How to launch an IF game file

Many IF games can be played in a web browser, but if you download the game file, you'll need a launcher app (also called an "interpreter").

Below are download links for the most popular apps.

Simplest option

Use the Lectrote app. This will launch most games and is clear and easy to read.

You can either choose the most recent release for your system from the Lectrote releases page, or download release 1.3.2 (the most recent version of the app as of 8-nov-2019) directly from these links:

Lectrote for windows 64bit
Lectrote for windows 32bit
Lectrote for linux 64bit
Lectrote for linux 32bit
Lectrote for mac 64bit

For the linux versions, unzip into a folder and launch the app from there. It won't show up in your main menu though.

If, for some reason, Lectrote won't work for you, the Gargoyle app. will also launch most text games, but doesn't seem to be updated as often as Lectrote.

Gargoyle for Windows
Gargoyle for Mac OS
For Linux users, the first place to look is the main repository for your distribution. If you're using Linux Mint, open the Synaptic package manager and search for Gargoyle.

Other options

Other options depend on the game format, which you can usually tell from the file extension.

Z-code
(Extensions: .z3-.z8, .zblorb, .zlb, and sometimes .dat)

Windows: WinFrotz
Mac OS: (?)
Linux: (?)
iOS: (?)
Android: (?)

Glulx
(Extensions: .ulx, .blb, .gblorb, .glb)

Windows: Glulxe; Git
Mac OS: (?)
Linux: (?)
iOS: (?)
Android: (?)

TADS
(Extensions: .gam, .t3)

Windows: TADS Player Kit
Mac OS: QTads
Linux: (?)
iOS: (?)
Android: (?)