The Zen of Kayaking
The Zen of Kayaking was created by pixel_turkey and gamedevjeff over the course of ten days, and released in 2024. It was inspired by classic Infocom text adventures like Hollywood Hijinx and made in Infocom’s Z-Machine format.
The game begins in the parking lot of a state park, after you narrowly avoid a speeding ticket. Your bright red kayak is strapped to the roof of your car, and there’s a great blue heron nearby. Adventure awaits.
The Zen of Kayaking can be played in a web browser, in DOS, or even on a Commodore 64. Those retro versions left me wanting a classic Mac version, so I put one together myself, using an existing Z-Machine interpreter. I also converted pixel_turkey’s title screen illustration to a 1-bit image. This version is not included with the download, but you can play the game on a classic Mac if you like—or just about any computer.
- The Zen of Kayaking on itch.io
Available for Windows, Mac, Linux, DOS, and Commodore 64. It also works with DOSBox, Frotz, and other Z-machine interpreters on other platforms. - Z-Machine Interpreters on Inform
These can run The Zen of Kayaking and other interactive fiction on almost any computer. - The Zen of Kayaking on IFDB
- Z-machine on Wikipedia
Part 1
I need a little break from painting, so let’s go kayaking instead. The Zen of Kayaking is a new text adventure game from pixel_turkey and gamedevjeff. It doesn’t include a classic Mac version but that’s the version I am playing.