INF_ARC
    Acorn Court               6.1     0.5     1.5    2     12 F_INF_ARC
    Ad Verbum                 7.4     0.9     1.7    3     23 F_INF_ARC
    Adv. of Elizabeth Hig     3.1     0.5     0.3    2      5 F_AGT_ARC
    Adventure (all varian     6.6     0.7     1.2   16   8,22 F_INF_TAD_ETC_ARC
    Adventureland             4.4     0.5     1.1    6        F_INF_ARC
    Adventures of Helpful     7.0     1.3     0.9    2        F_TAD_ARC
    Aftermath                 4.0     0.7     0.7    1        F_TAD_ARC
    Afternoon Visit           4.1     1.0     0.8    1        F_AGT
    Aisle                     6.8     1.4     0.2   11     18 F_INF_ARC
    Alien Abduction?          7.5     1.3     1.4    5 10, 26 F_TAD_ARC
    All Alone                 8.2     1.3     0.7    2     22 F_TAD_ARC
    All Quiet...Library       5.0     0.9     0.9    6      7 F_INF_ARC
    All Roads                 8.1     1.4     1.2    2        F_INF_ARC
    Amnesia                   6.9     1.5     1.3    4      9 C_AP_I_64
    Anchorhead                8.7     1.7     1.5   29     18 F_INF_ARC
    And The Waves...          7.9     1.5     1.1    2     23 F_INF_ARC
    Another...No Beer         2.4     0.2     0.8    2      4 S10_I_ARC
    Arrival                   7.9     1.3     1.4    5     17 F_TAD_ARC
    Arthur: Excalibur         8.0     1.3     1.6    44,14,22 C_INF
    Asendent                  1.7     0.0     0.3    1        F_INF_ARC
    At Wit's End              7.1     1.2     1.3    1     23 F_TAD_ARC
    Augmented Fourth          7.9     1.2     1.6    7     22 F_INF_ARC
    Aunt Nancy's House        1.3     0.1     0.0    2        F_INF_ARC
    Awakened                  7.7     1.7     1.6    1
    Awakening                 5.9     1.1     1.1    3  15,18 F_INF_ARC
    Awe-Chasm                 3.0     0.7     0.7    2      8 S_I_ST_ARC
    Babel                     8.5     1.7     1.3   11     13 F_INF_ARC
    Balances                  6.6     0.7     1.2    9      6 F_INF_ARC
    Ballyhoo                  7.3     1.5     1.5    6      4 C_INF
    Bear's Night Out          7.3     1.1     1.3    7     13 F_INF_ARC
    Beat The Devil            5.5     1.2     1.1    4     19 F_INF_ARC
    Begegnung am Fluss        5.6     0.8     1.4    1        F_I_ARC
    Being Andrew Plotkin      7.5     1.5     1.1    2     23 F_INF_ARC
    Best Man                  5.2     0.8     1.2    2        F_INF_ARC
    Beyond the Tesseract      5.0     0.8     0.9    2      6 F_I_ARC
    Beyond Zork               7.6     1.5     1.7   11  5, 14 C_INF
    Big Mama                  5.4     1.2     0.6    3     23 F_INF_ARC
    BJ Drifter                6.5     1.2     1.2    5     15 F_INF_ARC
    Bliss                     6.3     1.1     0.8    4     20 F_TAD_ARC
    Bloodline                 7.7     1.4     1.1    2     15 F_INF_ARC
    Border Zone               7.2     1.4     1.4    7      4 C_INF
    Breakers                  7.5     1.5     1.1    1        C_I_AP_M_64_S
    Break-In                  6.1     1.1     1.4    3     21 F_INF_ARC
    Breaking The Code         0.4     0.0     0.0    2        F_INF_ARC
    Brimstone: The Dream.     6.5     1.4     1.1    1        C_I_AP_M_64_S
    Broken String             3.9     0.7     0.4    4        F_TADS_ARC
    BSE                       5.7     0.9     1.0    3        F_INF_ARC
    Bureaucracy               7.1     1.5     1.4   13      5 C_INF
    Busted                    5.1     1.1     0.9    2     25 F_INF_ARC
    Calliope                  4.7     0.9     0.8    3        F_INF_ARC
    Carma                     8.0     1.9     1.2    1        F_GLU_ARC
    Cask                      1.5     0.0     0.5    2        F_INF_ARC
    Castaway                  1.1     0.0     0.4    1      5 F_I_ARC
    Castle Amnos              4.6     1.0     0.8    2        F_INF_ARC
    Castle Elsinore           4.3     0.7     1.0    2        I_ARC
    Cattus Atrox              4.9     1.2     0.8    1     17 F_INF_ARC
    Cave of Morpheus          5.4     1.3     1.0    1        F_ADR_ARC
    CC                        4.2     0.4     1.0    1        F_ALAN_ARC
    Change in the Weather     7.5     1.0     1.3   14 7,8,14 F_INF_ARC
    Chaos                     5.6     1.3     1.1    2        F_TAD_ARC
    Chicken under Window      6.6     0.8     0.3    4        F_INF_ARC
    Chicks Dig Jerks          5.2     1.1     0.7    9     19 F_INF_ARC
    Chico and I Ran           7.2     1.7     1.1    1        F_INF_ARC
    Christminster             8.3     1.6     1.6   21     20 F_INF_ARC
    Circus                    3.4     0.5     0.8    1
    City                      6.1     0.6     1.3    2     17 F_INF_ARC
    Clock                     3.7     0.8     0.6    1        F_TAD_ARC
    Coke Is It!               5.6     1.0     0.9    3        F_INF_ARC
    Coming Home               0.6     0.1     0.1    1        F_INF_ARC
    Common Ground             7.1     1.6     0.3    3     20 F_TAD_ARC
    Commute                   1.3     0.2     0.1    1        F_I_ARC
    Comp00ter Game            0.9     0.1     0.1    1        F_INF_ARC
    Congratulations!          2.6     0.7     0.3    1        F_INF_ARC
    Corruption                7.2     1.6     1.0    4 14, 21 C_MAG
    Cosmoserve                7.8     1.4     1.4    5      5 F_AGT_ARC
    Cove                      6.5     0.8     0.7    4     22 F_INF_ARC
    Crimson Spring            6.9     1.5     1.2    1        F_HUG_ARC
    Crypt v2.0                5.0     1.0     1.5    1      3 S12_IBM_ARC
    Curses                    8.0     1.2     1.7   20  2, 22 F_INF_ARC
    Cutthroats                5.7     1.3     1.1    9      1 C_INF
    Dampcamp                  5.0     0.8     1.1    3        F_TAD_ARC
    Danger! Adventurer...     3.2     0.3     0.7    1        F_INF_ARC
    Dangerous Curves          8.6     1.5     1.6    1     24 F_INF_ARC
    Day For Soft Food         6.8     1.0     1.3    5     19 F_INF_ARC
    Deadline                  6.9     1.3     1.3    9     20 C_INF
    Death To My Enemies       4.4     0.9     0.7    4        F_INF_ARC
    Deep Space Drifter        5.6     0.4     1.1    3      3 S15_TAD_ARC
    Deephome                  4.0     0.5     0.9    2     21 F_INF_ARC
    Degeneracy                8.7     1.5     1.3    1     25 F_INF_ARC
    Delusions                 7.9     1.5     1.5    5      14F_INF_ARC
    Demon's Tomb              7.4     1.2     1.1    2      9 C_I
    Depravity Bites           2.6     0.5     0.5    1  28,29 F_TAD_ARC
    Desert Heat               6.0     1.3     0.7    1     23 F_TAD_ARC
    Detective                 1.0     0.0     0.0    9 4,5,18 F_AGT_INF_ARC
    Detective-MST3K           6.0     1.2     0.2   10 7,8,18 F_INF_ARC
    Dinner With Andre         7.2     1.6     1.4    1     23 F_INF_ARC
    Ditch Day Drifter         6.3     0.9     1.6    5      2 F_TAD_ARC
    Djinni Chronicles         7.1     1.1     1.1    3     23 F_INF_ARC
    Down                      6.0     1.0     1.2    1     14 F_HUG_ARC
    Downtown Tokyo            6.1     0.9     1.0    6     17 F_INF_ARC
    Dragon Hunt               5.4     0.5     0.5    1        F_HUG_ARC
    Dungeon                   6.2     1.0     1.6    3        F_ARC
    Dungeon Adventure         6.8     1.3     1.6    1      4 F_ETC
    Dungeon of Dunjin         6.0     0.7     1.5    5  3, 14 S20_IBM_MAC_ARC
    Edifice                   8.0     1.4     1.8   10     13 F_INF_ARC
    Eins Swei Spiegelei       5.0     1.1     1.0    1        F_ARC
    Electrabot                0.7     0.0     0.0    1      5 F_AGT_ARC
    E-Mailbox                 3.1     0.1     0.2    2        F_AGT_ARC
    Emy Discovers Life        5.0     1.1     0.8    3        F_AGT
    Enchanter                 7.3     1.1     1.5   10   2,15 C_INF
    End Means Escape          6.1     1.4     1.1    1     23 F_TAD_ARC
    Enhanced                  5.0     1.0     1.3    2      2 S10_TAD_ARC
    Enlightenment             6.5     1.1     1.5    3     17 F_INF_ARC
    Erehwon                   6.2     1.2     1.5    4     19 F_TAD_ARC
    Eric the Unready          7.4     1.4     1.4    6        C_I
    Essex                     5.7     1.2     0.9    1        C_I_AP_M_64_ST
    Everybody Loves a Par     7.0     1.2     1.2    3     12 F_TAD_ARC
    Exhibition                6.2     1.4     0.3    6     19 F_TAD_ARC
    Fable                     2.0     0.1     0.1    3      6 F_AGT_ARC
    Fable-MST3K               4.0     0.5     0.2    4        F_AGT_INF_ARC
    FailSafe                  7.5     1.0     1.0    1  24,25 F_INF_ARC
    Fear                      6.3     1.2     1.3    3 10, 24 F_INF_ARC
    Fifteen                   1.5     0.5     0.4    1     17 F_INF_ARC
    Firebird                  7.1     1.5     1.3    4     15 F_TAD_ARC
    Fish                      7.5     1.3     1.7    4 12, 14 C_MAG
    Foggywood Hijinx          6.2     1.2     1.3    3     21 F_TAD_ARC
    Foom                      6.6     1.0     1.0    1        F_TAD_ARC
    For A Change              8.0     0.9     1.3    6 19, 22 F_INF_ARC
    Forbidden Castle          4.8     0.6     0.5    1        C_AP
    Four In One               4.4     1.2     0.5    2        F_TAD_ARC
    Four Seconds              6.0     1.2     1.1    2        F_TAD_ARC
    Frenetic Five             5.3     1.4     0.5    3     13 F_TAD_ARC
    Frenetic Five 2           6.6     1.5     1.0    3 21, 22 F_TAD_ARC
    Friday Afternoon          6.3     1.4     1.2    1     13 F_INF_ARC
    Frobozz Magic Support     7.2     1.2     1.5    3        F_TAD_ARC
    Frozen                    5.5     0.7     1.3    1        F_INF_ARC
    Fusillade                 7.1     1.5     0.3    1        F_TAD_ARC
    Frustration               5.7     1.1     0.9    1     21 F_TAD_ARC
    Futz Mutz                 5.3     1.0     1.1    1        F_TAD_ARC
    Galatea                   7.4     1.8     0.9    5     22 F_INF_ARC
    Gateway                   8.6     1.4     1.8    7     11 C_I
    Gateway 2: Homeworld      9.0     1.7     1.9    6     24 C_I
    Gerbil Riot of '67        6.3     0.7     1.1    1        F_TAD_ARC
    Glowgrass                 6.9     1.3     1.3    5     13 F_INF_ARC
    Gnome Ranger              5.8     1.2     1.6    1        C_I
    Golden Fleece             6.0     1.0     1.1    1     21 F_TAD_ARC
    Golden Wombat of Dest     6.3     0.7     1.1    1     18 F_I_ARC
    Good Breakfast            4.9     0.9     1.2    2     14 F_INF_ARC
    Got ID?                   6.2     1.4     1.0    1        F_INF_ARC
    Great Archeolog. Race     6.5     1.0     1.5    1      3 S20_TAD_ARC
    Guardians of Infinity     8.5             1.3    1      9 C_I
    Guess The Verb!           6.5     1.2     1.4    2     23 F_INF_ARC
    Guild of Thieves          7.1     1.1     1.5    5     14 C_MAG
    Guilty Bastards           6.9     1.4     1.2    5     22 F_HUG_ARC
    Guitar...Immortal Bar     3.0     0.0     0.0    1        F_INF_ARC
    Gumshoe                   6.2     1.0     1.1    7      9 F_INF_ARC
    Halothane                 6.6     1.3     1.2    4     19 F_INF_ARC
    Happy Ever After          4.6     0.5     1.2    1        F_INF_ARC
    HeBGB Horror              5.7     0.9     1.1    2        F_ALAN_ARC
    Heist                     6.7     1.4     1.5    2        F_INF_ARC
    Hero, Inc.                6.8     1.0     1.5    2        F_TAD_ARC
    Heroes                    7.9     1.8     1.6    1        F_INF_ARC
    Hitchhiker's Guide        7.3     1.3     1.5   16      5 C_INF
    Hobbit - The True Sto     5.9     1.1     0.8    1     26 S10_I_ARC
    Hollywood Hijinx          6.3     0.9     1.5   12        C_INF
    Holy Grail                6.2     0.9     1.2    1     21 F_TAD_ARC
    Horror of Rylvania        7.2     1.4     1.4    5      1 F_TAD_ARC
    Horror30.zip              3.7     0.3     0.7    2      3 S20_I_ARC
    Human Resources Stori     0.9     0.0     0.1    2     17 F_INF_ARC
    Humbug                    7.4     1.6     1.3    4 11, 24 F_I_ARC
    Hunter, In Darkness       7.3     0.9     1.4    7     19 F_INF_ARC
    I didn't know...yodel     4.0     0.7     1.0    5     17 F_I_ARC
    I-0: Jailbait on Inte     7.7     1.5     1.2   22     20 F_INF_ARC
    Ice Princess              7.5     1.4     1.6    2        A_INF_ARC
    In The End                4.8     0.6     0.2    3     10 F_INF_ARC
    In The Spotlight          3.2     0.2     1.0    2     17 F_INF_ARC
    Infidel                   6.9     0.2     1.4   15      1 C_INF
    Infil-Traitor             2.9     0.1     0.7    1        F_I_ARC
    Informatory               5.5     0.5     1.3    1     17 F_INF_ARC
    Ingrid's Back             7.0     1.6     1.6    2        C_I
    Inheritance               5.0     0.3     1.0    3     20 F_TAD_ARC
    Inhumane                  4.4     0.3     0.9    4  9, 20 F_INF_ARC
    Intruder                  6.7     1.3     1.1    4     20 F_INF_ARC
    Invasion of... Jupite     1.9     0.3     0.6    1        F_I_ARC
    Jacaranda Jim             7.5     1.0     0.9    3     24 F_ARC
    Jacks...Aces To Win       7.1     1.3     1.2    3     19 F_INF_ARC
    Jarod's Journey           2.5     0.5     0.3    1        F_TAD_ARC
    Jewel of Knowledge        6.3     1.2     1.1    3     18 F_INF_ARC
    Jeweled Arena             7.0     1.4     1.3    2        AGT_ARC
    Jigsaw                    8.2     1.6     1.6   19    8,9 F_INF_ARC
    Jinxter                   6.1     0.9     1.3    3        C_MAG
    John's Fire Witch         6.5     1.0     1.5    9  4, 12 S6_TADS_ARC
    Jouney Into Xanth         5.0     1.3     1.2    1      8 F_AGT_ARC
    Journey                   7.2     1.5     1.3    5      5 C_INF
    Jump                      3.2     0.5     0.7    1        F_INF_ARC
    Kaged                     7.0     1.1     1.1    4 23, 25 F_INF_ARC
    King Arthur's Night O     5.9     0.9     1.0    4     19 F_ALAN_ARC
    Kissing the Buddha's      7.9     1.8     1.5    6     10 F_TAD_ARC
    Klaustrophobia            6.4     1.1     1.3    6      1 S15_AGT_ARC
    Knight Orc                7.2     1.4     1.1    2     15 C_I
    L.U.D.I.T.E.              2.7     0.2     0.1    4        F_INF_ARC
    Lancelot                  6.9     1.4     1.2    1        C_I
    Land Beyond Picket Fe     4.8     1.2     1.2    1     10 F_I_ARC
    LASH                      7.6     1.3     1.0    5     21 F_INF_ARC
    Leather Goddesses         7.2     1.3     1.5   12      4 C_INF
    Leaves                    3.4     0.2     0.8    1     14 F_ALAN_ARC
    Legend Lives!             8.2     1.2     1.4    4      5 F_TAD_ARC
    Lesson of the Tortois     6.9     1.3     1.4    5     14 F_TAD_ARC
    Lethe Flow Phoenix        6.9     1.4     1.5    5      9 F_TAD_ARC
    Letters From Home         7.0     0.6     1.2    2        F_INF_ARC
    Life on Beal Street       5.4     1.3     0.1    3        F_TAD_ARC
    Light: Shelby's Adden     7.5     1.5     1.3    6      9 S_TAD_ARC
    Lightiania                1.9     0.2     0.4    1        F_INF_ARC
    Lists and Lists           6.3     1.3     1.1    3     10 F_INF_ARC
    Little Billy              1.1     0.4     0.0    1        F_I_ARC
    Little Blue Men           8.2     1.4     1.5   11     17 F_INF_ARC
    Lock And Key              6.6     1.0     1.5    1     20 F_GLU_ARC
    Lomalow                   4.6     1.0     0.6    3     19 F_INF_ARC
    Losing Your Grip          8.5     1.4     1.4    6      14S20_TAD_ARC
    Lost New York             7.9     1.4     1.4    4 20, 26 S12_TAD_ARC
    Lost Spellmaker           6.3     1.3     1.1    5     13 F_INF_ARC
    Lunatix: Insanity Cir     5.6     1.2     1.0    3        F_I_ARC
    Lurking Horror            7.2     1.3     1.4   16    1,3 C_INF
    MacWesleyan / PC Univ     5.1     0.7     1.2    3        F_TAD_ARC
    Madame L'Estrange...      5.1     1.2     0.7    1     13 F_INF_ARC
    Magic Toyshop             5.2     1.1     1.1    5      7 F_INF_ARC
    Magic.zip                 4.5     0.5     0.5    1      3 S20_IBM_ARC
    Maiden of the Moonlig     6.4     1.3     1.5    2     10 F_TAD_ARC
    Masque of the Last...     4.7     1.1     0.8    1        F_INF_ARC
    Masquerade                7.3     1.6     1.0    1     23 F_INF_ARC
    Matter of Time            1.4     0.3     1.4    1      14F_ALAN_ARC
    Mercy                     7.3     1.4     1.2    6     12 F_INF_ARC
    Metamorphoses             6.8     0.8     1.3    2     23 F_INF_ARC
    Meteor...Sherbet          8.0     1.5     1.6    9 10, 12 F_INF_ARC
    Mind Electric             5.2     0.6     0.9    4    7,8 F_INF_ARC
    Mind Forever Voyaging     8.4     1.4     0.9   15   5,15 C_INF
    Mindwheel                 8.5     1.6     1.5    1        C_I
    Mission                   6.0     1.2     1.4    1     21 F_TAD_ARC
    Moist                     6.4     1.3     1.1    5        F_TAD_ARC
    Moment of Hope            5.0     1.3     0.3    3     19 F_TAD_ARC
    Moonmist                  6.3     1.3     1.0   17      1 C_INF
    Mop & Murder              5.0     0.9     1.0    2      5 F_AGT_ARC
    Mother Loose              7.0     1.5     1.3    2     17 F_INF_ARC
    Mulldoon Legacy           7.4     1.2     1.8    1     24 F_INF_ARC
    Multidimen. Thief         5.6     0.5     1.3    6    2,9 S15_AGT_ARC
    Muse                      7.9     1.5     1.2    4     17 F_INF_ARC
    Music Education           3.7     1.0     0.7    3        F_INF_ARC
    My Angel                  8.2     1.8     1.4    2     23 F_INF_ARC
    Myopia                    6.1     1.3     0.6    2        F_AGT_ARC
    Mystery House             4.1     0.3     0.7    1        F_AP_ARC
    Nevermore                 7.2     1.5     1.4    1     23 F_INF_ARC
    New Day                   6.6     1.4     1.1    4     13 F_INF_ARC
    Night At Computer Cen     5.2     1.0     1.0    2        F_INF_ARC
    Night at Museum Forev     4.2     0.3     1.0    4    7,8 F_TAD_ARC
    Night of... Bunnies       6.6     1.0     1.4    1        I_INF_ARC
    No Time To Squeal         8.6     1.6     1.5    1        F_TAD_ARC
    Nord and Bert             6.1     0.6     1.2    9      4 C_INF
    Not Just A Game           6.9     1.0     1.3    1     20 F_INF_ARC
    Not Just... Ballerina     5.3     0.8     0.9    3     20 F_INF_ARC
    Obscene...Aardvarkbar     3.2     0.6     0.6    1        F_TAD_ARC
    Odieus...Flingshot        3.3     0.4     0.7    2      5 F_INF_ARC
    Of Forms Unknown          4.5     0.7     0.5    1     10 F_INF_ARC
    Offensive Probing         4.2     0.6     0.9    1        F_INF_ARC
    On The Farm               6.5     1.6     1.2    2     19 F_TAD_ARC
    On The Other Side         2.2     0.0     0.0    1        F_I_ARC
    Once and Future           6.9     1.6     1.5    2     16 F_TAD_ARC
    One That Got Away         6.4     1.4     1.1    7    7,8 F_TAD_ARC
    Only After Dark           4.6     0.8     0.6    4        F_INF_ARC
    Oo-Topos                  5.7     0.2     1.0    1      9 C_AP_I_64
    Outsided                  2.5     0.7     0.2    2        F_INF_ARC
    Pass the Banana           2.9     0.8     0.5    3     19 F_INF_ARC
    Path to Fortune           6.6     1.5     0.9    3      9 S_INF_ARC
    Pawn                      6.3     1.1     1.3    2     12 C_MAG
    Perilous Magic            5.7     1.0     1.2    3     21 F_INF_ARC
    Perseus & Andromeda       3.5     0.4     0.9    2        64_INF_ARC
    Persistence of Memory     6.2     1.2     1.1    1     17 F_HUG_ARC
    Phlegm                    5.2     1.2     1.0    2     10 F_INF_ARC
    Photopia                  7.4     1.5     0.7   29     17 F_INF_ARC
    Phred Phontious...Piz     5.2     0.9     1.3    2     13 F_INF_ARC
    Pickpocket                4.1     0.6     0.8    1        F_INF_ARC
    Piece of Mind             6.3     1.3     1.4    1     10 F_INF_ARC
    Pintown                   1.3     0.3     0.2    1        F_INF_ARC
    Pirate's Cove             4.8     0.6     0.6    1        F_INF_ARC
    Planet of Infinite Mi     6.8     1.1     1.3    1     23 F_TAD_ARC
    Planetfall                7.3     1.6     1.4   15      4 C_INF
    Plant                     7.3     1.2     1.5    4     17 F_TAD_ARC
    Plundered Hearts          7.4     1.4     1.3   11      4 C_INF
    Poor Zefron's Almanac     5.6     1.0     1.3    3     13 F_TAD_ARC
    Portal                    8.0     1.7     0.2    3        C_I_A_AP_64
    Prodly The Puffin         5.8     1.3     1.1    2     23 F_INF_ARC
    Punk Points               6.4     1.4     1.3    1        F_INF_ARC
    Purple                    5.6     0.9     1.0    1     17 F_INF_ARC
    Pyramids of Mars          5.8     1.2     1.1    2     24 AGT_ARC
    Quarterstaff              6.1     1.3     0.6    1      9 C_M
    Ralph                     7.1     1.6     1.2    3 10, 25 F_INF_ARC
    Rameses                   8.0     1.6     0.4    2     23 F_INF_ARC
    Rematch                   7.9     1.5     1.6    1     22 F_TAD_ARC
    Remembrance               2.7     0.8     0.2    3        F_ARC
    Reruns                    5.2     1.2     1.2    1        AGT_ARC
    Research Dig              4.8     1.1     0.8    2     17 F_INF_ARC
    Revenger                  4.2     0.8     0.5    1        F_INF_ARC
    Reverberations            5.6     1.3     1.1    1     10 F_INF_ARC
    Ritual of Purificatio     7.0     1.6     1.1    4     17 F_ARC
    Saied                     4.6     1.0     0.2    1     15 F_INF_ARC
    Sanity Claus              7.5     0.3     0.6    2      1 S10_AGT_ARC
    Save Princeton            5.6     1.0     1.3    5      8 S10_TAD_ARC
    Scapeghost                8.1     1.7     1.5    1      6 C_I
    Sea Of Night              5.7     1.3     1.1    2        F_TAD_ARC
    Seastalker                5.2     1.1     0.8   11      4 C_INF
    Shade                     8.5     0.7     1.0    2     23 F_INF_ARC
    Shades of Grey            7.8     1.3     1.3    6   2, 8 F_AGT_ARC
    Sherlock                  7.0     1.3     1.4    5      4 C_INF
    She's Got a Thing...S     7.0     1.7     1.6    3     13 F_INF_ARC
    Shogun                    7.0     1.2     0.6    2      4 C_INF
    Shrapnel                  7.5     1.4     0.5    7     20 F_INF_ARC
    Simple Theft              5.8     1.3     0.8    1     20 F_TAD_ARC
    Sins against Mimesis      5.5     1.0     1.2    3     13 F_INF_ARC
    Sir Ramic... Gorilla      6.0     1.2     1.2    2      6 F_AGT_ARC
    Six Stories               6.3     1.0     1.2    4     19 F_TAD_ARC
    Skyranch                  2.8     0.5     0.7    1     20 F_I_ARC
    Small World               6.5     1.3     1.1    4 10, 24 F_TAD_ARC
    So Far                    8.0     1.1     1.4   13 12, 25 F_INF_ARC
    Sorcerer                  7.2     0.6     1.6    7   2,15 C_INF
    Sound of... Clapping      7.1     1.3     1.3    8      5 F_ADVSYS_ARC
    South American Trek       0.9     0.2     0.5    1      5 F_IBM_ARC
    Space Aliens...Cardig     1.5     0.4     0.3    6   3, 4 S60_AGT_ARC
    Space under Window        7.1     0.9     0.4    6     12 F_INF_ARC
    Spacestation              5.6     0.7     1.1    1        F_INF_ARC
    Spellbreaker              8.5     1.2     1.8    8   2,15 C_INF
    Spellcasting 101          7.4     1.1     1.5    4        C_I
    Spellcasting 201          7.8     1.6     1.7    2        C_I
    Spellcasting 301          6.0     1.2     1.2    2        C_I
    Spider and Web            8.6     1.7     1.7   19      14F_INF_ARC
    SpiritWrak                6.7     1.2     1.3    6     22 F_INF_ARC
    Spodgeville...Wossnam     4.3     0.7     1.2    2        F_INF_ARC
    Spur                      7.1     1.3     1.1    2      9 F_HUG_ARC
    Spyder and Jeb            6.2     1.1     1.4    1        F_TAD_ARC
    Starcross                 6.6     1.0     1.2    7      1 C_INF
    Stargazer                 5.4     1.1     1.1    1        F_INF_ARC
    Starrider                 7.2     1.2     1.4    1        F_INF_ARC
    Stationfall               7.7     1.6     1.5    7      5 C_INF
    Statuette                 3.7     0.0     0.1    1        F_INF_ARC
    Stick It To The Man       6.2     1.8     1.0    1        F_GLU_ARC
    Stiffy                    1.2     0.1     0.2    2        F_INF_ARC
    Stiffy - MiSTing          4.1     0.8     0.3    7        F_INF_ARC
    Stone Cell                6.0     1.1     1.0    3     19 F_TAD_ARC
    Stranded                  6.4     1.4     1.5    1        F_TAD_ARC
    Strange Odyssey           4.0     0.0     1.0    1
    Strangers In The Nigh     3.2     0.7     0.6    2        F_TAD_ARC
    Stupid Kittens            2.9     0.6     0.4    2        F_INF_ARC
    Sunset Over Savannah      8.7     1.7     1.4    6     13 F_TAD_ARC
    Suspect                   6.2     1.3     1.1    8      4 C_INF
    Suspended                 7.7     1.5     1.4    8      8 C_INF
    Sylenius Mysterium        4.7     1.2     1.1    1     13 F_INF_ARC
    Symetry                   1.1     0.1     0.1    2        F_INF_ARC
    Tapestry                  7.3     1.4     0.9    6 10, 14 F_INF_ARC
    Tempest                   5.3     1.4     0.6    3     13 F_INF_ARC
    Temple of the Orc Mag     4.5     0.1     0.8    2        F_TAD_ARC
    Terror of Mecha Godzi     4.6     0.8     0.6    1     26 S10_I_ARC
    Test                      1.9     0.1     0.4    1        F_ADR_ARC
    Textfire Golf             7.1     1.3     0.4    2     25 F_INF_ARC
    Theatre                   7.0     1.1     1.3   13      6 F_INF_ARC
    Thorfinn's Realm          3.5     0.5     0.7    2        F_INF_ARC
    Threading the Labyrin     1.9     0.0     0.0    1        F_TAD_ARC
    Time: All Things...       3.9     1.2     0.9    2 11, 12 F_INF_ARC
    TimeQuest                 8.0     1.2     1.6    4        C_I
    TimeSquared               4.3     1.1     1.1    1        F_AGT_ARC
    Toonesia                  5.8     1.1     1.1    6  7, 21 F_TAD_ARC
    Tossed into Space         3.9     0.2     0.6    1      4 F_AGT_ARC
    Town Dragon               3.9     0.8     0.3    2 14, 22 F_INF_ARC
    Transfer                  7.6     1.0     1.6    2     23 F_INF_ARC
    Trapped...Dilly           5.1     0.1     1.1    2     17 F_INF_ARC
    Travels in Land of Er     6.1     1.2     1.5    2     14 F_INF_ARC
    Trinity                   8.7     1.4     1.7   18    1,2 C_INF
    Trip                      5.4     1.2     1.1    2        F_TAD_ARC
    Tryst of Fate             7.1     1.4     1.3    1     11 F_INF_ARC
    Tube Trouble              4.2     0.8     0.7    2      8 F_INF_ARC
    Tyler's Great Cube Ga     5.8     0.0     1.7    1        S_TAD_ARC
    Uncle Zebulon's Will      7.3     1.0     1.5   12      8 F_TAD_ARC
    Underoos That Ate NY      4.5     0.6     0.9    3        F_TAD_INF_ARC
    Undertow                  5.4     1.3     0.9    3      8 F_TAD_ARC
    Undo                      2.9     0.5     0.7    4      7 F_TAD_ARC
    Unholy Grail              6.0     1.2     1.2    1     13 F_I_ARC
    Unnkulian One-Half        6.7     1.2     1.5    9      1 F_TAD_ARC
    Unnkulian Unventure 1     6.9     1.2     1.5    8    1,2 F_TAD_ARC
    Unnkulian Unventure 2     7.2     1.2     1.5    5      1 F_TAD_ARC
    Unnkulian Zero            8.4     0.7     0.8    21,12,14 F_TAD_ARC
    Varicella                 8.2     1.6     1.5    9     18 F_INF_ARC
    Veritas                   6.6     1.3     1.4    4        S10_TAD_ARC
    Vindaloo                  2.9     0.0     0.4    1        F_INF_ARC
    VirtuaTech                6.1     0.0     1.2    1        F_TAD_ARC
    VOID: Corporation         3.2     0.4     0.8    1        F_AGT_ARC
    Water Bird                5.0     1.1     0.8    1        F_TAD_ARC
    Waystation                5.5     0.7     1.0    4      9 F_TAD_ARC
    Weapon                    6.8     1.1     1.4    1     26 F_INF_ARC
    Wearing the Claw          6.5     1.2     1.2    7 10, 18 F_INF_ARC
    Wedding                   7.4     1.6     1.3    3     12 F_INF_ARC
    What-IF?                  1.6     0.0     0.0    2        F_INF_ARC
    Where Evil Dwells         5.1     0.8     1.1    1        F_INF_ARC
    Winchester's Nightmar     6.9     1.5     0.5    1     22 F_INF_ARC
    Winter Wonderland         7.6     1.3     1.2    7     19 F_INF_ARC
    Wishbringer               7.6     1.3     1.3   16    5,6 C_INF
    Withdrawal Symptoms       4.4     0.5     0.7    1        F_INF_ARC
    Witness                   6.7     1.5     1.2   10  1,3,9 C_INF
    Wizard of Akyrz           3.2     0.3     0.8    1
    Wonderland                6.4     1.4     1.1    3        C_MAG
    World                     6.5     0.6     1.3    2      4 F_I_ETC_ARC
    Worlds Apart              8.0     1.7     1.4   10     21 F_TAD_ARC
    YAGWAD                    6.7     1.1     1.3    2     23 F_INF_ARC
    You Are Here              6.0     1.0     1.3    1        F_INF_ARC
    Your Choice               5.5     0.0     1.1    1        F_TAD_ARC
    Zanfar                    2.6     0.2     0.4    1      8 F_AGT_ARC
    Zero Sum Game             7.5     1.5     1.6    4     13 F_INF_ARC
    Zombie!                   5.2     1.2     1.1    2     13 F_TAD_ARC
    Zork 0                    6.3     1.0     1.5   10      14C_INF
    Zork 1                    6.1     0.8     1.4   24  1, 12 F_INF
    Zork 2                    6.4     1.0     1.5   13  1, 12 F_INF
    Zork 3                    6.5     0.9     1.4    8  1, 12 F_INF
    Zork Undisc. Undergr.     5.9     0.9     1.1    3      14F_INF_ARC
    Zork: A Troll's Eye V     4.4     0.6     0.1    3     14 F_INF_ARC
    Zuni Doll                 4.0     0.6     0.9    2     14 F_INF_ARC

    -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

    The Top Ten:

    I've gotten twelve, count 'em, *twelve* votes since the last issue. Hey,
    that's about four votes a month, almost one a week! Unsurprisingly,
    nothing has changed in the top ten. Not one thing. Oh, wait -- one
    thing: Mind Forever Voyaging got one more vote. Not that this vote
    affected its score or placement in any way. Sheesh, no wonder I'm
    putting this feature to bed.

    1.  Gateway 2: Homeworld  9.0   6 votes
    2.  Anchorhead            8.7   29 votes
    3.  Sunset over Savannah  8.7   6 votes
    4.  Trinity               8.7   18 votes
    5.  Spider and Web        8.6   19 votes
    6.  Gateway               8.6   7 votes
    7.  Losing Your Grip      8.5   6 votes
    8.  Babel                 8.5   11 votes
    9.  Spellbreaker          8.5   8 votes
    10. Mind Forever Voyaging 8.4   15 votes

    A game is not eligible for the Top Ten unless it has received at least
    three ratings from different readers. This is to ensure a more
    democratic and accurate depiction of the best games.

    SUBMISSION POLICY ---------------------------------------------------------

    SPAG is a non-paying fanzine specializing in reviews of text adventure
    games, a.k.a. Interactive Fiction. This includes the classic Infocom
    games and similar games, but also some graphic adventures where the
    primary player-game communication is text based. Any and all text-based
    games are eligible for review, though if a game has been reviewed three
    times in SPAG, no further reviews of it will be accepted unless they are
    extraordinarily original and/or insightful. SPAG reviews should be free
    of spoilers.

    Authors retain the rights to use their reviews in other contexts. We
    accept submissions that have been previously published elsewhere,
    although original reviews are preferred.

    For a more detailed version of this policy, see the SPAG FAQ at
    http://www.sparkynet.com/spag/spag.faq.

    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------

               Thank you for helping to keep text adventures alive!

Click here for a printable, plain text version of this issue.