clockworksoul/zork1 repository overview

⁠Zork I: The Great Underground Empire (for Docker)

Welcome to ZORK! You are about to experience a classic interactive fantasy, set in a magical universe. The ZORK trilogy takes place in the ruins of an ancient empire lying far underground. You, a dauntless treasure-hunter, are venturing into this dangerous land in search of wealth and adventure. Because each part of the ZORK saga is a completely independent story, you can explore them in any order. However, since ZORK I is the least difficult, it is usually the best place to begin.

Many strange tales have been told of the fabulous treasures, exotic creatures and diabolical puzzles in the Great Underground Empire. As an aspiring adventurer you will undoubtedly want to locate the treasures and deposit them in your trophy case. You'd better equip yourself with a source of light (for the caverns are dark) and weapons (for some of the inhabitants are unfriendly - especially the thief, a skilled pickpocket and ruthless opponent.

⁠I just want to play the game!

Want to play Zork? Easy-peasy. Just type the following:

docker run -it clockworksoul/zork1

⁠What if I want to save my games?

Still pretty easy. All you need to do it volume in a save directory as follows:

docker run -it -v ~/saves/zork1:/save clockworksoul/zork1

⁠Potential terminal issues

If you receive a terminal error, such as Error opening terminal: rxvt-unicode-256color, type the following and re-run:

export TERM=xterm

⁠History/Legal

The Zork games were created by the now-defunct Infocom, Inc.⁠, the intellectual property of which has since been acquired by Activision. Much of Infocom's library was released for free some 20 years ago as part of a promotional campaign for the graphic adventure Zork: Grand Inquisitor. It's unclear, however, whether these were intended to be permanently and perpetually free or whether this was something with a limited window. While Activision has had nothing to say on the subject, they done nothing to interfere with the numerous sites that have sprung up over the years that allow you to download the games directly or even play in your browser... so interpret that as you will.