frotz

Play Z-machine game

$ frotz [game.z5]

$ frotz -w [80] -h [24] [game.z5]

$ dfrotz [game.z5]

$ frotz -r [transcript.txt] [game.z5]

$ frotz -s [14] [game.z5]

frotz [options] story-file

frotz is an interpreter for Infocom-style interactive fiction (Z-machine games). It runs text adventure games in formats from Z3 through Z8, including classic titles and modern IF works.
The tool provides terminal and graphical interfaces for playing these games, with support for save/restore, transcripts, and input recording.

-w columns

Screen width.

Screen height.

Font size (graphical mode).

Record transcript to file.

Playback recorded commands.

Watch commands during playback.

Command log file.

Context lines for scrollback.

Restricted path for file access.

Some games require specific Z-machine versions. Graphics limited in terminal mode. Color support depends on terminal. Save format not always portable.

Frotz was written by Stefan Jokisch in the mid-1990s as a portable Z-machine interpreter. It became one of the most popular interpreters for Infocom games and modern interactive fiction. The name references the spell from Zork.

zork(1), inform(1), tads(1), glulxe(1)