Playing Zork Anthology

The Zork Anthology has come out, and can be played using DOSBOX.

It comes with several game goodies such as maps, manuals, calendars, brochures, and other files.

Besides the manuals, which I assume are authentic Infocom manuals, its hard to tell which of the other goodies are things that were originally included with certain games, which are bonus items never included, and which item corresponds with which game. (There are 4 Zork games and Planetfall included in the release).

I would prefer not to examine these files if they contain spoilers or things never included in the Infocom release.

Without giving spoilers, can someone explain what these goodies are?

GAME GOODIES

MANUALS 5 MB
THE GREAT UNDERGROUND EMPIRE: A HISTORY 1 MB
THE LORE AND LEGENDS OF QUENDOR 3 MB
MAPS (5) 7 MB
CALENDAR 3 MB
BOZBARLAND FLYER 1 MB
G.U.E. ON NINE ZORKMIDS A DAY 2 MB
GRAYSLOPES BROCHURE 1 MB
FROBOZZCO INTERNATIONAL ANNUAL REPORT 1 MB
SHAREHOLDER LETTER 1 MB
STOCK CERTIFICATE 1 MB
ROCKVILLE ESTATES BLUEPRINT 1 MB
PARCHMENT SCRAP 1 MB

Thank you.

Each Infocom game, in the grey box era, came with a manual and some “feelies” (extra stuff included in the package, sometimes just for flavor, other times as a copy protection device).

Below, I’ve divided the things that you’ve listed according to the game with which they belong.

The Zork I-III feelies are merely for flavor. The Beyond Zork and Zork 0 feelies contain information necessary to solve the games. None of these things, other than perhaps what’s in the maps file, constitute spoilers; they shipped with the games.

General:

MANUALS 5 MB (should be one per game)
MAPS (5) 7 MB (may contain spoilers if there’s more than the Beyond Zork map listed below)

Zork I:

THE GREAT UNDERGROUND EMPIRE: A HISTORY 1 MB

Zork II:

BOZBARLAND FLYER 1 MB
G.U.E. ON NINE ZORKMIDS A DAY 2 MB
GRAYSLOPES BROCHURE 1 MB

Zork III:

FROBOZZCO INTERNATIONAL ANNUAL REPORT 1 MB
SHAREHOLDER LETTER 1 MB
STOCK CERTIFICATE 1 MB

Beyond Zork:

THE LORE AND LEGENDS OF QUENDOR 3 MB
Southland of Quendor Map (maybe in the MAPS file?)

Zork O:

ROCKVILLE ESTATES BLUEPRINT 1 MB
PARCHMENT SCRAP 1 MB
CALENDAR 3 MB

Thank you very much for explaining this.

So everything that is provided is something that Infocom already included in its original packaging, EXCEPT possibly some extra maps?

Maps that look like squares in a grid are spoilerful.

Anything that looks like hints (a question and a few answers) is hints.

Everything else can be freely consumed without fear of spoilage.

Correct.

Echoing what Peter said: spoilerful maps will look like squares connected by lines. You can see examples of this sort of map in the “Sample Transcript and Map” sections of the various manuals.

I wouldn’t necessarily want to look at the maps at all, why risk it?

Thanks for the help.

I was very excited when the Zork Anthology was released, it makes playing on Windows 7 much easier. These extras make it feel more like an Infocom release too.

Appreciate it!

Some maps are actually part of the package - they’re not spoilers, they are clues.

I seem to remember, for instance, a map in Zork Zero that was like a mine blueprint. That’s as good as copy protection - it’s not spoiler, it’s a fundamental puzzle piece.

Is the release different than what was already out there on the Infocom app et al? Where was it released?

Oh, this one is an oldie, isn’t it? Surely it hasn’t just come out?

When I was a kid, I got the Zork Legacy Collection. It included Zork Anthology, Return to Zork and Zork Nemesis. So even then Zork Anthology was appearing in compilations.

Mind you, the Zork Anthology I got also had the .dat files of most every Infocom game - I don’t recall any being missing. It was undocumented, it was a treasure trove I found out about when I discovered Windows Frotz and started playing around.

But, no documentation for these extra games. I remember staring at the screen, having loaded SUSPEND.DAT and AMFV.DAT, and not having a clue what I was supposed to be doing.

Fun times. :slight_smile:

All of you guys must be really young bucks. When I played my first Zork back in '82, the only ‘feelie’ there was was the manual, though it was well-illustrated, with a rock wall design on the covers. The game was a 5-1/4" floppy disk and it all came in a plastic-covered hang-pack with a hole in the top, and you bought it at a computer store off one of the peg-board displays(it hung from a peg, like many products still do). The idea of buying games from the web, and even downloading them, was totally unheard-of. I never ever thought I would one day be able to use basically the same programs that Infocom used, to make my own games.

Same here. I bought my copy of Infidel in '84 or '85. 5-1/4" floppy for my Commodore 64 with 1541 disk drive (the slowest ever made). I’m pretty sure the game was shrink-wrapped. I still have the game and also a booklet with Invisiclues. I don’t remember how I got the Invisiclues, I think by filling out a coupon that came with the game package and sending it in with cash (I live in Europe).