a collection · all open source

metaincognita

Built out of curiosity. Given away.

Casino simulations that show their math. Tools for writing scripts, for taking apart TRS-80 programs, for putting your photos on the wall, and for watching the coffee brew. frotz, Inc., for writing and playing 1980s-style text adventures on the Z-machine. A 1971 slot car track, and the reborn catalog of VogelTronics, out of Elk Grove Village, Illinois.

  • Free
  • No sign-ups
  • No real money
  • Open source
The Pit04 tables

Play the house at its own game.

Table games rebuilt as open-source simulations — true odds, basic strategy, and the exact house edge, all out in the open. No money, no sign-up.

The Machines04 cabinets

Where the edge hides in plain sight.

Reels, pins and multipliers. The loudest machines on any floor — and the ones that take the most. Here is exactly how.

The Workshop04 tools

Tools I build and use.

Software for writing scripts and stories, taking old machines apart, putting photos on the wall, and keeping an eye on the coffee. Free, open source, no sign-ups, and your files stay yours.

Interactive Fiction01 suite

Games you play by typing.

In 1979 Infocom wrote its adventures for an imaginary computer, the Z-machine, so one story file could run on every home computer of the day: you type GO NORTH or OPEN MAILBOX, and the game answers in prose. The format outlived the company, and people still write for it. frotz, Inc. is the umbrella for my Z-machine tools, which run in the browser and are open source.

One suitewrite, play, inspect, ship

frotz, Inc.

Instruments for the Z-machine: everything that used to come in the box, and a few things that didn’t. Write, build, play, inspect and ship Infocom-style text adventures, all in the browser.

Still to come: a debugger, a release packager, a linter and a regression tester.

The Arcade01 game

Games for fun.

No edge here, nothing to beat — just games built for the joy of it. Starting with a slot car track from 1971; more on the way.

VogelTronics03 exhibits

VogelTronics: A Fictional History

Elk Grove Village, Illinois, 1961 to 1983 — twenty-three years of chasing American childhood and never quite catching it, then one loud swerve into electronics at the end. Every toy here is rebuilt from the ground up: no trademarks borrowed, nothing lifted. Gridiron plays now; the rest of the shelf is on its way.

metaincognita

All open sourceNo sign-upsAlways free

No real money, ever.

© 2026 metaincognita

In the works, one way or another, since a video poker game I wrote on a TRS-80 Model III — sometime in the 1980s, in BASIC.

VogelTronics, its catalog and its history are an original invention, created for a set of retro-toy homage projects. No Hasbro, Mattel, Milton Bradley, Parker Brothers or Fidelity trademarks, logos or trade dress are used.