The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy


The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Don’t Panic!

Released in 1984 by Infocom, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is a legendary interactive fiction game based on the novel by Douglas Adams. Co-written by Adams himself and Infocom veteran Steve Meretzky, the game took the quirky humor and philosophical satire of the book and translated it into one of the most cleverly written and notoriously difficult text adventures ever made.

Gameplay: Text-Driven Chaos

Like all Infocom games, this is a pure text adventure. Players type commands like "look under bed" or "open door" to explore the game world, interact with objects, and try to avoid certain doom. You play as Arthur Dent, an unlucky Earthling who barely escapes the destruction of Earth and embarks on an absurd journey through space involving bureaucratic aliens, towels, and improbability.

The game is filled with mind-bending logic puzzles, red herrings, and hilarious narrative traps. Some solutions defy intuition, while others require an understanding of the novel’s absurdist tone. Death and unwinnable situations are part of the experience—but so is laughter.

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Infocom 30th Anniversary Edition

Available Platforms

Originally released in 1984, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy was made available on nearly every major home computer of the time, thanks to Infocom’s versatile Z-machine engine. Supported platforms included:

  • Apple II
  • Commodore 64
  • IBM PC / MS-DOS
  • Macintosh
  • Amstrad CPC
  • Atari ST
  • TRS-80
  • TI-99/4A

In more recent years, the game was re-released as a fully playable browser version by the BBC, complete with an updated interface. Additionally, thanks to Z-machine interpreter apps, it's possible to enjoy the game on modern mobile devices:

  • iOS: via the Frotz app
  • Android: via the Son of Hunky Punk interpreter

These apps allow players to experience the original Infocom .z5 files in a portable format, keeping the legacy of this classic interactive fiction alive for a new generation.

Presentation and Writing

The game’s strength is its writing: witty, unpredictable, and faithful to Adams’ vision. Each room and character is described with the kind of dry, British humor that made the book famous. You never quite know whether you’re solving a puzzle or being made fun of by the narrator—and that’s the point.

Infocom also released the game in a famous “feelie” box that included a peril-sensitive sunglasses sticker, a microscopic space fleet, fluff, and other hilarious physical props. These added flavor to an already unique experience.

What Were Infocom's “Feelies”?

One of Infocom’s signature quirks was the inclusion of physical props in their game boxes, lovingly nicknamed “feelies.” These items ranged from practical to absurd and served both as immersion and copy protection.

For The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, the original release came with:

  • A pair of “Peril Sensitive Sunglasses” (actually a piece of black cardboard)
  • A microscopic space fleet (invisible)
  • A “Don't Panic” button badge
  • Genuine fluff from the navel of a being in a parallel universe
  • An order form for a towel

These quirky inclusions helped set the tone of the game even before typing a single command.


Legacy

This is not a game for the impatient. But for fans of the book or those with a taste for eccentric brain-teasers, it remains a milestone in narrative design. It’s been re-released on multiple platforms over the years, including a browser version by the BBC that adds a slick new interface while keeping the text and logic intact.


At the time, I wasn’t even aware of the game’s existence, let alone ready to tackle an English-language text adventure as a young child in the ’80s. It also seems it was only available on disk, which made access even harder. Despite the heartfelt review in issue 3 of Zzap!64, I only came to revisit it as an adult, with a solid grasp of the English language.

Even so, I can't bring myself to give it a passing grade. It's a game of needlessly excessive difficulty, full of dead-end situations that make it impossible to finish if you make a wrong move. The puzzles are not only hard—they often require a precise number of steps to be solved, or you're met with death or an unwinnable state.

One puzzle in particular—the infamous “Babel Fish” puzzle—was so notoriously frustrating that Infocom began selling T-shirts with the phrase: “I got the Babel Fish.” That should tell you everything you need to know.

Infamous Puzzle: The Babel Fish

Widely regarded as one of the most brutal puzzles in gaming history, the Babel Fish puzzle tasks the player with retrieving a tiny translator fish using an absurd Rube Goldberg sequence of events. One misstep means death or soft-locking the game.

It became so infamous that Infocom began selling T-shirts that proudly stated: “I got the Babel Fish.”

For better or worse, this puzzle is now a piece of gaming folklore.

Tips for New Space Travelers

  • ✔ Type "look" often. A lot of jokes (and solutions) are hidden in the text.
  • ✔ Save constantly. Then save again. Dead ends are common.
  • ✔ Try absurd things—you might be rewarded, or at least mocked amusingly.
  • ✔ Don’t Panic. Seriously. It’s in the title for a reason.
  • ✔ And yes... keep your towel handy.

Special Editions & Re-releases

Over the decades, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy has seen several notable special editions and reimaginings—each adding new ways to enjoy its chaotic brilliance:

  • 1984 Infocom “Grey Box” Edition: The original release, famous for its “feelies,” including a pocket fluff, microscopic space fleet, and peril-sensitive sunglasses.
  • Solid Gold Edition: A reissue with Infocom’s built-in in-game hint system (InvisiClues), making the experience slightly less punishing.
  • BBC 20th Anniversary Edition (2004): A free browser-based version with updated visuals and sound effects, available on the BBC’s website.
  • 30th Anniversary Edition (2014): A modern web version released again by the BBC with improved UI, mobile support, and Achievements.

These re-releases preserved the original gameplay and writing, while making it easier to access (and survive) for newer generations of digital hitchhikers. The BBC versions are still accessible online today and are considered definitive by many fans.

Verdict

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is a test of your patience, your humor, and your willingness to embrace chaos. Equal parts comedy, puzzle, and meta-commentary, it’s one of the most original games of its time, and still bafflingly brilliant today.

Pros

✔ Hilariously written, true to Douglas Adams' style.

✔ Original, surreal, and unique in its puzzles.

✔ Great replay value due to complexity and humor.

✔ Classic Infocom packaging with creative “feelies.”

Cons

✘ Challenging, often illogical puzzles.

✘ Frequent trial-and-error with permanent dead ends.

✘ No graphics—purely text-driven, which may deter some players.

Final Score (Original Infocom Version)

89%

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