diff --git a/doc/fixes36.1 b/doc/fixes36.1
index 4c55bc680..92e097380 100644
--- a/doc/fixes36.1
+++ b/doc/fixes36.1
@@ -55,6 +55,7 @@ make travel walk up to a trap and stop when the trap blocks the only
 travel will displace pets rather than stop
 do not autopickup unpaid items in shops
 death due an unseen gas spore's explosion resulted in "killed by a died"
+allow optional parameter "true", "yes", "false", or "no" for boolean options
 
 
 Platform- and/or Interface-Specific Fixes
diff --git a/src/options.c b/src/options.c
index 37675c3d9..2f74c3564 100644
--- a/src/options.c
+++ b/src/options.c
@@ -3298,7 +3298,7 @@ boolean tinitial, tfrom_file;
      * options list
      */
     for (i = 0; boolopt[i].name; i++) {
-        if (match_optname(opts, boolopt[i].name, 3, FALSE)) {
+        if (match_optname(opts, boolopt[i].name, 3, TRUE)) {
             /* options that don't exist */
             if (!boolopt[i].addr) {
                 if (!initial && !negated)
@@ -3312,6 +3312,23 @@ boolean tinitial, tfrom_file;
                 return;
             }
 
+            op = string_for_opt(opts, TRUE);
+
+            if (op) {
+                if (negated) {
+                    badoption(opts);
+                    return;
+                }
+                if (!strcmp(op, "true") || !strcmp(op, "yes"))
+                    negated = FALSE;
+                else if (!strcmp(op, "false") || !strcmp(op, "no"))
+                    negated = TRUE;
+                else {
+                    badoption(opts);
+                    return;
+                }
+            }
+
             *(boolopt[i].addr) = !negated;
 
             /* 0 means boolean opts */