Limericks about IFComp entries... contribute your own!

I got too busy with actual reviews to write proper limericks during the comp this year.

For those of us who enjoyed an entry but have little to say about it, drop something here. I’ll start with three from Operative Nine.

Operative Nine

Want story with your Sokoban?
If so, then the author’s your man.
More cool mini-games,
Text-based, ease your aims:
A humorous sabotage plan!

Link to the locked door on the roof.
Inside, you’re discovery-proof
As challenges ramp
Up. Be steadfast, champ,
As you can retry if you goof.

Your chief needs your spying skills, stat
To work through a top-level flat.
High-tech sabotage
Flows from a montage
Of text games. (You’re the double-at.)

14 Likes

A seedy horse whisperer from Australia
Once met with the consigliere, uh
Limerick-writing’s a tough biz
And the ending of this one is
Under construction.

13 Likes

Frankenfingers

A rhyme-filled game where you’re a hand,
Speechless. Afterlife ain’t so grand!
Lots at once, can’t grab,
Stuck (first) in a lab.
The puzzles and plot? Far from bland.

8 Likes

Fun to see this tradition still kickin’. Thanks @aschultz :slight_smile:

3 Likes

There once lived a Miss Hen ap Prat.

She divined her luck as she sat.

But the cards did not favor her,

Thus, did their wrath incur:

A nasty old smack in the twat.

16 Likes

A groaner about The Wise-Woman’s Dog:

Your human’s been struck by a curse?
I assure you that things will get worse!
You’ll help taxes deliver
When you float down the river
And carry ill-gotten gains in your purse.

11 Likes

Sadly, the god of the moon
Will die, and the world’ll go boom.
Will you build or deceive?
Fight or conceive?
Whichever, we’ll all be gone soon!

11 Likes

To make a love potion, young witches
Will find substitutions have glitches.
A boyfriend for each,
For long walks on the beach?
They’ll find toothy blobs most delicious!

10 Likes

A man wakes up from a dream
Lets out a shrill little scream
His quest is beyond a
Mere mash up of genres
Hack Gruescript with Dick and Tolkien.

5 Likes

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13 Likes

“I’ll allow it.” - Señor Chang

Oh hey! Look! I wrote a spreadsheet for the pie in the sky goal of getting one for each entry.

Two entries have spoilers in their poems, so I wanted to tag them.

Detritus
Alone on your ship. Much debris.
But there is one positive, see?
Recycling’s a thing
Which soon helps to bring,
to how things went wrong, clarity.

Fascism - Off Topic
You’ve one conversational trick.
Use it rightly, you might feel slick.
Step up! Don’t refrain
When those on the train
Nearby talk. Derail their chat, quick!

Lady Thalia
As you track a thief with Mel, Gwen
Rates your work from one up to ten.
They’re falsely ID’d
As you, while you’re keyed
On where and how they’ll strike again.

(Alternative: On their next crime’s where how and when?)

Space Mission 2045
Are LLM entries unfair?
To this question, folks give great care.
Moot with this entry
Which soon came to be
Just one step up from vaporware.

Under the Sea Winds
You’re off to Bermuda and Sweden
To justify grant money pleadin’.
Find a snake. Wait, more!
Search on- and off-shore
To find water samples for readin’.

Uninteractive Fiction 2
You’ve got one choice here, binary.
Don’t whine. At least this game is free.
But dare we dream big?
Might the author rig
TWO choices for work number THREE?

Violent Delight

The purchase you made on eBay
Will come in an hour. Hooray!
Wait, what, real time?
Cue this joke, sublime:
Miss the doorbell, you must replay!

Willy’s Manor
Do THIS for an interview, really?
You may think, when summoned by Willy.
Though the riddles you
Must work your way through
Are overall pleasingly silly.

A winter morning on the beach
Three thousand steps, you need to pace
For your health, as seagulls give chase.
No joke! What they drop
On you makes things stop.
At least it does not hit your face!

Wise Woman’s Dog
A task for a loyal canine:
Your owner’s health is far from fine.
On her a harsh curse
You’ll need to disperse.
Spells you can invert help your pryin’.

you are an ancient chinese poet at the neo-orchid pavilion

You’ve hidden poetic talent
You’re told, and then you’re quickly sent
To a palace, grand.
The emperor’s demand?
Rat out those with traitorous intent.

Your Very Last Words
Unrest has torn through Mexico.
You’re going to be shot soon, you know.
Mem’ries flash by fast.
Nineteen years, yet vast
Adventure you’ve had, ere you go.

14 Likes
Violent Delight

Wait, what? Is this poetic license or is there a glitch? You are supposed to be able to continue the game if you miss the doorbell, you just don’t get to meet the postie…

5 Likes

Yikes! I misread what happened in a review.

I’ve just verified now what actually happens, so I’ll rewrite as soon as possible. Sorry about that.

2 Likes

Don’t worry - still digging the limericks!

There once was a man named Piñata
who soon found his life turned to nada.
Many suspects in town,
life turned upside-down
when poor Jimmy became a sweet martyr.

11 Likes

The Secret of Sylvan Gardens:

Oh no! You just trespassed, asleep!
Don’t want to be labeled a creep.
To save ancient mystics,
from terrible mistakes,
the price you must pay will be steep.

Phobos: A Galaxy Jones story:

Shortly the moon’s gonna crash;
(No, not that game!) Please don’t be too rash:
With math and linguistics,
or just some heuristics,
you’ll reach the last challenging clash.

The Semantagician’s Assistant:

Don’t try to define what’s “semantics.”
Just focus on word-slicing antics-
well, also the Zodiac.
If you’re zoophobiac,
The midgame will render you frantic.

6 Likes

This one isn’t a limerick, and isn’t my own work—all credit to David Welbourn! But he doesn’t seem to post here very often, and it seems a shame not to have this one listed in the thread.

Inside this game, beware the name of Victor Frankenstein.
His secret arts use body parts, and one of them is mine!
I move and see and hear and yet I’m just a severed hand.
Reanimated in this crypt without my wedding band.
Where can I go, what should I do with this strange borrowed life?
Can I escape? Can I go home and find my grieving wife?

9 Likes

Absolutely delightful! I don’t think I could sum up my game better WITHOUT rhyming!

2 Likes