~4 minute readInfoNews Roundup
InvisiClues Appear in Stores
Infocom stories are hard: they have puzzles, mazes, conniving bad guys, twists, double-twists, red herrings, and hidden clues. And that's what makes them so much fun.
But sometimes you can get stuck — not just momentarily stumped, but really, truly, hit-yourhead-against-the-wall, rip-the-disk-into-tiny-little-pieces stuck. That's when you need an InvisiClues hint booklet.
InvisiClues hint booklets are available for all Infocom games. The clues are printed in invisible ink, so you'll never see a clue accidentally. A special marker is included with each booklet, and with it you can develop only the clues you want to see. The clues generally progress from a gentle nudge in the right direction to a full answer.
Until recently, you could buy InvisiClues only through the mail, directly from Infocom. But now you can go to your friendly neighborhood software dealer and buy your InvisiClues there! Every InvisiClues hint booklet tells you how points are scored, includes amusing suggestions, and comes with the special marker and a complete map of the game. (Suspended™ and Seastalker hint booklets don't come with maps since maps are included in the game package.) Each InvisiClues hint booklet retails for $7.95. That's a small price to pay, especially when you can't eat, sleep, or get on with your life because you can't solve a puzzle.
Omni Magazine Lauds Hitchhiker's Guide
The December 1984 issue of Omni magazine called Infocom's version of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy "riotous" and selected it as one of the Ten Best Computer Games of 1984.
A Dazzling Dozen
In mid-October, Infocom was shipping 12 stories. And 13 of them were on the top-30 Hot List™!
The Hot List shows the best-selling software week by week, and is published by Softsel Computer Products, Inc., the country's largest software distributor. All of our stories had been on the Hot List before, and we see most of them on the list every week. But the week of October 15, 1984, was a record for us: never before have we had so many products on the same list. Since most companies are delighted to see even one of their products on the Hot List every now and then, you can imagine how proud we are.
How did we manage 13 out of 12? Commodore distributes Zork I for the Commodore 64, and Infocom distributes Zork I for all the other major personal computers. Both made it to the Hot List, so Zork I actually appeared twice!
When this issue of the NZT went to press (in December), Zork I had enjoyed 118 weeks on the Hot List (the Hot List is only 118 weeks old), Zork II 114 weeks, and Deadline 116 weeks. And if you think that's impressive...
InvisiClues Disappear from Stores
That's right! InvisiClues have been disappearing from store shelves so fast that the InvisiClues hint booklets have been the number 1 book on Softsel's Hot List ever since their debut on October 8, 1984. When this issue went to press, InvisiClues were number 1 for 10 straight weeks.
New Infocom Games Hit Charts
It didn't take long! Cutthroats™, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and Suspect are already on several best-seller lists, including Softsel's in the United States and Frantek's in Canada.
Infocom Wins Award
With so many products on the Softsel Hot List, Infocom should win some sort of an award, don't you think? Well, we did!
At the Fall 1984 COMDEX (Computer Dealers' Exposition) held in Las Vegas, Nevada, Softsel and Business Week presented Infocom with an award inscribed "Most Titles on the Hot List (Recreation)." This is the second year in a row that Infocom has received that coveted award.
Infocom is displaying the award in its now-famous Trophy Case, which is located in the reception area of Infocom's headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Games Survey by Family Computing Reveals All!
The results of a "Games Survey" were published in the December 1984 issue of Family Computing magazine. Readers were asked to name their favorite game-making companies. Not surprisingly, Infocom garnered more votes than any other company. And we didn't even vote!
Respondents to the survey also chose Marc Blank as one of their favorite game designers. As author of Deadline and co-author of Zork I, Zork II, Zork III, and Enchanter, Marc ranks as one of our favorite game designers too.
Max Sacks Yak Facts
A recent poll by CompuNews magazine reveals that a staggering 97 percent of all interactive fiction gamers have no interest in reading about yaks. Only 0.4 percent indicated a slight interest in reading about yaks, and a mere 0.1 percent liked to read "a significant amount about yaks." Two-and-a-half percent of the respondents refused to answer the question. Infocom Product Manager Michael "Max" Dornbrook immediately announced that Infocom would continue its long-standing policy of not printing anything about yaks in The New Zork Times. (Actually, Michael Dornbrook's nickname is "Mike" or "Mikey." But "Max" made a better headline.)
This article appeared in
New Zork Times, The
Jan-Mar 1985
These historical, out-of-print articles and literary works have been GNUSTOed onto InvisiClues.org for academic and research purposes.
