What a start to Round 2! As its second half kicks off, let’s review the flow of the matches encompassing works from the first two divisions:
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In the near court, Lost Pig faced off against Superluminal Vagrant Twin in a match that most participating fans predicted would go to the well-loved story of Grunk. However, the sleek and minimalist #3 seed began the match at an almost unbelievable pace, with a score rapidly swelling to 7-0 in the match’s opening hours. Lost Pig’s first spate of votes came in late in the first day, and were almost matched by the defender, leaving the challenger still massively behind as Day 2 began. A strong showing of new votes pushed up the challenger’s score over ensuing days, stealing the spotlight of hottest match for the segment, but a few more votes for Superluminal kept the defender comfortably ahead, and the match ended in its favor at 13-8, with one last goal for the winner in the match’s final hours. Lost Pig was the only competing work authored by Admiral Jota, and we salute the author and this venerable and beloved Inform 6 classic as they retire from the playing field.
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In the next court, The Impossible Bottle contended with Junior Arithmancer in a pairing that featured mathematical structures as a thematic link. A slow start by the latter threatened to repeat the dynamic with which it won in Round 1, moving from 3-0 to a tie score of 5-5 in the third quarter. An additional goal in the second quarter by The Impossible Bottle gave it the slim lead that it held until the last day of the match, at which point Junior Arithmancer scored again to tie at 6-6. This was reversed by Bottle within hours, however, and with the addition of a final goal in the last hours, the final score was 8-6 in its favor. Junior Arithmancer, winner of the 2018 XYZZY for Best Puzzles, was the second and final work by author Mike Spivey, and the author and work are greeted by a cluster of new fans as they depart the green.
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Midnight. Swordfight. vs. The Wizard Sniffer served up another chance thematic link involving transformation of people into pigs (and back). An early sprint by The Wizard Sniffer gave it a brief 3-0 lead, but its challenger was undeterred and soon got up to speed itself. After quickly tying at 4-4 and briefly taking the lead at 5-4, the defender lengthened its stride and evened up at 5-5. This score held until the second half, when The Wizard Sniffer seem to have found a second wind, and another sprint gave it a renewed three-point lead. Again, Midnight. Swordfight. fought on, regaining some lost ground in the fourth quarter to reach 8-6 – which after another exchange of goals became 9-7. A last-hours goal brought the winner of the 2015 XYZZY for Best Implementation to the verge of a tie, but the bell rang before it could draw any closer. Author Chandler Groover’s standard was also carried by a second work competing in this segment: Eat Me in Division 2 (see below).
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Round 1’s surprise upset winner Of Their Shadows Deep stepped warily into the ring with And Then You Come to a House Not Unlike a Previous One in a contest that matched visions about the arc of life across difficult junctures over which the protagonist has limited control. The brief but poignant piece gave as good as it got against the popular nostalgia-oriented puzzler drama in a fluid battle that saw the two works trade the frontrunner spot several times. A last goal on the way out of the first quarter gave the defender a slight edge of 7-6, which it was able to expand by a point in the third quarter. Late scoring by both sides left the challenger within spitting distance of a tie at 9-8, but time ran out before the gap could be closed. Author and rising star Amanda Walker has another work that has already taken the field: See The Spectators in Division 3.
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In the far courts, where Division 2 matches took place, language boggler The Gostak battled perspective puzzler Coloratura in a match that heated up quickly as fans from both sides weighed in during the opening hours. When the dust settled, Coloratura held a three-point lead at 6-3. New scoring for both sides would continue each quarter, but at the start of the third, the winner of the IF Comp and three XYZZYs in 2015 had maintained that margin with a score that stood at 8-5. Unwilling to be narbleffed so gwarjinly, The Gostak renewed its efforts and closed the gap to just one point by the end of Day 6, and in the second half of Day 7 it reached parity with a score of 8 all. However, the last goal went to Coloratura in the final hours of the match, which ended 9-8 in its favor. The Gostak, a two-time XYZZY winner which placed 6th in the most recent edition of the Interactive Fiction Top 50 of All Time, was the only entry by author Carl Muckenhaupt. We salute the author and the work as they retire from the field.
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Most participating fans predicted an easy victory for Worldsmith in its second tournament match against According to Cain, but the long-legged TADS 3 came very close to again beating the odds in a slow-moving match that provided an exciting finish. The pair of works, both offering alchemically-themed mysteries with multimedia enhancement, were deliberate in their sparring, and after a quick exchange of points in the first hour, Worldsmith began to accumulate a small but significant lead at 3-1. The challenger pressed hard, though, looking for weakness and slipping two goals past the defender’s defense while yielding only one in turn. The resulting 4-3 score in the defender’s favor at the end of the first quarter seemed etched in stone throughout the second and third, but According to Cain made its move in the opening hours of the final quarter, scoring twice in the next 12 hours and taking the lead at 5-4. Stunned, Worldsmith roused itself and scored again, yielding a tie of 5-5 that persisted until the final hours, in which a last effort by the #4 seed put it over the top. At the buzzer, the final score was 6-5. Author Jim Nelson has no other works in the tournament, but we salute him and the performance of According to Cain on the field.
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In a match featuring two dark works exploring obsession, Turandot and Eat Me played another deliberate match. After sizing each other up slowly, a first point by the #8 seed parser entry was quickly countered by one from the tournament’s sole ChoiceScript work, whose own exploratory jab was even more quickly mirrored. Another score by Eat Me left it ahead 3-2 by the start of Day 2, and a fast-paced scuffle in the first half of that day expanded its lead to two at 6-4. There the board stayed until the third quarter, in which an exchange of goals left the defender’s lead unchanged. Following one last goal before the clock ran out, victory went to Eat Me with a final score of 8-5. Turandot, which placed 2nd in the 2019 IFComp and appeared in the 2023 edition of the Interactive Fiction Top 50 of All Time, was one of the tournament’s few remaining choice entries and the only competing work by author Victor Gijsbers. [EDIT: Award citations corrected. Thanks to Victor for pointing out the error below!] We salute him and the work’s performance as they retire from the field.
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Finally, in the far court, the crowd watched with some anticipation as Counterfeit Monkey began its bout with Blue Lacuna. Although predictions universally favored the tournament’s top seed, estimates of the underdog’s expected tally varied significantly in the wake of its dominant performance against Foo Foo in Round 1. The largest attempt at interactive literature to date came out swinging and drew first blood against the gigantic and devious puzzler, holding its own in the opening hours with a lightning jab. However, Counterfeit Monkey soon had it on the ropes, and at the end of the first day the defender had built up a large lead at 9-4. Having made its point, the all-time high scorer of IFDB kept some distance for the rest of the match, trading blows to keep its margin more or less the same. When the bell rang, the mighty Monkey nodded once to its beaten but unbowed opponent before spreading its arms to the cheering crowd and retiring to the locker room to prepare for Round 3, where Eat Me will be the next to make an attempt against the victor. Author of Blue Lacuna Aaron Reed has no other competing works in the tournament, but we salute his ambitious accomplishment and the work’s valiant efforts on the field this week.