69105 (number) - Definition and Overview

The number 69,105 was used as an in-joke at Infocom. It has occasionally cropped up in later games as a tribute to Infocom.

In Mathematics

69105 is the third 23036-gonal number and the fifth 6912-gonal number. It is also 510-gonal and 660-gonal.

Appearances

Appearances in Infocom games

Bureaucracy

"Ticket number 69105. Seat 25F. Acme Building Auditorium."

Under some circumstances, the game produces "INTERNAL ERROR 69105".

Deadline

The serial number on the pharmacy label on the tablets is 69105.

Leather Goddesses of Phobos

"There are 69,105 leaves in the sack in Cleveland." (The same joke also appears in Trinity.)

Zork Zero

"This zoo, with 69,105 cages, is easily the largest in Quendor."

Zork I

Probably its most famous appearance:

On the ground is a pile of leaves.

>count leaves

There are 69,105 leaves here.

Appearances in later games

In Adam Cadre's game I-0:

>open trunk

You open the trunk, revealing your laundry.

>x laundry

There are 69,105 pieces of laundry here.

Significance of the number

Nick Montfort, in his book Twisty Little Passages (ISBN 0262134365), suggests that the number was chosen because in its written form it falls naturally into two parts with an unusual relationship:

• 69 in hexadecimal is 105 in decimal
• 69 in decimal is 105 in octal

and also because 69 is the common name of a sexual position.