🧭 THE ARCHIVES

Quote of the day

A ghost appears in the room and is appalled at your desecration of the remains of a fellow adventurer. He casts a curse on your valuables and banishes them to the Land of the Living Dead. The ghost leaves, muttering obscenities.

-- Zork I

Factoid of the day

In Sorcer, the GOLMAC spell lets you travel backwards through time. The name GOLMAC is a portmanteau of "Gold Machine." In Zork III the Temporizer, which lets you travel backwards in time, is described as a "gold machine."

*In a desolate corner of the Underground Empire, an evil demon torments the land.*
Jun 1996

Invisiclues

Enchanter

When You're Done

(Click or tap on any clue to reveal the clue.)

Do the spells' names have any meaning?

Some do, some don't.
GONDAR is an anagram of DRAGON. NITFOL is a backwards, and somewhat modified, rendering of Hugh Lofting's name (he is the author of the Dr. Doolittle stories).
EXEX is an obscure reference to a very slow mainframe computer. FILFRE is a modification of the expression "Feel Free," which is commonly uttered by game writers.
The others are either obliquely related to the original mainframe version of ZORK, or totally arbitrary. Any relation between the names of spells and persons, living or dead, is a pity for the persons involved.

Do spells work on unintended objects?

Oh yes. Try a bunch of spells on random objects.