Games that made the biggest "splash" per IFDB

Playing
1

I was poking around with IFDB data and thought this was an interesting list: games ranked by the number of registered plays recorded in their first year of release.

+----------+----------------------------------------------------------+-------------------------------------+--------+-----------+------------+
| pub_year | title                                                    | author                              | 1st_yr | tot_plays | pct_1st_yr |
+----------+----------------------------------------------------------+-------------------------------------+--------+-----------+------------+
|     2025 | Type Help                                                | William Rous                        |     80 |       112 |    71.4286 |
|     2024 | The Bat                                                  | Chandler Groover                    |     71 |        85 |    83.5294 |
|     2008 | Violet                                                   | Jeremy Freese                       |     70 |       580 |    12.0690 |
|     2007 | Lost Pig                                                 | Admiral Jota                        |     59 |       733 |     8.0491 |
|     2023 | Dr Ludwig and the Devil                                  | SV Linwood                          |     59 |        77 |    76.6234 |
|     2015 | Birdland                                                 | Brendan Patrick Hennessy            |     57 |       226 |    25.2212 |
|     2021 | And Then You Come to a House Not Unlike the Previous One | B.J. Best                           |     56 |       104 |    53.8462 |
|     2017 | The Wizard Sniffer                                       | Buster Hudson                       |     55 |       199 |    27.6382 |
|     2020 | The Impossible Bottle                                    | Linus Åkesson                       |     54 |       121 |    44.6281 |
|     2022 | The Grown-Up Detective Agency                            | Brendan Patrick Hennessy            |     51 |        69 |    73.9130 |
|     2016 | Cactus Blue Motel                                        | Astrid Dalmady                      |     48 |       108 |    44.4444 |
|     2018 | Bogeyman                                                 | Elizabeth Smyth                     |     46 |       118 |    38.9831 |
|     2024 | The Den                                                  | Ben Jackson                         |     45 |        58 |    77.5862 |
|     2017 | Harmonia                                                 | Liza Daly                           |     44 |       107 |    41.1215 |
|     2025 | Detritus                                                 | Ben Jackson                         |     44 |        44 |   100.0000 |
|     2017 | Eat Me                                                   | Chandler Groover                    |     43 |       177 |    24.2938 |
|     2016 | 16 Ways to Kill a Vampire at McDonalds                   | Abigail Corfman                     |     43 |       151 |    28.4768 |
|     2016 | Color the Truth                                          | mathbrush                           |     43 |       101 |    42.5743 |
|     2024 | Uninteractive Fiction                                    | Damon L. Wakes (as Leah Thargic)    |     43 |        48 |    89.5833 |
|     2022 | The Absence of Miriam Lane                               | Abigail Corfman                     |     42 |        56 |    75.0000 |
|     2010 | Hoist Sail for the Heliopause and Home                   | Andrew Plotkin                      |     41 |       113 |    36.2832 |
|     2022 | Use Your Psychic Powers at Applebee's                    | Geoffrey Golden                     |     41 |        48 |    85.4167 |
|     2025 | Cut the Sky                                              | SV Linwood                          |     41 |        41 |   100.0000 |
|     2012 | howling dogs                                             | Porpentine                          |     40 |       187 |    21.3904 |
|     2010 | Rogue of the Multiverse                                  | C.E.J. Pacian                       |     40 |       105 |    38.0952 |
|     2022 | According to Cain                                        | Jim Nelson                          |     39 |        80 |    48.7500 |
|     2022 | A Long Way to the Nearest Star                           | SV Linwood                          |     39 |        69 |    56.5217 |
|     2025 | The Wise-Woman's Dog                                     | Daniel M. Stelzer                   |     38 |        38 |   100.0000 |
|     2014 | the uncle who works for nintendo                         | michael lutz                        |     37 |       153 |    24.1830 |
|     2016 | Detectiveland                                            | Robin Johnson                       |     37 |        82 |    45.1220 |
|     2022 | The Archivist and the Revolution                         | Autumn Chen                         |     37 |        62 |    59.6774 |
|     2014 | Creatures Such As We                                     | Lynnea Glasser                      |     36 |       140 |    25.7143 |
|     2019 | Zozzled                                                  | Steph Cherrywell                    |     36 |        69 |    52.1739 |
|     2024 | Forsaken Denizen                                         | C.E.J. Pacian                       |     36 |        43 |    83.7209 |
|     2024 | You Can't Save Her                                       | Sarah Mak                           |     36 |        38 |    94.7368 |
|     2010 | Dual Transform                                           | Andrew Plotkin                      |     35 |       146 |    23.9726 |
|     2014 | Hunger Daemon                                            | Sean M. Shore                       |     35 |        88 |    39.7727 |
|     2019 | Turandot                                                 | Victor Gijsbers                     |     35 |        76 |    46.0526 |
|     2025 | EYE                                                      | Arthur DiBianca                     |     35 |        35 |   100.0000 |
|     2013 | Coloratura                                               | Lynnea Glasser                      |     34 |       160 |    21.2500 |
|     2014 | With Those We Love Alive                                 | Porpentine and Brenda Neotenomie    |     34 |       160 |    21.2500 |
|     2015 | Brain Guzzlers from Beyond!                              | Steph Cherrywell                    |     34 |        96 |    35.4167 |
|     2018 | Alias 'The Magpie'                                       | J. J. Guest                         |     34 |        96 |    35.4167 |
|     2023 | Xanthippe's Last Night with Socrates                     | Victor Gijsbers                     |     34 |        38 |    89.4737 |
|     2024 | Where Nothing Is Ever Named                              | Viktor Sobol                        |     34 |        34 |   100.0000 |
|     2025 | Saltwrack                                                | Henry Kay Cecchini                  |     34 |        34 |   100.0000 |
|     2007 | Suveh Nux                                                | David Fisher                        |     33 |       332 |     9.9398 |
|     2009 | Alabaster                                                | John Cater, Rob Dubbin, Eric Eve, E |     33 |       196 |    16.8367 |
|     2016 | Open Sorcery                                             | Abigail Corfman                     |     33 |        99 |    33.3333 |
|     2010 | The People's Glorious Revolutionary Text Adventure Game  | Taylor Vaughan                      |     33 |        73 |    45.2055 |
+----------+----------------------------------------------------------+-------------------------------------+--------+-----------+------------+

Note that “registered plays” metric counts both ratings/reviews and “I’ve played it” checks, but does not include the latter for people who do not share their list of played games.

I thought it was interesting that #1 (Type Help) and #2 (The Bat) were from last year and the year before, respectively.

Also interesting is the comparison of plays in the first year to the total number of plays registered. Obviously this metric is not equally fair to all games, as older games have had more time to accumulate plays. A few games stand out as “instant classics,” i.e. those with a high number of initial plays and a low percentage of first year plays to all-time plays: Lost Pig, Suveh Nux and Violet all rate highly in this way.

11 Likes
2

Interesting that no Emily Short games are on there. 24 of her 47 games were published in 2008 [around when IFDB was started] or later, and 2 of those 24 are in the top 100 (she has 5 other games before 2008 in the top 100).

Very happy to see EYE and Cut the Sky out here representing non-Infocomp games, and ‘where nothing is never named’ for placing 49th in IFComp but still making such a huge impression in terms of number of plays.

6 Likes
3

That’s an important point: As you note, IFDB wasn’t up and running until around 2008, so only games published since around then have data show up here for “first year” plays. A popular 1990s game that got a large number of registered plays in 2008, say, would still score zero for “first year” plays, because of the gap between when the play was registered and when the game was published.

Only 19 games involving Emily Short as an author even qualify for consideration by having at least one “first year” play, and Alabaster is the only one with enough plays to be in the top 50 above. (Bee is close with 29 first year plays. Counterfeit Monkey surprisingly only registers 27 first year plays. Again, “I’ve played it” for non-public play lists are not counted.)

However, the complementary classification is “late bloomers” (or maybe “cult classics”), i.e. games that ended up with a very high ratio of total plays to first year plays. That’s an interesting list, too:

+----------+-------------------------------------------------------+------------------------------------------+--------+-----------+------------+
| pub_year | title                                                 | author                                   | 1st_yr | tot_plays | pct_1st_yr |
+----------+-------------------------------------------------------+------------------------------------------+--------+-----------+------------+
|     2012 | Counterfeit Monkey                                    | Emily Short                              |     27 |       406 |     6.6502 |
|     2007 | Lost Pig                                              | Admiral Jota                             |     59 |       733 |     8.0491 |
|     2008 | Blue Lacuna                                           | Aaron A. Reed                            |     14 |       163 |     8.5890 |
|     2015 | Toby's Nose                                           | Chandler Groover                         |     16 |       183 |     8.7432 |
|     2011 | Indigo                                                | Emily Short                              |      7 |        80 |     8.7500 |
|     2007 | Ecdysis                                               | Peter Nepstad                            |      9 |       102 |     8.8235 |
|     2009 | The King of Shreds and Patches                        | Jimmy Maher                              |     11 |       114 |     9.6491 |
|     2012 | Endless, Nameless                                     | Adam Cadre                               |      8 |        82 |     9.7561 |
|     2007 | Treasures of a Slaver's Kingdom                       | S. John Ross                             |      6 |        61 |     9.8361 |
|     2007 | Suveh Nux                                             | David Fisher                             |     33 |       332 |     9.9398 |
|     2007 | rendition                                             | nespresso                                |      5 |        48 |    10.4167 |
|     2013 | my father's long, long legs                           | michael lutz                             |     22 |       207 |    10.6280 |
|     2007 | Blighted Isle                                         | Eric Eve                                 |      6 |        56 |    10.7143 |
|     2014 | The Northnorth Passage                                | Caleb Wilson (as Snowball Ice)           |      5 |        44 |    11.3636 |
|     2015 | Oppositely Opal                                       | Buster Hudson                            |     11 |        95 |    11.5789 |
|     2008 | Violet                                                | Jeremy Freese                            |     70 |       580 |    12.0690 |
|     2008 | Gun Mute                                              | C.E.J. Pacian                            |     25 |       200 |    12.5000 |
|     2014 | Lime Ergot                                            | Caleb Wilson (as Rust Blight)            |     18 |       144 |    12.5000 |
|     2007 | An Act of Murder                                      | Christopher Huang                        |     16 |       116 |    13.7931 |
|     2007 | Deadline Enchanter                                    | Alan DeNiro                              |     10 |        72 |    13.8889 |
|     2013 | climbing 208 feet up the ruin wall                    | Porpentine                               |      7 |        47 |    14.8936 |
|     2016 | Her Majesty's Trolley Problem                         | Buster Hudson                            |      5 |        33 |    15.1515 |
|     2009 | Make It Good                                          | Jon Ingold                               |     19 |       122 |    15.5738 |
|     2007 | The Chinese Room                                      | Harry Josephine Giles and Joey Jones     |      8 |        51 |    15.6863 |
|     2017 | Doki Doki Literature Club                             | Team Salvato                             |      5 |        31 |    16.1290 |
|     2008 | Snack Time!                                           | Hardy the Bulldog and Renee Choba        |     13 |        80 |    16.2500 |
|     2012 | CYBERQUEEN                                            | Porpentine                               |     15 |        92 |    16.3043 |
|     2014 | You are Standing at a Crossroads                      | Astrid Dalmady                           |      8 |        49 |    16.3265 |
|     2009 | The Nemean Lion                                       | Anonymous                                |      7 |        42 |    16.6667 |
|     2012 | Fingertips: I Hear the Wind Blow                      | Jacqueline A. Lott                       |      6 |        36 |    16.6667 |
|     2009 | Alabaster                                             | John Cater, Rob Dubbin, Eric Eve, Elizab |     33 |       196 |    16.8367 |
|     2016 | Superluminal Vagrant Twin                             | C.E.J. Pacian                            |     31 |       183 |    16.9399 |
|     2014 | Craverly Heights                                      | Ryan Veeder                              |      5 |        29 |    17.2414 |
|     2013 | You Will Select a Decision                            | Brendan Patrick Hennessy                 |     18 |       104 |    17.3077 |
|     2013 | Save the Date                                         | Chris Cornell                            |      7 |        40 |    17.5000 |
|     2008 | Everybody Dies                                        | Jim Munroe                               |     25 |       141 |    17.7305 |
|     2014 | ♄Magical Makeover♄                                    | S. Woodson                               |     17 |        95 |    17.8947 |
|     2014 | Weird City Interloper                                 | C.E.J. Pacian                            |     16 |        88 |    18.1818 |
|     2020 | Stay?                                                 | E. Jade Lomax                            |      9 |        49 |    18.3673 |
|     2016 | Foo Foo                                               | Buster Hudson                            |     16 |        87 |    18.3908 |
|     2013 | KING OF BEES IN FANTASY LAND                          | Brendan Patrick Hennessy                 |     10 |        54 |    18.5185 |
|     2007 | Lord Bellwater's Secret                               | Sam Gordon                               |     18 |        95 |    18.9474 |
|     2015 | Sub Rosa                                              | Joey Jones, Melvin Rangasamy             |     12 |        63 |    19.0476 |
|     2009 | 69,105 Keys                                           | David Welbourn                           |     23 |       120 |    19.1667 |
|     2011 | Danse Nocturne                                        | Joey Jones                               |      5 |        26 |    19.2308 |
|     2014 | So, You've Never Played a Text Adventure Before, Huh? | Ryan Veeder                              |      5 |        26 |    19.2308 |
|     2010 | Ka                                                    | Dan Efran                                |      6 |        31 |    19.3548 |
|     2018 | Erstwhile                                             | Aster (formerly Maddie) Fialla, Marijke  |     16 |        82 |    19.5122 |
|     2016 | Known Unknowns                                        | Brendan Patrick Hennessy                 |     18 |        91 |    19.7802 |
|     2011 | Taco Fiction                                          | Ryan Veeder                              |     30 |       151 |    19.8675 |
+----------+-------------------------------------------------------+------------------------------------------+--------+-----------+------------+

Note that I limited the above list to non-commercial games with at least 5 first year plays.

EDIT: Zork I is listed as “Former Commercial” and arguably does not belong. If it is removed, Taco Fiction would be at 50th place with 30 first year plays, 151 total plays, and 19.8675% first year play percentage.

EDIT 2: I just replaced the table with a version that drops Zork I, which was only included because some data is marked incorrectly with a 1980 timestamp and the year of release for that game was coincidentally 1980 as well.

3 Likes
4

Ah, I didn’t notice alabaster.

Very surprised to see Ka on the list, hadn’t thought of it as a game with a long tail. A lot of the others make sense as games that are famous, or infamous, or were small releases by otherwise well known authors, or which influence later authors and get referred to a lot.

1 Like