IFComp features two kinds of prizes, both of which are donated by the IF community, and then shared among the authors of top-ranked entries after the competition ends.
Support IFComp and its authors through a charitable gift to The Colossal Fund, providing a cash prize pool for top IFComp entries! Learn more about it, and see who contributed last year.
This year's Colossal Fund drive will kick off in mid-July. Check back after then to learn how you can contribute!
The following competition prizes have been generously donated by members of the interactive fiction community. See below to learn how the prize pool works, or how you can add to it.
A short original work of IF involving the setting or characters of your entry
From the donor: "Note that, given my writing style, it will most likely be puzzly, parser-based, and not too dark. Contact Draconis on Intfiction to work out the details."
Donated by Daniel Stelzer
An illustration of up to 3 of your game's characters interacting with each other
Donated by Aster Fialla
Code review the source of an Inform 7 game or extension of your choice
Zed Lopez will code review the source of an Inform 7 game or extension of your choice (previously released or not), up to 75,000 words (not counting any included published extensions), so long as it's in English and can be compiled by Inform 7 9.3/6M62 or a subsequent version. Advance requests for particular topics you would like feedback on is encouraged, but not necessary.
Donated by Zed Lopez
Short custom soundtrack for the prize-winning game or another by its author
Up to five minutes of original music, divided into up to three separate tracks, for the prize-winning game, or a past work or current WIP by the same author. The winner of the prize should contact user FLACRabbit via PMs at intfiction.org to work out the length, style and structure of each track. The soundtrack can't be for an "R-rated" or currently nonexistent game. Must be redeemed within one year of accepting the prize.
Donated by FLACRabbit
Song inspired by the events or background of the prize-winning game
A rock song (with or without vocals, at the winner's discretion) written and composed by the prize-giver's band. Any more questions or wishes (styles of music, lyrics, ideas, or other) can be arranged by contacting SomeOne2 on Intfiction.
Donated by Max Fog
An Unexpectedly Green Journey
Distributed through Steam. Two copies of the prize are available.
Donated by James Isaac
Halfling Dale
Two copies of the prize are available.
Donated by Wysiwyg Wizards
The Crimson Crown: Further Adventures in Transylvania
A text adventure from 1985 for Mac, complete in box.
Donated by Nathaniel Edwards
There's Always a Madman: Fight or Flight
Distributed through Steam. Three copies of the prize are available.
Donated by Sunny Demeanor Games
Trollbabe
Legally bought digital copy of the pen & paper roleplaying game Trollbabe by Ron Edwards, plus a $15 Paypal donation that can (your choice) be used to have a print copy of the book made at your local copyshop. (The game is not sold as a physical book.) Two copies of the prize are available.
Donated by Victor Gijsbers
Zork: Grand Inquisitor
Digital copy for Windows, distributed through GOG.com.
Donated by J. Michael
One-year voucher to articy:draft X
A one-year voucher to articy:draft X, the narrative design tool that has been used to create staple games such as Broken Roads, The Talos Principle 2, Disco Elysium and more.
Donated by Articy Software
50 Years of Text Games (Collector's Edition)
A 650-page history of interactive fiction's first half-century. This is rare backstock from the crowdfunding campaign of the deluxe hardcover edition in a commemorative slipcase, no longer available for sale.
Donated by Aaron A. Reed
A full set of Brainfreeze Puzzles books
Shipped only within the US.
Donated by Phil Riley
The Antipodean Queen trilogy including the art-filled short story "Magic in the Mail: Emmeline's Empire" by Felicity Banks
Magical steampunk set in Australia. Each book includes an interactive/illustrated short story. Set in the same world as "Flight" (on itch.io), "Choices That Matter: And Their Souls Were Eaten" (by Tin Man Games), and "Attack of the Clockwork Army" (via Choice of Games's Hosted Games label).
Donated by Felicity Banks
The Rahana Trilogy by Felicity Banks
A children's fantasy trilogy (like Narnia, with pirates) suitable for about 10+ or the young at heart.
Donated by Felicity Banks
The Secret History of Mac Gaming: Expanded Edition, hardcover
Shipped only within the US.
Donated by Sarah Willson
Unless otherwise specified, cash prizes are expressed in U.S. dollars and delivered by PayPal.
0.15 ETH
Donated by Louis Holbrook
[5 prizes] A piece of IFComp or IFTF swag (shirt, magnet, coffee mug)
Donated by IFComp
To donate prizes to this year’s prize pool, please contact the IFComp prize coordinator with a description of what you’d like to put forward.
We’ll accept pretty much any suggestion; from simple tokens to useful things and objects of value, no prize is too humble or too grand. Feel free to browse past years’ prize lists for inspiration. You are free to donate as many prizes per year as you’d like; in all cases, these prizes stay with you until the competition ends.
One thing we can’t accept, much as we’d like to: gifts of Steam games. Due to Steam’s restrictions on purchasing games for other users, we can’t offer them as part of our prize pool. Exception: Creators or publishers of Steam games may donate redeemable codes (a.k.a. “Steam keys”) for their games as prizes.
Please note in your email whether your donation should go into the general prize pool, or whether it’s a special prize with extra conditions attached. (Most prizes go into the pool.) Note also whether you’d need to put any restrictions on who can receive it or where you can ship it. (This usually isn’t the case.)
To donate to the Colossal Fund, press that lovely blue PayPal button found above the fund's progress bar, up near the top of this page.
Donations to the Colossal Fund go to the Interactive Fiction Technology Foundation, a U.S.-based 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, and are fully tax-deductible where allowed by law.
Since 1998, the Interactive Fiction Competition has every year distributed a variety of prizes to the authors of games that score well in the annual rankings. These prizes come from the IF community, and vary in shape from cash to books to food to professional services.
You can browse a list of the last few years’ prizes and donors here.
Donors hang onto their prizes until the competition ends, at which point they ship them to the authors who claim them. Most prizes each year gather into a pool, which ends up distributed among authors as described below – but donors have the option of creating special prizes with extra conditions attached.
Starting with the author of the first-place game, authors take turns choosing prizes from the pool. After the first-place winner picks a prize, then the second-place winner gets a chance to choose from the remaining list, followed by the third-place winner, and so on.
This continues until all prizes have been claimed. As authors claim prizes, donors receive notification to contact their prizes’ claimants and arrange shipment.
Most years, enough prizes float in the pool to allow more than half of all the comp’s participants to receive at least one prize.
Donors can declare that a prize should not go into the pool, but will instead automatically go to the author of a game that, once the competition is over, meets certain conditions. Examples of this in the past have included physical trophies for the top three games, cash awards for the three highest-ranking games that open-source their code, and a handmade “golden banana of discord” toy for the single game with the hightest standard deviation among its received scores.
Special prizes, when present, are the gravy on top of the normal prize pool. Authors whose work land them one or more special prizes will still get their pick from the pool according to the usual rules.
IFComp launched the Colossal Fund in 2017: a parallel, cash-only side-pool built up from charitable public donations. It's essentially a permanent "special prize" run by the competition itself.
This blog post explains the history and motivation behind the Colossal Fund, and details how it works.