69,105

The number 69,105 was used as an in-joke at Infocom. It has occasionally cropped up in later games as a tribute to Infocom.

Table of contents

1 Appearances 1.1 Appearances in Infocom games 1.2 Appearances in later games 2 Significance of the number

Appearances

Appearances in Infocom games

• Its most famous appearance was probably in Zork I:
  

On the ground is a pile of leaves.
>count leaves
There are 69,105 leaves here.

• Leather Goddesses of Phobos

There are 69,105 leaves in the sack in Cleveland. (The same joke also appears in Trinity.)

• Bureaucracy

"Ticket number 69105. Seat 25F. Acme Building Auditorium."

(the game also produces "INTERNAL ERROR 69105" under some circumstances)

• Zork Zero

This zoo, with 69,105 cages, is easily the largest in Quendor.

• Witness -- the number on the gun receipt is 69105

• Deadline -- the serial number on the pharmacy label on the tablets is 69105

Appearances in later games

• In Adam Cadre's game I-0:

>open trunk
You open the trunk, revealing your laundry.

>x laundry
There are 69,105 pieces of laundry here.

Significance of the number

Nick Montfort, in his book Twisty Little Passages (ISBN 0262134365), suggests that the number was chosen because in its written form it falls naturally into two parts with an unusual relationship:

• 69 in hexadecimal is 105 in decimal
• 69 in decimal is 105 in octal

and also because 69 is the common name of a sexual position.