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Interactive Fiction Competition

Annual competition for interactive fiction

Wikipedia contributorsAdapted for Fathomly · View authors
3 min read
Source updated April 12, 2026

The Interactive Fiction Competition (also known as IFComp) is one of several annual competitions for works of interactive fiction. It has been held since 1995. It is intended for fairly short games, as judges are only allowed to spend two hours playing a game before deciding how many points to award it, but longer games are allowed entry. The competition has been described as the "Super Bowl" of interactive fiction.

Since 2016 it is operated by the Interactive Fiction Technology Foundation (IFTF).

01Organization

In 2016, operation of the competition was taken over by the Interactive Fiction Technology Foundation.

The lead organizer 2014-2017 was Jason McIntosh, and in 2018 it was Jacqueline Ashwell.

02Categories

Although the first competition had separate sections for Inform and TADS games, subsequent competitions have not been divided into sections and are open to games produced by any method, provided that the software used to play the game is freely available.

In addition to the main competition, the entries take part in the Miss Congeniality contest, where the participating authors vote for three games (not including their own). This was started in 1998 to distribute that year's surplus prizes; this additional contest has remained unchanged since then, even without the original reason for its existence.

There is also a 'Golden Banana of Discord' side contest; the distinction is given to the entry with scores with the highest standard deviation.

03Eligibility

The competition differs from the XYZZY Awards, as authors must specifically submit games to the Interactive Fiction Competition, but all games released in the past year are eligible for the XYZZY Awards. Many games win awards in both competitions.

04Judging

Anyone can judge the games. Because anyone can judge and participate in the competition, there is a rule that "All entries must cost nothing for judges to play".

05Rules

The competition has rules for judges, authors and everyone to ensure that everyone agrees on the purpose, scope, and spirit of the competition.

06Prizes

Anyone can donate a prize. Almost always, there are enough prizes donated that anyone who enters will get one.

07Winners

The following is a list of first place winners to date:

Only two competitors have won more than once: Paul O'Brian, winning in 2002 and 2004, and Steph Cherrywell, winning in 2015 and 2019.

08Reception

A reviewer for The A.V. Club said of the 2008 competition, "Once again, the IF Competition delivers some of the best writing in games." The 2008 competition was described as containing "some real standouts both in quality of puzzles and a willingness to stretch the definition of text adventures/interactive fiction."

Watch videos about Interactive Fiction CompetitionExplainers and documentaries on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Interactive Fiction Competition”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

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Spring Thing

Spring Thing is an annual competition highlighting text adventure games and other works of electronic literature, also known as interactive fiction, or IF. The competition was founded by Adam Cadre, author of several works of interactive fiction, including Photopia and Varicella. Cadre first announced the Spring Thing in 2001, both to promote works that would be longer than those entered into the Interactive Fiction Competition, which is held every fall, and to encourage authors to submit works to the general public during other times of the year.

XYZZY Awards

The XYZZY Awards are the annual awards given to works of interactive fiction, serving a similar role to the Academy Awards for film. The awards were inaugurated in 1997 by Eileen Mullin, the editor of XYZZYnews.