Winter/Spring 1987 - The Status Line - Page 5
Copyright (c) 1987 Infocom, Inc.
How much you wanna bet?
_Dinner in Paris or Tokyo: A history of InfoBets_
Infocom might just be the Atlantic City of the software world. For
some folks here, wagering is more than a diverting pastime; it's a way
of life.
Perhaps the culprit is one-too-many trade shows in Las Vegas. Perhaps
it's just a by-product of working in such an intense atmosphere of
high-stakes high-tech entrepreneurism. But whatever the reason,
whenever one Infocommie says "X," and another one says "Y," there's
going to be a wager any minute. You can bet on it.
For example, take Info-Marketeer Mike Dornbrook, a cheery optimist,
and InfoAuthor Brian Moriarty, an industrial-strength pessimist. When
Brian's _Wishbringer_ was released in June of 1985, Mike bet him that
it would sell at least 45,000 copies by the end of that year. By
December, _Wishbringer_ sales were nearly double that figure, so Mike
ended up enjoying a fine dinner at the swank Parker House restaurant
at Brian's expense. Seeking revenge, Brian made the same bet in 1986
for his second game, _Trinity._ As this issue was going to press, that
bet was going right down to the wire ...
InfoAuthor Steve Meretzky made the first in a series of bets with
Dornbrook after Mike predicted that people would send the postcards
from their _Planetfall_ package to Infocom as fan mail. So Steve bet
him that less than 100 postcards would be received during the first
year after _Planetfall's_ release. When only 3 postcards arrived by
September 1, 1984, Steve cheerfully ran up a sizable tab at The Ritz.
Mike, by being off by a factor of 33, set an InfoBetting record that
has never been equalled since.
Those same two were at it again a few months later. Mike bet that
_The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy_ would, some time before the end
of 1985, hit the number-one spot on Softsel's Hot List, which was then
the industry's bellwether bestseller list. When the game hit number
one in early 1985 and stayed there for most of the year, Steve was
obliged to pay off the terms of the wager: six hours of manual labor.
Imagine all those people who bought _Hitchhiker's,_ unaware that they
were indirectly helping Mike Dornbrook get a new patio!
Steve swore revenge, and bet Mike that "no way would _Leather
Goddesses of Phobos_ sell more than 87,500 copies" by the end of 1986.
The stakes were raised: this one was for EIGHT hours of manual labor.
At last report, Steve was rumored to be stocking up on shovels,
pickaxes, and a good steady whip.
But the optimism of a Mike Dornbrook and the pessimism of a Brian
Moriarty pale in comparison to that of Marc Blank, co-author of
_Zork,_ and Brian "Spike" Berkowitz, co-author of _Cornerstone._ In
fact, it was Spike who coined such immortal InfoPhrases as "It'll
never work" and "It's worse than that."
Marc's first bet with Spike was that Infocom's sales would top $5
million in 1983, at a time when projections were for $3 million.
Sales passed $6 million, doubling the forecast and quadrupling the
1982 figure. Spike paid off at The Ritz. The next year, Dornbrook
took over for Marc and wagered that sales would break $15 million.
This time it was Brian's turn to sup for free, as sales "only"
increased by 70%.
Marc returned next year, betting Spike that sales would more than
double. The stakes were raised: dinner at Lutece in New York City,
including transportation. Pessimism won for the second year in a row;
sales "only" went up 20%.
Then came the granddaddy of InfoBets. The bettors: Marc and Spike.
The bet: whether Infocom stock would be publicly traded at a price of
at least $20 a share by June 30, 1987. The stakes: dinner in Paris,
including transportation and lodging. When Activision purchased
Infocom during 1986, the sale price worked out to significantly less
than $20 per share of Infocom stock. (We can't reveal the actual
price, but this is the only bet which rivals Mike Dornbrook's error
factor.) Spike has not yet collected; as he and Marc are both now
living on the west coast, an amendment to dinner in Tokyo has been
discussed.
More recently, InfoBetting has taken some rather silly turns, with
bets being waged over such odd points as the lyrics of "Puff the Magic
Dragon" and the number of calories in a banana. The most interesting
bet of the last year, however, involved Spike, InfoPrez Joel Berez,
and InfoSales Manager Gabby Accardi. The winner, the first person to
lose 15 pounds, would get an all-expenses paid trip to Bermuda! The
bet ended in indecisive confusion, but Spike and Joel took Gabby to
Bermuda anyway. The trio has since been known as "The Bermuda
Triangle."
California Academy of Sciences debuts 'Marathon of the Minds'
By Stu Galley
It's the middle of the night in a museum of science in a major North
American city. The exhibits, drained of visitors, seem larger and
darker than usual. A lone human guard strolls the empty corridors
over and over, periodically joining the other guard at the museum
entrance for a cup of coffee between rounds.
But wait! All is not quiet on this particular night. One exhibit
hall is brightly lit, filled with teams of teenagers who are plotting
strategies, trying experiments, tapping at keyboards, and occasionally
breaking into cheers. Fortified with caffeinated soft drinks and
vitamin-rich juice, these brave souls spend the whole night venturing
through a fictional world, searching for a path to the end of a story,
hoping to win a personal computer for their school.
It's true! I've seen it myself! It's Infocom's "Marathon of the
Minds"! It's a sneak preview of an unreleased Infocom interactive
fiction, with the author attending in person! It's a chance for
high-school students to win fabulous prizes! And it may invade your
city sooner than you think!
It came to the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco's
Golden Gate Park on November 8-9. In the Hall of Africa, the stuffed
animals, still frozen in their tableaux of jungle and grassland, saw
20 teams of three people each dive into _Hollywood Hijinx_ under the
friendly eye of its author, "Hollywood" Dave Anderson. At a discreet
distance, journalists from local newspapers got their own chance.
While the "Space Nerds" team, composed of finalists in NASA's
Journalist in Space program, tackled standard-level _Hijinx,_ more
laid-back players tried their hand at introductory-level _Moonmist,_
which was just appearing for sale in stores.
After a few hours, the adult teams threw in the towel and called it a
fun night. After more than 12 hours, the contest concluded with not
one but TWO winning teams: Corey Gates, Mike Greengard, and Greg
Templeton from Contra Costa Christian, and Dan Connolly, Eric
Hedstrom, and Craig McLaughlin from Amador Valley High School. (Why
were there two winners instead of one? It's a long story, but
basically the teams finished so close together that both deserved to
win.)
The next Marathon of the Minds hit the Pacific Science Center in
Seattle Center on November 21-22. This time the local electronic
media hopped on the bandwagon, with three TV stations doing stories,
including two live remote reports within minutes of each other on the
nightly news. Three radio stations joined in with reports,
interviews, and a series of give-aways for listeners. Several
newspapers also covered this event.
This time 26 teams from high schools all over Washington state tackled
Hijinx in a large two-story hall that was empty after an exhibit from
India moved out and before an exhibit of model railroads moved in.
After 16 hours, one team finished: Brian Lane, Mark Montague, and
Cougar Van Eaton from Eatonville High School. And the Infocom
Marathon team headed back to Boston to prepare for future events.
