...and welcome to the 25th Annual Interactive Fiction Competition!

A complete summary of all this year’s competition entries, including each game’s cover art, blurb, and author information, is available on the ifcomp.org website. We encourage you to visit this page to get a full overview of the directory you’ve downloaded.

You can also read an offline “cover sheet” with an alphabetized index of all this year's games, including their author-supplied cover art and blurbs.

If you’re reading this on or before November 15, 2019, then that page will contain all the links and information you need to join the IFComp as a judge – and we hope that you do! As stated above, judging the IFComp simply means playing and rating at least five entries by November 15. Anyone can rate these games, and more judges make a better comp.

After that date, the above link will take you to IFComp 2019’s permanent results page. From there, you will still have the opportunity to rate and critique these games on the IFDB, which houses community-reviewed entries for all the IFComp games going all the way back to 1995 (as well as every other IF work of note ever written).

If you’re playing these games on or before November 15, 2019 with the intent to rate them as a judge – well, first of all, excellent! We’re sincerely glad to have your help.

Please take a moment to read the rules for judges before digging in. You may also wish to read the FAQ and the judging guidelines. We ask especially that you keep in mind that your ratings must reflect only your experiences of the the first two hours of play (at most).

When you’re ready to vote, head on back to the online ballot and use the controls found there to enter your ratings before 11:59 PM Eastern time on November 15. You can revisit that page as often as you need to, right up until the deadline. So long as you submit ratings for at least five games, we will count (and very much appreciate) your contribution.

Join the conversation about the competition and its entries in the IF Community Forum. You can trade hints, share your thoughts about the games, and read other folks’ reviews.

Of course, we also encourage you to discuss the games on social media, blogs, or wherever else you’d like. If you have a website where you plan to write reviews, consider adding it to the Planet IF news aggregator so that more of your fellow interactive fiction fans can follow along!

The official Twitter hashtag for IFcomp is, as always, #IFComp.

As the competition progresses, we’ll post pertinent links and other news and updates to both the official IFComp twitter account and our own blog.

Finally, if you need to contact the organizer for any reason, feel free to email ifcomp@ifcomp.org, or send a direct message to @IFComp on Twitter.

Jacqueline Ashwell organized the twenty-fifth IFComp.

Curator Line Hollis vetted each of the four-score-and-more entries before judging started. Jason McIntosh served as IFComp technical lead. The IFComp software enjoyed additional contributions from Mark Musante and Dannii Willis. The commemorative artwork for the 25th IFComp is by Maia Kobabe.

Special thanks to IFTF's IFComp advisory committee and, of course, to all authors, judges, prize-donors, reviewers, and other participants of the Annual Interactive Fiction Competition.

Our 25th Interactive Fiction Competition is a significant milestone. We are grateful to every single person who has helped make this endeavor a reality, going all the way back to 1995. Thank you.