Zork I

Concept and Storyline
From the leaflet found in the mailbox:
"ZORK is a game of adventure, danger, and low cunning. In it you will explore some of the most amazing territory ever seen by mortal man. Hardened adventurers have run screaming from the terrors contained within! In ZORK the intrepid explorer delves into the forgotten secrets of a lost labyrinth deep in the bowels of the earth, searching for vast treasures long hidden from prying eyes, treasures guarded by fearsome monsters and diabolical traps!"

Spatial Arena
I managed to explore the forests and the house.

Goal
Solve puzzles and find the hidden treasures lost in the bowels of the earth and consequently score points.

Core Game Mechanic
Use keyboard command to navigate through the ZORK world and interact with objects and enemies.

Move Command	Action
north	Move north
south	Move south
east	Move east
west	Move west
northeast	Move northeast
northwest	Move northwest
southeast	Move southeast
southwest	Move southwest
up	Move up
down	Move down
look	Looks around at current location
save	Save state to a file
restore	Restores a saved state
restart	Restarts the game
verbose	Gives full description after each command
score	Displays score and ranking
diagnostic	Give description of health

Item Command (Argument)	Action
take (item)	Removes item from current room; places it in your inventory
take all	takes all take-able objects in room
throw (item) at (location)	Throws the item at something
open (container)	Opens the container, whether it is in the room or your inventory
open (exit)	Opens the exit for travel
read (item)	Reads what is written on readable item
drop (item)	Removes item from inventory; places it in current room
put (item) in (container)	Removes item from inventory; places it in container
turn (control) with (item)	Attempts to operate the control with the item
turn on (item)	Turns on the item
turn off (item)	Turns the item off
move (object)	Moves a large object that cannot be picked up
attack (creature) with (item)	Attacks creature with the item
examine (object)	Examines, or looks, at an object or item or location
inventory	Shows contents of Inventory
eat	Eats item (specifically food)
shout	Aaaarrrrgggghhhh!
close [Door]	Closes door
tie (item) to (object)
rape (item)	Dismisses command as an "ehem, strange idea"
kill self with (weapon)	Humorously commits suicide

Challenge
Puzzles get harder and a thief apparently randomly steals your possessions.

Overall Impression
Unfortunately for me the game mechanics did not promote the experience eluded to in the leaflet found in the mailbox. Given enough spare time (and beer) I possibly could enjoy this game but for me I found it a little to problematic to navigate. I found it annoying that you could not retrace your steps by moving west after moving east for example. This removed a lot of the simple and expected control and consequently detracted from my enjoyment of the game.

My Rating
2 out of 10 stars.