Previously the source code was in a grey zone. Microsoft, Team Xbox, and Activision are making Zork I, Zork II, and Zork III available under the MIT License. This important code can be now used by students, teachers, and developers so they can study it, learn from it, and, perhaps most importantly, play it.
This release focuses purely on the code itself. It does not include commercial packaging or marketing materials, and it does not grant rights to any trademarks or brands, which remain with their respective owners. All assets outside the scope of these titles’ source code are intentionally excluded to preserve historical accuracy.
https://github.com/historicalsource/zork1
https://github.com/historicalsource/zork2
https://github.com/historicalsource/zork3
Running Zork I-III today
More than forty years later, Zork is still alive and easier than ever to play. The games remain commercially available via The Zork Anthology on Good Old Games. For those who enjoy a more hands on approach, the games can be compiled and run locally using ZILF, the modern Z-Machine interpreter created by Tara McGrew. ZILF compiles ZIL files into Z3s that can be run with Tara’s own ZLR which is a sentence I never thought I’d write, much less say out loud! There are a huge number of wonderful Z-machine runners across all platforms for you to explore.
Here’s how to get started running Zork locally with ZILF. From the command line, compile and assembly the zork1.zil into a runnable z3 file.
"%ZILF_PATH%\zilf.exe" zork1.zil
"%ZILF_PATH%\zapf.exe" zork1.zap zork1-ignite.z3
Then run your Z3 file in a Zmachine runner. For example Windows Frotz from David Kinder:
