The King of Shreds and Patches is distributed in a portable format known as Glulx that allows it to run on most desktop computers in use today. If you are new to interactive fiction, you will therefore need to download a Glulx interpreter for your platform in addition to The King of Shreds and Patches itself. Never fear, though -- the process is quite quick and painless. Most platforms boast several interpreters; if the first you try doesn't thrill you, by all means try and try again.

	Everyone will need to download a copy of the story file, which you can play using your interpreter of choice. The current version as of July 22, 2009, is Release 12. For those who prefer to play without the customized background color, there is also a colorless version available.
	Users of Microsoft Windows have a number of interpreter choices. Filfre provides a variety of convenience features such as an integrated scrollback and mousable shortcuts to reduce typing, but may perform sluggishly in comparision to other interpreters, particularly for users on older hardware. GIT on the other hand is optimized for speed but offers a much more stripped down interface. You may also wish to have a look at Gluxe, the reference standard Glulx implementation, or at Gargoyle, which offers beautiful typography and the ability to play a variety of other interactive fiction file formats, but may be a bit tricker to set up.
	Apple Macintosh users can use Spatterlight, which as a bonus offers the ability to play many other types of interactive fiction stories, should you find yourself hooked. Don't worry about the beta disclamor on the Spatterlight home page; it works quite well for our purposes. As of Release 9, King now also works correctly with Zoom.
	Users of Linux or Unix can choose from GIT or Gargoyle, each which of possesses the same general advantages and disadvantages as its Windows counterpart. You'll need to compile from source, but you're used to that sort of thing, right?

This adaptation of The King of Shreds and Patches is copyright 2009 by Jimmy Maher. Its source material is copyright 1995 by Chaosium, Inc. You may distribute the game file as you wish, as long the contents of the file remain unaltered and you do not charge for it. All other rights are reserved.