Zork trivia.

Factual Questions
1

I think this is a general question, because I’m seeking a definitive anser, but if this belongs in Cafe Society, I apologize in advance. Anyway…

I, like any gamer who grew up in the 70’s and 80’s, have very fond memories of playing assorted Infocom adventures, the Zork games in particular. I played through the first three, and played bits of Zork Zero, but was interrupted for some reason (maybe my computer died, I don’t remember). Fast forward to today, when I was reading a random article about Zork Zero, in which it was mentioned that much of the convoluted background history of the rise and fall of the Great Underground Empire was explained, including - bom bom bommmm - the origin and significance of the famed white house that begins Zork I.

This piqued my curiosity, and I immediately set out to try to find details on the history of the Zork universe, the secret of the white house in particular. I found precisely squat.

So can anybody clue me in as to any good sites that would have such information, or - even better - tell me what the bloody origin of that house is? This is one of those bits of info without which I won’t be able to rest. Thanks,

  • Jeff
2

You might want to check here:

http://quendor.robinlionheart.com

The page has a pretty detailed chronology, along with the sources he used.

Be careful, though…the page tends to crash my browser (IE6)

3

It’s been a long while, but as I recall, the palace(?) of King Dimwit Flathead the Excessive (?) morphs into the little white house at the end of Zork 0. For reasons I don’t remember. Hey, no one said it was a * good * origin.

You might track down a copy of the Zork Anthology.

4

Googling Zork Zero hints or walkthrus turned up many hits, such as this complete walkthru: http://db.gamefaqs.com/computer/doswin/file/zork_zero_a.txt

Lots of sites also have it available for download for free.

5

Obligatory Zork thread link.