Mechanic · resources & economy · interactive fiction

Inventory limit

A cap on what the player can carry, by count of objects or by their weight.

stubAlso: carry limit, carrying capacity, load limit, encumbranceUpdated 2026-10-22
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  2. Games
  3. References
  4. Sources

An inventory limit makes the player choose what to carry. Open Adventure’s port of Adventure 2.5 counts objects and stops at 71. Zork I weighs them against a load of 100, and adds a chance of dropping a take once more than 7 objects are in hand2.

  • Object countColossal Cave Adventure (1976). 7 objects, the bird not counted.1
  • WeightZork I (1980). A load of 100 by size, and a growing chance to fumble a take past 7 objects.2

See also

Mentioned in

Games

GameYearHowNote
Colossal Cave Adventure1976Object count7 objects, the bird not counted
Zork I1980Weighta load of 100 by size, and a growing chance to fumble a take past 7 objects
Every claim about this mechanic, by game (2)
Colossal Cave Adventure 1976Open Adventure (Adventure 2.5) refuses to take an object while 7 are already carried: “You can't carry anything more. You'll have to drop something first.” The bird doesn't count, a fix of the original's counting the caged bird as two items.Code
Zork I 1980Zork I's ZIL source refuses a TAKE (“Your load is too heavy”) when the object's weight plus the player's would pass the load limit of 100, unless the object is inside something the player carries. A weight is an object's SIZE plus its contents' weights; worn items count 1 toward the player, and the player's own object sets no SIZE, so it takes the default of 5. A separate check makes a TAKE fail, “You're holding too many things already!”, when more than 7 objects not worn are in hand, at a chance of 8% per object held: 63% at 8 and certain from 13 (computed). In a fight, a light wound to the player lowers the limit by 10 and a serious wound by 20 while it's above 50; it recovers 10 every 30 turns and returns to 100 when the wounds heal.Code

References

  1. ^ abOpen Adventure (Adventure 2.5) refuses to take an object while 7 are already carried: “You can't carry anything more. You'll have to drop something first.” The bird doesn't count, a fix of the original's counting the caged bird as two items.CodeOpen Adventure 1.22
    How we know
    25#define INVLIMIT 7        // inventory limit (# of objects)
    advent.h line 25 at e616052 · upstream ↗
    386	if (game.holdng >= INVLIMIT) {
387		rspeak(CARRY_LIMIT);
    actions.c lines 386–388 at e616052 · upstream ↗
    2945- CARRY_LIMIT: 'You can''t carry anything more.  You''ll have to drop something first.'
    adventure.yaml line 2945 at e616052 · upstream ↗
    672		if (object != BIRD) {
673			++game.holdng;
    misc.c lines 672–674 at e616052 · upstream ↗
    57* The caged bird used to be counted as two items in your inventory.
    notes.adoc line 57 at e616052 · upstream ↗

    Checked against the evidence by its author, an AI model, 2026-10-22.

    Checked by a second AI model, 2026-10-22.

    In the claim ledger

  2. ^ abZork I's ZIL source refuses a TAKE (“Your load is too heavy”) when the object's weight plus the player's would pass the load limit of 100, unless the object is inside something the player carries. A weight is an object's SIZE plus its contents' weights; worn items count 1 toward the player, and the player's own object sets no SIZE, so it takes the default of 5. A separate check makes a TAKE fail, “You're holding too many things already!”, when more than 7 objects not worn are in hand, at a chance of 8% per object held: 63% at 8 and certain from 13 (computed). In a fight, a light wound to the player lowers the limit by 10 and a serious wound by 20 while it's above 50; it recovers 10 every 30 turns and returns to 100 when the wounds heal.CodeZork I ZIL sourcerevised
    How we know
    94<GLOBAL LOAD-ALLOWED 100>
    gglobals.zil lines 92–94 at 97b7b3d · upstream ↗
    1932		     <G? <+ <WEIGHT ,PRSO> <WEIGHT ,WINNER>> ,LOAD-ALLOWED>>
    gverbs.zil lines 1931–1940 at 97b7b3d · upstream ↗
    1997	 <+ .WT <GETP .OBJ ,P?SIZE>>>
    gverbs.zil lines 1988–1997 at 97b7b3d · upstream ↗
    24<PROPDEF SIZE 5>
    zork1.zil line 24 at 97b7b3d · upstream ↗
    271	(STRENGTH 0)
    gglobals.zil lines 267–272 at 97b7b3d · upstream ↗
    1898<GLOBAL FUMBLE-PROB 8>
    gverbs.zil lines 1896–1898 at 97b7b3d · upstream ↗
    1943		     <PROB <* .CNT ,FUMBLE-PROB>>>
    gverbs.zil lines 1941–1945 at 97b7b3d · upstream ↗
    1982			<COND (<NOT <FSET? .X ,WEARBIT>>
    gverbs.zil lines 1979–1986 at 97b7b3d · upstream ↗
    3466		       <SETG LOAD-ALLOWED <- ,LOAD-ALLOWED 20>>)>)
    1actions.zil lines 3457–3466 at 97b7b3d · upstream ↗
    3598		       <SETG LOAD-ALLOWED <+ ,LOAD-ALLOWED 10>>)>
    1actions.zil lines 3593–3602 at 97b7b3d · upstream ↗
    3325<CONSTANT CURE-WAIT 30>
    1actions.zil line 3325 at 97b7b3d · upstream ↗

    Checked against the evidence by its author, an AI model, 2026-10-22.

    Revised after a check by a second AI model, 2026-10-22.

    In the claim ledger

Sources

Code