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Where Do Dwarf-Eating Carp Come From? (The Brilliance of Dwarf Fortress)

Weiner, Jonah. 2011. “Where Do Dwarf-Eating Carp Come From? (The Brilliance of Dwarf Fortress).” The New York Times Magazine.

Cite as
New York Times Magazine, Weiner on Dwarf Fortress, 2011
Original
https://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/24/magazine/the-brilliance-of-dwarf-fortress.html
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3e86b3c3201d1cf43dc900e53b0d3a06b5aba094d2aca9da0a5938c0a744ebd0
Archived
https://web.archive.org/web/20250827212811/https://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/24/magazine/the-brilliance-of-dwarf-fortress.html
Accessed
2026-10-26
Licence
© The New York Times Company; Wayback capture
Credit
Jonah Weiner's profile of Tarn and Zach Adams, with long direct quotations from both brothers, on the game's origins, its design and its reception. Published online 21 July 2011; the print magazine dated it 24 July 2011.
Notes
The page's own byline reads "By Jonah Weiner, July 21, 2011", and its headline is "Where Do Dwarf-Eating Carp Come From?"; the dossier's earlier title, "The Brilliance of Dwarf Fortress", is the one other citations use. Quotes from the brothers are primary wherever the article prints them; the article's own figures (downloads near a million) are the magazine's.

Cited on

Claims (6)

The New York Times Magazine reported in 2011 that the brothers had started a company called Bay 12, as Toady One (Tarn) and ThreeToe (Zach), and posted games that could be downloaded free.section on Slaves to Armok and Bay 12Web
Tarn Adams said in 2008 that he started the dwarf game in October 2002, expecting it to take two months.opening paragraphsInterview
The New York Times Magazine quotes Tarn Adams saying the game began as "a simple mining game, like Dig Dug".section on the game's originWeb
In July 2011 the New York Times Magazine put its downloads "in the neighborhood of a million", called it perhaps the most complex video game ever made, and noted it was still in alpha, at version 0.31.second paragraphparagraph after the Garfield passageWeb
The same article describes fortress mode's goal as building as much and as imaginatively as possible before some calamity wipes the player out, and gives "Losing is fun!" as the game's unofficial slogan on message boards.second paragraphthird paragraphWeb
The article, published on 21 July 2011, said the Museum of Modern Art would that week include Dwarf Fortress in "Talk to Me", a design exhibition.paragraph on the game's growing profileWeb