The “Quiet Play” period is nearing its completion, and matches will begin Saturday March 8th. That means it’s time to start thinking about the Official Prediction Game™! See details on this thread: People's Champion Tournament: Official Prediction Game / Q&A
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Following are the Round 1 matchups for Division 4:
- Match 25: Delightful Wallpaper vs Babel
- Match 26: For a Change vs Search for the Lost Ark
- Match 27: Thin Walls vs Yes, Another Game with a Dragon!
- Match 28: The Little Match Girl, by Hans Christian Andersen vs Scroll Thief
- Match 29: The Moonlit Tower vs Bogeyman
- Match 30: Please Answer Carefully vs Scents & Semiosis
- Match 31: Things That Happened in Houghtonbridge vs Captain Cutter’s Treasure
- Match 32: Winter Wonderland (1999) vs Metamorphoses
And that’s the last – matches begin next weekend!
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This post will be kept up-to-date to show the standings at the end of each segment in the tournament. (Mid-match scores will be available on dedicated threads for each segment.)
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Awesome!
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Exciting!
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There’s just one day left until matches begin. According to polling, the ten matches with the most interest are:
MATCH DIV CONTESTANTS
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01 1 Six vs. Alabaster
32 4 Winter Wonderland (1999) vs. Metamorphoses
11 2 A Dark Room vs. A Change in the Weather
28 4 The Little Match Girl, by Hans Christian Andersen vs. Scroll Thief
18 3 The Dreamhold vs. What Heart Heard Of, Ghost Guessed
23 3 Galatea vs. To Hell in a Hamper
08 1 Winter Storm Draco vs. Augmented Fourth
13 3 Taco Fiction vs. Eidolon
17 3 The Weapon vs. Once and Future
19 3 First Things First vs. Christminster
Division 3, the “fierce” division, is heavily represented, but (surprisingly) the two highest-interest matches (tied for first place at 64%) are the first and last matches of Round 1.
Only half of the games listed above can make it to Round 2. If you see some favorites on the list and want to participate in voting, you can sign up at any time by going to the PCT Fans group page, reviewing and accepting the terms of the honor code for participants, and clicking the “Join” button at top right. With 36 fans already registered, the matches are sure to be exciting.
Also: It’s not too late to send in your predictions for the tournament, but it will be in just eleven hours. Maybe you’ve been thinking: “I haven’t played all of these games. How can I make predictions?” Well, nobody knows the future, so flip coins, use numerology, go by gut feel, do whatever works for you! Instructions on how to enter can be found here. Good luck!
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The bugles have sounded early, and the tournament has begun! Voting and discussion for Round 1 of Division 1 is open at this thread.
It looks like a surprise beginning to the event hasn’t kept things from starting off with a bang!
A couple of hours into it the hot match is Winter Storm Draco vs. Augmented Fourth, with a combined 7 votes (5-2 in favor of the latter) just two hours after voting went live. This edges out even the highly-anticipated match of Six vs. Alabaster, which currently has 6 votes evenly split between them.
Not far behind is The Legend of Horse Girl vs. Aisle, with the alternate universe Western trailing the high-profile experimental work by just one point with 5 votes between them.
DAY 1
We’ve firmly crossed the 50-vote mark, but there is still plenty of time and opportunity for more votes to be added. With 36 registered fans playing, up to 288 votes are possible in practice, though I would not expect actual voting to get very close to that since not everyone will vote on every matchup.
Alabaster has moved ahead of Six, with the match now at 7-4 in its favor. The hot match remains Winter Storm Draco vs. Augmented Fourth, where the latter has attained a commanding lead of 8-4. The match between Tales from Castle Balderstone and A Trial has also been heating up, with a combined 11 votes making it tied for second-hottest alongside headline match #01.
The largest lead by far is that of Illuminismo Iniziato over Everybody Dies, currently at 8-1. Heretic’s Hope vs. Tapestry has so far been another lopsided match, now standing at 5-1 in the multimedia Twine work’s favor.
DAY 2
Heretic’s Hope has extended its lead over Tapestry and is now 5 points ahead. Aisle has likewise lengthened its lead over The Legend of Horse Girl by another point, now at 6-4 in a match drawing more interest than expected.
The contest of Six vs. Alabaster has taken the torch of hottest match as the Aussie birthday party simulation steadily regains ground lost earlier to the fractured fairy tale. Six has put up 6 points so far and is now just one behind.
Winter Storm Draco vs. Augmented Fourth continues to be a hot match, and Draco currently trails Fourth by 4. With just a third of registered fans having voted, there is still a chance for Veeder’s mystical, meteorologically-oriented psychodrama to catch up.
Buggy vs. The Abbey has been one of the quieter matches so far, but the faux horror metacomedy entry by mathbrush is currently in front at 4-2. Meanwhile, in the slowest match of the segment to date, The Bible Retold: Following a Star has finally picked up a point in its run against Submarine Sabotage, but the underwater thriller is still up 3-1 after a triple-vote opening streak.
DAY 3
We’ve hit the 75-vote mark, and points are still coming in as fans explore games and cast their votes. With the extended two-week segment duration, even players who are just signing up will have time to play many of the games in this heat. For some matches, both contestants can be completed within a few hours.
In what continues to be the hottest match, Six has now caught up with Alabaster and surpassed it by one, with a score of 8-7.
The two contestants by Ryan Veeder in this heat are seeing mixed results, with Tales from Castle Balderstone ahead of A Trial but Winter Storm Draco trailing Augmented Fourth. Enough votes are still out there to change the fortunes of one or both games.
Buggy has picked up another point over The Abbey (1993) and is now 3 ahead at 5-2. Likewise, Illuminismo Iniziato has gained another notch, putting it a full 8 points ahead of slice-of-afterlife slacker drama Everybody Dies. Heretic’s Hope has also increased its lead over Tapestry, with that match at 7-1 in its favor.
DAY 4
Scores continue to move as players cast their votes, and another player has entered the stands, bringing the total possible vote count of this heat to 296. New players are welcome to join at any time; see the FAQ near the top of this thread for details.
In a surprise move, weird west dramedy The Legend of Horse Girl has picked up the pace and pulled even with opponent Aisle at 6 all.
The Bible Retold: Following a Star earned a second point, threatening to close on Submarine Sabotage, but within hours the military mystery had slipped away with another point of its own, leaving its lead unchanged at two ahead.
Six has held steady with its narrow single-point lead over Alabaster; scoring remained unchanged all day at 8-7.
Augmented Fourth widened the gap between it and Winter Storm Draco again, with their match now at 9-4. The music-themed Zorkian fantasy now vies with Illuminismo Iniziato to see which will be the first game to reach 10 votes.
DAYS 5 AND 6
Scoring remain unchanged during a mid-week slump in activity. With another weekend and up to two-thirds of registered fans having not cast a vote, the action is surely not over yet!
DAY 7
Moving into the weekend, Augmented Fourth picks up another vote over Winter Storm Draco, making it the first game in the tournament to reach 10 points. With a combined 14 points scored, match #08 is the second-largest crowd draw in the segment, and another vote there would place it at a tie for hottest match.
The Legend of Horse Girl vs. Aisle remains deadlocked at 6-6, with neither side able to score. Polling suggest that a tiebreaker vote may be coming soon – if not, the match will be decided by coin toss when time runs out.
DAY 8
Scoring unchanged. If the current match leaders hold steady through the remainder of the week, then one individual will be at the front of the pack for the Official Prediction Game, regardless of the result of a coin toss in match #06.
DAY 9
Six has gained another vote, extending its narrow lead over Alabaster and leaving it two up at 9-7 in what continues to be the hottest match of the segment. With 9 points on the board, Six is poised alongside Illuminismo Iniziato to break into double-digit scoring. Alabaster has five days left to close up the gap; new fans joining (and abiding by the honor system) could tip the balance.
DAYS 10 AND 11
Scoring unchanged, with only a few days left before the segment ends. Several matches are close enough that late voting could result in a tie or even a change in the leader.
Close matches include: Six vs. Alabaster with the former up by two, The Bible Retold: Following a Star vs. Submarine Sabotage with the latter up by two, and The Legend of Horse Girl vs. Aisle where the score is tied.
DAY 12
Late game motion on two matches! Alabaster picks up a vote, leaving it just one behind Six at 9-8. Also, Augmented Fourth expands its already seemingly insurmountable lead over Winter Storm Draco, with the score there now at 11-4.
DAY 13
A late vote for Aisle has broken its tie with The Legend of Horse Girl and placed it one ahead at 7-6.
Also, The Bible Retold: Following a Star has picked up a vote, leaving it just one behind Submarine Sabotage and bringing the total scoring for the match to the same level as that of Buggy vs. The Abbey (1993).
With just one day remaining, there’s still a chance for these close matches, as well as Six vs. Alabaster to change.
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FINAL RESULTS
Match #01: Wade Clarke’s Six edged out Emily Short’s Alabaster in the segment’s most popular match, ending with a narrow win at 10-8. This match was rated as most interesting by fans in advance polling, so it’s not surprising that it ended up drawing the most activity. The light-hearted, playful simulation of a day at the park was favored 3 to 1 in fan predictions, though Calculon predicted a win for Short’s dark fairy tale drama. Three other works authored in whole or in part by Short are competing in the tournament, appearing in Divisions 3 and 4, so we will soon see more from this highly-accomplished author whose masterwork Counterfeit Monkey dominated all challengers in the Free IF Playoffs.
Match #02: Michael Coyne’s Illuminismo Iniziato took a strong lead early and kept it, finishing the match 8 ahead of opponent Everybody Dies at 10-2. Although Everybody Dies took third place in the 2008 IFComp and has twice been included in the Interactive Fiction Top 50 of All Time, this lopsided result was in keeping with predictions – fans heavily favored Illuminismo (winner of the 2018 Spring Thing’s Main Festival) to come out ahead, and Calculon agreed. The sequel to Risorgimento Represso, a notable Infocom-like fantasy puzzler that was nominated twice but not chosen in the lottery for the tournament, Illuminismo will face Six in round 2. Everybody Dies was the only work in the tournament by Jim Munroe, but he has written several other games – most notably the ASCII-animated Guilded Youth. Fans are encouraged to check it out.
Match #03: Ryan Veeder’s Tales from Castle Balderstone surpassed B Minus 7’s A Trial with a score of 8-5. The Halloween spook story sampler proved popular despite being out of season, and was able to gain a significant lead by the end of day 1. The surreal Twine tale of a bureaucratic dystopia never managed to catch up in one of the more active matches in the segment. Fans universally predicted this outcome, though Calculon disagreed. A Trial was the only contestant written by B Minus 7, and has drawn praise from prominent author Chandler Groover. Fans seeking similar works can explore Inward Narrow Crooked Lanes and other works by the same author.
Match #04: Brian Rushton’s Buggy earned a win over The Abbey (1993) by Art LaFrana, scoring 5-3. Fan predictions were split between the short but sweet fake horror entry and the venerable DOS entry with a custom parser, and Calculon lacked enough data to make a guess. The Abbey was the oldest game competing in the tournament, written almost 30 years before its opponent. It was Art LaFrana’s sole competing game; fans who enjoyed it are encouraged to check out Hampton Manor, the only other game found in IFDB by the same author.
Match #05: Heretic’s Hope, a Twine work by G. C. Baccaris, handily won against Tapestry by Daniel Ravipinto, scoring 7 points to its opponent’s 3. Both contestants are high profile: The illustrated, musically scored drama set in an alternate universe society dominated by giant insects took 5th place in the 2019 IFComp and received the XYZZY Award for Best Setting that year (also tying for Best Use of Multimedia), while the three-part tale of afterlife temptation took 2nd place (and Miss Congeniality) in the 1996 IFComp and won that year’s XYZZY for Best Story. Despite the comparable achievements of these two works, fans and machinery universally predicted the former’s win. Tapestry was the only competing work by Daniel Ravipinto, whose better-known Slouching Towards Bedlam (co-authored with Star Foster) is currently ranked #50 in the IFDB Top 100.
Match #06: Submarine Sabotage by Gary Francis proved the victor over Justin Morgan’s The Bible Retold: Following a Star, but only with a little help from fate. The final score was 4-4 in one of the slowest matches of the segment overall. Perhaps buoyed by discussion in its favor, late voting brought Following a Star up to a tie, letting the religion-themed comedy puzzler overcome the short-form undersea mystery thriller’s opening streak. Nonetheless, Lady Luck gave the win to Sabotage, and that game glides away into Round 2. Fan predictions were 3-to-1 in favor of this outcome, and Calculon called the match’s winner correctly. No other work by Justin Morgan is in the tournament, though he has other published works on IFDB, including Spiral, which took 6th place in the 2012 IFComp.
Match #07: In another evenly-matched contest, Bitter Karella’s The Legend of Horse Girl eked out a win over Sam Barlow’s Aisle, ending the match with the segment’s second tie score at 7-7. The well-known experiment, first mover in the subgenre of one-room games, took a strong lead over the quirky, stylized western early in the match, but, like its determined protagonist, Horse Girl made progress slowly but surely over time. The two games were dead even at 6-6 for a full week before a tiebreaker vote appeared to decide the contest for Aisle. However, a last-minute vote for the underdog evened the score, and the first official coin flip to land “heads” (i.e. lantern) lets the dark horse continue to the second round. Most fan predictions and Calculon favored Aisle, so this may be the most surprising outcome of the first heat. Author Sam Barlow is a noted designer of many games including Her Story, which is not found on IFDB, but he has no other works competing in the tournament. We salute the historical impact of Aisle on the art form as it retires from the field.
Match #08: In the final match of segment, Brian Uri’s Augmented Fourth prevailed over Ryan Veeder’s Winter Storm Draco with the scoreboard showing 11-5. Fan predictions were divided in this match between a classic music-themed magic puzzler and a short and stylized “slice of life” adventure recounting paranormal events during a major snowstorm, but Calculon chose the former. Fourth kept and slowly expanded its sizable early lead in this match, which drew more discussion from fans than any other in the segment. Three other works by Ryan Veeder are competing in the tournament, including Taco Fiction in Division 2 (playing now).
With the dust settled, PCT Fan @bg has emerged at the front of the pack in the Official Prediction Game, with 6 out of 8 correct calls for this segment – congratulations on the great start! This heat has knocked out nominees by @AmandaB, @CMG, @Dissolved, @Hellzon, @Joey and @rovarsson, but each of those fans still has other champions in the running. The action now moves to Round 1 of Division 2…
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After its unannounced early start, Round 1 of Division 2 is well on its way!
In the most anticipated match of the segment, A Change in the Weather has taken a strong lead over A Dark Room, pulling in four votes before its opponent scored at all. The outlier text-based “idle game” has now gained a vote, and the board currently stands at 4-1.
Just as active is the first match of the segment, in which Lime Ergot leads CC’s Road to Stardom with the same 4-1 score.
At the moment Taco Fiction vs. Eidolon is tied at 1 all in what is surprisingly the slowest match so far.
DAY 1
A Change in the Weather continues to maintain a large lead over A Dark Room in what is by a slight margin the most popular match. The score there is now 6-2.
Meanwhile, Lime Ergot vs. CC’s Road to Stardom looks to be the most unbalanced match, with a current score of 6-1 in favor of the short but successful parser experiment. At five points ahead, it also has the largest lead over its opponent, a multimedia Adventuron work about anthropomorphized animals in space.
Taco Fiction vs. Eidolon continues to be one of the slower matches in the segment, but the pace has picked up. The breakout “game about crime” by Ryan Veeder is tied at 2-2 with the Twine tale of insomnia and a magical visitor, which scored the first point in the match.
Inevitable (2003) vs. Word of the Day pits two personal dramas about military PCs with conflicting goals in interstellar civilizations against each other, and though Inevitable maintained a single-point lead for much of the first day, its opponent has now caught up at 2-2.
Perdition’s Flames is hot on the heels of Nightfall in their match, but the nuclear thriller is ahead of the afterlife treasure hunt at 3-2.
Sand-dancer and The Mystery of Winchester High are both stories of misfit youths, but despite the first point going to the school-age treasure hunt, the more serious entry featuring a mystical desert journey is now in the lead at 3-2.
Venerable Inform 6 puzzler The Edifice is ahead of its Inform 7 Pokemon-inspired opponent, with the board now at 4-2 after starting with a 2-0 lead.
Adventuron entry Over Here! scored first in its match against ADRIFT entry The Lost Labyrinth of Lazaitch, but the latter has since had an unbroken streak and now leads at 3-1.
DAY 2
A Dark Room vs. A Change in the Weather remains the hottest match, and the multi-layered click-oriented web game is gaining ground on the pioneering contemplative parser work. It’s now two behind at 4-6.
Lime Ergot has scored another two points, extending its lead over CC’s Road to Stardom to seven points in a tremendous scoring streak.
Nightfall picked up a vote, dimming the hopes for Perdition’s Flames somewhat. With the score at 4-2 and a dozen days remaining in the segment, nothing is certain yet. Likewise, Sand-dancer is now two up on The Mystery of Winchester High at 4-2 after gaining another vote.
The Edifice pulled slightly farther ahead of Pogoman GO!, picking up a point after its author stopped by to add some comments about the game’s formative influences; the score in that match is now 5-2. Inevitable (2003) also scored, restoring its narrow one-point lead over Word of the Day for the time being.
Taco Fiction and Eidolon have been running quite close, with additional votes to both sides edging up the tally slowly. Although they have spent most of the time tied, at the moment Taco Fiction leads by one at 4-3. This match was rated second most interesting of the segment in advance polling (and among the top quarter of all Round 1 matches overall) which suggests that more votes are on the way; it seems as though fans may be having a tough time making up their minds between these two works.
DAY 3
Eidolon has earned a fourth vote, bringing the score between it and Taco Fiction once again to a tie.
Perdition’s Flames scored another point, partly closing the gap with Nightfall and leaving it trailing by one.
Inevitable (2003) continues to hold a minimal lead over opponent Word of the Day in unchanged scoring.
DAY 4
CC’s Road to Stardom has received a second vote, leaving it still six behind Lime Ergot at 8-2 but bringing their match to a tie for hottest of the segment.
Also, Inevitable (2003) has lengthened its lead over Word of the Day with the score moving to 4-2.
DAY 5
Taco Fiction has inched ahead of opponent Eidolon yet again, with the board now showing 5-4. With more than a week to go, the match could still go to either one.
Over Here! picked up a point, drawing nearer to The Lost Labyrinth of Lazaitch, which still leads by one at 3-2 in the slowest match of the segment. The Adventuron-based, 1980s-style graphical text adventure with pixel art styling might yet catch up to the low fantasy quest written in ADRIFT.
DAY 6
Votes continue to trickle in for what seems to be a more contemplative segment than we saw for Division 1, though so far the majority of fans responding to a mid-game poll say that they are finding it to be about the same difficulty or easier to decide how to cast their votes.
In match #11, A Dark Room continues to gain on A Change in the Weather and is now just one step behind at 6-5. As we go into the weekend, we may see more activity soon in this most anticipated contest of the segment.
Lime Ergot pulled in another vote, regaining a 7-point lead over CC’s Road to Stardom. Fan participation in this contest has been running substantially higher than expected based on advance polling, and both this and match #11 are tied on the metric of most votes per contest.
DAY 7
Here at the halfway mark, several matches remain close – in three of them the leader has only a scant single-vote lead. Given the burst of late voting activity seen for Division 1, only a few matches can be called with any certainty.
A break in its favor has put A Change in the Weather two votes ahead of opponent A Dark Room at 7-5, blunting the progress of the surprise-laden multi-mode clicker. Even so, A Dark Room has closed half of the four-point deficit showing at the end of Day 1, and it might still prevail.
CC’s Road to Stardom also scored, nibbling at the edges of opponent Lime Ergot’s massive lead. The short but successful parser experiment remains six points ahead of the multimedia kids’ puzzler at 9-3, in a match that remains tied for hottest of the segment.
Sand-dancer scooped up another point, giving it some breathing room in front of opponent The Mystery of Winchester High; the score there is now 5-2. The well-implemented youth adventure story still has a week to try to make up the three points it needs for a tie. With both entries offering comp-length experiences, more votes may still be coming in this match.
DAY 8
With a big influx of votes from one player, the heat has kicked up a notch moving into the second half.
Eidolon has gained a step on Taco Fiction, and the two works are now dead even for the fourth time at 5-5. Likewise, Perdition’s Flames has caught up with Nightfall and is now running neck-and-neck at 4-4.
Underdogs Pogoman GO! and The Mystery of Winchester High have both closed the gap a bit with their respective opponents The Edifice and Sand-dancer, but each is still two behind.
Meanwhile, Lime Ergot, A Change in the Weather and Inevitable (2003) have all increased their leads.
DAY 9
A Change in the Weather has picked up another vote, continuing to pull away from A Dark Room with the score now at 9-5 in its favor. After that change, this match has regained its status as the hottest of the segment.
DAY 10
Another batch of votes has shifted the standings in every contest.
Lime Ergot has widened the gap between itself and CC’s Road to Stardom even more, placing it 8 points ahead and within reach of a new People’s Champion Tournament record for the metric of largest point lead.
Nightfall has broken its tie with Perdition’s Flames and is one point ahead at 5-4. Likewise, Taco Fiction has moved ahead of Eidolon and is now at 6-5. Given the back-and-forth seen so far in these two contests, both seem susceptible to late reversal, but only time will tell…
A Dark Room gained a step on match leader A Change in the Weather amid fan discussion of the latter. With three points still needed to tie, it will take a substantial scoring streak for it to catch up before time runs out.
Over Here! has managed to pull even with The Lost Labyrinth of Lazaitch, adding drama to the segment’s slowest match. Without additional voting, this contest will be decided by coin toss.
Inevitable (2003), The Edifice and Sand-dancer have all gained votes over their respective opponents Word of the Day, Pogoman GO! and The Mystery of Winchester High. With at least a three-point lead for each of them, chances look good for the current leaders.
DAY 11
A vote for The Edifice has firmed up its lead as the clock continues to tick down. With a four point lead at 7-3, opponent Pogoman GO! will need a miraculous comeback to win.
DAY 12
Lime Ergot has scored again, expanding its lead to a whopping nine points over CC’s Road to Stardom and once again tying this match for hottest of the segment. With this it sets a new record for most points scored by a game in this tournament. If it can hold its current lead until Saturday, Ergot will also set a record for largest winning margin.
Taco Fiction has gained another point over Eidolon, giving it a modicum of security in the form of a two-point lead heading into the home stretch.
The Edifice has also scored again, raising its overall lead to five points at 8-3.
DAY 13
The Edifice continues its late scoring streak, earning another point unopposed and now showing a 3-to-1 ratio of points scored against Pogoman GO!.
Sand-dancer also sifted another vote from the stands, leaving it 4 ahead of The Mystery of Winchester High at 7-3.
Only one day remains for this segment. Those cheering for games competing in matches #10, #12 and #13 wait anxiously to learn whether (and how) late voting will affect these close contests.
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FINAL RESULTS
Match #09: Caleb Wilson’s Lime Ergot ran away with this match, easily defeating CC’s Road to Stardom by OK Feather in a contest that drew a surprisingly large number of votes. The influential proof-of-concept simply outdistanced the highly-developed graphical puzzler, steadily scoring at a ratio of 4-to-1 and ending the match at 12-3 in a performance comparable to that of Illuminismo Iniziato in Division 1. The win was in line with the expectations of the majority of fans as well as Calculon. CC’s Road to Stardom was the only competing entry by OK Feather; those who would like to see more from the author(s) will be pleased to learn of their pigeon-themed holiday game Feathery Christmas, also listed on IFDB.
Match #10: Perdition’s Flames by Michael Roberts gave a good run to Eric Eve’s Nightfall, but the latter won their match with a final score of 6-4. Nightfall was the first to score, but Flames kept up the pressure and reached a tie score by the start of the mid-match weekend. Another vote for Nightfall arrived at the beginning of week 2, giving it the slim advantage that it expanded by another point in the hours before voting closed. Fans unanimously predicted a win by Nightfall, but Calculon chose its opponent. Perdition’s Flames was the only competing entry by Michael Roberts, author of the TADS development system and of many other works that can be found on IFDB, such as the highly rated Return to Ditch Day. We salute his dedication to keeping the form of high-quality parser IF alive after the collapse of commercial market.
Match #11: Andrew Plotkin’s A Change in the Weather surpassed Michael Townsend’s A Dark Room in a match that served fans a choice between an apple and an orange. A strong opening streak by the former in this, one of the segment’s two tied-for-hottest matches, let it notch four points before the latter could score, but near the end of the first week the text-driven web game was hot on the heels of the historically-significant parser work and seemed poised to take the lead. Instead, Weather found its second wind in weekend scoring, re-opening a lead that Dark Room couldn’t overcome, and when time ran out the scoreboard showed 9-6. Three-quarters of fans called the match for the newer web-based entry, as did Calculon, so the result of this match defied most predictions. A Dark Room was author Michael Townsend’s only work on the tournament’s lists, but fans who wish to see more by him may wish to check out his commercial release Penrose, also found on IFDB.
Match #12: Larry Horsefield’s The Lost Labyrinth of Lazaitch and Lionel Ange’s Over Here! played a slow-paced match that delivered building excitement to fans and final victory to the latter. Over Here! scored first, but by the end of Day 1 Lazaitch was up by two. In ensuing days the pixelated Adventuron work chipped away at its opponent’s lead, and by the early part of the second week it had tied up the score at 3-3. There the score remained until time ran out, and Lady Luck gave the win to Over Here! by coin flip. Fan predictions were heavily in favor of this result, and Calculon agreed with the crowd. No other work by Larry Horsefield is competing, but The Lost Labyrinth is the seventh in a long-running series featuring the same protagonist, and fans can find other episodes on IFDB.
Match #13: Ryan Veeder’s Taco Fiction and A. D. Jansen’s Eidolon had a very dynamic match that saw the two dissimilar but strong works trade first place repeatedly. Their fourth tie broke in favor of Veeder’s popular crime simulator near the start of the second week, and another point around mid-week provided a margin of victory that held until the end with a final score of 7-5. Humans and machinery universally predicted a win by Taco Fiction, making the close nature of this match doubly dramatic. Eidolon was the only published work by author A. D. Jansen, but we salute its vigorous performance in this contest as work and maker retire from the field.
Match #14: Kathleen Fischer’s Inevitable (2003) prevailed against Richard Otter’s Word of the Day in a contest ending at 6-2. The random pairing of two works concerning the conflicting motives driving military service members in interstellar empires was one of Lady Luck’s more apropos gestures. Although the games were tied early in the match, later fan voting strongly preferred the contemplative Myst-like puzzler over the action-oriented tale of mutiny and betrayal. All human predictions correctly called the winner, though Calculon backed its opponent. The perhaps misleadingly-named Word of the Day was author Richard Otter’s only competing work in the tournament, but over 20 other works by him are available on IFDB including Unauthorized Termination and Pathway to Destruction.
Match #15: Notable work The Edifice by Lucian Smith beat Pokemon-inspired Pogoman GO! by Jack Welch and Ben Collins-Sussman with a substantial margin, ending at 9-3 in a match pairing two works featuring different takes on the theme of evolution. The earlier work developed a significant lead by Day 2 and held it throughout the remainder of the match. Fan predictions strongly favored this outcome, outperforming the tournament’s prognostication algorithm which did not. While Pogoman GO! was the only work by the repeat co-authors competing in this tournament, those who would like to see more by Jack Welch and Ben Collins-Sussman are encourage to check out their earlier works Rover’s Day Out and Hoosegow, among others found on IFDB. We salute the spirit of innovation that pervades the works by this talented pair as they leave the field.
Match #16: Finally, Sand-dancer by Aaron Reed and Alexei Othenin-Girard was victorious over The Mystery of Winchester High by Garry Francis, with a final score of 7-3. Although the latter was faster out of the gate, the former’s lead grew steadily after it passed its opponent on Day 1. Both parser games featured unruly youth and are geared toward introductory audiences, but the more serious subject matter of the well-developed textbook example garnered more support than the school-setting treasure hunt developed for the Text Adventure Literacy Project. Fans were evenly split in their expectations of a win, and Calculon lacked the data to make a call either way. Another entry by author Garry Francis, Submarine Sabotage, has already advanced to Round 2, and two more are slated to compete in Division 4, so fans will see more works by him soon.
With all said and done for this heat, PCT Fan @mathbrush has taken the lead in the Official Prediction Game, with 12 out of 16 correct calls so far. This heat has knocked out nominees by @AmandaB, @Denk, @Hidnook, mathbrush and several fans who submitted their nominations anonymously, but every player still has other champions in the running (see note below). The action now moves to Round 1 of Division 3. Stay tuned…
EDIT: On closer review, it seems that one of the works eliminated this round was the single nominee of the anonymous and unlucky fan who had all but one pick passed over in the lottery. I extend heartfelt consolations to this player, and special thanks for the chosen nomination, which I hadn’t played before its selection. 24 fans still have champions in the running: 1 with 1, 11 with 2, 8 with 3, and 4 with 4.
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Despite the opening of Spring Thing 2025, Round 1 of Division 3 has had a rollicking start. The “heavy hitters” of this division are showing their mettle in what promises to be an exciting heat.
DAY 1
Advance polling showed a tie in audience interest for two matches: #18 and #23.
In match #18, What Heart Heard Of, Ghost Guessed had an explosive burst of scoring in the opening hours, putting five points on the board before opponent The Dreamhold managed its first. The introductory work by Andrew Plotkin has since gained another point, leaving it three points behind Amanda Walker’s tale of ghostly revenge at 5-2.
In match #23, Galatea and To Hell in a Hamper were running even for the first few points, but a sudden streak of scoring by Emily Short’s conversational landmark has given it a two-point edge over J. J. Guest’s comedic allegory.
Hunter, in Darkness, the third work by Andrew Plotkin to appear on the rolls, has made an unprecedented start against Pick Up the Phone Booth and Aisle, rocketing a full nine points ahead while its opponent remains at zero. The unexpectedly hot match has already set a tournament record for longest unopposed starting streak.
First Things First took an early lead over Christminster in early scoring, but the latter has since caught up, and the score between these two long-play works built with different systems is now even at 3-3. Audience discussion indicates that some fans may have more trouble than average deciding between these two.
DAY 2
All Things Devours had a very strong start against The Golden Heist; after securing a five point lead by mid-day on Day 1, it scored again on Day 2, placing it substantially ahead at 7-1.
Once and Future holds a narrow edge over The Weapon at 4-3. After scoring first, it has stayed half-a-step ahead of its rival, which otherwise matched it point for point in yesterday’s opening rush.
Never Gives Up Her Dead is leading Dr. Dumont’s Wild P.A.R.T.I. by 4-1, having established its 3-point advantage by the end of Day 1. The closely-watched contest pits the most ambitious work of the world’s foremost authority on published interactive fiction against that of a well-known former Infocom Implementor, but fan participation so far has been limited – most likely because both works are large-scale, long-form puzzlers.
Brain Guzzlers from Beyond! has maintained a small but stable two-point lead over The End Means Escape since passing the experimental work early on Day 1. The score currently stands at 3-1.
In new scoring: The Dreamhold has edged closer to match leader What Heart Heard Of, Ghost Guessed and is now two points behind at 5-3. Galatea has pulled farther ahead of To Hell in a Hamper, currently at 6-3. Hunter, in Darkness continues to shatter records with an extended opening scoring streak; it is now more than ten points ahead at 11-0. First Things First has broken the tie with Christminster and for now holds a slim one-point lead.
DAY 3
Pick Up the Phone Booth and Aisle has earned its first vote, ending the outsized opening streak of opponent Hunter, in Darkness. The score in that match is now 11-1.
Short-form sci-fi thriller The Weapon has gained a vote, tying with long-form fantasy quest Once and Future at 4-4.
Never Gives Up Her Dead scored another time against Dr. Dumont’s Wild P.A.R.T.I., giving it a sizable four-point lead at 5-1.
Galatea continues to outpace To Hell in a Hamper, currently leading 7-3 in this segment’s second-hottest match.
Brain Guzzlers from Beyond! added to its margin over The End Means Escape and now has some breathing room at 4-1 in what remains the slowest-paced contest of the segment.
DAY 4
Christminster has made up the point lost to First Things First, and the two games are again tied with the scoreboard reading 4-4.
The Dreamhold continues to gain slowly on What Heart Heard Of, Ghost Guessed; it is currently just one point behind at 5-4.
DAY 5
Brain Guzzlers from Beyond! scored a fifth time, putting it up by four over The End Means Escape.
DAY 6
With another point for The Dreamhold, it has made up a five-point deficit and is now running even with What Heart Heard Of, Ghost Guessed at 5 all.
Hunter, in Darkness and Brain Guzzlers from Beyond! have both added one to their leads over respective opponents Pick Up the Phone Booth and Aisle and The End Means Escape.
To Hell in a Hamper has also scored, decreasing Galatea’s lead to three points at 7-4. It still has substantial ground to cover in order to catch up.
Three different matches are now at tie status: The Weapon vs Once and Future, The Dreamhold vs What Heart Heard Of, Ghost Guessed, and First Things First vs Christminster. Weekend voting may break one or all of them.
DAY 7
First Things First has broken the tie and pulled one ahead of Christminster. The score is now 5-4.
DAY 8
To Hell in a Hamper has gained a pair of votes, substantially closing the gap between itself and Galatea. It is now one point behind at 7-6; the new total score makes this match tied for hottest of the segment alongside Hunter, in Darkness vs. Pick Up the Phone Booth and Aisle.
DAY 9
All Things Devours has received another vote, raising its lead to seven points against opponent The Golden Heist. At 8-1, the matchup of a puzzle-centric parser game with minimal story vs. a story-centric choice game with minimal puzzles has yielded one of the most lopsided contests (in terms of scoring ratio) in the tournament to date, second only to Hunter, in Darkness vs. Pick Up the Phone Booth and Aisle.
DAY 10
After a sustained effort, To Hell in a Hamper has managed to pull even with Galatea at 7 all. The match between these two award-winning one-room works now hangs in the balance as time begins to grow short.
Another point for Hunter, in Darkness has kept up the heat in its match against Pick Up the Phone Booth and Aisle, retaining a tie for first place as the hottest of the segment. The score on the board is now 13-1.
Once again, three different matches are now at tie status.
DAY 11
Hunter, in Darkness has earned yet another vote over Pick Up the Phone Booth and Aisle, bringing the current score in that match to 14-1 and returning it to “hottest match” status.
DAY 12
Never Gives Up Her Dead scored twice more, extending its lead over Dr. Dumont’s Wild P.A.R.T.I. to a full six points at 7-1.
DAY 13
No new scoring in the past day. All eyes are on matches #17, #18 and #23 to see whether last day voting produces a win for any of their six contestants, or whether all six are consigned to the whims of Lady Luck.
Match #19 is also very close and could change in the final hours.
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FINAL RESULTS
Match #17: The Weapon and Once and Future battled to a draw of 4-4, ending in a decision by coin flip for the former. Once and Future, an epic Arthurian-like adventure famous for having been in development for five years during the mid 90s, took the first point and by the end of Day 1 was ahead at 4-3. However, the technologically advanced sci-fi mini-thriller caught up over the course of the following day, and the score remained static until time ran out. Fan predictions were evenly split between these two works, and Calculon was unable to choose a winner, so there were advance indications that this would be a close one between well-balanced opponents. Author G. Kevin Wilson may be best known as the founder of IF Comp, one of the most widely-known pillars of the modern IF community, but he produced a handful of other works including The Lesson of the Tortoise and notably collaborated with ex-Infocom Implementors Marc Blank and the late Michael Berlyn on Zork: The Undiscovered Underground. We salute the author and the ambitious work as they exit the field.
Match #18: Tutorialized, beginner-friendly The Dreamhold only narrowly edged out well-known short drama What Heart Heard Of, Ghost Guessed, with a score of 6-5 in one of two headline matches. Fans of the ghost story mobilized early, and What Heart Heard Of rocketed ahead with a five-point lead before Dreamhold was out of the gate, though by the end of Day 1 the long-form story of an amnesiac wizard was only two points behind. The slow accumulation of additional votes put Dreamhold over the top on the final day of voting. Although the author of What Heart Heart Of, Ghost Guessed publicly compared the match as a David vs. Goliath scenario and cast her work as the underdog, the strong majority of fans predicted a win by What Heart Heard Of, Ghost Guessed, as did Calculon, so this result is a surprise to oddsmakers. The crowd cheers wildly as popular new author Amanda Walker and her trendsetting work, which is currently #77 on the IFDB Top 100 list, retire honorably from the field. Fans not familiar with her catalog will find many other works by this rising star on IFDB, including Of Their Shadows Deep and The Spectators.
Match #19: Time travel drama First Things First also squeaked by with a narrow win against alchemy-oriented modern mystery Christminster, yielding a final score of 5-4 in a match pitting two long-form turn-of-the-century works against each other. The first vote went to First, but by the end of the day it and its opponent were tied at 3-3. First moved ahead again on Day 2, followed by a renewed tie the next day. The two contestants kept horns locked until mid-match weekend voting brought out the winning vote for First Things First. Predicting fans were split 50-50 about the outcome of this bout, but Calculon correctly called it for First Things First. No other works by author Gareth Rees are competing in the tournament, and Christminster is his only major release. As they leave the field, we salute both the author and this influential early work, which was instrumental in setting a high bar for quality in the early post-commercial era.
Match #20: Hunter, in Darkness set new tournament records in its unexpectedly lopsided match against Pick Up the Phone Booth and Aisle, with the final score a remarkable 14-1 in its favor. The double-spoof of Pick Up the Phone Booth and Die and Aisle, a collaboration between over a dozen authors, simply did not seem to resonate with today’s fans; they overwhelmingly preferred Andrew Plotkin’s innovative reinterpretation of the venerable mainframe game Hunt the Wumpus in an initial three-day rush that earned it 11 points unopposed. Fans making predictions were evenly split again on this match, but Calculon called it correctly. Authors Emily Short and J. Robinson Wheeler, both of whom contributed to Pick Up the Phone Booth and Aisle, each have other works in the tournament that are still competing. The organizer salutes the remaining authors as their game leaves the field.
Match #21: All Things Devours devoured nearly all of the votes in its match against The Golden Heist, winning handily at 8-1; the high ratio would have been a tournament record if not for the results of match #20. The tightly-constructed time travel espionage uni-puzzle led by five over the “ancient noir” heist caper at the end of Day 2, and scored twice more unopposed before time ran out. In pre-tournament predictions, fans strongly favored a win by All Things Devours, which was also Calculon’s pick. Co-authors George Lockett and Rob Thorman have no other works competing in the tournament, and fans applaud their highly original offering as they retire from the field.
Match #22: Dr. Dumont’s Wild P.A.R.T.I. got little traction against Never Gives Up Her Dead, which beat it 7-1. The two long-form parser works share some high-level structural similiarities, but fans showed a clear preference for the modern work’s player-friendly style, which was one of only two triple-nominees during the “draft” for the tournament. Fans submitting predictions universally expected this outcome while the tournament’s forecasting machinery was unable to choose due to insufficient data. Authors Michael and Muffy Berlyn have no other works competing in the tournament, but the husband and wife team also collaborated on other commercial games listed on IFDB such as Tass Times in Tonetown and Oo-Topos. The late Michael Berlyn is, of course, famous for his work at Infocom including classics Suspended and Infidel. We salute the contributions of both authors to the nascent videogame industry of the early microcomputer era.
Match #23: In the second headline match of the segment, a bout between two early works written by authors who went on to become stars, Galatea and To Hell in a Hamper ended up in a draw of 7-7. Neither the ambitious and influential work developed for the first IF Art Show nor the conscientiously refined comedy with a global warming subtext could keep a lead in the early hours of the segment, though a burst of votes for Galatea put it ahead at 5-3 at the end of Day 1, and its lead was further extended to 7-3 by Day 4. Subsequent voting slowly made up the difference for To Hell in a Hamper, and Lady Luck made her choice in its favor. Fans playing the prediction game were equally divided about the expected outcome; Calculon predicted correctly. While Galatea retires to grand applause another significant early work by superstar author Emily Short, Metamorphoses, takes the field in Division 4 against triple tournament nominee Winter Wonderland (1999).
Match #24: Brain Guzzlers from Beyond! prevailed against The End Means Escape, beating its opponent 6-1 in the slowest-paced match of the segment. The spoofy Inform 7 work in “spine-tingling Text-O-Rama” was slow to start, yielding the first point, but then overwhelmed its experimental and surreal opponent at a steady, slithering pace over the course of the first week. Fans making predictions were all in on Brain Guzzlers, and Calculon agreed, making this an unsurprising outcome according to odds-makers. Author Steve Kodat has no other works in the tournament, but fans will be glad to learn that he did publish another work listed on IFDB: Stone Cell. We salute Kodat’s imaginative approach to parser interaction as he and his work depart the field.
With the fresh results from this segment, PCT Fan @mathbrush remains in the lead in the Official Prediction Game but now shares first place with @FLACRabbit; both show 16 out of 24 correct calls so far.
This heat has knocked out nominees by @BadParser, @Hellzon, @Morningstar, @rovarsson and several fans who submitted their nominations anonymously, but nobody is freshly out of champions this round. Of the 24 fans with champions remaining, two have 4, seven have 3, nine have 2, and six have 1. [EDIT: In the initial report for this segment, the effect of two eliminated games – The Golden Heist and The End Means Escape – were not correctly tabulated in the figures for distribution of champions remaining. The errors are now corrected.]
The action now moves to Round 1 of Division 4. Stay tuned…
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We’ve reached the final segment of the first round, at the end of which we’ll be at the halfway mark in terms of individual matches completed. Let’s see how it goes among the last batch of untested champions…
DAY 1
The headline match of Winter Wonderland (1999) vs. Metamorphoses looks like it might be a tough bout for both contestants. As of now, each has scored three points.
The hottest match is perhaps surprisingly The Moonlit Tower vs. Bogeyman. The harrowing no-win tale of a child trapped by a real-life bogeyman has taken a commanding lead over the lyrical short fantasy at 7-2.
For a Change is the current leader in the race for the biggest lead, with Search for the Lost Ark trailing it 6-0.
Babel is up by three over Delightful Wallpaper at 5-2 in another match drawing crowd interest.
DAY 2
After ending Day 1 at a 3-3 tie, The Little Match Girl, by Hans Christian Andersen has pulled one point ahead of Scroll Thief. (Note to readers: the former will be referred to as just The Little Match Girl from here on.)
Please Answer Carefully scored four points unopposed against match rival Scents & Semiosis on Day 1, with an additional point added today bringing the score to 5-0. Having been flagged in discussion as a pair that are both very quick to play, this contest may begin to attract more votes over the course of the segment.
Things That Happened in Houghtonbridge vs. Captain Cutter’s Treasure was at 4-1 in favor of the former as of the end of Day 1, with unchanged scoring over the last 24 hours. There was also no change in the slowest-moving match, in which Yes, Another Game With a Dragon! is still leading Thin Walls at 2-1 after a lackadaisical first day.
In more new scoring, The Moonlit Tower earned a vote, leaving it four points behind opponent Bogeyman at 7-3 in what continues to be the segment’s hottest match. For a Change also gained another point while opponent Search for the Lost Ark remains stuck in the starting gate.
DAY 3
In this segment’s headline match, Winter Wonderland (1999) has put another point on the board, breaking the tie with Metamorphoses and taking a minimal lead at 4-3. Against such a comparable opponent, the triple nominee may still be on thin ice this early in the segment.
Scents & Semiosis has scored its first point against Please Answer Carefully, ending the latter’s strong opening streak. Now four points behind at 5-1, the intricate procedural text generator still has a long way to go to catch up with the situation horror match leader, but past matches have shown that it just might happen.
Captain Cutter’s Treasure also picked up a vote, letting the comp-length all-text pirate adventure shave off some of the gap between itself and semi-graphical adventure mystery Things That Happened in Houghtonbridge. The score there is now 4-2.
DAY 4
Thin Walls has caught up with Yes, Another Game with a Dragon!, and the score in that match is now 2 all. The choice-based tale of alienation with relevant social commentary is holding its own against the clever sendup of classic fantasy tropes in this quietest contest of the segment.
Please Answer Carefully gained another vote, erasing yesterday’s gain by Scents & Semiosis and restoring its five-point lead at 6-1. This match featuring two quick-to-play experiences is now one of four tied for second-hottest in the segment.
DAY 5
Scents & Semiosis has put another point on the board, signaling that it’s not to be counted out yet. It still has four points to go to catch up with Please Answer Carefully in its current place, however, and it’s not clear that the match leader is done scoring. The match currently stands at 6-2 and second-hottest of the segment.
DAY 6
Scroll Thief has earned a vote, reaching a new tie with The Little Match Girl at 4-4. Fans so far are evenly split between the punchy riff on a 19th century fairy tale and the clever rules-bending puzzler rooted in Infocom’s Enchanter series and ur-game Adventure.
DAY 7
Yes, Another Game with a Dragon! gained a point in its match against Thin Walls, breaking their second tie, but within hours Thin Walls had evened things up. As we begin the weekend, the score there is now 3-3 and running close.
DAY 8
Please Answer Carefully has scored against Scents & Semiosis, leaving it once again five points ahead. With less than a week to go, it seems safe to say that the scent of possible victory is now fading for the latter.
DAY 9
Metamorphoses has pulled even with Winter Wonderland (1999), and the score there is now 4 all. This change made it the third match of the segment to be at tie status, alongside the matches of The Little Match Girl vs. Scroll Thief and Thin Walls vs. Yes, Another Game with a Dragon!. However, later in the day Scroll Thief put a new point on the board, breaking its second tie with The Little Match Girl and taking the lead at 5-4.
Please Answer Carefully also picked up another vote, extending its lead over Scents & Semiosis to six points for the first time in the segment. That match now has a score of 8-2 and is tied with The Moonlit Tower vs. Bogeyman for hottest of the segment.
DAY 10
The Little Match Girl has received another vote, tying back up with Scroll Thief for the third time with the scoreboard now showing 5-5. This is now one of three matches tied for hottest in the segment.
DAY 11
For a Change has increased its lead to 8 points over opponent Search for the Lost Ark. Although other matches have ended with larger margins of victory, the fact that Lost Ark has yet to score means that this match may end up being the first “shutout” in tournament history. Three days remain until voting closes.
DAY 12
Please Answer Carefully continues to score and now holds a seven-point lead over opponent Scents & Semiosis. With the new point added to the board, this match has become the hottest of the segment.
DAY 13
After four days running even against Winter Wonderland (1999), Metamorphoses has earned a vote, giving it the lead at 5-4. With just one day of voting left, the triple nominee may yet catch up.
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FINAL RESULTS
Match #25: Babel handily beat Delightful Wallpaper with a score of 5-2 in a match that pit conventional tropes and gameplay by a (then) first-time author against an experimental format by an (already at the time) established master. Although the two works were running equally in the match’s early hours, a burst of votes on Day 1 gave Babel the 3-point edge that it maintained until time ran out. The majority of predicting fans chose this result, and Calculon agreed with the them. At least part of the experiment of Delightful Wallpaper was successful: The movement-only format of its first half was later used as the basis of crowd-pleaser Inside the Facility by Arthur DiBianca. Author Andrew Plotkin still has three other games competing in the tournament, all of which have advanced to Round 2, including A Change in the Weather which is competing against Over Here! in Division 2 right now.
Match #26: For a Change set a new tournament record in its match against Search for the Lost Ark, achieving a “shutout” for the first time in tournament history (including FIFP) with a score of 8-0. The hyperfantasy with a unique prose style obviously wowed fans when compared to the classical structure and play mode of its opponent, which despite the title has no relation to Indiana Jones. Again, both the bulk of those submitting predictions and Calculon agreed that this outcome was expected. The author of Lost Ark, Garry Francis, began with four works on the rolls, but only Submarine Sabotage, which is currently competing against Heretic’s Hope in Division 1, is still in the running. (See match #31 below.)
Match #27: The contest between Thin Walls and Yes, Another Game with a Dragon! was a close one, ending up at a tie of 3-3 with a coin flip determination making Thin Walls the winner. Fans were torn between rewarding the engaging critique of market-based housing policies and the mild skewering of well-worn fantasy tropes. More prognosticators than not expected this outcome, and Calculon concurred. Author John Kean has no other games competing in the tournament and only a single other work listed on IFDB: Downtown Tokyo, Present Day, which is another satire, this time of old-style Godzilla films. We salute this author’s commitment to creating fun gameplay and the crowd applauds as he and his work retire from the field.
Match #28: In another clash of well-matched contenders, The Little Match Girl, by Hans Christian Andersen and Scroll Thief reached a draw several times. Each of the pair spent time in the lead over the course of the segment, but when time ran out the scoreboard read 6-5 in Scroll Thief’s favor, the deciding vote having been cast on the last day of the match. Scroll Thief outperformed expectations, since predictions favored The Little Match Girl at a 3-to-1 ratio, and even the forecasting machinery backed the origin story of the petite time-traveling assassin. The Little Match Girl, by Hans Christian Andersen is one of four works by Ryan Veeder that made it through the lottery to become contestants in the tournament, two of which – Tales from Castle Balderstone and Taco Fiction – were victorious in Round 1 and are now competing in Round 2.
Match #29: Bogeyman dominated The Moonlit Tower with a final score of 7-3; voting fans strongly preferred the dark edge of the former’s nightmare scenario to the dreamy symbolic journey of the latter. Bogeyman achieved its full score on Day 1, and The Moonlit Tower was able to pick up only one more vote over the remainder of the two weeks. Fan predictions were split evenly for this match, but Calculon called it correctly. Author Yoon Ha Lee is listed as a co-author in Scents & Semiosis (see next match) and has created several other works of IF in systems other than Inform variants, such as 2012’s Winterstrike (StoryNexus) and 2021’s The Amiable Planet (Twine). We salute this very talented writer as both author and work retire from the field.
Match #30: In a match pairing two experimental works, Please Answer Carefully methodically defeated Scents & Semiosis in a running battle drawing some fan discussion. Up by four unopposed at the end of Day 1, the former continued to outpace the latter into the second week, ending with a score of 9-2 that did not change after Day 11. In this case, the better part of humans making predictions and the automatic forecasting algorithm disagreed on expected result, with people largely backing Scents & Semiosis while the machine correctly predicted the winner. Author Sam Kabo Ashwell originally produced Scents & Semiosis as a gift for Emily Short, and its credits list Yoon Ha Lee, Cat Manning and Caleb Wilson (author of Lime Ergot, also competing in the tournament) as contributors. Ashwell is a well-known community figure who acted as organizer for the XYZZY Awards for many years. We salute his contributions and the technical skill shown in this work’s mechanics as they retire from the field.
Match #31: Things That Happened in Houghtonbridge proved the victor in its bout against Captain Cutter’s Treasure in a slow-paced match ending at 4-2. The multi-layered mystery in a contemporary setting took a strong three-point lead by the end of the first day in its bout against the straightforward pirate adventure, and by the end of the match that lead was mostly intact. Humans were largely in agreement that this outcome was to be expected, and Calculon also backed the winner. Captain Cutter’s Treasure was the second work by author Garry Francis competing in this division, along with two others in divisions 1 and 2. (See match #26 above.)
Match #32: Triple tournament nominee Winter Wonderland (1999) encountered strong opposition by Metamorphoses, eventually being defeated by the slimmest of margins at 5-4. The two highly atmospheric works from the turn of the century were tied at 3-3 by the end of Day 1, and though Winter Wonderland pulled ahead on Day 3, Metamorphoses closed the gap almost a week later. It wasn’t until Day 13 that the winning vote was cast in the latter’s favor. Despite the unusual popularity of Winter Wonderland during the nomination stage, the betting crowd strongly favored its opponent, as did Calculon, so the win by Metamorphoses does not count as a surprise to oddsmakers. Winter Wonderland was the only competing game by author Laura Knauth, whose only other published works listed on IFDB are Travels in the Land of Erden and Trapped in a One-Room Dilly. The crowd cheers for this popular pick and its respected author as the pair retire honorably from the field… and trumpets sound to announce the start of Round 2!
Here, just past the halfway point in terms of scheduled matches, PCT Fans @mathbrush and @FLACRabbit still share the lead in the Official Prediction Game with 22 out of 32 correct calls to date. Calculon, the automated prediction algorithm, was one of the worst performers, and due to lack of data in some cases, it was not able to make functional projections past Round 1.
This heat has knocked out nominees by @CMG, @Denk, @Dissolved, @Joey, @Morningstar, @rovarsson, @simpsong00 and other fans who submitted their nominations anonymously. In addition, PCT Fans Dissolved, who had only two nominations make it through the lottery, and rovarsson, who had four, are now out of champions. Of the 22 fans with champions remaining, two have 4, three have 3, eight have 2, and nine have 1. (Note that due to a spreadsheet error, the eliminations of two games in the last segment – The End Means Escape and The Golden Heist – were not reflected in the update at the end of the last segment. The error is now corrected above, and the current report should be accurate.)
The action now moves to Round 2 for Divisions 1 and 2. Stay tuned…
3 Likes
As the second round of challenges begin, the pace is slowly picking up with two divisions in play at once…
DAY 1
In the headline match of the segment, Illuminismo Iniziato has taken an early lead over Six with a current score of 4-2. With the two well-known games each having scored 10 points in their respective matches in Round 1, it seems likely that more votes will be coming. Perhaps fans are having trouble deciding between these two crowd pleasers.
In one of the segment’s hottest matches, The Edifice is so far outscoring Sand-dancer at 5-2.
Both A Change in the Weather and Augmented Fourth are leading 5-0 against their respective opponents Over Here! and The Legend of Horse Girl. Similarly, Heretic’s Hope has 4 points on the board with its own opponent, Submarine Sabotage, yet to score.
Taco Fiction leads Inevitable at 4-1. Buggy currently has the most lopsided advantage of 6-1 over Tales from Castle Balderstone.
Lime Ergot vs. Nightfall is an unexpectedly hot match, with the former currently ahead by one at 4-3. [EDIT: Oops – I mixed up the order! It’s the latter, i.e. Nightfall, which is ahead by one. Sorry for any confusion!]
DAY 2
Six has scored twice more, but opponent Illuminismo Iniziato has also picked up a point, allowing the latter to maintain a lead now shrunken to just one point at 5-3.
Augmented Fourth extended its lead over The Legend of Horse Girl by another two points, and A Change in the Weather did the same with respect to Over Here!. The scoreboards in both matches now read 7-0.
Lime Ergot has caught up with and overtaken Nightfall; it now has a precarious one point advantage at 5-4.
Inevitable has shaved two points from the lead of opponent Taco Fiction, but the “game about crime” is still slightly ahead at 4-3.
The Edifice and Sand-dancer have each scored a point, letting the “monolithic” comp game keep its three-point lead with the board now showing 6-3.
The first vote for Submarine Sabotage this round has been cast, ending rival Heretic’s Hope’s unopposed opening streak, but Heretic’s Hope also earned a vote, leaving the short tale of underwater sabotage four points behind at 5-1.
DAY 3
Tales from Castle Balderstone has been chipping away at the lead of Buggy, gaining one vote on Day 2 and two more today to narrow its deficit to two points. The score there now stands at 6-4 in what has become the hottest match of the segment.
DAY 4
Tales from Castle Badlerstone scored again, but Buggy did the same, leaving the latter still ahead two points at 7-5. The relative brevity of the two games seems to be attracting voter participation in this hot match.
Six, which had been running behind since the early hours of this heat, has now caught up with Illuminismo Iniziato, and these two heavyweights are currently even at 5 all.
DAY 5
Nightfall has gained another vote, bringing it to parity with Lime Ergot at 5-5. This makes the second match now at tie status.
DAY 6
Six has gotten a step ahead of Illuminismo Iniziato, with praise of it on the voting and discussion thread perhaps having tipped the balance in its favor – at least for the moment. The score in that match is now 6-5.
Also possibly receiving the benefit of discussion is Nightfall, which gained a pair of new votes that have given it new life in its contest with Lime Ergot. The score there now stands at 7-5 in the longer work’s favor.
Tales of Castle Balderstone has scored again, reducing the gap between itself and Buggy to a single point at 7-6 and returning this match to the status of hottest of the segment. Though the former was behind by five points on Day 2, there has been a tremendous change in momentum in this battle between the two short-play Ectocomp entries. Only a third of registered fans have cast a vote for this match so far, so weekend activity might have an impact on this close contest.
DAY 7
The Legend of Horse Girl has scored its first point, preventing a shutout but not yet offering much hope of overcoming the remaining six point lead of opponent Augmented Fourth, which is far in front at 7-1.
Lime Ergot has added a point to the board, closing once again on Nightfall, which now leads by only one point at 7-6. This match is now tied for hottest of the segment, alongside Tales from Castle Balderstone vs. Buggy.
With a new point to its credit, Inevitable (2003) has tied up with Taco Fiction at 4-4, reaching parity for the first time. The very different tones and styles of these two works makes for a wildcard match in which either could secure a lead over the next week.
DAY 8
Taco Fiction put another point on the board and regained the lead against Inevitable (2003) with the thinnest of margins at 5-4.
DAY 9
Sand-dancer has scored again, leaving it two points behind The Edifice at 6-4.
With a new vote added to its total, Buggy has extended its lead over Tales of Castle Balderstone to two points at 8-6.
A new point by Augmented Fourth has reversed the gain by The Legend of Horse Girl and restored its seven point lead. The score there is now 8-1.
An apparent vote switch in favor of Lime Ergot has turned the tables in its match against Nightfall; it now leads 7-6.
Both Illuminismo Iniziato and Inevitable (2003) have evened up the scores in their respective matches against Six and Taco Fiction. The current scores are 6-6 in the first match of the pair and 5-5 in the other.
DAY 10
A Change in the Weather has earned another vote, extending its lead versus Over Here! to eight points unopposed. This match could end up with the second shutout in tournament history.
DAY 11
Heretic’s Hope has picked up a point, extending its lead over Submarine Sabotage to five points at 6-1.
DAY 12
A Change in the Weather received another vote, giving it a whopping unopposed nine-point lead over Over Here!. If that lead holds, it will tie for second place as a record winning margin for this tournament, behind the current record 13-point record held by Hunter, in Darkness since its Round 1 match against Pick Up the Phone Booth and Aisle.
DAY 13
Over Here! scored its first point of the match, heading off the possibility of a shutout quite late in the segment and leaving the score there at 9-1.
Heretic’s Hope has also scored, securing a six-point lead over Submarine Sabotage at 7-1.
Augmented Fourth added a point to its total, putting it eight ahead of The Legend of Horse Girl.
Sand-dancer, having trailed The Edifice since Day 1, has now closed the gap to a single point at 6-5. With just one day left, it just might tie things up or even pull ahead if fans have been holding on to their votes.
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FINAL RESULTS
Match #33: Six and Illuminismo Iniziato, both high scorers in the first segment of the tournament, faced off at the start of Round 2. Illuminismo was faster out of the gate and by the end of Day 1 held the lead at 4-2, but Six managed to even things up by the middle of Day 4 at 5-6 and by the end of the next day was ahead by one. Late on Day 9, Illuminismo caught back up, and there the score stayed at 6-6 until time ran out. Lady Luck was called in to settle the matter, and Six was given the win. Only half of fans predicted the correct contestants for this match, but those who did uniformly agreed that Illuminismo would prevail, so this outcome is an upset victory that significantly shakes things up for the prediction game. Illuminismo Iniziato was the only work by author Michael Coyne competing in the tournament, and one of only two works he ever published, the other being Risorgimento Represso of which Illuminismo was the sequel. The pair of games are classics of amateur era, both featuring aesthetics rooted in the old school parser puzzler style. We salute both author and work as they retire honorably from the field.
Match #34: In the match of Tales of Castle Balderstone vs. Buggy, the latter had a strong start, scoring five points unopposed in the early hours of the segment. By the half-day mark, Balderstone had scored, and though meta-humorous Buggy gained another point on Day 2, tongue-in-cheek horror anthology Balderstone began to pick up the pace. The high-interest bout became the hottest of the segment (though match #37 eventually tied in this respect), and Balderstone had nearly caught up by the end of Day 3. Buggy managed to stay just ahead over the next five days before putting a little more distance between it and its pursuit on Day 9. After that, the score remained unchanged at 8-6 until the end of the match. Similar to the previous match, only half of fans submitting predictions foresaw that Buggy would make it to Round 2, and all prognosticators expected Balderstone to win, so this outcome is another surprise to oddsmakers. Tales from Castle Balderstone was the third of four competing games by author Ryan Veeder to be eliminated in the tournament, the fourth and last remaining being Taco Fiction (see match #39 below).
Match #35: Multimedia choice-based drama Heretic’s Hope also had a strong start in its match against traditional short parser puzzler Submarine Sabotage, scoring four points unopposed on Day 1. The pace of the match slowed down significantly after that, with each contestant scoring only single goals the following day. Neither of the two picked up any more points until late in the second week, in which Heretic’s Hope gained two more points for a final score of 7-1. Three quarters of fortune-telling fans guessed the lineup here correctly, and all fans marked Heretic’s Hope as the probable victor. Submarine Sabotage was the last of four competing games by author Garry Francis, whose Text Adventure Literacy Project, now in its fifth year, is a strategically vital outreach program with the goal of expanding the audience of young players – a goal that is critical for the long-term survival of the art form we all love and share. The crowd applauds the author and his works as they exit the field.
Match #36: Augmented Fourth had no difficulty defeating The Legend of Horse Girl, with the latter managing only a single point against the former over the course of the segment. After tallying five votes by the end of the first day, Augmented Fourth was able to add four more over the remainder of the segment, yielding a final score of 9-1 and one of the most lopsided scoring ratios of the segment. Only a single fan predicted that Horse Girl would even be a contestant in this match, which it was by virtue of its surprise victory-by-coin-flip over Aisle at the end of a photo finish race in Round 1, and only a single other fan correctly called the winner. The Legend of Horse Girl was the only contestant by author Bitter Karella, who more frequently works with the Quest development system than Inform 7, which was used for this work. Fans will be pleased to know that IFDB lists over a dozen works by the same author, including Basilica de Sangre and Poppet among others. We salute both the author and this entertaining and unique work as they retire from the field.
Match #37: In the head-to-head bout between Lime Ergot and Nightfall, the two games set in abandoned cities fought a pitched battle ending in an unexpected draw. When Lady Luck was called in to resolve the match, she proclaimed the long-form thriller the victor. Nightfall was faster out of the gate, but short-form interaction experiment Ergot pressed hard and by Day 2 was ahead at 5-4. The latter held the lead for almost two days before Nightfall tied and then leapt ahead by two more points on Day 5. Undeterred, Ergot closed by a point on Day 7 and two days later was the beneficiary of an anonymous change of heart. The shorter work seemed sure to come out on top after a fan’s vote switch on Day 9 moved it from one point behind to one point ahead, but a vote in literally the last hour of the match in favor of Nightfall tied up the score at 7-7, and only chance determined the final winner. While only three-quarters of predicting fans thought Lime Ergot would be competing in Round 2, fans universally believed Nightfall would come out on top, so this outcome is less of a surprise than the admirable performance of its rival. Lime Ergot was the only competing work by author Caleb Wilson, who frequently releases games under pseudonyms. Other highly-rated games listed on IFDB by the same author include Starry Seeksorrow, The Northnorth Passage and HOLY ROBOT EMPIRE. We salute this impactful experimental work and its author as they leave the field.
Match #38: A Change in the Weather, a classic early work credited with changing the direction of parser IF, had an extremely long unopposed opening streak and ended up with a 9-1 victory over neo-retro graphical adventure Over Here!. Fans seemed to overwhelmingly prefer the former’s lush imagery to the latter’s bright images, voting consistently for A Change in the Weather over the course of the heat until Day 12. Only one person submitting predictions even anticipated this duo as the contestants for slot 38, and amazingly also foresaw the win; the remaining predictions were split between other possible permutations. Over Here! was the only competing work by Lionel Ange, aka auraeus, whose other works on IFDB include Parlez-lui d’amour, its English version Talk to him about Love, and Basket-ball. We salute the author and this tribute to early “split window” graphical adventures as they depart the field.
Match #39: Taco Fiction and Inevitable (2003) had a hard-fought match that resulted in a squeaker of a win by the former at 6-5. While the comedic tale about robbery, corruption and ice cream was quick out of the gate and ended Day 1 at 4-1 in its favor, the somber story of destiny in an alien city steadily closed the gap over the course of the first week, reaching a score of 4-4 by the end of Day 6. Taco Fiction scored again on Day 7, but Inevitable did the same two days later, leaving 5-5 on the scoreboard and threatening a tie. However, one last vote for Taco Fiction put it over the top on Day 13, yielding a final score of 6-5. All fans submitting predictions agreed that these two contestants would meet here, and three-quarters of them called it for Taco Fiction. Inevitable (2003) was the only competing game by author Kathleen Fischer, who released this game under the pen name Timothy Lawrence Heinrich. IFDB lists several others by the same author which were published in the early years of this century, including Masquerade and The Cove. We salute the author and her work as they retire from the field.
Match #40: The Edifice vs. Sand-dancer was another hard-fought match that did not deliver a clear win to either contestant. After ending Day 1 at 5-2, the classic work with the famous language puzzle was able to stay ahead despite the moody personal drama slowly reducing the gap – until a dramatic final vote on the last day let the latter pull even at 6-6, resulting in the third draw for this heat. The tie-breaking coin flip delivered a victory to Sand-dancer by the whim of Lady Luck. Only half of fans successfully predicted the games that would compete here, but within that group there was unanimous agreement that The Edifice would win, so oddsmakers took another hit with this match’s outcome. The Edifice was the only competing game by author Lucian P. Smith, who is better known for contributing to multi-author games such as Cragne Manor and Coke Is It!. The crowd cheers as both author and this historically-significant game make their way from the field.
Here, in the middle of Round 2, PCT Fan @mathbrush has taken the lead in the Official Prediction Game with 25 out of 40 correct calls to date.
This heat has knocked out nominees by @AmandaB, @CMG, @Denk, @dfranke and other fans who submitted their nominations anonymously. In addition, both CMG and one anonymous nominator are now out of champions. Of the 20 fans with champions remaining, one has 4, three have 3, five have 2, and eleven have 1.
The action now moves to Round 2 for Divisions 3 and 4. Stay tuned…
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Division 3, aka the “fierce” division, and Division 4 will both finish their second rounds this segment. Let’s see who the rest of the contestants moving on to Round 3 will be…
DAY 1
Headline match All Things Devours vs. Never Gives Up Her Dead is off to a slow start in terms of total votes, but so far the latter has scored five times unopposed.
In one of the three hottest match of the segment, To Hell in a Hamper has collected the vast bulk of the votes cast so far and has a huge lead over Brain Guzzlers from Beyond! at 8-2. Likewise, Bogeyman has obtained the same lead over Please Answer Carefully.
In the third of the three matches tied for hottest, The Dreamhold is substantially ahead of The Weapon at 7-3.
Babel had an unbroken run of six goals against For a Change, but the latter has now scored twice, leaving things at 6-2.
First Things First is now tied with Hunter, in Darkness in a slow-moving match at 3-3. Meanwhile, Metamorphoses holds a single point leads at 4-3 versus Things That Happened in Houghtonbridge.
In another relatively slow match, Scroll Thief is ahead of Thin Walls by four at 5-1.
DAY 2
Bogeyman continues to run away with this match over Please Answer Carefully, adding another point to its large lead and now, at 9-2, leader in the hottest match of the segment.
Scroll Thief has also scored again, extending its lead over Thin Walls to 6-1.
DAY 3
The Dreamhold has received another vote, adding to its lead over The Weapon. The score there is now 8-3.
For a Change scored, reducing the gap between itself and Babel to three points at 6-3.
Thin Walls has also picked up a point, leaving it now four points behind Scroll Thief at 6-2.
Never Gives Up Her Dead continues its unbroken opening streak with another point to its credit while All Things Devours searches for its first vote. The board in that match now shows 6-0.
Meanwhile, Please Answer Carefully has gained two votes since yesterday, but at five points behind it still has a long way to go from the current score of 9-4. With eleven days left in the segment and these contestants having been called out as short-to-play contestants, this shift in momentum may be significant.
DAY 4
Hunter, in Darkness has broken the tie with First Things First and taken a slight lead over the twisty time travel tale at 4-3. The short-form story of a hunter and his prey now has the lead for the second time in this dynamic contest.
All Things Devours has scored its first point, leaving it five behind match leader Never Gives Up Her Dead at 6-1.
Thin Walls has edged closer to Scroll Thief with another point in its tally, but it is still three behind at 6-3.
DAY 5
First Things First has once again closed the gap with Hunter, in Darkness, and the score between these well-matched contestants is now even at 4 all.
DAY 6
For a Change draws ever closer to its opponent – with the score now 6-4 in favor of story-forward sci-fi puzzler Babel but over a week left for voting, the highly-styled parser fantasy is showing the kind of “slow burn” advance that has delivered surprises in the past.
DAY 7
Metamorphoses has extended its lead over Things That Happened in Houghtonbridge by a point and is now up two at 5-3.
DAY 8
First Things First has notched another point, gaining the lead in its ongoing tug-of-war with Hunter, in Darkness. The score now stands at 5-4.
DAY 9
All Things Devours has put a second point on the board, but Never Gives Up Her Dead also put up its seventh. The match leader remains ahead five points at 7-2.
First Things First has also picked up another point, giving it a bit of breathing room in its lead over Hunter, in Darkness, but within half a day the latter scored, narrowing the former’s lead back to one point. The score there is now 6-5.
DAY 10
In the match of Scroll Thief vs. Thin Walls, the former received another vote, bringing the score to 7-3 in its favor.
DAY 11
The Dreamhold scored a point, extending its lead over The Weapon to six points and now tied for largest lead of the segment with To Hell in a Hamper in its match against Brain Guzzlers from Beyond!.
Metamorphoses also gained another vote over Things That Happened in Houghtonbridge, obtaining a comfortable lead of 3 points at 6-3.
DAY 12
Brain Guzzlers from Beyond! earned a third vote, reducing the gulf between itself and match leader To Hell in a Hamper. The latter still leads by five at 8-3.
DAY 13
Bogeyman snatched another point, adding to its large lead over Please Answer Carefully, and adding its name to the small list of games that have scored at least ten points during a single match in this tournament. The score there is now 10-4.
The Weapon also earned a vote, but it’s going to need more firepower than it seems likely to have to overcome The Dreamhold, which maintains a strong lead at 9-4.
Things That Happened in Houghtonbrige scored a fourth time, cutting down the lead of Metamorphoses to just two points at 6-4. With a day to go, it could conceivably close the gap in late voting.
Scroll Thief also stole another point away from rival Thin Walls, bringing its lead to five points at 8-3.
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FINAL RESULTS
Match #41: In The Weapon vs. The Dreamhold, the sprawling tutorial fantasy easily beat the focused sci-fi “deception” with a final score of 9-4. The Dreamhold was first to score, and though The Weapon briefly tied in the early hours of Day 1, The Dreamhold took a substantial lead in a subsequent burst of votes and never looked back. The majority of fans submitting predictions expected Amanda Walker’s What Heart Heard Of, Ghost Guessed to be in The Dreamhold’s slot in this match and to earn a win, but a single fan called both contestants and the winner correctly. The Weapon was the only competing game by author Sean Barrett, who is better known for his work Heroes, published the same year as The Weapon. IFDB lists several other short games by the same author, and those using Inform 6 may wish to hunt down his customized compiler that supports complex procedural text generation using a compact syntax. We salute both author and game as they retire from the field.
Match #42: First Things First and Hunter, in Darkness turned out to be surprisingly well-matched opponents, but the multi-faceted time travel drama edged out the intense survival drama in the segment’s second-hottest match. Although First Things took the first point, Hunter briefly passed it before losing the lead and then tying again at 3-3 over the course of the first day or so. There the score remained for two days, until Hunter gained another vote and the lead. The next day, First Things evened things up at 4-4 and another tense standoff ensued. At the end of the first week, First Things scored again, and this time managed to briefly extend its lead to two points on Day 9, though Hunter also scored by the end of that day. No further votes were cast, and the match ended at 6-5. Predictions were very mixed for this match, with only one fan correctly calling the contestants (but not the win) and only one fan foreseeing a win by First Things First. Hunter, in Darkness is the second competing game written by Andrew Plotkin to fall, out of four which were nominated and selected by lottery. In addition to The Dreamhold in this division, A Change in the Weather is still in the running in Division 2.
Match #43: All Things Devours did its best to devour the hopes of Never Gives Up Her Dead, but the latter had no trouble brushing it aside and won the match at 7-2 after a six-point unopposed opening streak. The majority of fans predicted both the contestants and the winner in this match, making this an unsurprising outcome for the “betting” market. All Things Devours was the only competing game by author Toby Ord (under the pen name half sick of shadows). Regrettably for fans of bug-free tight logic puzzles, this is the only work listed by the author on IFDB, though he is credited as co-author in a Russian translation. We salute this compelling work and its author as they depart the field.
Match #44: In another runaway win, To Hell in a Hamper defeated 2015 IFComp winner Brain Guzzlers from Beyond! in a battle of comedies. The final tally of 8-3 was almost the same as that which was in place at the end of Day 1 in this fast and furious scuffle – only a single point was added for Brain Guzzlers in the rest of the match. Although half of predictors correctly guessed the two contestants in this round, they were split evenly on the expected outcome. Campy spoof Brain Guzzlers from Beyond! was the only competing work by author Steph Cherrywell, whose relatively small catalog includes a high proportion of competition and award wins, including 2015 ParserComp winner Chlorophyll and 2019 IFComp winner Zozzled. The crowd cheers for this work and its celebrated author as they leave the field.
Match #45: Babel edged out For a Change in a close match scoring, 6 to 5. The tale of polar research gone wrong took the first point as part of its six-vote opening streak, but over the next several days the highly-wordsmithed prose fantasy had its own unopposed streak of four votes. There the score stayed until the very end of the match, when a last minute vote brought For a Change within spitting distance of a tie. Half of predicting fans guessed that these two works would meet here, but only one of those marked the correct winner – a different fan called the winner but had expected a different opponent. For a Change was the only competing work by author Dan Schmidt, who also contributed to Pick Up the Phone Booth and Aisle. IFDB lists a few other works by the same author, including The Profesee, Another Day, Another Sea Monster, and Revenge of the Chalupa. We salute this well-known early example of the “surreal” genre and its author as they retire from the field.
Match #46: Scroll Thief was victorious over Thin Walls in a quiet match in which the former, after a strong opening day giving it a four-point lead, was able to match and exceed the latter’s additional scoring throughout the remainder of the bout. The final score of 8-3 was not settled until late in the second week. Only one fan foresaw Scroll Thief as being a contestant in this match, but that fan also called both the correct opponent and the win. Thin Walls was the only work by author Wynter appearing in the tournament, and IFDB lists no other works credited unambiguously to this pen name. We salute this memorable work and its semi-anonymous author as they exit the field.
Match #47: Bogeyman easily overcame Please Answer Carefully in the highest-interest match of the segment. After the first day or so the match leader had outscored its opponent at a four-to-one ratio, and it kept the pace with new scoring to maintain its six-point over the remainder of the match, which ended at 10-4. Only half of prognosticating fans correctly predicted either of the contestants in this bout, and just one fan called both of them – and the winner. Please Answer Carefully was the sole competing work by author litrouke, who has published a substantial number of works listed on IFDB including 10pm, January and A Man Outside. The crowd applauds this very short work and its author as they retire from the field.
Match #48: In the last match of Round 2, Metamorphoses outscored Things That Happened in Houghtonbridge with a final tally of 6-4 in its favor. Although Metamorphoses notced the first point, Houghtonbridge was hot on its heels and ended the first day just a point behind at 4-3. The score stayed frozen there for several days, but Metamorphoses extended its lead by one near the end of the first week and again in the middle of the second. A late vote in Houghtonbridge made up some of the gap, but noth enough to make the difference. Half of predicting fans were able to foresee both of the contestants that would meet here, and the majority of fans entered Metamorphoses as the anticipated victor. No other works by author Dee Cooke were competing in the tournament, but fans will be pleased to know that IFDB lists almost two dozen other works by this prolific author, including Turn Right, Waiting for the Day Train, and Marie Waits. We salute the author and the works admirable performance as they retire honorably from the field.
Here, now three-quarters of the way through the tournament in terms of scheduled matches, PCT Fan @mathbrush still holds the lead in the Official Prediction Game with 30 out of 48 correct calls to date.
This heat has knocked out nominees by @dfranke, @Hidnook, @SomeOne2 and other fans who submitted their nominations anonymously. In addition, four anonymous nominators (including myself) are now out of champions. Of the 16 fans with champions remaining: one has 4, one has 3, three have 2, and eleven have 1. The field is narrowing!
The action now moves to Round 3 for All Divisions. Stay tuned…
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Round 3, the first of the one-week segments that will finish out the tournament, has begun, and the votes are piling up! Let’s see which competing games will go on to Round 4, the Division Championships!
DAY 1
In the closely-watched match of Six vs. Buggy, the two contestants seem to be feeling each other out. So far, Six is in the lead by one at 3-2, but Buggy has been matching it almost point-for-point in a slowish start.
In the second court, things have begun at a snail’s pace, with only three votes cast by fans in the matchup of Heretic’s Hope vs. Augmented Fourth. Although the first point went to Heretic’s Hope, Augmented Fourth is currently ahead by one at 2-1.
The match of Nightfall vs. A Change in the Weather seems to be finely balanced, with each contestant having scored three points so far.
In the heat’s most active match, Taco Fiction put the first three points on the board in its match against Sand-dancer, but the latter has since regained some of the lost ground. The score there is 6-4 in favor of the former.
First Things First had a solid opening streak of four points against The Dreamhold, but the latter scored twice by the end of the day, leaving the score at 4-2.
Never Gives Up Her Dead has taken a substantial lead over To Hell in a Hamper despite the latter running close behind in the opening hours. A burst of votes for the large-scale long-form work has left it up by four at 6-2.
Babel had the largest unopposed opening streak of the segment against Scroll Thief, putting up four points before the latter’s first. Since then, each contestant has scored once, leaving the board at 5-2.
In the final match, the second-hottest of the segment, Bogeyman is barely outrunning Metamorphoses in a very close race. At the moment, it leads by one at 5-4.
DAY 2
Six has gained another three votes, but Buggy has also scored once, with the net change leaving Six now significantly ahead at 6-3.
Augmented Fourth has tipped the scales further in its favor in its match against Heretic’s Hope and now leads 3-1.
Nightfall and A Change in the Weather both notched another point each, running neck-and-neck until Nightfall scored a second time. The score in that match is now 5-4.
Sand-dancer has been scurrying to make up lost ground and is now hot on the heels of Taco Fiction, just one behind at 6-5.
The Dreamhold has caught up and surpassed First Things First, having added third, fourth and fifth points unopposed after the latter’s four-point opening streak. The score there is now 5-4 in its favor.
Never Gives Up Her Dead earned another vote, expanding it’s large lead over To Hell in a Hamper to five points at 7-2.
Babel extended its lead over Scroll Thief by one and now leads by four at 6-2.
Metamorphoses continues to give as good as it gets against Bogeyman and has now taken the lead for the first time in this bout, currently at 6-5.
DAY 3
Six has picked up another point, securing a sizable lead of four points over Buggy at 7-3.
First Things First has pulled even with The Dreamhold, breaking the latter’s unopposed streak in the process. The two heavy-hitting long-form puzzlers circle each other warily at 5-5.
Heretic’s Hope has picked up the pace and scored a second time; it is now one behind Augmented Fourth at 3-2.
DAY 4
To Hell in a Hamper has picked up a point, chipping a bit off the lead of Never Gives Up Her Dead and leaving it four behind at 7-3.
Likewise, Scroll Thief has earned a vote, drawing a bit closer to match leader Babel and now trailing by three at 6-3.
DAY 5
Scroll Thief has earned another vote, stealing ever closer to rival Babel but also running out of time to make up the difference. The score in that match now stands at 6-4.
Augmented Fourth has earned a fourth vote, giving it a bit of space in its grinding contest with Heretic’s Hope. With three fewer total votes than the next slowest match, late voting may have an impact here.
Sand-dancer has now successfully tied up with Taco Fiction in the hottest match of the segment with the board there showing 6 all. This makes the second match at tie status, alongside First Things First vs. The Dreamhold, which is still stuck at 5-5.
Likewise, A Change in the Weather has caught up with rival Nightfall, and the match hangs in the balance at 5 all.
DAY 6
Nightfall and A Change in the Weather both scored in a quick exchange early in the day, moving the score there to 6-6 but maintaining a tie.
A new vote for Bogeyman evened things up with Metamorphoses and brought a fourth match to tie status, but by the end of the day Metamorphoses had also scored again to reclaim its lead. The board there now shows 7-6.
Heretic’s Hope notched a third point, bringing it to just behind Augmented Fourth at 4-3.
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FINAL RESULTS
Match #49: Six continued its surprise winning streak with a victory over Buggy in the first match of the segment. Although the two games ran about even (and a bit behind the pack) in the opening hours of the heat, by the end of the first day Six was a point ahead at 3-2. The energetic and charismatic tale of a chaotic kid’s game at the park gathered momentum over the next 24 hours, however, leaping ahead to 7-3 by around the end of Day 2 and retaining that lead for the remainder of the match. Predicting fans have been caught entirely off-guard by this match; not a single person correctly foresaw either contestant. Buggy, which also beat the odds with an unexpectedly strong performance in the tournament, was the first of two competing games authored by Brian Rushton, the other being triple-nominee Never Gives Up Her Dead competing in match #54 (see below).
Match #50: Heretic’s Hope scored the first point in its match against Augmented Fourth but ended up narrowly losing the contest at 4-3 in the slowest-moving match of the segment. By the end of Day 1, the crowd-pleasing music-themed parser puzzler was two points ahead of the highly-styled choice-based drama featuring both music and graphics, and though Heretic’s Hope was able to score twice more over the rest of the week, a fourth vote for Fourth kept it just ahead when the whistle blew. Betting fans universally predicted that Hope would make it to this match, but only one person anticipated that Fourth would be its opponent and correctly called the winner. Heretic’s Hope was written by G. C. Baccaris, none of whose other works were competing in the tournament. Fans will be pleased to know that IFDB lists nearly a dozen entries authored (or co-authored) by Baccaris, including DEVOTIONALIA and Excalibur (2021). We salute the exceptional craftmanship put into this work, which won the 2019 XYZZY Award for Best Setting and shared the XYZZY for Best Use of Multimedia, and the crowd cheers for it and its author as they retire from the field.
Match #51: Nightfall and A Change in the Weather fought a grueling game of inches that never showed more than a point’s difference between the two after the first 90 minutes of the match. Although Nightfall scored twice before Change managed its first point, the latter soon mobilized its own support and briefly took the lead before ending Day 1 at a tie of 3-3. Additional scoring on Day 2 saw Nightfall ahead by one, and its slim lead at 5-4 seemed to have some staying power over the next two days. Then, on Day 5 Change tied things up again, and scored its sixth vote almost simultaneously with its rival. Nothing could move the needle for either party until time ran out, leaving the final score at 6-6. Though Nightfall was graced by Lady Luck in Round 2, in the first coin toss of the segment she gave the nod to its rival. No fans making predictions expected these two works to face each other here, though half of them did anticipate a win by Nightfall against other opponents. Nightfall, a popular contender which placed 2nd in the 2008 IF Comp and was nominated for five XYZZY Awards (winning two), was the only competing work by author Eric Eve, whom IFDB credits with full or partial authorship of a dozen other works, including Alabaster, The Elysium Enigma, Blighted Isle and All Hope Abandon. Fans cheer as the author and the work retire honorably from the field.
Match #52: Taco Fiction started out strong in its bout with Sand-dancer, getting as far ahead as 5-1 on the first day of the match. By the end of that day, the slower-to-start Sand-dancer was showing some life, however, and had closed much of the gap, continuing to press in the early hours of Day 2 until it was just one behind. The quick action drove this match to the hottest of the segment, a status it would keep only briefly before other matches drew similar crowds. The score was stable at 6-5 until Day 5, when Sand-dancer tied up at 6-6, and there things stayed until the whistle blew. Lady Luck was called in to resolve the standoff, and – perhaps after Coyote called in a favor – granted the win to the lesser known of the opponents. Sand-dancer’s arrival in this match was a surprise to oddsmakers, none of whom guessed it would come to pass. Although three-quarters of predictors expected Taco Fiction to be paired off against other opponents, the majority of these anticipated a loss to The Edifice while one marked down a win against Pogoman GO!. Taco Fiction, winner of the 2011 IF Comp and triple XYZZY Award nominee, was the last of four competing works by author Ryan Veeder, whose author credits extend to over 50 (!) works listed on IFDB. Fans will be pleased to know that a sequel to this work, Dial C for Cupcakes, is available on IFDB alongside many additional episodes in the Little Match Girl and Balderstone series. We salute this crowd-pleasing “game about crime” as it retires from the field along with its prolific and popular author to thunderous applause.
Match #53: In another close-fought contest, The Dreamhold and First Things First battled to a draw ending at 5-5, with the coin toss of the record-setting third tie of the segment going to the latter. Although First Things had the strongest start in the matches opening hours and gotten as far as a four-point unopposed lead, by the end of the day Dreamhold had closed half of the gap. Dreamhold continued to score on Day 2, tying at 4-4 near mid-day and briefly taking the lead in the second half before First Things caught up to make the score 5 all. Undecided fans remained undecided until the end of the match, so Lady Luck called it at her whim. Only a single prognosticator predicted both contestants for this match, and also called the winner; everyone else expected other games in both slots. The Dreamhold was the third of author Andrew Plotkin’s competing works to fall, but fellow contestant A Change in the Weather carries the author’s torch into the Division 2 championship round (see above).
Match #54: Never Gives Up Her Dead did not give up its winning streak to opponent To Hell in a Hamper, winning the match at 7-3. Although the tense dramedy about an overburdened balloon was hot on the heels of the sprawling sci-fi epic in the match’s opening hours, a burst of support in the later parts of Day 1 put Never Gives Up ahead 6 to 2. Additional scoring was slow to come for both games, each gaining just one more point before the clock ran out. Only a quarter of predicting fans called the paired contestants and the winner; while Never Gives Up Her Dead was universally expected to be here, all others anticipated different opponents. To Hell in a Hamper was the only competing game by author J. J. Guest, whose other works listed on IFDB include the thematically-linked To Sea in a Sieve, the award-winning Alias ‘The Magpie’, and Renegade Brainwave. We salute this author and this classic work as they retire honorably from the field to crowd applause, and we look forward to the third entry in the Captain Booby series in the future.
Match #55: In the match of Babel vs. Scroll Thief, the former came out the victor with a score of 6-5. After a rocket-like start giving Babel a 4-0 lead in the heat’s first hours, Scroll Thief put two on the board. Babel was quick to respond with two more points of its own, leaving the score at 6-2 by the middle of Day 2. Day 4 saw Scroll Thief pick up another pair of votes, cutting Babel’s lead in half, and on Day 7 that lead was halved again, but the complex magical puzzler wasn’t quite able to catch up before the buzzer sounded. Just one fan foresaw the correct pairing and winner for this matchup; another expected Babel to be present but lose to The Little Match Girl. Daniel Stelzer, author of Scroll Thief, is well-known as a technical wizard of Inform and Dialog and as a moderator of this forum. He had no other works in the tournament, but he is credited as author or co-author of no fewer than eight other works listed on IFDB. These include Miss Gosling’s Last Case, Familiar Problems and Death on the Stormrider. The crowd cheers as he and his work depart the field.
Match #56: In what was ultimately the largest crowd draw of the segment, Metamorphoses narrowly defeated Bogeyman at 7-6. While Bogeyman scored the first point and briefly held a two-point lead in the match’s early hours, Metamorphoses was soon hot on its heels and reached a tie at 5-5 early on Day 2. The philosophy-tinged atmospheric puzzler pulled slightly ahead in the ensuing hours, leaving Bogeyman watching hungrily from just a step behind. The disquieting abuse-themed horror finally caught up around the start of Day 5, yielding 6-6, but Metamorphoses escaped its clutches and regained the lead some hours later. The score remained unchanged until the end of the match. Half of predicting fans expected this matchup to occur, but opinions were split about which game would come out on top; another quarter thought Metamorphoses would prevail against The Moonlit Tower here. Bogeyman, winner of the XYZZY Awards for Best Game, Best Story and Best Individual NPC in 2018 (plus one of two games awarded Best Writing), was the only entry by author Elizabeth Smyth. While this is Smyth’s best-known work, IFDB lists six other solo works by the same author, including LIDO and ZOINKS! among others. We salute this extremely memorable and well-crafted work and its highly-skilled author as they leave the field.
Here, now half way through the tournament in terms of rounds, PCT Fan @mathbrush continues to hold a narrow lead in the Official Prediction Game with 32 out of 54 correct calls to date.
This heat has knocked out nominees by @AmandaB, @BadParser, @Hidnook, @mathbrush, @SomeOne2 and other fans who submitted their nominations anonymously. In addition, AmandaB, Hidnook, SomeOne2, and two anonymous nominators are now out of champions. Of the 11 fans with champions remaining: 3 have two and 8 have one. We’re down to the Excellent Eight in Round 4, from which four division champions will emerge!
7 Likes
Round 4, the Division Championships are underway, and the winners of these matches will each have the distinction of outcompeting 15 other games to represent their division in the Round 5 Semi-Finals next week.
DAY 1
Votes are relatively slow coming in for this heat; with only the top eighth of contestants remaining, fans are faced with some difficult choices…
Augmented Fourth has started out strongly against Six in a relatively hot match. The first measure of votes has gone decidedly in its favor, yielding a four point lead at 6-2.
The match of A Change in the Weather vs. Sand-dancer has just as many votes and is tied for hottest of the heat. The two slice of life stories with magical realist elements have so far tallied up the same number of votes at 4 each.
The relatively slow match of First Things First vs. Never Gives Up Her Dead has seen the chart-busting newer work take a significant lead at 4-1. The two long-form time travel games have the highest combined play time in the segment.
In the last bout, Babel and Metamorphoses have also notched the same number of points each. The score in that match is currently 3-3.
DAY 2
A second wave of votes has been tallied, and the heat is rising as these eight games vie for the fan votes that will give them a claim to the top spot in their respective divisions…
Six has gained significantly on rival Augmented Forth, the former posting three points over the last 24 hours while the latter added one. The score there is now 7-5 in favor of Fourth.
Sand-dancer and A Change in the Weather continue their evenly-matched contest, with new votes bringing the score in this intense match between comp-length entries to 6-6.
First Things First earned a vote, reducing the gap between itself and Never Gives Up Her Dead, but the current leader quickly made up the difference, leaving First Things still three behind at 5-2.
Metamorphoses has quickened its pace, securing four points in a sudden burst while rival Babel’s score increased by one. The physics-and-metaphysics puzzler now leads 7-4.
DAY 3
Only a single vote today as the work week begins…
Sand-dancer, showing either strength or luck, has managed to get ahead of A Change in the Weather and now leads by one at 7-6 in the segment’s hottest match.
DAY 4
No new scoring. The crowds are hushed, waiting to see what the contestants’ next moves will be.
DAY 5
First Things First has scored a third time, leaving it two behind Never Gives Up Her Dead at 5-3.
DAY 6
All scores static with one day remaining. Will current leads hold?
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FINAL RESULTS
The contests were short and sharp this round, delivering clean wins to the four victors that have earned the distinction of being division champions.
Match #57: In the battle of Six vs. Augmented Fourth, the classic Infocom-inspired puzzler beat the high-energy funfest with a final score of 7 to 5. Although Six scored the first point, Augmented Fourth charged forward with great fanfare to score six points by the end of Day 1. A sizable gain by Six on Day 2 wasn’t enough to close the gap, leaving it in second place at match’s end. A quarter of prognosticating fans expected Fourth to go the distance here, but the stunning performance by Six far outstripped predictions; the conventional wisdom was that it would lose to Alabaster in Round 1. Six, which pushed the limits of multimedia and user-friendliness that prevailed in its time, was the only competing game by author Wade Clarke, a long-time presence here on the forum. Fans will be pleased to know that several other works bear the mark of his authorship, including Leadlight, Ghosterington Night and Captain Piedaterre’s Blunders, as well as some commercial works. We salute this fine game and its author as they retire honorably from the field to cheering from the crowd.
Match #58: Sand-dancer has continued its string of improbable wins by besting A Change in the Weather with a score of 7-6. Having earned the division championship, the magic-tinged fantastic drama goes on to face another tough match in the semi-finals against opponent Augmented Fourth. A Change in the Weather started out strong in this match, notching the first point and leading for most of Day 1, but a strong performance near the tail end of that first 24 hours let it even up the score at 4-4. Another day of struggle between these two modern tales of personal change saw Sand-dancer pull ahead, only for A Change in the Weather to get its second wind and retie at 6-6. On the third day, the last vote was cast, favoring Sand-dancer with the win. As with Division 1, few predicting fans saw this result coming – only one fan expected A Change in the Weather to reach this point, and none expected Sand-dancer. The historically-significant A Change in the Weather, one of the oldest competing games in the tournament, was the last of four champions created by author Andrew Plotkin. In addition to his many games besides those which were nominated, which include Spider and Web, Shade and The Space Under the Window among others, Plotkin was the inventor of the Glulx virtual machine and a significant figure in the early years of the Interative Fiction Technology Foundation, from which he only recently retired from office. The crowd gives a standing ovation as he and his work transcend this dimension in a colorful shimmer of light.
Match #59: Never Gives Up Her Dead secured the division championship by defeating First Things First in low-key match ending 5-3. In this contest of games featuring time travel, Never Gives Up Her Dead put the first point on the board and outscored First Things First four to one on the first day. Although First Things First gained two votes to Never Give Up Her Dead’s one over the remainder of the match, it fell short of what was needed to pull even. Predicting fans foretold both contestants meeting here, though more expected the newer work than the older, and its win is the least unexpected for the round. First Things First was the only competing work by J. Robinson Wheeler, who is listed as author or contributor to nearly 20 works on IFDB, including Being Andrew Plotkin, The Tale of the Kissing Bandit and ASCII and the Argonauts. First Things First, a first effort that was completed over a five-year span, won the 2001 XYZZY for Best Puzzles and was nominated for both Best Game and Best Story. We salute both author and work as they depart the field to audience applause.
Match #60: In the last match of the segment, Metamorphoses was victorious over Babel at 7-4. Though the match looked to be close-fought over the course of a first day that left the board even at 3 all, a sizable batch of votes on Day 2 more than doubled its score while its rival gained only one point. The new margin held throughout the balance of the week, giving Metamorphoses the win with the largest lead in the segment. As with Division 3, at least some predicting fans expected each contestant to be here, and a single fan expected both while also calling the win. Author Ian Finley had no other competing works in the tournament, though IFDB credits him as author of five other works, including Kaged and All Alone, as well as co-author of The Shadow in the Cathedral. The audience cheers for Babel, which won the 1997 XYZZY Award for Best Story and was nominated for four others, and which has also appeared twice on the Interactive Fiction Top 50 of All Time, as author and game leave the field.
Here, now two-thirds of the way through the tournament in terms of rounds (and just two weeks from the end in terms of time), PCT Fan @mathbrush continues to hold a narrow lead in the Official Prediction Game with 33 out of 60 correct calls to date – but two other predictors have been on a hot streak and have made up a lot of ground.
This heat has knocked out nominees by @BadParser, @Denk, @Hellzon, @Joey and @mathbrush, plus one fan who submitted nominations anonymously. Unfortunately, those were the final champions for all of those fans. Of the 6 fans with champions remaining: one has 2, and five have 1. Of the 5 fans with champions remaining: two have 2, and three have 1.(Some contestants were nominated more than once.) [EDIT: I made an error in bookkeeping for these stats again; revised number are correct.]
We’re down to the Final Four in Round 5, from which two finalists will emerge for the championship match!
4 Likes
We’re in Round 5, the Tournament Semi-Finals, and the winners of these matches will compete for the tournament championship next week. With only four competing games remaining, let’s see who comes out on top…
DAY 1
Augmented Fourth took an early lead, scoring the first three points unopposed, but Sand-dancer is hot on its tail and has been making up ground. The latter is now just one point behind with a score of 5-4.
Never Gives Up Her Dead notched the first two points against Metamorphoses, and though the latter was briefly ahead in the first day scramble, the former is now up two points at 5-3.
DAY 2
Augmented Fourth remains ahead of Sand-dancer, having added two more points after Sand-dancer briefly caught up at 5 all. The score in that match is now 7-5.
After new scoring on both sides, Never Gives Up Her Dead has extended its lead over Metamorphoses to three points with the board now showing 7-4.
DAY 3
No new scoring.
DAY 4
Augmented Fourth added another point on the fourth day of the round, bringing its lead over Sand-dancer to three points at 8-5.
DAYS 5 AND 6
All scores static with time running out for the round.
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FINAL RESULTS
The contests were again short and sharp this round, settling the matter of which two games will have a shot in the championship round.
Match #61: Augmented Fourth prevailed against Sand-dancer after a hard-charging start delivering it three points unopposed. Although Sand-dancer scrambled to catch up and briefly tied at 5-5 early on Day 2, Fourth kept going and ended the match ahead at 8-5. Most fans had little insight into this match, but one did predict the presence of Augmented Fourth – missing on its opponent but correctly calling the win. Sand-dancer, which originated as a running worked example in the book Creating Interactive Fiction with Inform 7 by noted IF author Aaron Reed, was the only competing work representing him and Alexei Othenin-Girard. The relatively unknown work earned a single XYZZY Award in 2010 for Best Supplemental Materials, ironically treating the book in which it appears as a feelie for itself. Per IFDB, the pair of authors also collaborated with Duncan Bowsman on the 2010 work Mango. Reed, of course, is a well-known author with many other works listed on IFDB, including Blue Lacuna, Whom the Telling Changed and 18 Cadence among others. We salute both authors along with their work as they retire honorably from the field after a remarkable, odds-defying run.
Match #62: Never Gives Up Her Dead overcame Metamorphoses in a match with very similar dynamics. After Never Gives Up Her Dead scored the first two points unopposed, Metamorphoses tied up at 3-3 on Day 1 but then fell behind as Never Gives Up continued to gain votes. When the whistle blew, the final score was 7-4. Metamorphoses was the first major release by superstar author Emily Short, and one of three works created by her (the others being Alabaster and Galatea) that competed in this tournament. IFDB credits her as author or co-author of almost fifty works, many of which are considered landmarks of the field, such as Savoir-Faire, Bronze and current #1 on the IFDB Top 100 Counterfeit Monkey. The audience provides a standing ovation as this highly-respected author and her work depart the field.
With just a single match left to decide, the Official Prediction Game is in turmoil, with no fewer than three fans tied for first place: @mathbrush, @bg and @FLACRabbit. Each has made 33 out of 60 correct calls to date, and with predictions locked in it appears that the tournament will end in a tie between at least two of them no matter how things play out.
This heat has knocked out nominees by @simpsong00 (who nominated Sand-dancer by PM but subsequently claimed it publicly) and another fan who submitted nominations anonymously. However, each of those two retains a single champion. With the remaining two contestants being a triple-nominee and a double-nominee, five fans share this pair as their chosen champions.
Trumpets sound as the action moves to Round 6, the Championship Match. Only one contestant can take the title!
8 Likes
This is it, folks, the championship match! Two excellent contestants have fought their way to the top, but only one can take the title.
DAY 1
After each contestant notched single goals in a quick opening exchange, the first hours of the match continued at a relatively slow pace. However, by the mid-point Never Gives Up Her Dead had taken a significant lead over Augmented Fourth, with a small burst of support giving the former a three-point advantage that held until day’s end. The scoreboard currently shows 5-2.
DAYS 2 THROUGH 6
No change in scores.
(See match summary in wrap-up post below.)
5 Likes
I’m laughing at the memory. I remember because I was double-nominated for that (new?) award myself. I may also have been an owner of Reed’s book at that point. Thinking of the book as the supplemental material to the game felt wrong-way-around, but I think I said something like ‘If the book is the supplemental material, the books wins.’
-Wade
3 Likes
FINAL RESULTS
And so the tournament ends on a quiet note… and the People’s Champion of 2025 is Never Gives Up Her Dead! (Congratulations, @mathbrush!)
Match #63: Never Gives Up Her Dead handily outscored Augmented Fourth on Day 1, taking a three point lead by day’s end and maintaining it unchanged for almost the entire match. A pair of additional votes for the match leader on the last day were the cherries on top of the sundae, bringing the final score to 7-2. This outcome is entirely in accordance with the wisdom of the crowd, as all but one prognosticator called this tournament win even before the first round began.
Augmented Fourth is the only published work by author Brian Uri listed on IFDB. Nominated for both Best Puzzles and Best Individual NPC in the 2000 XYZZY Awards (but winner of neither), it had a tremendous run versus its anticipated performance – fully half of future-scrying fans expected it to lose in Round 1 against Winter Storm Draco, and only a single fan expected it to progress beyond Round 2. The long-form comedic puzzler, obviously strongly influenced by the Infocom canon and perhaps also by LucasArts’ Loom, finally met its match in the championship bout. Game and author receive their laurels to sustained crowd applause, then salute PCT Fans @dfranke and @Morningstar, who nominated the game for the tournament. As the crowd extends its congratulations and condolences, the runners-up stand aside as the victors make their way onto the stage…
The crowd cheers wildly as Never Gives Up Her Dead and author Brian Rushton accept the first ever People’s Champion trophy and turn to take a bow. One of the newest works in the tournament, Never Gives Up Her Dead was crafted with an old school sensibility that retains a commitment to modern standards of player-friendliness, and its scale is far greater than has been typical in recent years. Released outside of any competition, it has slowly gained a core of five-star votes from impressed players on IFDB, a phenomenon that only accelerated after it broke into the IFDB Top 100 late last year. [Historical note: With its voting record, Never Gives Up Her Dead should have been eligible for the Free IF Playoffs of 2024, but a bug in the Top 100 list’s generating code kept the game from appearing at the time that candidates were determined.] Its quiet climb up the charts – like its quiet climb through the ranks of this tournament – has continued unabated, and it has recently made its way to the #10 spot on the Top 100 list, displacing Toby’s Nose. Although it has not been nominated for any XYZZY Awards due to their much-delayed production, Never Gives Up Her Dead did win in both the Outstanding Game Over 2 Hours and Outstanding Science Fiction Game categories for the 2023 IFDB Awards. The crowd gives author and work a standing ovation as this new distinction is bestowed.
The win by Never Gives Up Her Dead also brings honor to the three PCT Fans who nominated it, only one of whom, @simpsong00, has so far revealed his sponsorship. (Will the other two ever reveal themselves? Only time will tell…) Although the triple nomination was certainly a good omen, there were no guarantees; the only other triple-nominee, Laura Knauth’s Winter Wonderland, was eliminated in Round 1 by Metamorphoses, which itself went on to become Division 4 champion before losing to Never Gives Up Her Dead in the semi-finals.
With a final blast of the trumpets, the crowd slowly grows quiet to hear the outcome of the tournament’s Official Prediction Game. Two first-place winners’ names are called: @bg and @FLACRabbit, each of whom correctly predicted the results of 34 out of 60 matches (56.7%). Congratulations to both of you! Second place goes to mathbrush, with 33 out of 60 matches called (51.6%). Nobody did as well percentage-wise as we saw in FIFP, in which predictions for Round 1 were not included. Thanks to everyone who submitted predictions – if it weren’t for you, the author interviews wouldn’t have been possible.
Thank you also to everyone in the PCT Fans group who participated in the voting on matches and the various mid-game polls! With 39 registered players, a substantial chunk of the forum was represented, and the combined view count of around 10,000 across all PCT threads was comparable to the Free IF Playoffs. As with last year’s tournament, the PCT literally would not have been possible without you.
The same is true to the authors of every work nominated for the tournament, including the 41 games that were not picked in the contestant lottery – although as a group we spent many hours engaging with and appreciating these works, none of us spent as much time with them as their authors. Thank you all for putting such a bounty before us through your creativity and hard work.
Special thanks also to mathbrush for once again volunteering to provide expert commentary about competing games, and to authors @severedhand (link), @Draconis (link), and mathbrush (link) for agreeing to last-minute author interviews about their crowd-pleasing games that won upset victories. I sure enjoyed reading their answers, and I hope that others did, too.
A final special thank you to lead moderator @HanonO for his support and encouragement, and for making a special virtual space to hold this event – now turned into a wider playground for everyone!
Thanks for playing and watching, and… start thinking about next year’s event! Proposed formats so far include the IF Olympics and the Great Play Marathon, and suggestions for new options are always welcome. (I have a half-baked idea for IF Iron Chef that is starting to come together…)
16 Likes
I’ll own to being one of the two remaining undisclosed nominators of Never Gives Up Her Dead, and I’m delighted to see it receive the trophy.
Did I understand correctly that all but one of the submitted brackets had NGUHD as the winner of the tournament? If so, are we allowed to ask what the sole other game that someone believed to have a shot at winning was?
7 Likes
Sure, why not? That person projected Metamorphoses as the tournament winner.
For trivia’s sake, Calculon’s pick was unofficially First Things First, but there was no formal prediction because of the number of blank spots in the ladder that prevented a complete chain of predictions all the way to Round 6.
2 Likes