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Nord and Bert Couldn't Make Head or Tail of It cover art
Adventure

Nord and Bert Couldn't Make Head or Tail of It

by Infocom·published by Infocom

1 September 198719
PCDOSAmigaAtari STCommodore 64Apple IIMac

Reader score

7.0/ 10

40 votes

Where to get it

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About

Nord and Bert Couldn't Make Head or Tail of It is a text adventure game revolving around puns and wordplays. Idioms and clichés have become real-world objects in the town of Punster, and the player has to sort them out in order to win. There are seven separate scenarios that can be played in any order, as well as the final one that can be accessed only after having completed all seven. These scenarios are:

  • The Shopping Bizarre: Products in a grocery store have been replaced by nonsensical homonyms (such as "chocolate moose"), and the player has to revert them to their normal form.
  • Playing Jacks: Equipped with an item called "Jack of All Traits", the player has to construct words beginning with "Jack" to solve puzzles.
  • Buy the Farm: Clichéd expressions must be used in their literal meaning while exploring a farm.
  • Eat Your Words: More literal idioms used in a diner.
  • Act the Part: The protagonist is teleported into a 1950's-style sitcom, where he must perform visual gags.
  • Manor of Speaking: The protagonist explores a strange house in a more traditional humorous Infocom-style manner.
  • Shake a Tower: Letters in expressions have to be re-arranged to create humorous new meanings.
  • Meet the Mayor: The final chapter of the game, mixing elements of the others as the protagonist faces the mayor of Punster.

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Ways to play

Modes

Single player

Perspective

Text

Included in

The Lost Treasures of Infocom II

Game details

Business Model

Commercial

Media Type

3.5" Floppy Disk, 5.25" Floppy Disk

Text Modes Supported

80×25

Input Devices Supported/Optional

Keyboard

Additional Hardware Supported

Printer

Number of Offline Players

1 Player

System requirements

Min. CPU Class Required

Intel 8088 / 8086

Min. OS Class Required

PC/MS-DOS 2.0

Min. RAM Required

128 KB

Box art

Also known as

Eight Tales of Cliches, Spoonerisms, and Other Verbal TrickeryTag-line

WordplayWorking title

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Facts

Developer

Infocom

Publisher

Infocom

Released

1 September 1987

Platforms

PCDOSAmigaAtari STCommodore 64Apple IIMac

Tags

Interactive fiction / text adventure