Key & Compass presents:
I Must Play
by Geoff Fortytwo

• Maps
  • Map 1: The Arcade
  • Map 2: Quad Blocks
  • Map 3: Senate
  • Map 4: Goose Hunt
  • Map 5: Space Intruders
  • Map 6: Spaceship
  • Map 7: Ping
  • Map 8: Toader
• Walkthrough
• Extras
  • Characters, Credits, Endings, Inventory, Score
• Thank You to my Patreon supporters
• External links:
  • This game at Homepage, IFDB, IFWiki, and ifwizz.
  • Tweet about this walkthrough on Twitter.

Maps

Map 1: The Arcade

Note: You return to the real world from an arcade game when you win it, lose it, or use the special command stop playing.

Map 2: Quad Blocks

Map 3: Senate

Map 4: Goose Hunt

Map 5: Space Intruders

Map 6: Spaceship

Map 7: Ping

Map 8: Toader

Note: For readability's sake, I've left off how to return south across the river which you can, of course, do by jumping onto the turtle, log, and south bank when appropriate. And unless you missed picking up the injured bullfrog, there's no reason to go back south across the river.

Walkthrough

Ball room

> x me. i. x bill. x balls. take ball. swim.

> w.

Arcade

> x board. x Eric. x keyring. x gold key. x brass key.

> x money changer. x sign. x floor.

Let's get some power in here:

> move changer. x panel. open panel. x red switch.

> ask Eric about switch.

> turn on switch. (+1)

Examining the machines doesn't tell you much:

> x puce. x onyx. x silver.

> x aqua. x green machine. x orange.

Ask Eric about the place:

> ask Eric about arcade. ask Eric about keyring.

> ask Eric about ball room. ask Eric about basement.

> ask Eric about board. ask Eric about storm.

Ask Eric about the machines, for all the good it does you:

> ask Eric about puce. ask Eric about onyx.

> ask Eric about silver. ask Eric about aqua.

> ask Eric about green machine. ask Eric about orange.

Ask Eric about the names on the board:

> ask Eric about Fortytwo. ask Eric about RedDragon.

> ask Eric about Nerfherder. ask Eric about Zarf.

> ask Eric about Cobalt. ask Eric about HighTower.

> ask Eric about RAM. ask Eric about MasterBlaster.

> ask Eric about L337. ask Eric about Pacmaster.

Visit the front room, briefly:

> w.

Arcade front

> x sign. x windows. g. (Repeat until after lightning has flashed.)

> e.

Arcade

Ignore the basement for now. Let's play the games in the order listed, so puce first:

> play puce.

Junkyard gate

> x gate. x junk. x fence.

> n.

Structure southeast

> x building. x megaphone. take it.

> w. n.

Gap beside building

There's nothing here, but knowing there's a gap west of the building is important.

> s. e. u.

Building top east

> x beam. x disc. x crane.

> w.

Building top west

Nothing to see on the west side. Head to the crane itself:

> e. d. s. s.

Crane area

> in. x control panel.

Obviously, we should use the magnetic crane to pick up the I-beam and drop it into the gap.

> push plus. g. g. (Now see I-beam at far right.)

> turn on switch. (Something in way of camera.)

> push minus. g. g. g. g. g. g. g. g. (Now at far left.)

> turn off switch. (+5)

You hear workers yell as the I-beam falls into the gap. As the bottom of the building collapses, you get a ticket.

— GAME OVER: YOU HAVE WON QUAD BLOCKS —

Arcade

Note that game-objects, like the megaphone, can return with you into the real world and taken into other games.

> i. use megaphone. (read something with it.)

> x puce ticket. put it in board.

You are prompted to enter your name for display on the board.

YOUR NAME: YOURNAME (You have achieved rank 43.)

> x board. (Sorry, your name's not on there yet.)

> play onyx.

Mezzanine south

> x desk. x podium. x people. x chair.

> x senator. x paper. (on how ugly people should be hung)

> e.

Mezzanine southeast

> x senator. x thin paper. (on keeping gun control)

> x rough paper. (on how theft is wrong, except for adventurers)

> w. w.

Mezzanine southwest

> x shiny paper. (on how gun control is wrong)

> take shiny.

> ne.

Senate floor

Some players may really dislike this part.

> x podium.

> read shiny. (with megaphone; now guns are legal)

> stop playing.

Arcade

> play silver.

Field

If you didn't make guns legal earlier, this bird watcher won't have a rifle. But you did, so he does.

> x watcher. x rifle. x water. x reeds.

> talk to watcher. ask watcher about ducks.

> ask watcher about rifle. ask watcher about reeds.

> take pebble. skip pebble. (+5)

— GAME OVER: YOU HAVE WON GOOSE HUNT —

Arcade

> x silver ticket. put it in board. (Now at rank 7.)

> x board. (Yay, you're there now.)

> play aqua.

Inside cement bunker (western)

> x bench. e.

Trench

> x sky. x craters. e.

Inside cement bunker (eastern)

> x soldier. x disc. take disc.

> stop playing.

Arcade

> play green machine.

Crazy control room

> x lights. n.

Crazy control room north

> x alien. x chair. x rectangle. x button.

> push button. (A disc drawer opens.)

> put disc in drawer. push button. (+5)

— GAME OVER: YOU HAVE WON SPACE INTRUDERS —

Arcade

> x aqua ticket. put it in board. (You are now rank 5.)

> x board.

> play orange.

Highway middle

You don't want that ball to hit you directly. If it does, it's Game Over, and you're back in the Arcade.

> s.

Highway south 1

> x limo. enter limo. n.

Highway middle

Wait until for the ball to hit your limo. The ball will bounce off it, which is good, but your limo will be quite damaged, which is bad.

> z. (Repeat until impact.)

Now drive north:

> n. n.

Highway north 2

> x sign. ("The Pit")

> n.

Blank room

A mechanic is here.

> out. (+1; the limo is fixed!)

> in. (Something is sprayed onto the car?)

> s. s. s.

Highway middle

Now just wait here for the ball to bounce off your opponent's car and later hit your restored limo:

> z. (Repeat until ball hits your limo again. +5)

— GAME OVER: YOU HAVE WON PING —

Arcade

> i. x orange ticket. put it in board.

Eric tells you to follow him. He unlocks the basement door.

> x board. n. d. s.

Basement

> x poster. x bow. ask Eric about poster.

> x blue machine. ask Eric about blue machine.

> play blue machine.

Roadside

> x chicken. x road. x river.

> take chicken. (It evades you)

> e.

Roadside east

CAUTION: While it's okay to drive the car west or east, it's fatal if you try to travel in any northernly direction into traffic.

> x car. x cylinder.

> enter car. open glove compartment.

> take diary. x it. read it.

> out. push car north. (+1; traffic has stopped)

> w.

Roadside

The chicken goes north.

> n.

Roadway

The happy chicken continues north. But go east.

> e.

Roadway east

> x bullfrog. take it. nw.

Riverside

CAUTION: Swimming is fatal.

> take chicken. (+1; olive crocodile eats chicken)

> z. (Repeat waiting until you see a log floating eastwards.)

> jump on log.

River (standing on the log)

If necessary, wait for a turtle to appear, then:

> jump on turtle.

River (standing on the turtle)

> jump on riverbank.

Riverside Across River (west, middle, or east)

> put frog in hole. (+5)

— GAME OVER: YOU HAVE WON TOADER —

Basement

Eric congratulates you and suggests putting your ticket in the board upstairs.

> n. u. s.

Arcade

> put blue ticket in board.

*** YOU WAVE WON (EVERYTHING) ***

Oh, and in case it wasn't obvious:

• Quad Blocks was based on Tetris.
• Goose Hunt was based on Duck Hunt.
• Space Intruders was based on Space Invaders.
• Ping was based on Pong.
• Toader was based on Frogger.

Extras

Characters

• Eric (also known as Fortytwo on the highscore board) is an 8-year-old boy who somehow has keys to the basement. Does he live here?
• A guy in blue overalls stands beside a button in Ping's blank room. If you bring your damaged limo to him, this mechanic will repair it.
• A tall thin senator sits on a gaudy chair in the senate's mezzanine south. He ignores you.
• A short chubby senator sits on a gaudy chair in senate's mezzanine southeast. He ignores you too.
• People are scattered around the mezzanine waiting for someone to give a speech.
• A bird watcher is in Goose Hunt's field. He loves guns and hates ducks.
• A duck is hiding in the reeds in Goose Hunt's field. Evil incarnate!
• A dead soldier is on the bench in Space Intruder's eastern bunker. Poor guy.
• An ugly alien is sleeping in the spaceship's captain's chair. Don't wake him!
• A chicken is nervously pacing on the roadside. It wants to cross the road, but it won't let you touch it.
• An injured bullfrog is lying on the roadway east. How can he be so cute?
• Three hungry crocodiles (olive, chartreuse, and lime) line the south bank of the river. Which one gets a meal today and what will it eat?
• A turtle is swimming against the current of the river. Such a strong swimmer!

Mentioned:

• Other names on the highscore board: RedDragon, Nerfherder, Zarf, Cobalt, HighTower, RAM, MasterBlaster, L337, and Pacmaster. Ask Eric about them.
• Construction workers in the Quad Blocks game yell when you drop the I-beam.
• Your opponent in the Ping game is driving another limo, but you never meet them.
• The diary's author, whoever they were, had a major change of heart regarding frogs.
• All the drivers of the other cars on the roadway manage to get to safety when the horrific traffic accident happens.

Credits

The response to CREDITS is:

author: Geoff Fortytwo

Many thanks go to the people on rec.arts.int-fiction and specifically Eric Eve for providing so much TADS3 language help. And of course he is also the author of the very helpful “Getting Started in TADS” guide as well as the very helpful TADS Tour Guide.

My thanks go out to my beta testers! Their testing helped me really tighten up this game.

• Stephan Schonberg
• Clay Busker
• Curtis Rueden
• RootShell
• John Baker
• Adrian Fanger
• javri
• Jed

I'd like to especially thank Stephan Schonberg. He was extremely thorough in his testing and had plenty of very helpful constructive comments that allowed me to tighten up a few spots and flesh out others.

Edward L. Stauff also provided the TADS 3 Library Proto-Documentation tool which was of inestimable value.

Of course I must mention Michael Roberts, the creator of TADS. TADS 3 is a wonderfully consistent and powerful language that has made the development of this game very pleasant and enjoyable.

Endings

• You have been hanged.
• if you read the thick paper with the megaphone at the senate floor's podium.
• You have been torn to shreds.
• if you hit, wake, or take the sleeping alien captain, or if you try to sit in his chair.
• You have died (rather horrifically).
• if you drive the little car north into heavy traffic.
• You have drowned.
• if you attempt to swim in or jump into the raging river.
• YOU HAVE DIED
• if you try to go north where there's a hungry crocodile,
• or if you try to jump from the log to the south riverbank where there's a hungry crocodile.
• YOU WAVE WON (EVERYTHING)
• if you put all five tickets into the highscore board.

Inventory

• a twenty dollar bill. You're carrying it.
• Ultimately, you can do nothing useful with this. The money changer is broken, and you find a way to play the machines for free. So, keep the money, yay?
• If you want to be generous, you can give the money to Eric.
• red balls, blue balls, and green balls. They're in the ball room.
• You don't need any balls from the ball room, but you can take one at a time; it will be randomly assigned one of the three colors.
• You can have several balls in each color.
• If you drop them in the ball room, they basically disappear in with the other balls in the room.
• a megaphone. It's on the bench at structure southeast, puce gameworld.
• Take it and the shiny paper to the senate floor, onyx gameworld. Read the shiny paper with the megaphone there to legalize guns. Now the bird watcher in the field, silver gameworld, has a rifle.
• You can read the other papers at the podium with the megaphone, but those papers don't help you.
• a shiny paper. It's on the mezzanine southwest desk, onyx gameworld.
• Examine it: it's a speech about legalizing guns.
• Take it and the megaphone to the senate floor. Read the shiny paper with the megaphone there to legalize guns. Now the bird watcher in the field, silver gameworld, has a rifle.
• a thick paper. It's on the mezzanine south desk, onyx gameworld.
• Examine it: it's a speech about hanging all ugly people.
• CAUTION: Don't read this paper with the megaphone at the podium. You'll be killed and humanity will be destroyed.
• a thin paper. It's on the mezzanine southeast desk, onyx gameworld.
• Examine it: it's a speech about banning guns.
• If you read this paper with the megaphone at the podium, guns will be banned, which means the bird watcher now won't have a rifle even if he had one before. This has the opposite effect from the shiny paper; the two speeches counteract each other.
• a rough paper. It's on the mezzanine southeast desk, onyx gameworld.
• Examine it: it's a speech against theft (except for adventurers).
• If you read it with the megaphone at the podium, there is no useful effect. The speech just isn't powerful enough.
• a pebble. It's in the field, silver gameworld.
• When the bird watcher has a rifle, skip or throw the pebble to flush out the duck. The watcher shoots the duck and you win the Goose Hunt game.
• a disc. It's held by the dead soldier in the eastern bunker, aqua gameworld.
• Examine it: it contains computer viruses.
• Take it to crazy control room north, green gameworld. Push the button to open a disc drawer. Put the disc into the drawer. Push the button again to close the drawer. The alien spaceship is destroyed by the computer viruses, and you win the Space Intruders game.
• a small diary. It's in the little car's glove compartment, roadside east, blue gameworld.
• Examine it and read it. You learn not to harm frogs.
• an injured bullfrog. It's on the roadway east, blue gameworld, after the traffic accident.
• At each of the riverside-across-the-river locations, there's a hole in the cliff. Put the frog into any of these holes to win the Toader game.
• a puce ticket. You obtain it when you win the Quad Blocks game.
• Put it into the highscore board in the arcade.
• a silver ticket. You obtain it when you win the Goose Hunt game.
• Put it into the highscore board in the arcade.
• an aqua ticket. You obtain it when you win the Space Intruders game.
• Put it into the highscore board in the arcade.
• an orange ticket. You obtain it when you win the Ping game.
• Put it into the highscore board in the arcade.
• a blue ticket. You obtain it when you win the Toader game.
• Put it into the highscore board in the arcade.
• You win the game when you've inserted all five tickets into the board.

Score

The response to FULL SCORE is:

In several moves, you have scored your-score of a possible 30 points. This makes you ranking. Your score consists of:

• 1 point for powering on arcade.
• 5 points for winning Quad Blocks.
• 5 points for winning Goose Hunt.
• 5 points for winning Space Intruders.
• 1 point for fixing the limo.
• 5 points for winning Ping.
• 1 point for causing car wreck.
• 1 point for feeding crocodile.
• 5 points for winning Toader.
• 1 point for putting last ticket in highscore board.

The possible rankings are:

• a newbie. (0 to 7 points)
• a casual gamer. (12 to 17 points)
• a ninth key know-it-all. (22 to 29 points)
• Billy Mitchell. (30 points)

Thank You to my Patreon supporters

This walkthrough was funded via Patreon with

• the support of Robin Johnson, Ville Lavonius, Andrew Schultz, Kenneth Hon, Carl Muckenhoupt, Mark Musante, and Phil Tatro;
• the generous support of Janice M Eisen and Matthew Foxley;
• the very generous support of Karl Ove Hufthammer and Rus Whang;
• the extremely generous support of Emily Short, Allen Garvin, Jesse McGrew, Jacqueline Ashwell, Marius Müller, Jennifer Rexrode, and Durafen;
• and the invisible support of several anonymous patrons.