Awesome find … I noticed Alabama had no representation from a quick IFDB search. That’s a tough one down, though there are several IFDB members who live/have lived there. So maybe one of them has something semi-autobiographical or something that takes place there.
It will be interesting to see what turns up if we shake our minds out a bit.
(I also thought of Oregon Trail , but I don’t want to derail this into a discussion about whether Oregon Trail is IF).
The original 1971 version was played by teletype so that ought to count, right?
I was also racking my brain for a game for Louisiana, convinced I’d played one, but then it occurred to me that I was actually thinking of GATOR-ON, Friend to Wetlands!, which upon re-investigation is set in Florida.
Also while we’re looking for separate parser and choice-based instances, we can tack Hollywood Visionary on there for California (choice-based).
Well, this was an interesting little diversion. I started putting together my own list of parser games known to be set in the 50 states.
Without looking too hard, I managed to find games for all states except Alabama, Delaware, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Wyoming. With a little more searching, I’m sure there are more to be found. A search for major cities should reveal more.
Can I suggest that anyone that finds a game set in a particular US state should update the IF Wiki page. (See the link earlier in this thread.) There’s also a page for games set in countries outside the US. Both pages make for interesting browsing.
I think that’d be awesome–I didn’t know about that page when I started, but I do now. I’ll try to keep things updated if people have verified things/been on the wiki.
It’d definitely be interesting to see about games set in other countries. I think Canada’s provinces would make for an interesting collection that wouldn’t be too hard(?)
Pennsylvania’s a surprising one, with Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, and various sites from the American Revolution or whatever. I’d be a bit surprised nothing’s been turned up in Indianapolis yet as well. It seems very Quintessential American Not Too Big City.
Maine seems like it should have something too, bordering on Canada and being home to Stephen King and all.
I remember Bureaucracy’s fake conspiracy-theory mag feelie “Popular Paranoia” claimed Delaware did not exist. Also there’s this from Wayne’s World: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TK_FiRm6ZK8
My entire image of Indianapolis comes from car racing and Kurt Vonnegut, and that description seems about right.
Renegade Brainwave probably belongs in the Undetermined or Fictional American State category, it’s set in an unspecified state in the Deep South, in the fictional Tsathoggua County.
Ohio is one of the thirty US states I’ve been to, but it’s one I went through without stopping. All I know about Ohio is that it’s where Leather Godesses starts out and where Howard the Duck ends up.
This is duplicative, but I think a good one nonetheless – Spoon River Anthology is fictionalized but I think strongly set in non-Chicago Illinois.
Harmonia is another contributor to the Massachusetts glut, but similarly has a great sense of place (I’ve never been to Amherst, but it strongly conveys what I imagine Amherst is like, if that makes sense).
The Adventures of the President of the United States starts out in DC, though it doesn’t stay long.
My understanding is that even after you “move” you’ll have Boston-like locations keep showing up even if you’re supposed to be elsewhere. Most people probably wouldn’t notice though, so it’s mostly a fun Easter egg.
Choice of the Vampire has a lot of expansions set in different cities. One is in St Louis, MO.
That reminds me, Vampire the Masquerade: Night Road is set in Tucson, Arizona and the surrounding area. I don’t see that one listed yet.
The task in Rainbows and Dance Parties! by Carolyn VanEseltine is to visit all US states and non-state territories and spread the news about the federal legalization of homosexual marriage. At the end you don’t visit all states / territories as news spreads on its own from states / territories you already visited.
Not to be a bother, but could we get the original list updated? It’s getting pretty hard to keep track.
Good point. I should make a google doc out of it so everyone can update it. (note I was also worried about continually bumping this topic with edits. A doc would take care of this. I think it would be fun, too, in the time between submissions closing and IFComp actually starting.)
It would be great if you could use the IFWiki page at Games by American State - IFWiki rather than a Google document. The wiki has been underused over the years and this would be a nice way to encourage its use 
If you do this, you could also edit the original post to link to it.
By all means, use the wiki. I have an IFWiki account, but under no circumstances do I allow Google to set a cookie on a device of mine (yes, I’m really that curmudgeonly). That rules out Google Docs for me.
THERE’S NO IF SET PUREPLY IN NEW JERSEY??? As a New Jerseyian myself, I am offended. If I have to rectify this myself I will lol. Perhaps for Ectocomp, if my health and time permits it.
Yes, it’s really surprising. If you can’t make the IFComp deadline, drop back for Spring Thing. I think we’d be glad to have you.
Definitely–I’d love to redirect traffic this way! But on the other hand, it would be neat if this sort of informal project was able to cover 50 states on its own. Maybe it’s a vanity thing.
Of course there’s nothing stopping anybody from adding to both!
I’d add more to the wiki but it’s weird – I’d like to add what I know, but part of me still maybe feels like I’m not authority enough on things to add anything, or I worry what I add might be heavily skewed towards, well, my stuff, or the stuff of people I’ve worked with. I imagine it’s not the worst sort of self-promotion around but it still makes me feel a bit self-conscious.
Try ‘Greystone’ (Howard A Sherman), ‘Heroine’s Mantle’ (Andy Phillips) and ‘Save Princeton’ (Jacob Weinstein, Karine Schaefer) for starters.