Welcome to Wikipedia

,

the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit.

From today's featured article

Zork running on a computer

Zork is a text-based adventure game first released in 1977 by Tim Anderson, Marc Blank, Bruce Daniels, and Dave Lebling for mainframe computers. Developed between 1977 and 1979 at MIT, and inspired by Colossal Cave Adventure (1976), it was split into three episodes for personal computers (PCs) by Infocom. In Zork, the player searches for treasure in the abandoned Great Underground Empire, moving between the game's hundreds of locations and interacting with objects by typing commands in natural language that the game interprets. Zork was a massive success, with sales increasing for years as the market for PCs expanded. The first episode sold over 38,000 copies in 1982, and around 150,000 copies in 1984. Infocom was purchased by Activision in 1986, leading to new Zork games beginning in 1987. Critics regard it as one of the greatest games ever and foundational to the adventure game genre. In 2007, the Library of Congress deemed Zork as one of the ten most important video games of all time. (Full article...)

Recently featured:

Did you know ...

Commander and soldiers of the Detached Unit of the Polish Army

... that the Detached Unit of the Polish Army (pictured) is often described as the first Allied partisan unit of World War II?
... that businessman Usman Ja'far was the first locally born governor of West Kalimantan elected in nearly 40 years?
... that although it was rejected by the lesbian mainstream when it was first released, Kamikaze Hearts has since been called a milestone in queer cinema?
... that Paramount Chief Matilda Lansana Minah V has backed a 30-percent quota for the representation of women in the parliament of Sierra Leone?
... that during the 1930 Bago earthquake, a witness observed surface waves propagating through a tennis court?
... that the Seattle SeaDogs won the final Continental Indoor Soccer League championship before the league folded?
... that Aang Kunaefi banned the jaipongan dance from official events because some saw it as being too erotic?
... that both Toyota and Pizza Hut have had commercials saying "Sheesh!"?

In the news

Damage from the invasion of the Brazilian Congress

Supporters of former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro invade the National Congress (damage pictured), the Supreme Federal Court, and the Palácio do Planalto.
Michael Smith wins the PDC World Darts Championship.
Croatia adopts the euro and joins the Schengen Area.
Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI dies at the age of 95.
Brazilian footballer Pelé dies at the age of 82.

On this day

January 13: Saint Knut's Day in Finland and Sweden

Sylvanus Olympio

1797 – French Revolutionary Wars: A naval battle off the coast of Brittany between two British frigates and a French ship of the line ended with hundreds of deaths when the latter ran aground.
1842 – First Anglo-Afghan War: William Brydon, an assistant surgeon in the British Army, was the sole European of the 14,000 people retreating from Kabul to Jalalabad who evaded capture or death.
1915 – About 30,000 people were killed when an earthquake struck the Province of L'Aquila in Italy.
1963 – Togo's first president, Sylvanus Olympio (pictured), was assassinated by military officers in a coup d'état led by Emmanuel Bodjollé, Étienne Eyadéma, and Kléber Dadjo.
2012 – The Italian cruise ship Costa Concordia ran aground on a reef and capsized off Isola del Giglio, Tuscany.

Lucy Filippini (b. 1672)
Salmon P. Chase (b. 1808)
Guido Dessauer (d. 2012)

More anniversaries:

From today's featured list

Xevious is a franchise of shoot 'em up video games published by Bandai Namco Entertainment, formerly Namco. Xevious, the first title in the franchise, was released for arcades in January 1983 in Japan and a month later in North America by Atari. It was created by Masanobu Endō, who also designed The Tower of Druaga. The game received multiple sequels, spin-offs, and re-imaginings, the most recent being Xevious Resurrection in 2009. Xevious games have been ported to many platforms and compiled into several Namco compilations. The franchise contains twelve games – seven mainline entries and five spin-offs – soundtrack albums, pachinko machines, and an animated feature film. Gameplay in the series consists of controlling a spaceship named the Solvalou throughout a series of levels, shooting at enemies and avoiding their projectiles. Xevious is credited as among the the first vertical-scrolling shooters and the first video games to implement bosses and pre-rendered visuals. (Full list...)

Recently featured:

Today's featured picture

Chugach State Park is a state park covering a hilly region immediately east of Anchorage, in the south-central area of the US state of Alaska. At 495,204 acres (2,004 square kilometers) in area, it is the third-largest state park in the country, and rises to an elevation of 8,005 feet (2,440 meters) at Bashful Peak, its tallest point.

Photograph credit: Poco a poco

Recently featured:

Other areas of Wikipedia

Community portal – The central hub for editors, with resources, links, tasks, and announcements.
Village pump – Forum for discussions about Wikipedia itself, including policies and technical issues.
Site news – Sources of news about Wikipedia and the broader Wikimedia movement.
Teahouse – Ask basic questions about using or editing Wikipedia.
Help desk – Ask questions about using or editing Wikipedia.
Reference desk – Ask research questions about encyclopedic topics.
Content portals – A unique way to navigate the encyclopedia.

Wikipedia's sister projects

Wikipedia is written by volunteer editors and hosted by the Wikimedia Foundation, a non-profit organization that also hosts a range of other volunteer projects: