Pick Up The Phone Booth And Die

One-room Comedy XYZZY Awards 1996 Finalist - Best Individual Puzzle

PICK UP THE PHONE BOOTH AND DIE
a NyQuil nightmare by R. Noyes

Pick Up The Phone Booth And Die
Author(s)	Rob Noyes
Publisher(s)	n/a
Release date(s)	1996
Authoring system	Inform 5
Platform(s)	Z-code 5
Language(s)	English
License(s)	Freeware
Multimedia
Color effects	none
Graphics	none
Sound/Music	none
Ratings
Cruelty scale	Polite

How It Begins

You might be anyone, carrying nothing. You are standing in the town square of a nondescript New England town, with nothing in sight but a phone booth. You don't know what you're supposed to do, but you do know this: if you pick up the phone booth, you'll die.

Notable Features

• Minimalist IF. There's very little to this game. Only one room, only the PC and the phone booth, and the game can be won in one move. (The game can also be lost in one move.)
• Joke game. Not meant to be taken very seriously.

Trivia and Comments

• Also known by the initalism PUTPBAD.
• This game had a sequel and many imitators; certainly the title was spoofed several times. The games inspired by PUTPBAD were:
  • Pick Up The Phone Booth And Die 2 (Rob Noyes; 1996; Z-code). The sequel.
  • Pick up Dawn McGatney and Die (Liza Daly as "Gecko"; 1996; Z-code).
  • Lost Anaheim Hills, or, Pick up Anaheim Hills and Die (Adam Cadre; 1997; Z-code).
  • Pick Up the Ice Cream Truck and Die (Myn Duespo; 1998; TADS 2). A test of TADS 2's multimedia features.
  • Pick Up A Hitchhiker and Die! (Mark J. Musante; 1998; TADS 2).
  • Samhain a.k.a. Pick Up The Jack O' Lantern And Die a.k.a.Pick up the Pumpkin and KILL (Marc Valhara as "Eddie Mueller"; 2000; Z-code).
  • Pick Up the IF-Archive and Pi (Jake Wildstrom; 2001; Z-code).
  • Pick Up the Phone Booth and Aisle (many authors; 2001; Z-code).
  • Pick up the phone booth and Cry (Danny Miok; 2002; ADRIFT).
  • Pick Up The Phone Booth And Dye (Eric Schmidt; 2002; Z-code).
  • Pick up the pine box and die (Taleslinger as "Alan Smithee"; 2008; Z-code).
• A version of the phone booth is implemented as an object on ifMud. And that copy of the phone booth appears in Are You A Chef? (Adam Biltcliffe; 2000; Z-code), which is a game set within ifMud.

Versions

Version 619

• Pick Up The Phone Booth And Die (Rob Noyes; 1996; Z-code 5).
  • Release 619 / Serial number 960409 / Inform v1502 Library 5/12
  • IFID: ZCODE-10859-960409-EB6F
    IFID links: IFDB
  • XYZZY Awards 1996: Finalist for Best Individual Puzzle.
  • Download booth.z5 from the IF Archive

Links

General info

• Pick Up The Phone Booth And Die (archived) - at Baf's Guide.
• Pick Up the Phone Booth and Die - at Wikipedia.
• Pick up the Phone Booth and Die - at MobyGames.

Reviews

• Pick Up The Phone Booth And Die - at IF Ratings.