XYZZYnews Award Ceremony: 1996

The ceremony took place on Saturday, Feb. 8, 1997, on a TinyMUD server on my office workstation. (Please don't bother trying to log in; it was only running for that weekend.)

For more about the XYZZYnews Awards, see the XYZZYnews web site.

This is a mostly-complete transcript from an unbiased observer in the Auditorium. I have bookmarked important moments, but nothing has been changed. (Except for one unfortunate typo of mine which I thought it important to correct.)


Trying 204.71.244.12...
Connected to sarnac.edoc.com.
Escape character is '^]'.
[ Connected to the TinyMUD port concentrator ]
A voice booooms out...

Welcome to the Award Ceremony (a very simple TinyMUD)

[Login and movement to auditorium deleted]

Auditorium

This room is large and dim, and full of chairs. Only the podium down at the front, and the banner hanging behind it, are well-lit. The foyer lies to the south.

LurkingGrue lurks

eileen says "Neil, what do you mean?"

Matt says "Neil: Matt Kimball... mostly a lurker in raif, but I wanted to see the ceremony. :)"

Miron says "anybody know this tiny mud stuff? how, for example, does one express one's feelings?"

eileen smiles for the cameras.

Neil says "Type a colon followed by what you want to do."

Whizzard has arrived.

LurkingGrue lurks to a seat.

Miron smile

Whizzard lays down on a previously unnoticed cot.

Miron says "ah, i see..."

Neil looks queryingly at Whizzzard's hair.

Whizzard says "So sue me, I was up late."

Whizzard looks liked he hasn't shaved in awhile. For some reason his beard is red, while his hair is black.

Whizzard says "My beard wants to be on someone else's head, I think."

Neil calls his lawyer and instructs her to sue Whizzard.

eileen makes sure the cue cards are in order.

Neil says "Oh, wait -- that wasn't a figure of speech, was it?"

Myre has arrived.

Whizzard xyzzys Neil.

Myre says "is this where its gonna happen in ten minutes"

AhKow has arrived.

eileen says "Everyone looks just the way I imagined they would."

Whizzard says "Woo. Realtime RAI-F."

tony has arrived.

AhKow whispers something to Myre.

dizzy has arrived.

Neil says "HOw do we whisper again? I forget."

Whizzard whispers something to Neil.

You whisper "whisper person = name" to Neil.

Miron smiles

You whisper "er, name message, whatever" to Neil.

Myre says "how do i whisper"

tony takes a seat.

Neil whispers something to eileen.

reed has arrived.

AhKow whispers something to Myre.

Miron says "(myre:) whisper <pl> = <msg>"

Wizard shouts "To whisper, type "whisper person = message"."

eileen whispers something to Neil.

Myre whispers something to AhKow.

AhKow heads back to the foyer.

AhKow has left.

Myre takes a seat.

Myre does nothing.

AhKow has arrived.

Neil flees the whisperfest, and goes to look for a seat.

dizzy takes a seat.

Torbjorn has arrived.

reed sit down

Whizzard pulls a lever on his cot. It folds into a LA-Z-Boy.

AhKow takes a seat.

Neil takes a seat.

AhKow stands.

AhKow heads back to the foyer.

AhKow has left.

Whizzard says "Ahh."

Mary has arrived.

Neil drops the seat.

AhKow has arrived.

AhKow takes a seat.

reed smilelook

Myre whispers something to AhKow.

inky has arrived.

Torbjorn takes a seat.

AhKow whispers something to Myre.

LurkingGrue pulls a beach umbrella out of somewhere and sets it up over its chair.

Mary takes a seat.

Matt takes a seat.

inky says "my.. lookit all the people."

inky heads back to the foyer.

inky has left.

Neil gives up and sits on the floor.

AhKow yawns.

Miron says "ok, i'll have a look around. see you."

Miron heads back to the foyer.

Miron has left.

inky has arrived.

inky takes a seat.

Whizzard hands Neil a tiny box with a button on it.

Matt looks at his watch

AhKow stands.

Neil says "What's this?"

Whizzard says "Akme unfolding sofa."

AhKow looks under the seats.

AhKow finds a dust bunny!

eileen tries to take a seat, but is already carrying too much.

reed stand up and stretches

AhKow barks.

inky yawns.

Neil presses the button. The box immediately expands to form a full-length sofa. Unfortunately, there are no seat cushions.

Whizzard says "I never knew Kows barked."

AhKow looks behind the banner.

AhKow says "I do"

AhKow goes woof again.

chuan has arrived.

Myre whispers something to AhKow.

DavidK has arrived.

Whizzard hands Neil a pack of what looks like chewing gum.

Neil presses a button on the sofa. Nothing happens.

DavidK takes a seat.

AhKow whispers something to Myre.

Whizzard says "Before you ask, Akme chewable sofa cushions."

eileen tests the microphones.

Neil says "I guess I need an Akme unfolding-and-refolding sofa."

Myre grins with satanic glee

Dan has arrived.

eileen waves to the paparazzi.

AhKow climbs up the banner.

Myre waits and waits and waits...

Dan waves. Hi, everybody.

Neil looks at his watch.

inky hums under his breath.

Whizzard pulls a Jolt Cola out of his pocket and downs it.

AhKow whispers something to Myre.

chuan nearly didn't make it in time

AhKow complains about missing dinner.

Robert has arrived.

inky says "oh, we can't start until Zarf gets here anyway ;P"

Doug has arrived.

Miron has arrived.

Doug takes a seat.

Neil says "It's still three minutes to..."

Myre sets the podium ablaze

reed takes a seat, whips out a lemonade and starts drinking

Neil basks in the flames of the burning posium.

Whizzard says "Sheesh. Adventurers."

LurkingGrue winces slightly in the heat.

Adventurer has arrived.

Adventurer says "Did somebody call me?"

Whizzard grins

inky turns on the extremely directly sprinkler system.

Adventurer has left.

chuan taps the podium with a smoky glass rod, causing the flames to dissipate in a puff of black soot.

Dan looks from LurkingGrue to the carved statues holding the banner. Nice likeness.

AhKow zaps the podium with a Rod of Fire.

Mary wonders where our host is.

inky says "he's still south, hosting."

Zarf has arrived.

Neil gets up to go look for Zarf.

Neil heads back to the foyer.

Neil has left.

Dan says "Speak of the devil..."

Whizzard fiddles with a featureless white Rubix Cube.

Zarf waves.

Myre twiddles himself...

Neil has arrived.

inky says "speak of the zarf."

Jota has arrived.

inky grins.

Zarf sits to one side.

BradBDhK has arrived.

AhKow says "what's a Zarf, anyway?"

Whizzard says "Hey, it's harder than it looks."

Frank has arrived.

Miron takes a seat.

Wizard shouts "Attention: ceremonies shall start directly."

Dan taps one side of Whizzard's cube, gets an electrical shock and nods. Yup, it is hard.

Jota takes a seat in the rear, and assumes a relaxed posture (i.e. he puts his feet on the chair in front of him).

Whizzard says "Ooh. Groovy."

AhKow takes a seat.

Damien has arrived.

inky says "I wonder if you could make any money selling blank rubic's cubes with invisible runes on them"

Adventurer has arrived.

Whizzard turns on his chair's heat and massage feature.

AhKow falls over backwards.

Zarf says "They all wind up that way eventually, when the stickers fall off."

inky says "yeah, so we'd just cut out the middleman"

Adventurer looks sadly at the brunt podium.

BradBDhK sits down and readies his air horn. He has an itchy trigger-finger.

Myre smiles

reed says ""nice place you have here,Zarf""

Dan says "Hey Andrew, you got a spare? The podium seems to have ...uhm.""

Wizard shouts "So get, as it were, yer butts to the auditorium."

inky says "also, the advantage of having invisible runes on them would be only people with the magic glasses (just an additional $9.95, plus s/h) could solve it."

Adventurer whips out an Akme unfolding podium and unfolds it.

aultman has arrived.

chuan says "The things people carry around in their pockets.""

PerrySimm starts up his text camera.

AhKow whips out a tub of popcorn.

Myre lights a match...

LurkingGrue darks an antimatch.

Dan says "Hey yeah, is anyone recording this? It's historic, ain't it?"

Whizzard pulls out his Akme arsonist defeater. A bucket of water.

AhKow pulls out a flamethrower.

BradBDhK says "Gee, I shoulda thought of that (recording this...)"

Zarf says "Oh, I can see this is going to be really solemn."

Damien takes a seat, and frantically thumbs through the documentation.

Whizzard says "An historic occasion."

Jota l

AhKow plants a bomb under Damien.

Adventurer says "Okay, I suppose we should get started. Hi! I'm the Nameless Adventurer! You probably no me from such I-F games as the Zork Trilogy and Colossal Cave!"

Dan says "Yeah. Where are the pamphlets? And the refreshments? And the..."

Myre rips apart his setat ;ooking for the evil carebear

BradBDhK says "And the bathroom doesn't work!"

Dan wandts a program.

Myre throws a rock at the Adventurer

dodo has arrived.

Dan wants a program, even. :)

mol has arrived.

Adventurer says "Welcome to the First Annual Xyzzy Awards for Outstanding Achievement in Interactive Fiction! AI'll be your MC for the afternoon (or evening, or morning, depending on where you are."

BradBDhK hands Dan a program. Dan should have got one at the door.

Adventurer picks up the rock and throws it back.

Adventurer says "Tough crowd."

Mary says "short lines would benefit those of us"

Mary says "who have lame terminals."

chuan didn't see any programmes either

mol heads back to the foyer.

mol has left.

mol has arrived.

Myre boos harshly

BradBDhK hands Chuan a program. Geez, people...

Adventurer puts on terse mode.

Jota says "Programs? Where? Me want program!"

AhKow puts on superbrief mode.

eileen cues the orchestra.

inky puts on boxers (ba-dum-bum).

Whizzard says "Hmm, perhaps the Akme riot cannon would be of more use..."

Adventurer says "So, anyway..."

Myre says "lets start this happening"

Zarf whispers something to Mary.

Adventurer says "Sorry, this is hard for me. As you probably know, I'm programmed not to have a personality."

Miron grins.

Dan whispers his thanks to Brad and flips through to find out who's playing today...

Adventurer says "Anyway, without further ado (or any ado at all)..."

Adventurer says "...let's bring up to the stage our sponsor for the awards, publisher of XYZZYNews, Eileen Mullin!!!!"

tony says "I want a program too, please, and I could not get one from the mists at the entrance.""

AhKow claps.

Myre shivers with antici..............pation

chuan applauds

Whizzard applauds wildly.

Miron applauds.

Adventurer drags Eileen over to the podium.

Damien applauds.

Dan cheers.

Zarf caps.

reed says "claps like mad"

aultman cheers

BradBDhK applauds.

Mary whistles

Zarf winces.

DavidK CLAP

AhKow wolfwhistles.

Jota claps and applauds!

Myre claps

DavidK claps

Neil breaks into gigles.

aultman stands up.

LurkingGrue lurks.

reed claps

eileen says "Thank you all for coming here today!""

Myre does the wave

BradBDhK blasts his airhorn <<<**** BLAT ****>>>

eileen says "We have awards in eight categories to hand out today..."

eileen says "Your votes determined who this year's winners would be --"

Neil whispers something to Zarf.

dodo whispers to himself

Martin has arrived.

Whizzard wonders if we will get to see clips from the nominees.

Adventurer says "We thought about using someone else's votes, but it didn't seem right."

Dan sure hopes so.

BradBDhK laughs.

aultman says "fashionably late, Martin?"

Adventurer throws paper clips into the audience.

Myre whispers something to AhKow.

eileen says "Geez, it's hard to finish a sentence around here! ;-)"

reed chokes on his popcorn

Jota says "Which nominee were those paper clips from? And will he/she need them back?"

AhKow pounds on reed hard.

inky whispers something to Whizzard.

Adventurer says "No, they're dynamically generated."

Dan whispers something to Jota.

BradBDhK is sitting with a big bag of whoppers.

Myre enters the mosh pit...

inky says "oh.. must be using TADS then."

Dan discreetly asks Brad for one of his whoppers. He missed lunch.

Zarf drops his head into his hands.

Jota whispers something to Dan.

aultman says "that would explain the parser..."

Dan whispers something to Jota.

eileen says "Anyway, Adventurer and I will take turns announcing the nominees for the awards..."

Whizzard folds his clip into a paper clip swan, and sets it free.

BradBDhK passes a Whopper (TM) to Dan.

reed spits up a large wad of gum.. tahnks ahkow!

AhKow shoots the swan down.

Adventurer whispers something to eileen.

eileen says "and the winners..."

Dan whispers his inexpressible thanks to Brad.

Frank waits eagerly for the winners.

Myre hits Whizzard with a paper wasp

Mary holds her breath.

AhKow quiver in anticipation.

NeilB has arrived.

Dan hides under his seat.

Adventurer shakes his head at all the confusion.

inky whispers something to NeilB.

Adventurer says "Okay! So here we go..."

Jota holds his breath...

AhKow says "drum roll?"

Myre passes out

Adventurer says "The nominees for best individual NPC are:"

Whizzard whispers something to Jota.

Jota taps on the seat in front of him: tappita-tappita-tappita-tappita...

AhKow says "Me"

Adventurer says "The burin, from Frobozz Magic Supoort!"

inky claps.

Dan cheers wildly.

Jota appluads.

Myre applaud loudly

Miron squirms in his seat.

Adventurer says "Christopher Robin, from Ralph!"

Dan applauds.

Whizzard cheers.

Jota claps.

AhKow claps.

inky stomps.

AhKow barks in agreement.

dodo claps

Adventurer says "The Devil, from Small World!"

aultman claps.

DavidK cheers

Dan claps.

inky whistles.

Zarf nods judiciously.

Whizzard woohoos!

Miron applauds.

Adventurer says "Evan, from Kissing the Buddha's Feet!"

BradBDhK blasts his air horn.

Jota cheers.

NeilB heads back to the foyer.

NeilB has left.

Robert applauds.

Zarf claps

Dan cheers.

Jota whistles!

Miron applauds.

Damien cheers.

Whizzard stands on his chair to applaud.

Myre jumps up and down

Adventurer says "and Leo the Lemming, from Phlegm!"

Miron cheer.

Zarf claps

chuan claps

AhKow claps.

Dan claps.

Miron s's.

inky applauds.

Robert applauds

reed claps loudly

BradBDhK blasts his airhorn, and claps.

Jota applauds loudly.

Adventurer says "And the winner is..."

aultman says "throw that vioice, Leo!"

Jota cuts the silence with a knife.

Adventurer reaches into a mailbox that has suddenly appeared on stage, and pulls out an envelope.

chuan picks up half a silence.

Adventurer tears open the envelope and reads it.

Dan gets the other half.

NeilB has arrived.

jasonmel has arrived.

BradBDhK enters the silence.

AhKow gets the third half.

Adventurer says "Wow."

Myre wishes for bathoom break

inky says "it has to be dark to enter the silence, guys. sheesh."

aultman mourns for the silence.

Myre wets himself

BradBDhK knows the bathroom's broke.

chuan says "Looks like the dynamic object creation routines are bugged..."

Whizzard passes out bottles.

Adventurer says "The winners *are*: The Devil from Small World, Evan from Kissing the Buddha's Feet, and the burin from FMS! We have a three-way tie!"

dodo says "Congratulations""

chuan cheers.

Dan says "Wow!"

Robert applauds loudly.

Dan cheers.

inky laughs and applauds anyway.

Jota blinks, "Wow!"

Miron applauds wildly.

reed gasps in delight

DavidK cheers.

Myre goes into shock

Zarf stares

Whizzard says "Froody."

Damien cheers.

AhKow whees

eileen blows kisses.

Mary applauds vigorously.

dizzy says "Cool"

Jota cheers madly!

aultman yay! how about democracy in action!

BradBDhK <<<**** BLAT ****>>>

Dan fnords.

Torbjorn applauds.

Zarf applauds belatedly

Adventurer says "Are any of the winners here to accept their awards?"

inky says "at the XYZZY awards, everybody's a winner!"

AhKow says "yeah, right!"

Jota looks at inky. "I'm not a winner... :("

Dan says "Accept? We're supposed to accept the things?"

inky sighs.

inky says "well, almost everyone."

markwync has arrived.

Zarf points out that it's hard to tell who everyone is

Jota hasn't finished writing his first game yet, but that irrelevant ;)

Mary says "We can play pin the award on the recipient."

NeilB heads back to the foyer.

NeilB has left.

Whizzard says "Leon Lin sends his regrets."

markwync takes a seat.

eileen says "If the winners are not here to accept their awards, I'll hold on to them and notify all afterwards..."

Jota claps for the absent Leon.

Adventurer scoops up three shiny Xyzzy Awards and puts them in a cardboard box.

NeilB has arrived.

BradBDhK says "So, who won?"

BradBDhK says ""Oh, yeah..3-way.""

Adventurer says "Okay, Eileen, you want to do the honors for the next category?"

Mary suppresses BradBDhK.

dodo whispers something to Miron.

eileen says "Yes, Adventurer, thank you..."

aultman says "I'd accept on behalf of Andwe..damn no BS! Andrew Pontious, but I'm not authorized to in any way."

eileen says "The nominees for best individual puzzle are..."

eileen says "Cramped, crawling, from So Far"

Zarf appears to perk up

Neil laughs.

Whizzard pats Zarf on the back.

Jota taps another drumroll on the seat in front of him: tappita-tappita-tappita-tappita-tappita...

Miron whispers something to dodo.

eileen says "2. The crystals, from Fear"

chuan winks, and produces the glowing rod as well.

dodo whispers something to Miron.

NeilB momentarily fades out of reality.

Neil tries to fade out of reality, but fails.

DavidK tries to fade into reality, but fails.

Myre whips out a drum stick and pokes jota in the eye "shh...silence isgolden

eileen says "3. The elephant from The Meteor, The Stone, and the Long Glass of Sherbet"

AhKow wags her tail.

Whizzard never really had much to do with reality in the first place.

Zarf tries to sit still

Frank claps wildly and somewhat foolishly

inky says "get used to it, Zarf."

eileen says "4. Opening the gate, from So Far"

Jota wimpers quietly, rubbing his eye.

aultman pokes Zarf in the ribs.

Zarf tries not to look smug

BradBDhK claps.

eileen says "5. Riding the creature, from So Far"

Zarf fails.

Neil says "If this is a three-way tie for Zarf, I'm leaving."

Miron grins at Zarf.

chuan laughs

Dan agrees.

Whizzard roftls.

Zarf laughs

BradBDhK claps hard.

Jota chuckles

eileen says "And the winner is..."

AhKow growls at Zarf.

Robert listens intently

eileen starts opening the envelope...

DavidK baits his breath.

inky fidgets.

BradBDhK pulls out a firecracker.

Jota catches his breath.

Whizzard screams to relieve the tension.

aultman covers Zarf's ears.

markwync waits calmly

AhKow howls.

Dan taps his feet.

eileen says "Opening the the gate, from So Far!!!"

Myre gives a standing ovation

markwync cla

Dan claps.

Zarf gasps.

inky claps wildly.

markwync claps

Jota cheers!

Miron says "Really, that was supposed to be a puzzle?"

aultman says "yay!"

AhKow claps.

DavidK cheers.

Robert applauds.

Neil claps politely. "That's okay, then.

chuan claps

reed exsanginates

dizzy says "wheee""

Whizzard pushes Zarf towards the stage.

Mary cheers at length.

Zarf stands.

Damien applauds.

markwync says "Whoopee!""

Torbjorn applauds.

Zarf appreoaches the stage

Neil says "Speech! Speech!"

Miron applauds.

BradBDhK pulls out a huge rocket launcher, and shoots little fireworks...

reed claps

AhKow barks wildly.

eileen says "Zarf, come on up and claim your award!""

inky says "I'm surprised "Trying to get an explanation of a game out of Zarf" wasn't nominated...."

Zarf reaches for the mike.

markwync congratulates zarf

Whizzard does his Tim Allen impression.

Zarf says "THANK YOU FO"

NeilB says "Is so far any goof them"

Zarf taps the mike

aultman

Zarf says "thank you for this honor."

Zarf says "erm."

Dan winces at the feedback.

AhKow flops down.

Adventurer says "Actually, you don't get an honor. Just an award."

Mary cues the background music.

chuan puts half a silence on the left speaker.

Zarf says "I could talk about how I came to cvonstruct the thintg..."

Frank enjoys that lovely sound of screeching feedback.

Zarf says "Esepcially with my typing as bad as it is..."

Whizzard throws peanuts at Zarf.

Neil winces at the typos.

Dan says "WE CAN'T HEAR YOU BACK HERE!"

AhKow starts chewing on the mike cables.

Zarf says "But I think it's all pretty self-explanatory, really."

Zarf takes the award.

DavidK wonders who Mike Cables is.

Whizzard sighs in relief.

Adventurer says "You done, Zarf?"

aultman says "talk about I-F minimalism!"

Zarf shakes eileen's hand.

AhKow wonders too.

BradBDhK says "This is beginning to feel like rai-f, just speeded-up 100-fold..."

Zarf takes a seat.

Jota claps and applauds madly!

Frank relishes in the shortness of the speech.

Adventurer sticks a fork in Zarf.

Festeron has arrived.

NeilB puts his teeth back in.

DavidK cheers.

inky says "and less Smarties."

Adventurer says "Okay, moving right along..."

Whizzard congrats Zarf.

Adventurer says "The next category is Best Performance in a Miniseries or Special..."

Torbjorn wonders if that was an elvish fork (of great antiquity).

AhKow scratches herself vigorously.

Adventurer squints at the cue cards.

Dan says "Oh! My catagory!"

Zarf glares at te adventurer

Jota pulls out a package of E&Es, and passes them around.

aultman says "I voted for Krill for this one"

Adventurer says "The next category is Best NPCs. (Sorry.) And the nominees are..."

Robert gives the Adventurer his glasses

Myre sticks twizzlers up his nose

inky says "!"

Adventurer takes the glasses gratefully. "Ah. Much better.

AhKow sneezes.

Festeron says ""?""

Adventurer says "The nominees are: 1. Kissing the Buddha's Feet, by Leon Lin."

Zarf claps loudly.

Whizzard cheers happily.

BradBDhK claps.

inky applauds.

dodo says """?""""

Dan claps.

Robert claps.

Adventurer says "2. Lost New York, by Neil deMause."

AhKow yips.

Neil says "Woo-hoo! Yeah!"

aultman claps.

Myre hisses at ahkow

BradBDhK howls.

Neil claps like crazy

Zarf wishes he'd gotten through it. Oops.

AhKow growls at Myre.

Zarf claps anyway

Festeron heads back to the foyer.

Festeron has left.

Adventurer says "3. Small World, by Andrew Pontious."

inky does, too.

Dan cheers wildly.

Myre clawsa ahkow

Zarf claps just as loudly

DavidK claps.

Adventurer says "4. The Underoos That Ate New York, by Gerry Kevin Wilson"

Jota restrains himself from doing another drumroll.

Dan screams.

Zarf continues applaidung

inky cheers wildly.

AhKow shows her fangs.

Frank cheers! "yay"

Miron laughs cheerfully.

Adventurer says "5. The Wedding, by Neil J Brown."

reed screams "Go Neil!! Go Neil!!!"

NeilB gulps.

Myre removes his underwear

Zarf still applauds

Dan applauds.

Whizzard reaches into his bermuda shorts, whips out a pair of Ruby Poo underoos, and sets them loose.

reed applauds wildly

AhKow chases the underoos around.

BradBDhK has hurt his hands... time to go back to the airhorn.

Frank ducks the underoos!!!

AhKow catches them!

inky watches the underoos eat some of the smaller guests.

AhKow rips them to shreds!

inky claps.

Adventurer says "And the winner is..."

chuan stuffs the shreds into the airhorn.

Dan says "Drum roll, please"

Whizzard rolls a drum at Dan.

Miron winds up his tin toy.

Adventurer reaches into the thing that your aunt gave you but you don't know what it is, and pulls out an envelope.

Dan manages to jump out of the way just in time.

LurkingGrue lurks drummingly.

Adventurer opens the envelope.

Myre winces at bad puns

Miron sets the tin toy to the ground: tingtingtingting

AhKow chases the tin toy too.

Adventurer says "The winner is: Kissing the Buddha's Feet, by Leon Lin!!!!!"

BradBDhK creates a core-breach in his excitement.

Torbjorn whispers "I've been trying to get rid of that thing for years."

inky applauds.

Robert applauds madly.

Dan applauds wildly.

Whizzard sighs in relief.

reed applauds

chuan cheers.

dodo says "Hurah!"

Miron says "YAY!"

mol says "bravo"

Myre puts a coller on AhKow

AhKow claps loudly.

Jota says "Hurrah!"

Damien leaps to his feet, applauding.

aultman claps.

Zarf claps

Whizzard says "Thank God. Sanity prevails."

dizzy says "huurrah""

Mary jumps up and down.

DavidK applauds even more wildly.

AhKow whines.

Zarf claps a *lot*

NeilB applauds, cursoing his awful typing.

Dan shouts "Huzzah!"

Torbjorn applauds.

Miron looks grabs up the tin toy: tingtingti--

Neil applauds.

BradBDhK jumps up and down.

Whizzard says "Go Leon!""

Whizzard does that Arsenio Hall thing.

Adventurer readdresses the envelope to Leon Lin, and squasghes an award into it.

inky wonders if Evan is going to accept the award.

eileen says "Okay then, moving right along.."

inky says "hmm.. guess not."

Whizzard says "Sorry, Evan's off at the College bowl."

inky grins.

aultman says "It shoulf^Hd have gone to Whizzard just for releasing something."

eileen says "Our next category is best puzzles."

Miron looks at Zarf.

Whizzard punts aultman.

eileen says "The nominees are..."

Myre scratches his brain

Whizzard says "It's up....it's...GOOD!""

BradBDhK says "No Avalon jokes today, folks!"

AhKow acks.

aultman lands in the bleachers.

eileen says "1. Frobozz Magic Support, by Nate Cull"

Myre removes the coller

mol Cheer

Dan claps.

Jota cheers!

AhKow bites Myre.

BradBDhK hoots.

Robert cheers.

inky applauds.

Myre kicks ahkow

eileen says "2. Lost New York, by Neil deMause"

mol cheers again

Neil decides clapping was bad luck, and sits on his hands.

fred has arrived.

Robert claps.

AhKow jumps around happily.

Whizzard says "Really must play that one. (FMS.)"

inky cheers.

Zarf claps for everything said while his attnetion was away

eileen says "3. The Meteor, the Stone and a Long Glass of Sherbet, by Graham Nelson"

Dan cheers.

Zarf claps

mol cheers wildly

Whizzard yays.

Dan says "Hey...wait a second...Graham didn't write that..."

BradBDhK bangs a drum.

inky continues cheering ...

Frank cheers.

inky looks around for a lozenge.

AhKow applauds.

eileen says "No conspiracy theories, please!!"

Whizzard motions to several men in black, who take Dan away.

mol looks around for Angela Horns

Mary cheers Angela.

aultman , representing the cabal, squashes DAn.

Dan screams "No! It's Angela's work! It's Angela...." His mouth is quickly covered.

eileen says "4. So Far, by Andrew Plotkin"

AhKow sniffs at LurkingGrue curiously.

Myre aplauds heartaly

aultman claps.

Robert applauds.

mol cheers

inky whistles and stomp.s

Dan claps.

mol jump up and down with excitement

Zarf claps just because

Whizzard toasts Zarf with a Jolt Cola.

BradBDhK flies around the room, bouncing off the walls.

dizzy claps

BradBDhK is clapping.

eileen says "5. Time: All Things Come to an End, by Andy Phillips"

Dan cheers.

Zarf claps

Myre does a backflip off the podium

Whizzard yahoos.

Robert applauds.

chuan applauds

mol claps.

inky claps.

AhKow claps.

BradBDhK headbangs in approval.

NeilB notices an annoying stain on his jeans.

AhKow digs a hole.

NeilB heads back to the foyer.

NeilB has left.

eileen waves the envelope dramatically...

Zarf bounces in his seat.

eileen says "And the winner is..."

Neil says "Oh, sit down."

Whizzard falls dead. The suspense has killed him.

Jota belated applauds for all the entries, since he had to leave his terminal for a moment.

Dan checks Whizzard's body. "He's not QUITE dead, yet."

AhKow sniffs at Whizzard too.

eileen says "So Far, by Andrew Plotkin!!!!!!!""

Myre moshes around

mol cheers wildly .

AhKow faints.

Zarf looks befuddled

Robert cheers.

Neil says "Okay, so don't sit down."

Whizzard gets up.

Zarf looks happy

Miron cheers.

Torbjorn wonders if Zarf will use the same speech again.

Mary applauds wildly.

Zarf stands up again

DavidK cheers.

Dan cheers wildly.

Jota cheers, and claps, and whistles!

Whizzard chants, "An-drew!"

dizzy claps wildly

dodo says "What a surprise!"

Neil says to Whizzard, "Not you. Him.

Damien applauds Zarf's acting ability.

BradBDhK "Hooray!" <<<**** BLAT ****>>>

eileen pushes Zarf back towards the stage.

Zarf looks very slightly embarrassed, honest

Neil cheers in anticipation of another short speech.

aultman says "and call the whole game "self-explanatory"?"

DavidK wonders what the speech will be this time.

Zarf gets up on stage.

Whizzard renames Zarf yoyo-man.

mol snaps a photo.

Dan says "SPEAK UP THIS TIME!"

Zarf says "Whhrr Mmm bllrrhhhy gvvvv"

AhKow snaps up the photo.

Zarf ta

BradBDhK laughs.

Zarf taps the mike again

Torbjorn says "Anyone got a babel fish to spare?"

Zarf says "Hi! Thanks."

Robert applaud.

Adventurer hands Zarf another statuette.

Dan tosses Torbjorn a fish from the dispensing machine in the foyer.

mol cheers.

Torbjorn thanks Dan.

Zarf tries to think of something to say

Mary waves pompoms.

Dan jumps up and down and cheers wildly.

aultman says "that's one for the highlight film!"

Zarf says "bye."

Zarf takes a seat.

Torbjorn puts the fish in his ear, trying to applaud with the other hand.

Adventurer sighs and takes the mike from Zarf.

BradBDhK takes a pot-shot.

AhKow sits up and begs Miron for Blamant.

Robert applauds.

Jota says "Hey, put that back, Andrew!"

mol congratulates Zarf.

Jota says "Get get to bring home a statuette, not a chair."

Miron searches his pockets. No Blamant is somewhere in his next game.

Whizzard says "Awesome speech Andrew. I love short ones."

AhKow whines sadly.

Whizzard winks at Zarf.

nmae has arrived.

Zarf says "Maybe next time."

BradBDhK says "There might not have been a next time..."

Myre pats ahkow's head

AhKow licks Myre.

nmae heads back to the foyer.

nmae has left.

Dan says "Is there going to be a reception afterwards?"

BradBDhK says "I hope so."

Jota hopes so.

Frank smiles in anticipation of food.

Dan wants his refreshments, darn it!

Whizzard says "Hope so. I brought hot links in chili sauce."

AhKow wants dinner.

Jota passes around some 3&3s.

Dan asks Whizzard if he's got a spare Jolt to tide him over.

Mary says "We could ceremonially eat the winners--""

BradBDhK thinks this is fun. A MUD full of IF authors.

Mary says "so as to spread the genius around a bit."

Dan looks hungrily over at Andrew. Hmm...we COULD...

Zarf raises an eyebrow.

AhKow nods rapidly.

inky gets dibsies on the cerebellum.

CMcCarthy has arrived.

Jota says "Hmm... wouldn't that require eating Andrew twice?"

Whizzard fires a Jolt cola to Dan with his handy Akme Jolt Cola Kannon.

mol checks his flamethrower - just in case...

Ralph has arrived.

Dan grabs it midair. "Thanks, Whizzard!"

AhKow barks at Ralph.

Torbjorn tries to look like an IF author, but fails miserably.

Whizzard says "We could manage that, I guess. But I doubt he'd be very tasty the second time."

Miron glares at Ralph.

AhKow jumps around Ralph.

Dan gets dibs on Zarf the first time.

eileen says "Technical difficulties, folks -- Adventurer is temporarily indisposed..."

mol raises an eyebrow.

aultman says "I would have brought along some Smarties, but I didn't know what kind to bring."

Dan says "That's OK...we can take a lunch break..." ;)"

CMcCarthy heads back to the foyer.

CMcCarthy has left.

BradBDhK says "Itermission."

Whizzard says "Probably distracted by the shiny statuettes."

AhKow chases Ralph around.

eileen says "I will go ahead and present the next award..."

Dan says "What's the best way to cook a Zarf?"

BradBDhK says "White Wine sauce, I think."

aultman says "garnished with lichen?"

chuan hands some green paste to eileen.

Whizzard says "medium rare, I'd wager. With oyster sauce."

dodo says "Bonni! Bonni! ..."

mol looks disgusted.

Torbjorn says "Sorry, I do not understand the word "zarf"."

Jota says "'In disposed'? Isn't that French for 'in de bathroom'?"

eileen whispers something to Zarf.

AhKow heads back to the foyer.

AhKow has left.

CMcCarthy has arrived.

Zarf remains aloof from this discussion.

Damien looks at the Grue. "I want the adventurer right back where you found him."

Zarf whispers something to eileen.

AhKow has arrived.

BradBDhK says "Can't be, Jota, the bathroom doesn't work."

Mango has arrived.

Whizzard measures Zarf to see if he has a big enough pan.

DavidK heads back to the foyer.

DavidK has left.

Jota says "That's would explain why he's in there so long."

DavidK has arrived.

Zarf is five feet eleven and three quarters.

Dan says "Anyone got some olive oil?"

Mango looks around and realizes he is very much in the wrong lpalce

Mango heads back to the foyer.

Mango has left.

Ralph whispers "Do you know scrambled Elf?"

Jota blinks.

Dan says "Don't worry Whizzard, we could cut him up first...""

Whizzard says "Perfect."

inky says "hmm.. how tall are you curled up with an apple in your mouth?"

Jota wonders where Mango wanted to be.

Dan says "What kind of stuffing should we use?"

eileen says "The nominees for best setting..."

Whizzard says "I can use my Adventurer serving dish. Sally Grue gave it to me."

inky hushes.

eileen says "1. The Light: Shelby's Addendum, by Colm McCarthy"

Dan hushes too.

mol huhes, too.

Zarf wa

Whizzard says "GO CM!"

Zarf claps

Dan claps.

inky applauds.

mol claps wildly.

Damien claps.

eileen says "2. Lost New York, by Neil deMause"

AhKow barks again.

mol applauds.

Zarf claps

Jota claps and applauds.

BradBDhK hasn't played it.

Damien continues clapping.

aultman claps...

BradBDhK claps.

eileen says "3. A Night at the Computer Center, by Bonni Mierzejewska"

Miron claps just because he hadn't for a while.

Whizzard recommends playing it.

Dan claps wildly.

dodo claps

mol clpas wildly.

Robert applauds.

Dan says "GO BONNI!!!""

Zarf claps loudly

Jota turns on his Banshee box (special 'awards' edition).

Myre wants to play it

mol says "Bo-nni!""

Whizzard says "All-riiight BONNI!""

Damien claps, despite not having played it yet.

eileen says "4. Small World, by Andrew Pontious"

Dan cheers.

mol claps.

Jota claps, and claps.

inky claps.

Whizzard sings the theme song.

Zarf claps loudly more

dizzy stamps his feet

Damien claps loudly.

BradBDhK whispers something to Whizzard.

Robert applauds.

Whizzard says "It's a world of laughter...""

eileen says "5. So Far, by Andrew Plotkin"

Jota says "A world of tears!"

Zarf pokes Whizzard

Dan hits Whizzard over the head.

mol cheers wildly.

inky boos. ;P

Robert claps.

Zarf smacks Jota

Whizzard coughs.

AhKow growls menacingly at Zarf.

Dan sniffs.

BradBDhK thumps.

Miron says "Whow would've tjought?"

Jota says "Hey! Just for that, I won't clap for this entry! ;)"

Ralph whispers "Do you know him?"

Damien stops clapping. Andrew's ego doesn't need assistance. :>

Miron curses his fingers.

Dan agrees.

mol holds his breath.

Whizzard says "Again? Did you count the votes, Zarf?"

Zarf rolls his eyes at everyone.

Zarf says "I had *nothing* to do with the votes."

Zarf says "I didn't even vote myself, folks."

Whizzard grins and pats him on the back.

AhKow looks at Zarf suspiciously.

eileen unfolds an origami swan to reveal an envelope

BradBDhK says "That's just what you want us to believe, us your minions..."

eileen says "And the winner is..."

Jota wonders... "If you're the one running the MUD, how hard would it be to create a fake 'eileen' character, and to not let the real Eileen log in?"

FCBoy has arrived.

Miron grins.

Whizzard watches as some MIBs drag Jota off.

inky says "sure are a lot of those MIBs around today.."

Dan says "Gosh, those MIBs are omni-present, ain't they?"

mol examines the MIBs

Whizzard says "They get around."

AhKow wonders if MIBs are edible.

Damien watches the envelope.

aultman says "and Whizzard is in control of them..."

chuan says "If he had done that, his name would be complete mud on raid..."

Jota says "They're coming to take me away, haha..."

eileen shows my driver's license to prove I'm the real Eileen

aultman looks around at the MIBs nervously.

chuan says "er, raif, for that matter..."

Whizzard smiles.

Ralph heads back to the foyer.

Ralph has left.

AhKow shows her dog license.

eileen says "And the winner is: Small World, by Andrew Pontious!!!!"

Ralph has arrived.

DavidK cheers.

Damien blinks.

Zarf claps furiously

Dan cheers WILDLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Miron cheers.

AhKow chases Ralph again.

inky applauds wildly.

Jota cheers wildly!

aultman says "yay!"

dizzy cheers!

Mary cheers.

Whizzard shows his Stellar Patrol ID card.

chuan cheers

Whizzard says "Woo!"

Damien leaps to his feet, and applauds.

Robert applauds madly.

Ralph whispers something to AhKow.

mol claps

aultman says "This speech will be really short."

BradBDhK cheers with a ferocity unmatched by *any* of you...

Torbjorn applauds.

AhKow whispers something to Ralph.

Whizzard grins and applauds happily.

Damien whistles loudly.

Zarf is still clapping

eileen says "Is Andrew P. here?"

Zarf glances up

Whizzard says "The OTHER one."

CMcCarthy says "s"

Zarf glances down.

inky sighs.

Ralph whispers something to AhKow.

CMcCarthy heads back to the foyer.

CMcCarthy has left.

Adventurer comes out of a trance.

mol whispers: Tow Andrews? Must be conspiracy.

aultman says "down, Zarf!"

Zarf looks around

Dan says "BAD Zarf!""

eileen packs up award in a nice purple envelope for Andrew P.

Ralph whispers something to AhKow.

inky says "clearly, if you aren't an Andrew P, you just don't have a shot in these contests..."

Dan says "Obviously."

Whizzard ponders the likelihood of a double identity for Zarf, using the same initials and first name. NAAAH.

mol says "Gotta change my name..."

AhKow whispers something to Ralph.

Mary contemplates changing hers, but doubts it would be believed.

AhKow grins at Ralph.

inky says "Andrea P, maybe."

Adventurer says "My turn?"

Zarf lets it be known that his parents were thinking of "Amy" for a girl.

BradBDhK says ""Go ahead.. ""

eileen says "Whoops, forgot Andrew Pontious and Plotkin have the same initials.."

Whizzard says "Amy Popoffski. There ya go."

CMcCarthy has arrived.

Damien knows an Andreea P, actually...

Jota wonders if next year's contest will have an entry from 'Amy P'

Zarf whispers something to Adventurer.

Adventurer says "The next category is..."

mol cheers

Adventurer says to Eileen, "Best story, right?

CMcCarthy says "Apologies for my lateness"

Ralph whispers something to mol.

eileen says "Yes, Best story is next."

Whizzard overhears Zarf say something like, "They're on to us. Hurry up."

Ralph whispers something to mol.

DavidK heads back to the foyer.

DavidK has left.

Dan covers his head with his hands.

mol whispers something to Ralph.

Adventurer says "Okay, I've got a great story. So I was exploring this dungeon, and..."

Ralph heads back to the foyer.

Ralph has left.

Whizzard looks innocent and stops teasing the winners.

AhKow yawns.

Adventurer says "(sorry)"

Ralph has arrived.

Ralph does nothing.

dodo says hi to Colm.

aultman says "was there any treasure?""

Zarf doesn't believe Adventurer is sorry.

Adventurer vanishes in a puff of disbelief.

mol stares in disbelief. Can't suspend it.

Whizzard says "Oh man. Look what you did."

Adventurer reappears. "So, the nominees for Best Srtory are..."

CMcCarthy heads back to the foyer.

CMcCarthy has left.

inky doesn't believe that either.

Mary chews her nails down to the elbows.

Dan is gonna die of suspense.

Ralph sneeze

Adventurer says "1. Delusions, by C.E. Forman."

inky tries to remember who he voted for.

mol says "Yeeah!"

AhKow gives Ralph a hanky.

Dan cheers.

Adventurer says "2. Lost New York, by Neil deMause."

CMcCarthy has arrived.

inky claps

Whizzard shoots Dan. It was the bullets, not the suspense, that got him.

mol cheers

Adventurer says "3. So Far, by ... you know."

ro[D[DFCBoy has arrived.

mol claps.

inky applauds.

Adventurer says "4. Tapestry, by Daniel Ravipinto."

CMcCarthy claps

Jota cheers wildly!

Dan hides under his seat.

mol cheerseven wildlier!

Robert cheers loudly.

Adventurer says "and 5. Time: All Things Come To An End, by Andy Phillips."

Whizzard says "So Zarf, did you drive a big vehicle? Yer gonna need one."

AhKow claps loudly.

mol claps.

BradBDhK says "Woowoo!!"

CMcCarthy dances a jig

Dan cheers.

Whizzard looks up and applauds.

Adventurer looks around for where the next envelope is hidden.

inky says "cheers"

Zarf remains mum about the initials thing

AhKow sniffs at the podium.

Torbjorn says "Look under the rug."

Whizzard says "All those awards and groupies. You need a semi."

dodo tries to rezrov the envelope

CMcCarthy scours the room for a buffet table

Jota didn't know Andrew was a mother.

aultman says "Hmmmm Andy Phillips...."

Adventurer reaches into a demijohn and pulls out the envelope, and opens it.

inky says "a half toilet? eewww."

Adventurer says "The winner is: Tapestry, by Daniel Ravipinto!!!"

Zarf smirks to himself

Zarf claps

AhKow cheers!

mol cheers wildly.

Ralph jump, cheering wildly

BradBDhK shoots a cannon off.

Zarf claps more

inky claps loudly.

Mary cheers loudly.

Dan stops breathing.

Robert cheers.

Miron applauds.

Damien applauds.

Whizzard says "Groovy."

CMcCarthy applauds

dizzy says "erm... like... cool and stuff...""

Robert congratulates the author.

Jota cheers, applauds, and jumps up and down!

Myre wets himself with excitement

Adventurer says "Is there a Daniel Ravipinto in the house?"

Ralph clep even louder

Torbjorn applauds.

mol sets off some firecrackers.

chuan cheers

Dan tries to raise his hand.

Dan says ""

Zarf whispers "Go on!" to Dan

Ralph flip

Dan says "Uhm...yeah. I think so."

Adventurer looks skeptically at Dan.

BradBDhK throws Dan another Whopper.

eileen says "Speech, speech!"

Jota gives Dan a big *shove* towards the stage!

Adventurer says "Let's see some ID."

mol examines ID

Dan stumbles toward the stage with his college ID in hand.

Whizzard pushes a button. Dan's couch wheels him up to the stage.

Jota says "Is there a middle name on that ID?"

Dan says "Really...it's just a bad picture""

aultman says "Hey, is that Zarf's hand up his back?"

Dan says "YES Jota...and it's JOSEPH"

BradBDhK laughs.

Adventurer looks at the ID. "Weeeeell. Okay."

inky says "hmm.. maybe I'll just stick with "Dan" instead of "Albert Pufferidge" after all."

Jota says "OK, he's the real Dan."

Adventurer hands Dan a statuette.

Robert applauds.

mol cheers

AhKow claps for Dan.

dizzy says "claps""

Mary claps.

Zarf claps

mol congratulates Dan.

inky cheers. "Speech, speech!"

Dan shakes hands and goes up to the mike.

Jota says "Yeah, speech!"

moz has arrived.

Adventurer hands the mike to Dan.

aultman says "yay!"

Whizzard motions to the MIBs. They do a wave for Dan.

Robert really liked Tapestry.

mol listens intently

Dan takes the mike. *CRACKLE* *FEEDBACK* *TAP* *TAP* "Is this thing on?"

Robert winces. "Yes."

AhKow waits in anticipation.

Dan says "Uhm...well, uh. Thank you very much. I...uhm...I really appreciate it."

Ralph jump

Neil says "We want a story! Tell us a story!"

aultman leans forward.

Dan starts to get into it. "I'd like to thank all the little people that made this possible..."

Myre gets ready to assasinate dan...

mol looks around in astonishment

aultman says "Yes, yes, we really liked you..."

inky watches the little green men from Small WOrld take bows at this point.

Zarf points at the small people on the small world

BradBDhK lines up his sights.

Dan says "Uh...anyway...thanks. Bye."

Zarf claps

Dan steps down gracelessly.

Neil claps.

Ralph jump

mol claps hesitatnly.

Damien claps.

inky applauds. "short! short speech!"

chuan is not impressed with the quality of the winners' speeches.

Jota says "Speech! Speech!"

Whizzard motions to the MIBs. They huddle around Dan, shielding himfrom gunfire.

BradBDhK says "Brevity must be a virtue..."

eileen says "Thanks, Dan... now, moving along...."

Myre fires but accidentaly hits adventurer

Jota says "Oh -- that was the speech?"

Adventurer says "Ow."

CMcCarthy heads for the buffet table

Whizzard congratulates Dan heartily.

ro[D[DFCBoy says ""quit"

Zarf says "We're authors. We don't write well in real time."

Dan says "Thanks."

inky expects to see "Oration: an interactive acceptance speech" on of these days....

Miron nods at Zark.

mol does so, too.

Dan says "Zarf'll write it."

Ralph

eileen says ""The nominees for best writing are..."

aultman says "That would be a pretty short game."

Adventurer says "It's only a flesh wound. Go ahead."

mol lloks nervous.

Robert holds breath.

Floyd has arrived.

Dan says "FLOYD!"

eileen says "1. Aayela, by Magnus Olsson"

Neil says "Floyd!"

mol hides under seat.

CMcCarthy applauds

Damien claps.

Ralph cheer

Dan tacklehugs Floyd.

Zarf claps

Robert applauds.

BradBDhK screams. He sat on a tack.

Whizzard whoops it up.

Jota claps!

Floyd says "greetings all"

eileen says "2. Lost New York, by Neil deMause"

inky applauds

Dan plays Hucka-Bucka-Beanstalk.

Miron claps.

Neil settles down for a game of hucka-bucka-beanstalk.

mol claps.

Jota considers setting up a Hukka-Bukka-Beanstalk team.

CMcCarthy says "Whoo! whoo!""

Ralph drag mol from under seat

Zarf claps. (Virtual hands don't get sore.)

Whizzard says "Come on, Neil. You can do it!"

BradBDhK claps

inky laughs.

Damien continues clapping.

Ralph jump

eileen says "3. The Meteor, the Stone and a Long Glass of Sherbet by Graham Nelson"

mol crawls back under the seat.

Dan cheers wildly.

dodo claps

Ralph drag mol from under seat

AhKow hides under the podium.

Jota claps and aplauds!

mol peeks his head out, cheering wildldy.

Zarf spalc 9(for variety)

Whizzard says "Yay Angela. <looks around> I mean Graham."

BradBDhK smacks.

inky hoots and whistles.

Damien whistles loudly. (Never could do that in the real world.)

eileen says "4. So Far, by Andrew Plotkin"

CMcCarthy hides under buffet

Whizzard looks nonchalant.

mol cheers wildly (again).

Zarf starts to clap, then winces

Mary whistles. Angela! Angela! Rah rah rah!

AhKow sighs.

Whizzard claps for Zarf. Again.

Damien applauds wildly.

Miron claps.

mol looks around for Angela.

eileen says "and 5. Tapestry, by Daniel Ravipinto"

Jota says "Andrew Plotkin? WHo's that?"

inky pushes the on button on his clap-for-Zarf machine.

Zarf claps

mol claps.

Dan goes back under his seat.

Miron claps.

Robert applauds.

BradBDhK is clapping, clapping..

Damien applauds.

CMcCarthy applauds

Jota cheers!

Ralph cheer

Ralph clap

Ralph clap

Floyd beeps enthusiastically

Whizzard motions to the MIBs. They cheer for Dan.

inky makes the noise of one hand clapping, twice.

eileen looks under objects until she finds the right envelope

AhKow coughs.

Ralph do back flip

mol chews his nails.

eileen says "And the winner is..."

Ralph stand on head

Zarf chews anyone's nails

Robert sits on the edge of his seat.

dizzy screams

BradBDhK soils himself.

Ralph shakes nervously

AhKow has claws instead of nails.

eileen clears her throat,

Dan holds his breath.

Ralph falls over

eileen says "So Far, by Andrew Plotkin!!!!!!!""

Whizzard drops a pin. My god, you can hear it.

Ralph

mol cheers wildly!

dizzy cheers.

Dan coughs. Then cheers.

Neil experiences deja vu.

Jota says "Hurray!"

Miron stands up, clapping.

Mary cheers in bemusement!

CMcCarthy bites lip and claps politely

Damien cheers.

Whizzard cheers Zarf.

Zarf stands.

Jota cheers some more!

AhKow mumbles something about fixing.

Floyd spins in circles, beeping madly

aultman says "yay"

inky cheers

BradBDhK says "Of course!"

Zarf just takes the damn award

Zarf takes a seat.

Miron sits down again.

mol Boos

Ralph stand

Ralph sit

Ralph stand

aultman says "Let's hear some of the great writing!"

Whizzard grins at Zarf.

Ralph sit

Ralph sits

mol says "Speech!"

inky says "real speech! real speech!"

Ralph jumps

Dan says "Give us a reading!!!!"

Ralph falls over

Ralph gets back up

AhKow chases Zarf onto the stage.

BradBDhK says "Wax eloquent!"

Zarf refuses to budge.

dizzy ties Ralph to chair.

inky says "c'mon, you've had three chances to think of something now .."

Zarf says "Maybe next time."

Dan kicks Zarf. Go on!

mol says "Speech! Speech!"

Ralph throws a cream pie at Zarf

BradBDhK lines up his sights.

Neil says "Like we're ever going to let you win again?"

CMcCarthy searches for something to drink

Torbjorn says "Isn't that what he said last time?"

Mary cues Adventurer.

Whizzard fingers the Zarf ejection seat button. It IS aimed at the stage, after all.

Zarf says "Blueberry, he thought."

Jota says "Help me pick him up, and we can carry him to the stage."

aultman says "Zarf, Eileen, give us Rito and /imita1"

Adventurer says "So, now we're up to the moment you've all been waiting for..."

Dan grabs Zarf along with Jota.

Ralph heads back to the foyer.

Ralph has left.

Adventurer says "You've all been waiting for this, right?"

Ralph has arrived.

BradBDhK says "Waiting for what?"

Dan says "RIGHT! Uhm...what have we been waiting for?"

Zarf waits

Mary says "Riight."

inky says "I've been hitting 'Z' all this time ..."

Whizzard says "Yeah, sure Adventurer. We've all been waiting. Really we have."

Adventurer watches time pass...

mol zzz

Ralph shake

Ralph shivers

CMcCarthy shakes his head, hoping the catering will be better next year

Ralph jumps

AhKow wakes up.

Adventurer says "The nominees for Best I-F Game of 1996 are:"

Dan says "It'd have to be...it couldn't be worse..."

inky says "what? you don't like teh babel fish sushi I made?"

mol whistles.

Whizzard passes CMC a hot link in chili sauce.

CMcCarthy shuts u[p

Adventurer says "1. The Light, Shelby's Addendum, by Colm McCarthy."

dodo claps madly.

aultman gives some Smarties to CMcCarthy.

Zarf applauds

Dan cheers.

inky applauds.

Miron cheer.

mol claps!

Robert applauds.

Adventurer says "2. Lost New York, by Neil deMause"

mol cheers!

Whizzard shows his approval.

CMcCarthy gorges on food and smiles

Miron cheers again.

Zarf applauds twice

Ralph cheer

Floyd claps

Ralph cheer

Jota says "It wou;dn't have been so bad, inky, except... you do know where it's been, right?"

Ralph sneeze

CMcCarthy applauds

inky *again* makes a note to play that.

Adventurer says "3. The Meteor, the stone, and a Long Glass of Sherbet, by Angeal -- I mean, Graham -- whatever..."

Zarf applauds thrice

Miron cheers once again.

Robert applauds.

Dan cheers.

CMcCarthy applauds

Floyd hoots

mol jumps up and down, cheering wildly.

Ralph jumps

Adventurer says "4. 4. So Far, by Andrew Poltkin."

Ralph shiver

Miron cheers another time.

Robert cheers.

BradBDhK breaks the bones in his hands clapping.

AhKow ahems.

CMcCarthy cheers

Ralph shivers

Whizzard would applaud, but his parser's acting up.

mol is getting hoarse, but cheers anyway.

Zarf Zarf smiles smiles

Jota applauds several times, for all the games he didn't get the chance to applaud for, because they went by too fast.

Adventurer says "5. Time: All Things Come to an End, by Andy Phillips."

Zarf applauds

Dan claps wildly.

Miron cheers yet another time.

Robert applauds.

Adventurer says "and the winner..."

inky whistles.

Torbjorn says ""ECHO""

Adventurer presses a button.

CMcCarthy whoops like a crane

Miron stops cheering.

Ralph gives throat disk to mol

aultman does the cabbage-patch.

dizzy wakes up, looks around somewhat confused and cheers.

Adventurer watches as a babel fish shoots out of a machine.

mol thanks Ralph.

Ralph yawns

CMcCarthy sweats like a pig

mol waits.

AhKow looks around for food.

Adventurer watches as the fish strikes a robe hanging on the wall and lands on a towel over a gate.

Whizzard says "ARGHHH"

Dan says "Oh come ON..."

BradBDhK gives food to AhKow.

inky offers AhKow some grue pate.

Adventurer watches as a cleaning robot grabs the fish and smashes into a satchel.

mol takes fish and eats it.

AhKow doesn't like them.

CMcCarthy sweats like a large pig

Dan says "WHich proceeds to sent the mail against it...blahblahblah..."

Adventurer watches as the mail piled on top of the satchel flies into the air...

Dan says "WHO WON??"

Torbjorn says "So *that's* where the programs were."

aultman says "go , Adventurer!"

BradBDhK laughs.

Adventurer and as one envelope falls into Adventurer's hand.

Mary shrieks with frustration.

Ralph changes form in a puff of pink smoke.

inky prepares to lleps mortin anyone who can't take the strain .

Adventurer tries to open the envelope, but fails.

Whizzard aims a shotgun at Adventurer.

AhKow hands Adventurer a rezrov scroll.

Dan screams and throws an envelope opener at Adventurer.

Adventurer tries to bite open the envelope.

Jota says "Rezrov it already!"

inky says "is there a rezrov in the house?"

Ralph scream "AAAGGGH !! ! !! Who is it ????"

Zarf is twitching slightly

Adventurer rezrovs the envelope.

Ralph shake

Torbjorn says "Give him a treasure, someonep."

Adventurer says "Ah, okay, there we go..."

mol holds his breath.

Ralph scream "WHO IS IT ????"

eileen awards Adventurer 10 points.

Adventurer opens the paper within and read it.

Robert stops breathing.

aultman says "ARGH!"

Ralph cough

Adventurer says "And the winner is..."

BradBDhK hold's Dan's breath.

AhKow points a wand at Adventurer and says "Fast"

Zarf is turning blue

Dan thanks Brad.

mol is turning blue.

Adventurer says "So Far, by Andrew Plotkin!!!!!!!!"

Zarf gasps

Jota and Dan (who are still carrying Andrew on their shoulders) march Zarf to the stage, and set him atop it.

Dan cheers wildly.

Floyd exclaims "hoooray!!!"

mol releases his breath.

Robert :chher.

dizzy cheers once more.

inky jumps up and down clapping.

mol cheers wildly.

Mary screams wildly.

Whizzard falls out of his LA-Z-Boy.

Miron cheers and cheers.

Neil cheers.

Zarf finds his feet on stage.

Jota says "Whoopee! Huzzah!"

Zarf bows

Miron is beginning to get a sore throat.

AhKow backflips.

aultman claps wildly.

Damien leaps to his feet, cheers, and applauds wildly.

mol congratulates Zarf.

Robert gies Zarf a standing ovation.

Dan jumps up and down and cheers.

Zarf takes yet another award

Ralph gives a throat disk to Miron

BradBDhK herniates himself in a wild spasm of clapping.

Miron thanks Ralph.

Whizzard stands up, looking embarrassed, and applaudds like a wild man.

Mary passes Zarf a SACK_OBJECT.

eileen applauds happily and heartily.

aultman swings from the fout trapezes on the ceiling!

Zarf says "Now I really will try to think of something to say."

AhKow looks around for MIBs

BradBDhK says ""He's gotta say something now."

Dan asks Whizzard exactly how wild men applaud.

Torbjorn says "Wow."

dizzy :[Your score has gone up]

mol says "Speech!""

Zarf says "'It's an honor just to be nominated...'"

Whizzard says "Just like I do."

tony says "Who won anyway, I just got disconnected.""

Dan says "SPEECH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Zarf says "(of course, I was nominated more times than anyone)"

Zarf says "(but let that pass)"

mol whistles.

Robert admires Zarf's modesty. :)

Dan can just FEEL the humility.

aultman says "guess, tony"

dodo boos.

Ralph pass out

mol examines humility.

Whizzard eyes the 16 ton weight above the stage. Just a little to the left, Zarf, he thinks.

mol tries to take humility.

inky says "You don't see any 'humility' here.""

Ralph wake up

Dan says "exactly."

Zarf says "But really, I'm stunned ybthe amount and variety of IF written in 1996."

Floyd accidentally turns himself off

mol says "Hear hear"

BradBDhK says "Hear, hear."

Ralph turn on Floyd

Jota says "Where, where?"

Whizzard says "Hear what?"

Dan says "Ahh...the 'Haha I won, but you're still better than pondwater scum speech... :)"

Robert wishes there was time to play it all.

aultman claps for I-F in 1996

inky says "there is time! just give up sleeping!"

Mary claps.

mol cheers for I-F in 1996

Zarf says "I expect that in 1997 I will be completely confused by the things you crazy loons think up."

dizzy joins mol & aultman

Floyd flares back to life and does the macarena

Jota says "So now we're Canadian currency?"

BradBDhK says "You bet."

mol will do his best to confuse Zarf in '97

Zarf says "And you cal all look forward to my upcoming epic, 'The Lady, the Tiger, the Pizza, or the Blowjob.'"

Whizzard says "Well, with your copy of Avalon, you won't have time for other games, so the point is moot, Andrew."

Dan cheers wildly.

inky laughs.

inky says "good speech!"

AhKow barks.

Miron rolls on the floor, laughing.

Dan 's been waiting for that game FOR AGES.

AhKow pokes Whizzard with a cold nose.

Damien feels his mind shifting gears without the clutch. Ouch.

Zarf says "PS: WHizzard, get to work."

Dan means "The lady, etc..." :)

aultman says "is that kind of language appropriate for I-F?"

Jota claps, applauds, cheers, whistles, and just generally gives Zarf a standing ovation.

Dan says "Absolutely!""

Ralph scratches AhKow behind ears.

Torbjorn says ""l avalon" = > "I don't see that here.""

AhKow rubs against Ralph's leg.

Dan cheers and claps wildly. "HUZZAH!!!!"

Whizzard applauds Zarf's great speech.

Zarf bows again.

Zarf takes a seat.

mol cheers

Ralph jumps

Robert applauds again.

Ralph jumps

Ralph jumps

Floyd applauds

aultman slaps Zarf on the back.

Ralph smiles

Miron applaud.

AhKow hands Zarf a bone.

Ralph flips.

aultman says "Now, get that CD printed!"

Torbjorn applauds Zarf.

Dan laughs.

Zarf ceremonially eats the bone.

mol waits for CD

BradBDhK blows his airhorn: <<<**** BLAT! ****>>>

Damien applauds Zarf, the other winners, and IF authors in general.

Whizzard motions to the MIBs. One of them pulls out a calico kitten and sets it on Zarf's shoulder.

Zarf claps for everyone

Dan is now completely deaf due to Brad's airhorn.

AhKow eyes the calico kitten hungrily.

Torbjorn agrees with Damien.

Ralph whispers something to Whizzard.

eileen says "Thank you again for all taking the time to attend today!"

Whizzard whispers something to AhKow.

Mary applauds the host and hostess.

Robert thanks eileen.

Dan says "Where's the party????" :)"

inky says "and thanks for hosting us, Zarf."

chuan says "Thanks for organizing it."

eileen says "It was wonderful to meet you all, and I can't wait to do it again next year!"

AhKow gets ready to pounce anyway.

aultman stands a discrete distance from Zarf, kittens, MIBs and AhKow.

Floyd says "Thanks for a great year of I-F everyone!!!"

BradBDhK says "Thanks, Eileen."

mol applauds Eileen.

Ralph cheer

AhKow leaps....

Ralph jumps.

Neil says "Okay, now where's the food?"

Whizzard whispers something to Ralph.

Dan applauds Eileen, Adventurer, XYZZY, and everyone involved.

Jota says "Should auld acquantaince be forgot..."

Ralph smiles.

Ralph jumps.

mol applauds Adventurer.

Zarf shouts over the roar, "This universe will remain in existence until Monday morning.

Ralph cheers.

AhKow and misses the kitten! Shucks.

Miron applauds at eileen, Zarf, and the winners in general.

Torbjorn applauds Eileen and the Adventurer.

Jota applauds PLUGH and PLOVER.

Dan says "PERFECT! That'll be JUST enough time for a party!!"

dizzy applauds everything that moves.

Ralph jumps

aultman says "maybe I'l have time to rescue my other character from that maze!"

Whizzard watches the kitten snarf up Ahkow in one bite. That's gotta hoit.

Ralph passes out.

Adventurer says "My work is done..."

Adventurer has left.

AhKow runs around like a mad dog.

Jota thinks there ought to be a monthly party here...

Ralph jumps.

mol vanishes in a puff of orange smoke

Dan says "Who WAS that masked Adventurer?"

Ralph jumps.

AhKow hides under a seat, tail between legs.

dizzy takes a Klein bottle from nowhere and crawls into it...

Dan agrees with Jota 100%!!!!

PerrySimm wanders around filming.

Whizzard motions to the MIBs. They wheel in a banquet table.

Miron whispers something to aultman.

Zarf thinks that this is his office machine, thank you, and he'd like to keep using it.

eileen types 'xyzzy' and disappears

inky sighs. excuses, excuses

inky waves to eileen.

Whizzard says "Cocktail weenies for all."

Ralph whispers something to Whizzard.

Dan says "What about on the weekends?"

Jota grins, "I just mean one Saturday a month -- not a month-long party :)"

Ralph heads back to the foyer.

Ralph has left.

AhKow sneaks a peek at the kitten.

Jota says "Sure, I'll take a cocktail, Whizzard -- but stop calling us weenies."

BradBDhK says "Nah, this was a lot of fun, but it'd get annoying too often."

Ralph has arrived.

Neil looks for Colm McCarthy to go have a consolation drink.

aultman says "are there any fig newtons on the table?"

Whizzard says "For those not up on their conspiracies. MIB = Men in Black. Often seen after UFO sightings."

Ralph passes out

Dan thinks Whizzard knows a lot more about MIBs than he's letting on...

Whizzard says "Some, but the MIBs do love them so."

Damien quietly offers the use of a reasonably-connected machine for future serverish use, if there is interest.

Dan whispers something to Whizzard.

Jota perks up his ears.

AhKow swipes at the kitten.

inky says "realy, damien?"

aultman doesn't want to cross the MIBs even if he is a card carrying cabal...um... club member.

Doug wonders how much IF would actually be *written* if so many raifers would visit MUDs this often!

chuan wouldn't mind th e occasional informal discussion on IF.

Jota says "Interest is here..."

BradBDhK says "Is this the first time the awards were done via telnet?"

inky says "its the first time the awards were done full stop"

Zarf says "This is the first time the awards were done."

Neil says "This is the first time there were awards!"

Jota says "It would certainly be nice to be able to login, and have immediate access to coding help :)"

Black has arrived.

AhKow heads back to the foyer.

AhKow has left.

Floyd waves goodbye to everyone and leaves the building

tony says "I know I did not clap or cheer as much as I should have (know nothing about these darn MUDs) but xyzzy97.txt will be at gmd shortly containing a capture of all displayed for the last hour and a half, including all the winners and all that.""

AhKow has arrived.

Whizzard whispers something to Dan.

Dan whispers something to Whizzard.

Floyd heads back to the foyer.

Floyd has left.

Ralph heads back to the foyer.

Ralph has left.

Ralph has arrived.

inky says "thanks, tony!"

Jota says "Recorded by Perry?"

AhKow turns towards Black, pointer dog fashion.

Miron thanks tony, although he captured it for himself.

Black looks for White

Ralph passes out on the banquet table

Neil says "Yeah. Perry Simm's been recording it for XyzzyNews, too."

Whizzard whispers something to Dan.

PerrySimm waves.

Zarf says "I think many of us have been recording."

inky thinks this would be a good chance to figure out what gender Black is anyway.

Black heads back to the foyer.

Black has left.

Ralph heads back to the foyer.

Ralph has left.

BradBDhK thanks tony, and just knows he sounds like an idiot during the proceedings...

inky says "damn! scared 'em off."

aultman says "I didn't consent to be recorded! I'll sue!"

Jota says "You scared it away!"

Neil says "Aw, you scared her .. him .. it ... off"

Ralph has arrived.

Dan whispers something to Whizzard.

Myre heads back to the foyer.

Myre has left.

inky sighs.

Jota says "Well, I'm going to check out the maze -- I'll be back."

Dan whispers something to Whizzard.

inky says "next time I'll peek first and make statements later..."

Jota heads back to the foyer.

Jota has left.

Ralph heads back to the foyer.

Ralph has left.

Myre has arrived.

chuan heads back to the foyer.

chuan has left.

AhKow heads back to the foyer.

AhKow has left.

Miron says "who played all those game characters, anyway?"

Wizard shouts "One more thing: A small bonus prize to anyone who finds all the IF references in this universe."

Robert heads back to the foyer.

Robert has left.

inky says "I'm going to wander off for a bit too .. Damien, if you're planning on setting one of, er, these up"

chuan has arrived.

inky says "*post* about it!"

Jota has arrived.

aultman says "this is nice, but the parser is horrible even for a MUD"

AhKow has arrived.

Jota whispers something to Zarf.

AhKow heads back to the foyer.

AhKow has left.

Black has arrived.

Zarf whispers something to Jota.

inky heads back to the foyer.

inky has left.

Dan whispers something to Whizzard.

Jota whispers something to Zarf.

AhKow has arrived.

Whizzard says "Who needs a great parser for a weekend MUD? It's cool just getting to chat with everyone."

Damien says "I shall look into the possiblity of running either a permanent or occasional server for gatherings on a local machine here. If it is possible, I will post about it."

Miron says "yeah..."

Wizard shouts "Please email your list of references to erkyrath@netcom.com by Monday morning."

Jota whispers something to Zarf.

Jota heads back to the foyer.

Jota has left.

aultman says "I just don't like emoting eveything... built in atmosphere commands are better...."

aultman pokes Whizzard in the ribs.

AhKow heads back to the foyer.

AhKow has left.

Black heads back to the foyer.

Black has left.

aultman says "like that would be."

Wizard shouts "Be sure to explain how each one is a reference -- no fair just mentioning an object's name."

dodo heads back to the foyer.

dodo has left.

Neil doubts that anyone could learn all the built-in commands that quickly, anyway.

Black has arrived.

BradBDhK heads back to the foyer.

BradBDhK has left.

Black eat fig newtons

Whizzard says "I'm heading to the unfinished bathroom. Anyone who wants to chat, can follow."

Dan whispers something to Whizzard.

Neil heads back to the foyer.

Neil has left.

Zarf heads back to the foyer.

Zarf has left.

Whizzard heads back to the foyer.

Whizzard has left.

Dan heads back to the foyer.

Dan has left.

Miron heads back to the foyer.

Miron has left.

Damien heads back to the foyer.

Damien has left.

chuan heads back to the foyer.

chuan has left.

moz heads back to the foyer.

moz has left.

aultman heads back to the foyer.

aultman has left.

eileen heads back to the foyer.

eileen has left.

tony goes home.

tony has left.

Torbjorn heads back to the foyer.

Torbjorn has left.

Doug goes home.

Doug has left.

Robert has arrived.

Robert heads back to the foyer.

Robert has left.

AhKow has arrived.

AhKow heads back to the foyer.

AhKow has left.

AhKow has arrived.

AhKow heads back to the foyer.

AhKow has left.

jasonmel heads back to the foyer.

jasonmel has left.

AhKow has arrived.

BradBDhK has arrived.

AhKow sniffs at the fig newtons.

inky has arrived.

inky heads back to the foyer.

inky has left.

BradBDhK eats a fig newton.

AhKow heads back to the foyer.

AhKow has left.

AhKow has arrived.

BradBDhK heads back to the foyer.

BradBDhK has left.

Jota has arrived.

Jota heads back to the foyer.

Jota has left.

AhKow heads back to the foyer.

AhKow has left.

AhKow has arrived.

AhKow heads back to the foyer.

AhKow has left.

AhKow has arrived.

AhKow heads back to the foyer.

AhKow has left.

dodo has arrived.

doublea has arrived.

Doug has arrived.

dodo heads back to the foyer.

dodo has left.

Doug heads back to the foyer.

Doug has left.


Ceremony 1996 - 1998 - 1999 - 2000 - 2004

More about IF I've written, including So Far

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