History VideoGame / NordAndBertCouldntMakeHeadOrTailOfIt

* HaveAGayOldTime: One of the characters you come across in "Shake a Tower" is a "queer old dean". This is referring to the strange college frat ritual he's undergoing, where a leopard repeatedly shoves him. You turn them into a dear old queen and a loving shepherd.

* KleptomaniacHero: Lampshaded in "Meet the Mayor"; Given a six-pack and a list of "pretenses" (such as "The world is flat" and "2+2=5"), the player must "TAKE BEER UNDER FALSE PRETENSES".
* KnockKnockJoke: One of the levels ("Act the Part") has some of these. "Bob" sets up a reference to Fred Fassert's "Barbara Ann",[[note]]Most well-known in a 1965 recording by Music/TheBeachBoys.[[/note]] "Gorilla" is a setup for "Gorilla your dreams", and "Dwayne" leads to "Dwayne the bath, I'm dwowning!"

* NintendoHard: ''Nord and Bert'' is considered the hardest Infocom ever made. While there aren't many opportunities to get killed, some of the metaphors the player must act out in order to proceed are incredibly obscure even to native English speakers (how often do most people use the phrase "hammer your swords into ploughshares"?).

** It's possible for the game to glitch during "Shake a Tower", removing the bicycle entirely after you dismount it. You're not able to get back to the clearing or go up the beanstalk, making it unwinnable.
** Similarly, in "Play Jacks", if you use the jacuzzi without freeing the mermaid, she'll disappear and you'll be left with nothing to do.

* UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist: You play an especially mean-spirited one in "Act the Part," with most of the "jokes" being violent pranks on your brother-in-law as he becomes TheThingThatWouldNotLeave.
* UnwinnableByMistake:

* FunWithHomophones: The puzzles in "Shopping Bizarre" revolve around homophones, like having to wrangle a chocolate moose by turning it into a chocolate ''mousse''. Other puzzles include

* BeanstalkEpisode: In "Shake a Tower", you visit a stockroom full of pairs of jeans. The back of the jean stock becomes Jack and the Beanstalk, and a man surveying the jeans (a jean client) gets turned into a clean giant, who climbs up the stalk. You meet the giant at the top of the stalk, where he pours a bucket of thick butter down it so you can't climb as easily. To defeat the giant, you give him your hat, which contains a head louse. Turning it into a lead house, you crush the giant and tie bed sheets (from the beets in his shed) to climb back down. The client isn't done yet, and shows up once more at the bottom, where you deliver a crushing blow to defeat him for good.

* FunWithHomophones: The puzzles in "Shopping Bizarre" revolve around homophones, like having to wrangle a chocolate moose by turning it into a chocolate ''mousse''.

* LiteralMetaphor: Multiple sections make use of this. For example, "Play Jacks" requires players to think of as many words and idioms including "jack" in it (ie. jackrabbit, jackknife, etc.), while "Eat Your Words" and "Buy the Farm" require the player to act out dozens of cliches, such as "Read the riot act", "Hit the broad side of a barn", "Teach an old dog new tricks", and many more.

* UnwinnableByMistake: If you let the match burn out in "Act the Part" before you can use it, you can't light it again and you're stuck being unable to complete the segment.

The entire game is based on wordplay puzzles. For example, the command "MAKE A MOUNTAIN OUT OF THE MOLEHILL" will literally turn a molehill into a mountain, you can "SWALLOW YOUR PRIDE" to consume a plate of lion steaks, and there's a sequence where you have to mess around with a tool called the "Jack of All Traits" to turn it into a "jackhammer" and a "jacuzzi", among other tools. Players must travel through eight sections ("Shopping Bizarre", "Play Jacks", "Buy the Farm", "Eat Your Words", "Act the Part", "Visit the Manor of Speaking", "Shake a Tower", and "Meet the Mayor") in order to restore some semblance of normalcy to Punster.

A 1987 InteractiveFiction game from Creator/{{Infocom}}. You play a visitor to the town of Punster, which is suffering a sudden plague of wordplay. Homophones, literal idioms, and more are making the lives of the townsfolk unbearably complicated, and since the local government is helplessly infected the Citizens' Action Committee has asked you to help figure things out.

* OurVampiresAreDifferent: The "cereal murderer" from "Shopping Bizarre" looks and dresses like a stereotypical Hollywood vampire (with sharp fangs and black Gothic evening dress), but instead of sucking blood he ravenously devours bread, pasta, breakfast cereal, and other grain and wheat products.

* TableclothYank: During "Eat Your Words", you do this to remove a short shrift being used as a tablecloth so you can "give the waitress short shrift"

* NintendoHard: ''Nord and Bert'' is considered the hardest Infocom ever made. While you can't get killed, some of the metaphors the player must act out in order to proceed are incredibly obscure even to native English speakers (how often do most people use the phrase "hammer your swords into ploughshares"?).

The entire game is based on wordplay puzzles. For example, the command "MAKE A MOUNTAIN OUT OF THE MOLEHILL" will literally turn a molehill into a mountain, you can "SWALLOW YOUR PRIDE" to consume a plate of lion steaks, and there's a sequence where you have to mess around with a tool called the "Jack of All Traits" to turn it into a "jackhammer" and a "jacuzzi". Players must travel through eight sections ("Shopping Bizarre", "Play Jacks", "Buy the Farm", "Eat Your Words", "Act the Part", "Visit the Manor of Speaking", "Shake a Tower", and "Meet the Mayor") in order to restore some semblance of normalcy to Punster.

A 1987 InteractiveFiction game from Creator/{{Infocom}}. You play a visitor to the town of Punster, which is suffering a sudden plague of wordplay. Homonyms, literal idioms, and more are making the lives of the townsfolk unbearably complicated, and since the local government is helplessly infected the Citizens' Action Committee has asked you to help figure things out.

The entire game is based on wordplay puzzles. For example, the command "MAKE A MOUNTAIN OUT OF THE MOLEHILL" will literally turn a molehill into a mountain, and you can "SWALLOW YOUR PRIDE" to consume a plate of lion meat. Players must travel through eight sections ("Shopping Bizarre", "Play Jacks", "Buy the Farm", "Eat Your Words", "Act the Part", "Visit the Manor of Speaking", "Shake a Tower", and "Meet the Mayor") in order to restore some semblance of normalcy to Punster.

* LiteralMetaphor: Multiple sections make use of this. For example, "Play Jacks" requires players to think of as many words and idioms including "jack" in it (ie. jackrabbit, jack of all trades, etc.), while "Eat Your Words" and "Buy the Farm" require the player to act out dozens of cliches, such as "Read the riot act", "Hit the broad side of a barn", "Teach an old dog new tricks", and many more.

* {{Spoonerism}}: The theme of one chapter, "Shake a Tower". The player has to change a shoving leopard into a loving shepherd, a well-boiled icicle into a well-oiled bicycle, etc.

The entire game is based on wordplay puzzles. For example, the command "MAKE A MOUNTAIN OUT OF THE MOLEHILL" will literally turn a molehill into a mountain, and you can "SWALLOW YOUR PRIDE" to consume a plate of lion meat.

* FinalExamBoss: The final section of the game combines various types of wordplay from the preceding sections.

* NintendoHard: ''Nord and Bert'' is considered the hardest Infocom ever made. Some of the metaphors the player must act out in order to proceed are incredibly obscure even to native English speakers (how often do most people use the phrase "hammer your swords into ploughshares"?).
* SolveTheSoupCans: The game has many examples, due to the bizarre logic inherent in its concept.
* {{Spoonerism}}: The theme of one chapter. The player has to change a shoving leopard into a loving shepherd, a well-boiled icicle into a well-oiled bicycle, etc.

A 1987 InteractiveFiction game from Creator/{{Infocom}}.

The entire game is based on wordplay puzzles. For example, the command "MAKE A MOUNTAIN OUT OF THE MOLEHILL" will literally turn a molehill into a mountain.

* KleptomaniacHero: Subverted in one section: Given a six-pack and a list of "pretenses" (such as "The world is flat" and "2+2=5") in a lawful town, the player must "TAKE BEER UNDER FALSE PRETENSES".

* KnockKnockJoke: One of the levels ("Act the Part") has some of these.
* LiteralMetaphor: Multiple sections make use of this. For example, the "Jack" requires players to think of as many words and idioms including "jack" in it (ie. jackrabbit, jack of all trades, etc.)

* NintendoHard: ''Nord and Bert'' is considered the hardest Infocom ever made.

* UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist: You play an especially mean-spirited one in "Act the Part," with most of the "jokes" simply being violent pranks on your so-called friend.

* WorldOfSymbolism: Everything is made of wordplay come to life.

* LiteralMetaphor: Multiple sections make use of this.

* {{Spoonerism}}: The theme of one chapter. The player has to change a shoving leopard into a loving shepherd, a well-boiled icicle into a well-oiled bicycle, etc.