Don’t forget your color code!
Given the games that you marked above, you’d be able to cover the most with a medium (9 game) course going from short edge to short edge.
If you want to focus on just hitting as many games as possible from those marked, you can always pick a free-running course, too.
I’ll free-run.
Color: #12E
A1.
Welcome, runner #14: @Zed!
Zed, your color code was only three digits, so I figured it was safest to treat it like a compiler would and assumed leading zeroes for a six-digit code. If that’s not the color you were expecting, let me know.
We’re at fifteen runners now, but there’s room for more. Pick a color and join the festivities!
(Thanks again to @FLACRabbit for creating the field-arranging program, which seems to make it a lot easier to find a fun-looking course no matter what type of game you like best.)
CSS accepts 3-digit colors but each is doubled ,so it was meant as #1122EE.
I may yet regret this, but okay, why not: #610BF4, running a medium course starting at A1.
Welcome, runner #15: @EJoyce! You’ve been registered, and your icon has been added to the big board.
@Zed: Now I know one more thing about CSS. Your icon color has been updated – let me know if it’s still not right.
I thought I would download the first game on my path (The Plant) to ensure I would be ready for the starting gun. But I’ve encountered my first puzzle: I’m in the UK, so I’m currently geoblocked from a lot of IF Archive content. I don’t know if it’s available elsewhere? Or perhaps someone would be kind enough to email me a copy? Or suggest another solution?
I’m a big fan of Proton VPN, which has a free tier that’s good enough for most everyday purposes. (It’s got limited speed and doesn’t support torrenting, but that’s not a problem for downloading IF.)
The IFTF and IF Archive committees aren’t allowed to recommend things like this, but other people can!
If you’re lucky, the game in question might be available via the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine.
Also, as I recall, there are various mirrors of the IF Archive online. (I found an old list of some, at least.)
Aha, yes, thank you. To be honest I’d not considered this. That would work wouldn’t it… I’ll give it a try
This worked very nicely, thank you. Now, the less said about my attempt to install Gargoyle on Linux to play TADS games the better. And SCUMM VM didn’t want to recognise the game file. Then, a miracle happened… QTads just unzipped… and worked straight out of the box. How novel! That’s two puzzles solved and I’m now set up to play
Here’s the roster right now:
Just three days left to register, so don’t delay. Signups will remain open until 11:59P UTC on Apr 30.
(Idle observation: Games with animal themes/titles seem to be winning the popularity contest for starting positions.)
EDIT: Also, here’s the tally of runners for each course type:
If I’ve gotten any of those wrong, or you want to change your course type, let me know.
@Doug_Egan: I never got a formal declaration from you about course type, but you said you wanted to start at Draculaland (A2) and go toward The Anachronist (E4). That would be not quite all the way across the board, so you’d have to go one square farther (to The Saltcast Adventure, Faute de Servo or Der Angstbaum) to complete a formal short course.
For now, I’m counting yours as a free-running course, which can be any length you want.
OK, runners… Less than a day remains until we kick off the Great Play Marathon. Start your warm-up exercises and get those fingers limbered up!
Everyone please check that your starting position on the big board is correct and that I have the right course type registered for you (as listed in the previous post). I’ll be starting the activity log thread just as soon as the marathon begins and will post a link to it here.
Oh right! I’m so scatterbrained lately…
Please sign me up for a medium course starting on D1 with color #CC1000.
Welcome, runner #16: @Draconis! Please double-check your color and placement on the big board.
Registration is open for another 20 hours; there’s still room for last-minute signups!
I’ve been really wanting to play more IF lately (slipped out of it for a year or two), so I’d like to sign up. Please make my color #FFF00D.
EDIT: A short course on F7!
Remember to specify a starting square and a run type!
Welcome, runner #17: @Scrooge200!
18 Rooms to Home looks interesting…
Still 18 hours left for signups. Casual participation will be welcome, but only registered runners will be eligible for awards, so pick a color, course type and starting square and join the fun!
Go ahead and sign me as a short course. I was planning on taking a return path to the top anyway. Would that be enough to qualify short?
@Doug_Egan: The formal course types aren’t just about the length, they also require fully traversing the field. For example, a formal short course requires going all the way across the field from one long edge to the other long edge.
So if you were to go from Draculaland (A2) by some path to The Anachronist (E4) then return to some game on row A, you would have crossed 9 squares, but this would still count as a free-running course even though it’s the same length as a medium course.
Since this event is mostly about playing games and having fun, I’d say don’t worry about it unless you want to try to win the Rapidest Runner award for short courses (in which case after The Anachronist you should try one of the games at F3, F4 or F5).
To all runners: Anyone running a formal short, medium or long course who wants to go on and play other games is free to keep going with legal moves or even skip around the field in a la carte fashion. For award determination purposes, your chosen course will count has having been completed when you check in after finishing the last game on its path. I’ve updated the FAQ with this information.
