Your greatest challenge lies ahead-and downwards. An INTERLOGIC'" prose adventure (::commodore COMPUTER Copyright This software product is copyrighted and all rights reserved by lnfocom. Inc. It is published by Commodore under license from lnfocom. Inc. The distribution and sa le of this product are intended for the use of the original purchaser only and for use only on the computer system specified. Lawful users of this program are hereby licensed only to read the program from its medium into memeory of a computer solely for the purpose of executing the program. Copying. duplicating. selling or otherwise distributing this product is a violation of the law. This manual and packaging are copyrighted and all rights are reserved by lnfocom. Inc. and Com­ modore. This document may not. in whole or part. be copied. photocopied, reproduced. trans­ lated or reduced to any electronic medium or machine readable form without prior consent. in writing. from lnfocom. Inc. Willful violations of the Copyright Law of the United States can result in civi l damages of up to $50.000 in addition to actual damages. plus crimi­ nal penalties of up to one year imprisonment and/or a $10.000 fine. Th~Gr~at Und~rfround Empir~ ZORK"' and INTERLOGIC"' are trademarks of lnfocom. Inc. © 1981 . 19 82 lnfocom, Inc. Printed in U.S.A. Talldn\l to ZORK You can include several sentences in W~lcom~ to ZORK! Loadin\l ZORK When you pl ay a ZORK game. you ta ll< one input line if you separate them by Until you·ve entered the world of To load ZORK. follow the instructions on to ZO RK in pl ain Engli sh. typing in all the word THEN or a period. You don·t ZORK.you·ve never truly adventured your Reference Card. your requests on your l<eyboard when need to type a period at the end of an underground. The copyri ght notice and the serial you see the prompt(> ). (Z O RK all ows input line. For example: Both ZORK I and ZORK II are number will appear. followed by a you to abbrevi ate some words. though. description of the starting locati on of TAKE BOOK. N. DROP BOOK AND designed so that you·II experience their because you use them often ) When CANDLE. the game: you have finished typing a line. press challenges in the most realistic sense. TAKE THE BOOK THEN N. DROP WEST OF HOUSE the RETUR N l<ey and ZO RK wil l digest You can communicate in complete BOOK AND CANDLE sentences rather than two-word com ­ YOU ARE STANDING IN AN OPEN your request. mands. with the largest vocabulary and FIELD WEST OF A WHITE HOUSE, ZO RK usuall y acts as though your There are onl y two Rinds of questi ons widest range of command options in WITH A BOARDED FRONT DOOR. sentence begins with .. I want to .. ··. that ZORK understands WHAT and the genre. Because ZORK' s mysteries THERE IS A SMALL MAILBOX HERE. although you should not type those WHERE. For example are the most intricate you·ll ever Whenever you see the prompt (> ). words explicitl y. ZO RK then di splays a WHERE IS THE GOLD? encounter. it will tal<e all your inte llec­ ZO RK is waiting fo r yo u to type in your response that te ll s you whether what WHAT IS A GRUE? tual abilities to survive and emerge vic­ instructi ons. When yo u have fini shed you want to do is possib le in the current ZO RK tries to be clever about wbat torious fr om the underground And typing in your instructi ons. press the situation. and if it is. whether anything you reall y mean when you don·t give because the challenges change with RETURN l<ey. ZORK will respond and interesting happens as a result. enough information. If you say that you every move you mal<e. each time you then the prompt(> ) will reappear. All words you type are distingui shed want to do something. but you don·t say re-enter ZORK you·ll fa ce new Next to the prompt(> ). try typing the by their first six letters and a ll subse­ what to do it with or to. ZO RK will intrigues. fo ll owi ng quent letters are ignored. For example. sometimes decide that there was only ZORK I: The Great Underground typing OPEN THE ENCYCLOPEDIA one possible object you could have Empire confronts you with perils and OPEN THE MAILBOX is equivalent to typing OPEN THE meant. When it does so. it will te ll you. predicaments r9nging from the mysti­ and press the RETURN l<ey. ZORK ENCYCL. or better sti ll. OPEN THE by displ aying. fo r example. (WITH THE cal to the macabre. as you strive to dis­ responds with thi s: BOOK. ' ROPE) If your sentence is ambiguous. cover the Twenty Treasures of ZO RK OPENING THE MAILBOX REVEALS ZO RK ·· understands .. many different ZORK will as!< what you reall y meant. and escape with them and your life! A LEAFLET. types of sentences. A sentence must con­ Most such questi ons (for example. WITH ZORK II : The Wizard offrobozz You may respond to ZO RK by typing: tain a verb and usua ll y an obj ect. Some WHAT?) can be answered brie fl y (fo r tal<es you into new depths of the subter­ READ THE LEAFLET examples: example. ROPE). ranean realm. There you·ll meet the and press the RETURN l<ey. ZORK TAKE THE GOLD. DROP GOLD. PICK ZORK uses many more words than it Wizard. who will attempt to confound cooperates and te lls you: UP GOLD. PUT DOWN THE GOLD. .. understands_· · ZO RK' s vocabulary con­ your quest with his capricious powers. (TAKEN) GO NORTH. NORTH. WALK NORTH. sists of several hundred words which are N. WALK AROUND THE HOUSE. nearly all you are lil<ely to use when con­ WELCOME TO ZORK versing with ZO RK . However. ZORK·s ZORK IS A GAME OF ADVENTURE, PUSH BUTTON. PUSH THE RED responses may tend toward .. purple DANGER, AND LOW CUNNING. IN IT BUTTON. OPEN WOODEN DOOR. prose .. at times. and ZO RK will display YOU WILL EXPLORE SOME OF THE LOOK AT THE WALL. LOOK UNDER English descriptions that it couldn't pos­ MOST AMAZING TERRITORY EVER ROCK. LOOK BEHIND CURTAIN. sibly analyze. Indeed. ZO RK's response SEEN BY MORTALS. LOOK IN BAG . READ A BOOK. READ may refer to something to which you NO COMPUTER SHOULD BE WITH­ ALL OF THE BOOKS. cannot refer (perhaps to your dismay)_ OUT ONE! DROP ALL. TAKE ALL. DROP ALL In that case. it is not essenti al to the story. Read the RULES AND STRATEGIES sec­ and appears in ZO RK 's response only to ti on for further directi ons and hints BUT THE KNIFE. Yo u must separate multiple obj ects of enhance your mental imagery. a verb by the word AND or a comma . Completely mystifying sentences will For example: cause ZORK to complain in one way or another. After mal<in g the complaint. TAKE ALL BUT THE KNIFE AND THE ZORK will ignore the rest of the input LAMP. line Unusual events. such as being PUT THE GOLD AND JEWELS IN attacl<ed. will also ma l<e ZORK ignore THE TROPHY CASE. the rest of the sentences you typed. si nce THROW THE NEWSPAPER, THE the event may have changed your situa­ RED BOOK, AND THE MAGAZINE IN ti on drastically. THE CHASM. 3 2 Rules and Sfrafefies Concepts for Explorinf Commands for Explorinf SU\tfesfions for More Successful Some things that you can do with objects The best way to move from place to ZORKI: in the story are not immediately obvious. ZORK Plavill\1 place is to type the direction you want to It is essenti al that you draw a map. Some The Great Underfround Empire Containment: Some objects. called go. Acceptable directions are NORTH or In ZORK I. you are near a great under­ of the problems in the game (the Maze containers. can contain other objects. N, SOUTH or S, EAST or E, WEST or W, in ZORK I. for one example). cannot be ground labyrinth. which is reputed to Some containers can be opened or NE, NW, SE, SW (or NORTHEAST, contain vast quantities of treasure. No solved without mapping. Remember closed. and some are always open. Some NORTHWEST, SOUTH EAST or that there are 10 possible directions. doubt. you wish to acquire some of it. are transparent. and some are not. Most SOUTHWEST respectively). and also U In order to receive full credit for trea­ In certain circumstances ENTER, containers have a limited capacity. and or UP and D or DOWN . EXIT (or IN, OUT) apply. sure. you must deposit it safely in the all objects have sizes. so that it is possible When you enter a particular place trophy case. Read everything carefully. There are to fill up containers. Similarly. some (ZORK calls any Rind of place a "room") clues in some of the descriptions. labels. In addition to treasure. the labyrinth objects have surfaces on which other for the first time. ZORK usually displays contains various objects that may or engravings. and booRs. etc. objects can be placed. the name of the room. a description of it. Most objects in the game which can may not be useful in your attempt to and then descriptions of any interesting acquire the treasure: you may need Fi!Jhtin!J: Characters in the story will.