Published on 12/12/2006

Border Zone was Infocom's 31st game (and the only game of intrigue). It was written by Marc Blank, the co-author of the ZORK series, Enchanter, and sole-author of Deadline.

Interactive Fiction for the Commodore 64

Border Zone (cover) by Infocom	Published: 1987, Infocom Author: Marc Blank Genre: Adventure Media: Disk Difficulty Level: Not Rated Where the Iron Curtain divides East and West, the frontier is a no man's land between freedom and captivity, a place where moments lost or precautions not taken exact a toll on men's lives. In Border Zone, you cross this barrier not once, but three times, as three different characters in a fast-paced story of international intrigue. The pulse-pounding tension of espionage is heightened by the addition of real time, which ticks on regardless of your actions. As you race against the clock to complete your missions, you'll find yourself caught up in a spine-tingling adventure that's far more suspenseful than any spy thriller you've ever read.
Border Zone was Infocom's 31st game (and the only game of intrigue). It was written by Marc Blank, the co-author of the ZORK series, Enchanter, and sole-author of Deadline. Border Zone consists of three separate chapters which have to do with an assasination attempt on an American ambassador in Europe during the height of the cold war. In each chapter you play a different individual (an American businessman, a western spy, or an eastern spy) in a different location, and although the chapters are stand-alone, it's better to play them in the game's given order. The novelty of Border Zone is that the time continues to pass even when you are thinking! So, you actually have to be quick in your decisions! The clock has two speeds, FAST and SLOW. Type SLOW if you are a slow typist or a slow thinker (or both!). The first chapter starts with a SLOW clock; the second and third chapters begin with a FAST clock. Don't forget that by typing HINT you enter the on-line hintbook!	Border Zone (game) by Infocom
For more information about the Infocom text adventure game Border Zone, please view the Infocom category in the C64 games database or visit the external links to other Infocom related content at the end of this article. References to Infocom on the internet may also be found under the software company Activision, which bought Infocom in 1986. If you would like to comment on this article then please use the comment/rating feature available, or talk about it in the discussion forum. The text excerpt in italics below the credit information is taken from the cover of the game and ©Copyright 1987 Infocom. Thank you to the following websites, which were used for sourcing some images, that appear in this article: The Infocom Gallery.