[Results] The Interactive Fiction Top 50

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The results of the Interactive Fiction Top 50 are in! No fewer than 35 participants cast a total of 437 votes on 183 different games. Of those games, 48 got three votes or more, and those are the games that will appear in the Top 50 below -- so it is actually a top 48. Games which have the same number of votes appear in the same spot, and will be listed in alphabetical order (ignoring "the", "a" and "an").


Does this mean we finally have proof that game X is better than game Y? Of course not. But I hope you will be inspired to try some of these games. Or perhaps you will be inspired to tell us about that game you think really deserves a spot in this list but hasn't received enough attention. Most of all, I would like you to click on the link above and read the reasons that people gave for choosing one game or another. After all, a reason close to your heart may be more important than a large number of votes.


Fuller results, including a list of games which got two or one votes, will follow; but now, without further ado, the top 48!


First place -- 17 votes

  • Spider and Web, Andrew Plotkin (1998)

Second place -- 14 votes

  • Lost Pig, Admiral Jota (2007)
  • Photopia, Adam Cadre (1998)

Fourth place -- 11 votes

  • Anchorhead, Michael Gentry (1998)

Fifth place -- 10 votes

  • A Mind Forever Voyaging, Steve Meretzky (1985)

Sixth place -- 8 votes

  • The Baron, Victor Gijsbers (2006)
  • Blue Lacuna, Aaron A. Reed (2008)

Eighth place -- 7 votes

  • Savoir-Faire, Emily Short (2002)
  • Shrapnel, Adam Cadre (2000)

Tenth place -- 6 votes

  • Shade, Andrew Plotkin (2000)
  • Slouching towards Bedlam, Star Foster and Daniel Ravipinto (2003)
  • Trinity, Brian Moriarty (1986)
  • Varicella, Adam Cadre (1999)
  • Vespers, Jason Devlin (2005)
  • Violet, Jeremy Freese (2008)

Sixteenth place -- 5 votes

  • Galatea, Emily Short (2000)
  • The Gostak, Carl Muckenhoupt (2001)
  • The King of Shreds and Patches, Jimmy Maher (2009)
  • LASH -- Local Asynchronous Satellite Hookup, Paul O'Brian (2000)
  • Make it Good, Jon Ingold (2009)
  • Rameses, Stephen Bond (2000)

Twenty-second place -- 4 votes

  • Ad Verbum, Nick Montfort (2000)
  • Aisle, Sam Barlow (1999)
  • All things devours, half sick of shadows (2004)
  • City of Secrets, Emily Short (2003)
  • Curses!, Graham Nelson (1994)
  • Fail-safe, Jon Ingold (2000)
  • Gun Mute, C. E. J. Pacian (2008)
  • Sunset over Savannah, Ivan Cockrum (1997)
  • Treasures of a Slaver's Kingdom, S. John Ross (2007)
  • Wishbringer, Brian Moriarty (1985)
  • Worlds Apart, Suzanne Britton (1999)
  • Zork I, Marc Blank and Dave Lebling (1980)

Thirty-fourth place -- 3 votes

  • 1893: A World's Fair Mystery, Peter Nepstad (2002)
  • Adventure, William Crowther and Donald Woods (1976)
  • Aotearoa, Matt Wigdahl (2010)
  • Arthur: the Quest for Excalibur, Bob Bates (1989)
  • Blue Chairs, Chris Klimas (2004)
  • Delightful Wallpaper, Andrew Plotkin (2006)
  • Eric the Unready, Bob Bates (1993)
  • Everybody Dies, Jim Munroe (2008)
  • The Guild of Thieves, Rob Steggles (1987)
  • Hoist Sail for the Heliopause and Home, Andrew Plotkin (2010)
  • Mentula Macanus: Apocolocyntosis, Adam Thornton (2011)
  • Planetfall, Steve Meretzky (1983)
  • So Far, Andrew Plotkin (1996)
  • Suveh Nux, David Fisher (2007)
  • The Warbler's Nest, Jason McIntosh (2010)

Discussion preferably on the forum.

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