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April Fools Day, ey? Sounds good enough for me. I've used all my good rhymes on the christmas presents but I still have a couple of lousy ones in store for you.
The world is in crisis, but keep your head cool
For in time we will find, both money and a certain fool
Hehe, the bad financial times might be a step up for your game since so many people are now in pursuit of the word "money". Might this release delay have been secretly planned all along? That's all for now, "keep up the good work" to quote everyone else.
You have no idea how much I really enjoyed Fool's errand. Seems like a million years ago. I think I must have played it on a mac plus. I was digging around trying to figure out if someone had adapted it so I could play it now. I am overjoyed I can share this with my kids.
Thanks so much, you made us all pretty happy - though my kids will probably hate me for a little while because the puzzles are hard hehe. It's one of the joys of parenting. I get to torment them and smile like it's no big deal.
Settle a bet for us: is there a secret meta-puzzle inside the Compendium of True Believers that, when the answer is presented to you, will cause you to release the game? Because in my fictionalized account of "Waiting for The Fool and His Money", there will be. Hope everything is going well notwithstanding, and good luck in these last months!
Thanks for taking the time to make this game. Being a game developer myself I certainly appreciate the hard work. I am looking forward to playing your game much more than I can put into words.
I am anxiously awaiting this challenge. I just found your website, after trying desperately to forget all about Cliff Johnson. I just printed out three copies of your first April Fool's Treasure Hunt. I will send one copy to each of my sons for them to enjoy, as a Christmas Present.
In the late 80's I had a Mac Classic, and was "SO HOOKED" on The Fool's Errand. It nearly cost me my JOB and my MARRIAGE. After I, somehow, managed to salvage both of those lives, along comes At The Carnival. Again my life was in jeopardy, but again I was able to allocate, approximately, four hours a day to maintain both a job and my marriage.
I'm now 60 years young, and just like a kid outside the Candy Store, waiting for it to open, I await your latest project. Thanks Again for the many sleepless nights, and long week-ends.
I, like all the others, have been waiting with bated breath for the final release of the new "Fool" over the past 6 years. I'm a true believer and still check your site every other day for new updates, even if they only let us know the new types of menial labors you will welcome once the beta testing is complete.
Anyway, I write this letter to humbly request that if it's at all possible, you try to get the game out in time for Christmas. I think I originally bought this as Christmas present anyway (one that I intended to also play myself, of course) so it would only be fitting to finally get the game in time for Christmas. I can't imagine any better way to spend Christmas morning then throwing things at my computer because I'm so frustrated by your tricky puzzles ;)
Of course, I seriously doubt my words of encouragement alone will be enough to get this game finished quicker, but hey, it's worth a shot. All the best finishing it!
You CAN'T be almost done with The Fool and His Money! I've been working on MY game for even longer and it's not done. If you finish, then my game will look even more pathetic (Flash text adventure, two word parser, confusing for even the hardcore gamer).
mumbling, sweating - pain, suffering. *crossing fingers*, *crossing fingers*
Snow falls inside our heads
Making for the coldest of winter beds
Never do we rest or go to sleep
For if we missed a moment, we would forever weep
Yes, eternaly waiting for...
That which will make our lives so much more
Givning us all a non-peace-of-mind
Within a game we will never leave behind.
So make it snow, but please hold hold your rain
Deliver before christmas and end our pain!
crystalball, crystalball, I see a high quality puzzling-future for us all
I just finished The Fool’s Errand AGAIN, so I thought I’d just wish you a good holiday season. I hope the testing is going well!
I just downloaded Fool's Errand, along with 3 in Three and At the Carnival. I first played Fool's Errand on my first computer - a grey Mac brick with a tiny screen - and I never thought I'd be able to play it again. Thank you so much for making it available to us! I look forward to investigating the other two games, which are new to me.
My dear wife asked me what I wanted for Christmas yesterday, and I only have 1 thing that would make my Christmas perfect; The Fool and His Money. As a 38 year old Fools Errand, 3 in Three, and At the Carnival junkie, I am anxiously awaiting for the release of this game. Please make my Christmas happy.
Many years ago over 10 now I stumbled upon Fools Errand. A great many hours were spent during school playing it. I never was able to complete the whole thing without a FAQ though but got though most of it. I really miss those days. A few years ago I stumbled on your website and discovered that you are making a sequel and have been waiting for it since then. Looks great and sounds even better.
It's an honor to email you. I played 3 in Three day after day during my high school study halls in our Mac lab. Love the game! Never had the chance to play the Fool, but looking forward to the second installment. I'll certainly download Executor and the first game before I receive the second...hmmm, maybe I should hope not. : ) Keep up the testing. Been looking forward to this game for nearly two years. You're one of the best, that's why we don't have it yet. Er, I'm not the best with words, everything's coming out jumbled. Haha. I'm sure you know what I mean.
It feels like it's getting so close.... the anticipation is peaking.... I have lots of vacation time saved up.... just waiting for the word..... anxiously....
Thank you for all your wonderful games. I played “The Fool’s Errand” as a teenager on my Mac SE in the 80s and it helped shape who I am as a gamer.
Still keeping the faith, anticipation getting greater! Thank you for carrying on for so long through everything when others would have given up.
After holding off for many months, nay years, and enjoying the custormary cipher almost every day, I finally let myself look at all the teasers on your web site. I was NOT disappointed. The game looks fabulous, miraculous, extraordinary, and gorgeous!!!!
Actually, it's OK that it's not here yet, because I'm overwhelmed with work until after the holidays, and I want to enjoy this game free of major guilt and time pressure so I can fully savor each puzzle in all it's ingenuity and beauty.
Best of luck in the final process, and I can't tell you how I admire your perseverance through every sort of difficulty.
it has been nearly 20 years since I first played The Fools Errand, and random good fortune lead me to the sequel (and the free download of the original. THANKS!)
Don't bust a wrist with all the hard work, or else it'll be forever til we see the next 3 in Three. ;)
Many thanks and I look forward to the end product, which I am certain will be worth the wait (and then some). In fact, I think I'll go replay "The Fool's Errand" (for about the 10th time) to whet my appetite...
Very excited to play the new game! The Fool's Errand is one of my favorite games of all time. I still have the original floppies!
I loved the original Fool's Errand from 20 years ago (yikes, 20 years) and I suspect my wife and I will love this one, as well. I'm looking forward to my productivity dropping to zero in the new year.
I dropped in your your webpage to see how things were going. You'd better hurry up -- pretty soon I'm going to be so old I won't even remember how to work a computer, let alone complete one of your fiendish puzzles.
Glad to see the progress on The Fool and his Money. The screen shots look terrific and I’m looking forward to digging into it. Good luck!
Good luck on the last stages of finishing the game; the new screens look great. I look forward to being frustrated by it very soon.
Impossibly eagerly awaiting the arrival of TFAHM. Please threaten my graduate school transcripts ASAP.
Is it possible? Is the evil plot to take up all of my free time about to be unleashed? I hadn't checked the web site for a few weeks until today. Seems hard to believe, almost like "The Truman Show" ending. You've certainly had your share of trials and tribulations. I only hope the game is as good as the drama leading up to its release.
I started looking back through old e-mails. The PayPal receipt sent on 10/17/2004, immediately followed by the message that "This November" I would receive the game at my home address. The later message promising that the game would ship before your 2006 birthday or else you would eat a bug. The mysterious Memory Manager mischief. A lot has changed in the gaming world since 2002, but I daresay that little to nothing has been produced to make people actually have to think on the level of The Fool.
Kudos for staying with it this long.
Best of luck with the final strech of the game. It looks really great!
I didn’t know you’ve been working on the game for 6 years, but I do know that I pre-ordered very shortly after I started dating a new guy. Now we’re planning to get married next summer. He chuckles at my emotional ups and downs when I read your updates. Perhaps I will get to play the game before having a wedding?! (it’s not quite as good a story as the guy who went from college student to college professor while waiting, I know, but it’s the story I have.) Keep up the good work! I’ll still be here whenever you’re ready
Great to hear that the game is coming along. I can't wait. Well I can wait, but I know that the wait will be worth it.
I am really looking forward to The Fool and His Money!! I'm glad that it's in the "final final final" phase of development ;-) I really enjoyed The Fool's Errand and still play it to this day. Thank you so very much for such great games!
I just pre-ordered The Fool and His Money, and would like to be on your mailing list too. I looked up The Fool's Errand today, wanting to tell my gaming friends about it. It was probably the most clever puzzle-adventure game I ever played. I was delighted to find that you have a new game in the works, and I'm perfectly willing to be parted from my money on the bet that you'll finish it.
Since I ordered from you I started and finished grad school, have lived in four different houses/apartments, moved from Atlanta to Oregon, and got married. Really, I didn't think it had been that long; time flies! Or, time's fun when you're having flies?
I'm one of your True Believers and Looking forward to seeing the game. As a Internet Developer (Flash, DHTML, PHP, MySQL, etc.) I know EXACTLY how things can get held up and take longer than you think!
I lost many hours of study time while in college during the late '80s to Fools Errand and 3 in Three. In the fall, I am returning to school, to pursue an education in photography. Again, many thanks for some wonderful games! Looking forward to the next installment... and losing many more hours of study time.
My sister and I loved Fool's Errand when we were younger, and look forward to its sequel. Thanks and good luck with polishing the game!
Wow, I couldn't believe when I saw that you were doing a sequel to the Fool's Errand. When the game first came out my teenage daughter and I played the game together until we solved it. I pulled it out of my storage box of old games and loaded it up on my Windows XP and it played as great today as it did years ago. I had just as much fun.
After looking at your website, it felt just like home. I am very glad to know that there are others out there who love the wonderfully weird stuff and puzzle games as much as I do. Thanks for that.
Keep on fighting the good fight in both the real and virtual worlds, and best of luck smacking errant code into shape. Remember: A true programmer dusts the bytes 'til he bites the dust.
I know you've heard this before but fool's errand was one of the best games I've ever played, and I've been looking for something like it ever since. Due to general busyness I generally only get into one or two games a year now but when I do I'm hooked until I conquer it or it conquers me. I'm hoping for the former from your project.
Thanks for slogging through! I know how hard it can be to develop something mostly by yourself w/o a huge budget like most games these days.
The Connecticut state motto seems apropo: "Qui transtulit sustinet" - He who transplanted still sustains.
As a 'true believer' (have you ever thought of starting a cult?) I will ever faithfully await the rapturous day when the sequel to my favourite puzzle game arrives at my door!
We first purchased Fool's Errand from you at a computer show in 1987, and still think it is one of the most creative and entertaining games we every enjoyed. We have not played the game for some twenty years now. (how many computer upgrades?) Yesterday morning I was doing some clean up and came across my old 'Outbound' (Mac) portable, and decided to see if it still worked. It booted up just fine, so I took the opportunity to get a copy of the original 400K disks from the original Fool's Errand diskettes. Most of my diskettes are unreadable now. After several hours of juggling, I managed to transfered the programs successfully to my Mac G5. (I laugh in hindsight what a waste of time.)
Then looking at that original box, I decide to Google "Miles Computing". To my great surprise there you were and within a few moments I was back playing "errand", "carnival", and "3". WOW! Thank you so much for making these available. I cannot wait to play them with my 7 year old grandson.
I don't know if you get a lot of Emails, but I just wanted to mention that your Fool's Errand and 3 in Three are *awesome*; a friend just told me yesterday that you were working on a sequel to the Fool's Errand, and that made me really happy! Very best of luck in finishing it!!
Thank you for all your wonderful games of the past (still play them from time to time, just for fun!) and looking forward to "The Fool and His Money."
I have to say that I really enjoyed your latest newsletter, though I'm not sure how it managed to reach me, since I apparently live in a state that does not exist, therefore I must not exist. So I guess you could really stop reading now, if you wish. If your curiosity is piqued, however, I refer to Illinois, which until now I had always thought was a real place, located firmly between Missouri and Indiana, but perhaps I have imagined it. I guess it could be that I am in a coma somewhere, live within the pages of a children's book or have gone mad and it exists only in my mind. Or, possibly, you may have found one of those wormholes they always fall into on Star Trek. (Please tell me where it is, as it can be quite tedious to drive across the entire state when I take a trip and with the gas prices as they are...)
What is completely clear, though, is that you never came anywhere near Chicago, or you would have certainly included the Most Endless and Infernally Annoying Highway Construction Award.
Unless the Ford Escape you rented was equipped with an oscillator overthruster, you must have also passed through Illinois on your journey. Assuming you took Route 70 into Indianapolis you just missed Lawrenceville to your south.
I can understand your omission. Not a whole lot to see down there.
I just received your Issue #20, and... to be honest... Tabasco's pretty good on apple pie.
I just thought you should know.
In 1990, an two young boys were each allowed to pick one computer game for mom's shiny new 486SX. One brother chose "Space quest 3", while the other was foolish enough to choose, "The Fools Errand." The boy was a fool, and utterly outmatched at the age of 9. Though he struggled valiantly, he was handily vanquisted by the sadistic creater of "Fool's Errand,"(insert boos/hisses here).
Time passed, and those big floppy disks didn't fit in the new computer, and his copy of "The Fool's Errand" slipped through the cracks, forgotten, until almost 20 years later. The boy was all grown up, he had a degree in Physics, and finally some free time on his hands. Now it was time! He dowloaded a shareware version of "The Fool's Errand." Again he struggled, again he strived. For nearly a week he showed up to work glassy-eyed and cranky.
But this time, in the end, he had conquered the evil High Priestess. He is proud to say, as the final emerald flower is planted, that after all these years, that even after his victory, he is still a fool. And downloading "3 in three" as we speak. Thanks for an amazing game, even after all these years. This fool eagerly anticipates parting with some money.
Hey, don't worry, Fool and His Money will get completed. More to the point, it will get completed plenty soon enough, despite the setbacks. Don't kill yourself trying to rush it. Life happens. And besides, if you kill yourself trying to complete this one, we won't see "Fool's Paradise," "3's the Charm" or "3's a Crowd", much less any further sequels such as "At Another Carnival" and "At Yet Another Carnival".
Take 1: Spring cleaning. Fresh start. Clean break.
Take 2: Why not register "thefoolandourmoney.com"?
Take 3: Best of luck.
This True Believe has enjoyed the long delay in the release of your new game. It gives me something to look forward to — anticipation can be fun!
Another two years have rolled by, and I still eagerly await the quite-aptly-titled The Fool and His Money, comfortable in the knowledge that its development process will still beat that of Duke Nuke'Em Forever.
I have loved Fool's Errand for years, but only recently rediscovered it!! I am delighted that I was able to download it, and for FREE!!! Thank you for making it available.
I see that you are getting ever closer to completion of this long-awaited treasure! I send this update with confidence that the game will arrive before I move again, whenever that may be! :-)
Wishing you the best of luck for continued steady progress. I'm looking forward to losing as many hours playing and replaying The Fool and his Money as I lost on the original.
Hope you're well and finally seeing some sort of light at the end of that very long tunnel you appear to built around yourself... nearly there. And then what? I suspect you might sleep until your name becomes Rip Van Johnson. Though I can't vouch for your long grey beard-growing abilities.
I'd like you to know that your creative efforts have touched people as far afield as Japan. Awesome, as I believe the kids are saying these days. Well, maybe.
(Me) and my wife and I await your latest work with great delight. I hope that all is well with you.
The Fool's Errand was one of my first and best experiences with Macintosh, and it made me cognizant of the fact that good software is like magic. You, then, by extension, must be a magician ;)
When your masterpiece is ready (and please don't rush it), please ship it to our new address.
Thanks again, and take it easy.
Having fallen into The Fool's Errand around five years ago, I was thrilled to find such a complex game that still challenges again and again. Although I may regret saying this pending the release of The Fool and His Money, I still maintain that my favorite puzzle is the card game at the Wheel of Fortune, with no explanation of rules, and only a vague estimation of relating the cards together (or fierce memorization of which groups beat what). I played through the errand for days, and upon its completion, was delighted to find your website and continue with the spiritual successor 3 in Three. I came back to this game over the weekend and was again awed by its linguistic depth. (I'm fairly certain that this was the first time I successfully anagrammed 'responsibility' on my own.) The only qualm I have with your games is that it is so painful to have to wait for 6 months or so before the solutions start to evaporate from memory, and I can play them again, somewhat freshly.I became a True Believer last year. I've since made your website my homepage, subscribed to The Fool's Gold, and even taken to recording Craig Ferguson on the DVR to catch his monologues. This email is really just a fan service; I want to congratulate you on your successes and offer my support for your future endeavors.
Best of luck to finishing the Fool's second outing (and many more).
I know that I’ve written to you in the past to tell you how great I think your newsletters are, but I wanted to pass on the latest update in greatness. I’m not sure if I told you that I keep a whiteboard outside my cube at my office, which is on a highly populated pathway (right inside the entrance door and on the way to the lunchroom) in a call center that has more than 200 people.
Over the last three weeks I’ve been running a “series” from your last newsletter (I believe it was #19). It was a breakdown of Excerpts from the book: How to Write Good. And people have been going CRAZY!!!! People frequently walk up to me and tell me that they like the quotes I put on my board … but the comments have doubled since I started this series! So, I wanted you to know how great it is and how your humor is touching us in the world of corporate. :-)
Happy New Year! I hope you are happy and healthy and doing well. I find myself wanting to touch base with you, partly because you embody the optimism that this time of year engenders and partly because I love your brain!
In a previous lifetime and before I didn't get a PhD, I was a cognitive scientist. I wanted to understand creativity and the moment of insight. Years later I found your marvelous puzzle adventures and I was amazed at your beautiful mind. There were so many questions I wanted to ask you, about how you consistently found the perfect level of difficulty (at least for me) -- just when I thought I would have to admit defeat, after pages of notes and figuring, just after I thought about throwing the computer against the wall, and often upon incubating in frustration for a few days, I'd GET it. You gave me as many moments of insight as Mark Twain, perhaps, and that's something.
I thank you and send you the kindest regards,
Hope you don't mind me dropping you a quick email to say I've just pre-ordered The Fool and His Money because way back in the 80s, before my husband and I got married, we worked together in a small group
with some Mac programmers who passed their addiction to your game onto us! Happy memories... so i've bought it as a wedding anniversary present (hopefully).
Since pre-ordering The Fool and his Money, I have moved to another house. I have also graduated, married and bought an apartment, but take your time, it'll be worth it.
I have no idea if I have you hooked up with the correct address for The Fool and His Money, but in any case:
You are standing in an open field west of a white house, with a boarded front door. There is a small mailbox here.
Happy New Year, Cliff "The Fool" Johnson. I've been following your site and waiting for the new game for years, now. Here's to many more of the former and no more of the latter! :)
I still believe in you.
The Fool
I'm apricot dawn and adamant noon, quicksilver chameleon, full howl at the moon.
Prince Frog-In-The-Well, glad jack of no trade, a walkabout madman, I'm beds left unmade.
Diamond-draped beggar, coyote's sharp bark; I'm merry-go-lightly and bells in the dark.
I'm zero that circles all that will be. I'm newborn and know-naught, I'm spirit set free.
Don’t be a smart arse and time your game to April Fools Day and then disappear.
If you do one of us will find you.
I'm a huge fan of Fool's Errand and 3 in Three. My brother is also a devoted Fool, and so this pre-order is part of a present for him (though I'm making him solve a few puzzles to figure out what his gift actually is). Good luck with the remaining puzzles, and thanks!
You tease me so with mere glimpses of your masterpiece.
But, as a patient believer, rather than harass you to speed up, I will instead gorge myself on what pieces of the puzzle I've been given.
You've done no more than whet my appetite for the main course, sir.
I am curious to know if and/or when the Fool & his Money has shipped as I do not yet have a copy!
I do, however, see my name in the compendium of true believers. Hopefully all is well with you ...
I Can’t Believe It! A Second Game in The Fool Series. WOW Can’t Wait.
But Anyway, I Just Pre Ordered From Work To Show My Support, And Thought You Might Like To Know that I Am Still Playing The Original Fool’s Errand Now.
Now That Shows You Just How good A Game It Is. If The Second Is Half As Good It Will Be Well Worth It.
Just Thought I’d Drop You a Line from Here in The UK to Say Keep on with the Great Work, And I Hope It Gets Released Soon.
I hate you! How could you do this to me, again after all these years, you wretch!
I can't wait for the new "FOOL" (I must be one of those crazy old fools) and I hear that you plan to further compromise my sanity by issuing sequels of "3 in Three" ... I'm doomed!
Seriously, I wish you success and pledge my undying support.
I remain your reluctant but enthusiastic fan,
I can't wait to be frustrated by you!
I'm not sure if you're celebrating being in Canada an all, but Happy Thanksgiving!
Take the weekend off! May your only issue with memory be remembering how many helpings of turkey you ate.
We'll still be here.
Hi Cliff! How's things agoing? So, I have yet another address change for you. If you do in fact decide to ship Zee Fool and His Moola someday my new address is as
follows:
Thanks so much, good luck, and enjoy some tofurkey tomorrow if you are still practicing that silly Thanksgiving tradition whilst in Canada!
I dare not ask when the the Fool will appear. When we least expect him I'm sure.
But where will we be? Good luck with your endeavours.
Thanks for the prompt reply. Stop reading this and go plug a few more leaks. I once held off 300 feet of sea pressure with my thumb when a periscope grease (zerk) fitting gave way in the control room of USS George C. Marshall (SSBN 654) sending a light spray of salt water in my direction on or about 1980. Memory leaks must be harder to plug. Certainly you have more of them than that one fitting, and all I had to do was keep my thumb on the tiny hole until the auxiliary machinist of the watch closed the stop valve that he should have closed 250 feet shallower.
Cheers!
I've been a fan from the beginning (or at least what I think I remember as the beginning -- you had a game before Fool's Errand, didn't you, or was it after -- I'm pretty sure I bought 2 of your games and they were amazing).
Best of luck -- I've actually tried to spread the word at this time, but my old Mac friends want to see the software, so I'll get things going once you're done!
Thanks, and good luck getting finished!
Since I last wrote, I've acquired a wife and a house in the suburbs.
Still waiting as eagerly and as patiently as ever. Keep climbing that mountain!
True Believer since 2003
I am thrilled to se there will be a game that I can play on my newer mac that i like the original "fool's errand". I loved this game when it came out - keeping in mind I have never purchased many games and this is the only one I ever actually played. I loved it because I used my mind, not my poor hand-eye coordination to play.
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