The Fool and His Money is a forthcoming puzzle game by Cliff Johnson

Cliff Johnson (game designer)

Cliff Johnson is an American game designer, best known for the early computer puzzle games The Fool's Errand and 3 in Three . Both games were notable for unique visual puzzles and a metapuzzle structure.- Biography :...

. It is a self-published

Self-publishing

Self-publishing is the publication of any book or other media by the author of the work, without the involvement of an established third-party publisher. The author is responsible and in control of entire process including design , formats, price, distribution, marketing & PR...

 sequel

Sequel

A sequel is a narrative, documental, or other work of literature, film, theatre, or music that continues the story of or expands upon issues presented in some previous work...

 to the 1987 game The Fool's Errand

The Fool's Errand

The Fool's Errand is a 1987 computer game by Cliff Johnson. It is a meta-puzzle game with storytelling, visual puzzles and a cryptic treasure map...

. The title is a reference to Thomas Tusser

Thomas Tusser

Thomas Tusser was an English poet and farmer, best known for his instructional poem Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry, published in 1557. It contains the lines...

's famous proverb

Proverb

A proverb is a simple and concrete saying popularly known and repeated, which expresses a truth, based on common sense or the practical experience of humanity. They are often metaphorical. A proverb that describes a basic rule of conduct may also be known as a maxim...

, "A fool and his money are soon parted." Like its predecessor, The Fool and His Money will contain many different types of logic and word puzzles that center around a story with a medieval tarot

Tarot

The tarot |trionfi]] and later as tarocchi, tarock, and others) is a pack of cards , used from the mid-15th century in various parts of Europe to play a group of card games such as Italian tarocchini and French tarot...

 deck theme. There will also be a meta puzzle that uses hidden clues scattered throughout the other puzzles in the game.

The game has experienced dozens of postponements (see below). This, together with the title and the fact that Johnson has been accepting pre-order

Pre-order

A pre-order is an order placed for an item which has not yet been released. The idea for pre-orders came when people found it hard to get popular items in stores due to their popularity. Companies were then given the idea to allow people to reserve their own personal copy, before the release, ...

s since early 2003 (promising that customers who pre-order will be listed in a "Compendium of True Believers" within the game), has led some would-be users to speculate (see this article's discussion page) that the game is actually a fraud

Fraud

In criminal law, a fraud is an intentional deception made for personal gain or to damage another individual; the related adjective is fraudulent. The specific legal definition varies by legal jurisdiction. Fraud is a crime, and also a civil law violation...

 or an elaborate performance art

Performance art

In art, performance art is a performance presented to an audience, traditionally interdisciplinary. Performance may be either scripted or unscripted, random or carefully orchestrated; spontaneous or otherwise carefully planned with or without audience participation. The performance can be live or...

 piece.

However, Johnson has honored refund requests from customers who pre-ordered the game but then gave up on waiting for its release. In 2006, he commented on the delays, saying that he had "never intended to re-write the game three times from scratch."

On February 4, 2009, Johnson released a functioning preview of the game, containing the Prologue and five puzzles. According to his official website, the full game will be available for Mac OS X 10.4 "and upward" and Windows XP

Windows XP

Windows XP is an operating system produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops and media centers. First released to computer manufacturers on August 24, 2001, it is the second most popular version of Windows, based on installed user base...

 "and upward".

Release announcement history

The game was officially announced in January 2003 with an expected release date of Halloween 2003. However, it has not yet been released. New release dates have been announced periodically, as shown by the table below, such that the game's release date has hovered one to nine months in the future for almost nine years.

Forecasted Release Date	Announced on	quotes and other info
October 31, 2003	January, 2003	Original announcement. "On Halloween 2003, I will mail you The Fool and his Money CD-ROM"
April 1, 2004	August, 2003
October 30, 2004	February 13, 2004	"Quality demands that I set the final deadline for The Fool and his Money to this Halloween. This game is proving to be the most exciting project I've ever handcrafted and the most time-consuming. As a production crew of one, I strive to delegate, yet the work never seems to leave my desk. I am certain you will enjoy this witty tale of puzzling twists and turns. The suspense is killing me." (The above quote is from an email. During the same time period an image on the website read "shipping Halloween Eve!".)
July 5, 2005	November, 2004
November 28, 2005	Early 2005	The exact date of this announcement is unclear, but an image which was archived on June 1 shows a November 28 release date.
December 18, 2005	November, 2005	"Some of you might have noticed that the ever-retreating countdown clock is now set to December 18. This is the current plan and my most fervent desire, seeing as U.S. postal rates go up 5% in January."
April 24, 2006	December, 2005
August 7, 2006	March, 2006
December 4, 2006	June, 2006
December, 2006	November, 2006	(On November 22, 2006, a contributor updated this Wikipedia page to show a "December, 2006" release date to have been announced in "mid-November, 2006". No other evidence of such an announcement survives, but it seem unlikely that Johnson would have allowed December 4 to be reached without making some sort of new announcement.)
("as soon as I can")	December 13, 2006	"As previously reported, this final month is not going as smoothly as I had hoped. In fact, I'm encountering memory problems that continue to paralyze the game and me along with it. Unfortunately, this is not proving to be a trivial matter. Therefore I've decided to remove the countdown clock and roll up my sleeves and pull out whatever hair I have left. I never dreamt I'd be plagued by technical problems in the last lap of the home stretch. I choose Macromedia Director and Flash because of their rigorous compatibility with both the Windows and Macintosh platforms. I've been discussing the problem at length with independent consultants and the folks at Macromedia. The most helpful response, thus far, is "That shouldn't happen. What are you doing wrong?" The best case is that, any minute now, the elusive bug scurries into view and is squashed and all the Whos down in Whoville sing, "Fah who for-aze! Dah who dor-aze!" Ask any programmer. Even the most stubborn lock yields to the correct key. The worst case is only a matter of time. Every bug has its can of Raid. This shall be remedied. And then, that is that. And though it's been said, many times, many ways... I thank you for pre-ordering The Fool and his Money. Without you, this adventure would not have been possible. The best holiday gift I can offer you is my unflinching industry in this regard. And if need be, I am prepared to hire a consultant and do whatever it takes to get my game into your hands as soon as I can."
(Early 2007)	January 15, 2007	(On January 29, 2007, a contributor updated this Wikipedia page, reporting that on January 15, 2007, Cliff had announced on his website that the game would be done "in a few months"; the contributor cited the website. Unfortunately, no archive of the website from that time period survives.)
April 2007	January 30, 2007	"I've had a major breakthrough and I now know how to fix the memory management issues previously mentioned. The solution requires the re-wiring/re-working of the couple dozen Flash files inside the game; basically I will be manually managing the memory inside of Flash so that Director doesn't have to worry about it. This process will take a few months and then a thorough final beta test and then to your doorstep... the first week of April (2007)."
(Late 2007)	August 13, 2007	"I’m still thinking a few months or so, then a thorough final beta test"
(none)	November, 2007	For most of 2007, the website gave no release date beyond "in a few months". This phrase was removed sometime between November 5 and November 16, leaving the game with no implied release date for the only time during its development history.
2008	December 17, 2007	"I have 178 of 197 total puzzles upgraded with the latest Director/Flash memory management falderal/folderol. The Finale is clearly in view! Naturally, the 19 remaining puzzles are the most tangled — my motto, always save the worst to last. And then the final beta test. And then to your doorstep in 2008."
Summer, 2008	April, 2008
September, 2008	April 28, 2008
December, 2008	August, 2008	announced in email
("uncertain")	December 15, 2008	"Now I am in the 'Final Beta-Testing (Finally)' stage and this is indeed unprecedented news. Although I cannot be certain how long this final process will take, it is assuredly the final final final stretch."
April 1, 2009	January 1, 2009
April, 2009	January 28, 2009	"Hoping that this process will be completed in April"
Early Summer, 2009	February 4, 2009	"I've been working on this production for six years, and to state the obvious, my deadlines have proven to be, on the whole, unrealistic. At present, I am hoping that the game will be completed and beta-tested for all versions (Windows XP, Windows Vista, Mac OS, Mac Intel) by the early New England summer."
Summer, 2009	July 14, 2009	"Hoping that the game will be completed and beta-tested for all versions ... for the New England summer."
"about" Summer, 2009	August 4, 2009	"Hoping that the game will be completed and beta-tested for all versions ... for the New England summer, or thereabouts."
December 25, 2009	Setpember 7, 2009	"At present, I am forecasting that the game will be completed and beta-tested for all versions ... for the New England Christmas."
May, 2010	November, 2009	"I really believed that I was going to get the game done this year. I really really did. However, my 2009 has been fraught with calamity and chaos. From the very first week of the year, I have had unexpected family responsibilities and emergencies, far beyond my control, that have managed to occupy the majority of my time and my energy and my emotions. I apologize that I am forced to move the release date to May 2010. By then, this game will have taken me seven years to complete. And at that time, with a twinkle in my eye, I will say, 'It was well worth it.'"
October, 2010	May 1, 2010	"Scrutinizing my all-inclusive yet too-long list of things to do and list of things to fix, I can report that I am having difficulties with one of the Auctions, three of the Tarot games, and The Finale as well as a host of tiny, though time-consuming annoyances. I have to conclude that an October (2010) shipping date is more realistic."
October/November, 2010	July 7, 2010	"The shipping date is holding for October or maybe November."
November, 2010	September 14, 2010	"...the shipping date is leaning toward November..."
"maybe" November, 2010	September 23, 2010	"I would like to say that the game will be finished for November of this year, but I may be wrong."
Early April, 2011	October 5, 2010	"I can report that the game is looking great, and at present, I'm incorporating revisions and new features to streamline your puzzling experience. As you know, I had hoped that I would have the game ready for this October or November of this year, but as the final details of this project loom large, I realize that I require another six months. That would be for April 2011. And if Fate is kind, you know which day of April I’ll be aiming for. There is nothing more important to me than getting this game to you. The next newsletter you receive will be the one announcing that the game is done, that I am duping CD-ROMs, printing labels, and autographing each game to every True Believer who has suffered this Fool."
April, 2011	March 7, 2011	"it appears unlikely that the release date will fall on April Fool’s Day as I had hoped. I am, however, still aiming for April, just not the first day."
December 5, 2011	Mar 28, 2011	"I've planned out a 32-week production schedule to finish the game and another 4-week schedule to duplicate and package the game which puts me at the U.S. Post Office on Monday, December 5th, mailing the game to you."
December, 2011	November 9, 2011	"My electricity, Internet, and telephone flickered five times in so many minutes and then went off completely at 3:12 PM on October 30th.... And then, finally, at 4:38 PM today, November 9th, all came back on simultaneous.... The deadline will slip somewhat but I’m still thinking December." Main article: 2011 Halloween nor'easter 2011 Halloween nor'easter The 2011 Halloween nor'easter was a large low pressure area that produced unusually early snowfall across the northeastern United States and the Canadian Maritimes. It formed early on October 29 along a cold front to the southeast of the Carolinas... .
January 9, 2012	November 13, 2011	"And, yesterday, my city power went out again for 5 hours for no particular reason. December is not looking so likely. With the holidays trudging in, it seems nigh impossible to pull this thing together in time for even the last day of month. So I’m thinking Monday, January 9th of the New Year is the new shipping date."

The sources for this table are Johnson's website (old copies of which can be found archived on the Wayback Machine

Wayback Machine

The Wayback Machine is a digital time capsule created by the Internet Archive non-profit organization, based in San Francisco, California. It is maintained with content from Alexa Internet. The service enables users to see archived versions of web pages across time, which the Archive calls a "three...

), newsletter, and emails.

External links

• Official website with information and pre-ordering info for The Fool and His Money
• An alternate url for the official website, useful when searching for archived copies
• The Fool's Gold, Johnson's email newsletter
• The Fool And His Money Preview Hint Page, an unofficial hint page with complete solutions for version 2 of the preview