Textfire 12-Pack

This collection was an April Fool's Day prank played in 1998: a group of people pseudonymously put together some very peculiar "demos" of very odd games, claiming that full versions would soon be available for sale. The original 12-pack contained 16 games, and the 17th, George, was added afterwards with more apocryphal news.

(Masta'mind must have been added even later, as the 18th game.)

Games

• Bad Guys (David Glasser as "Ed Dallas"; Z-code).
• Coma! (Nate Cull as "Rachael Croft"; TADS 2).
• An Exploration of Colour (Neil James Brown as "Mal Jackson"; Z-code).
• Flowers for Algernon (Adam Cadre as "Deborah Keyes"; Z-code).
• George (Cody Sandifer as "Shea Davis"; TADS 2).
• The Inanimator (Matthew Amster-Burton as "Thomas Winkler"; TADS 2).
• Insomnia (Scott Starkey as "August Pelter"; TADS 2).
• Jack's Adventures (Dan Shiovitz as "Ben Scagels"; TADS 2).
• Masta'mind (Stephen Granade as "Riley Hawkins"; TADS 2).
• Once (Chris Klimas as "Robin Andrews"; Z-code).
• Operate! (Cody Sandifer as "Shea Davis"; TADS 2).
• Pumping! (Stephen Granade as "Riley Hawkins"; TADS 2).
• Revenge of the Killer Surf Nazi Robot Babes from Hell (David Dyte as "Alex Crowley"; Z-code).
• A Tenuous Hold (Stephen Granade as "Riley Hawkins"; TADS 2).
• The U.S. Men's Hockey Team Olympic Challenge (Leon Lin as "Shishi M. Hayashi"; TADS 2).
• Verb! (Neil deMause as "D.L. Schneck"; TADS 2).
• Will the Real Marjorie Hopkirk Please Stand Up? (Neil James Brown as "Steve Parsons"; Hugo).
• Zugzwang (Magnus Olsson as "Alfred Timpson"; Z-code).

The "Textfire" name

• When the Textfire group were brainstorming names, the original choice was "Thundersoft", but it turned out there was already a Thundersoft.
• Cody Sandifer proposed the name "Textfire".
• Adam Thornton registered textfire.com for use with the IF Comp.
• The German IF website, textfire.de, is the home of the annual Grand Prix competition, which began in 2002.