I'd prefer to have one based on nc and sh as it's more portable (think busybox systems).

Also, check this for gopher:

https://github.com/hb9kns/nago

Now you can browse HN, play IF, read news, and so on over Gopher with just Busybox (sh, grep, tail and netcat requiredin the busybox build) and an internet connection:

gopher://hngopher.com

gopher://mozz.us

Altough with just less, echo and nc:

     echo / | nc mozz.us 70 | less

     echo /long/selector/to/a/text/file.txt | ncmozz.us 70 | less

Crazy but it could work on heavily tiny restricted devices such as a RetroBSD with nc, echo and less in a tiny microcontroller.

Also, I forgot, poor man's dictionary:

   dict(){ echo "define * $1\\n\\q" | nc dict.org 2628 | less ; }

   dict unix

Woah! This is awesome!