Feelie

Infocom used the term feelie to refer to the extra content included with the boxed versions of their interactive fiction computer games. Feelies differed from game to game and were of the same theme as the game they came packaged with. For example, Wishbringer, a fantasy game with magic, came with a "Magick glowing stone." These extra objects and documents sometimes served as a form of copy protection, as several games were impossible to solve without information found in their feelies.

Games

Some of Infocom's games and their feelies are listed below:

• The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
• A button with "Don't Panic!" printed in large, friendly letters
• Pocket Fluff
• Order for destruction of Arthur Dent's house
• Order for destruction of Earth
• Microscopic Space Fleet (an empty plastic bag)
• "Peril Sensitive Sunglasses" ("glasses" made of opaque black cardboard)
• The game also indicates that it comes with "no tea," a key joke and puzzle in the game.
• Planetfall
• A Stellar Patrol "Special Assignment Task Force" ID card (about the size and shape of a credit card)
• 3 interstellar postcards
• A Stellar Patrol recruiting manual, "Today's Stellar Patrol"
• Letters (presumedly to home)
• Zork I
• The Great Underground Empire: A History
• Map of the Underground Empire
• A zorkmid (highly sought after by collectors, as it was only included with the 1987 Zork Trilogy collection)

The word feelie has also been applied in Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, as a form of motion picture that provides the sensation of touch in addition to sight and sound. The word suggests a logical extension to the moving picture ("movie") and the talking picture ("talkie"), and suggests an entertainment form with an incredible level of sensation but with minimal substance.

External links

• The Infocom Gallery with images of most feelies from the Infocom games
• An alternate location for The Infocom Gallery
• The Zorkmid Project, an effort to mint new zorkmids
• Feelies.org, a company who distribute feelies for shareware and freeware interactive fiction.
• Computer Chronicles on feelies for LGoP