Not Just an Ordinary Ballerina is a Z-machine text adventure game written with Inform 6 and is © 1999 by Jim Aikin. It was a finalist for Best Puzzles at the 1999 XYZZY Awards.
You play as a last-minute Christmas shopper, desperate to acquire a Sugar Toes Ballerina for your beloved daughter Samantha. But the only one anywhere is somewhere inside this run-down mall on the far edge of town, and you arrived too late! All the stores are closed, but you will not go home empty-handed. Somehow, you must get that ballerina!
This solution is by David Welbourn, and is based on Version 1.01 of the game. (I see at IFDB that there's a version 1.02, also released in 1999.) I should warn you in advance that there are four to five mazes in this game (depending on how you count), a slider puzzle, anagrams, arithmetic, and ASCII graphics. But I can also tell you that the game also includes hints and its own walkthrough. And although I won the game, I didn't get the maximum score. Proceed at your own risk and Merry Christmas.
The stairwell doors, and the metal door at A Dank Passage are all one-way doors that automatically slam shut if you go from inside towards the outside. However, you can open them from the inside and leave them open. As long as you don't go through them, the doors will stay open; go back the way you came. So, if you ever find yourself wanting to get back inside via the stairwell, you can, if you left the doors open. You will want to do this for the Dank Passage door, at least, to give yourself an escape route from your visit to the barn.
If it's possible to prop open or block a door so it will always stay open, I haven't discovered the method yet.
The Octagonal Room is a bizarro elevator with sixteen possible orientations, four per level of the mall. However, only half of the possible orientations have any open exits. The red lever always takes you up; the green lever always takes you down.
However, the buttons control exactly how the levers work. When the red button is depressed, the Octagonal Room goes straight up and down. But when the green or blue button is depressed, the Octagonal Room turns clockwise or counterclockwise as well.
On the map above, you should understand that the left and right sides fit together. If you enter the Octagonal Room from East End of the Upper Promenade, push the blue button, then pull the green lever, then the mistletoe exit will be connected to the Abandoned Garden.
Note that the holly exit always aligns with a diagonal compass direction (northwest, northeast, southwest, or southeast), and that the mistletoe exit always aligns with a cardinal compass direction (north, south, east, or west). This may help you remember whether to "go holly" or "go mistletoe" from the Room if you remember which compass direction you would use to enter with, but you can never use compass directions to leave. (Even if you have the toy compass; its needle spins wildly when in the Octagonal Room.)
I'm not sure if the Octagonal Room counts as a maze or not. Certainly I had to map out its connections as if it were a maze, but once I knew how it worked, it didn't seem like a maze any more.
It is, however, one of the most impractical elevators ever. There's no way to call the Octagonal Room to your location, so if you and a friend visited the garden and then your friend left to go to the roof, you'd be trapped in the garden until someone found you. And anyone else wanting to use the Octagonal Room would be completely out of luck. Also, logically, the interior stone cylinder must be seven floors tall, requiring the tower to extend three floors above roof level and three floors below basement level, just so the ends of the cylinder have somewhere to go. It's really quite ridiculous.
The mirror maze is turned into a white room maze by painting the mirrors with white paint; this reveals where the exits are. Each small white room has exactly six exits. Unfortunately, this isn't quite enough to uniquely identify the rooms (rooms B and D look alike, as do rooms C, E, and H), so feel free to drop trash objects to make room identification easy.
I've arranged the rooms in this map so one is trying to go from bottom of the map to the top.
Going from the Antechamber to the Dressing Room requires five steps; for example: north (to C), northwest (to E), northwest (to G), southwest (to K), north (to A Dressing Room).
Returning to the Antechamber requires only four steps; for example: east (to K), east (to E), southwest (to C), west (to Antechamber).
The plant maze goes from the west wall of the plant store to the east wall, so I've positioned the rooms in roughly the order you'd go through them from left to right. This maze is mapped with the aid of the toy compass and the Botanical Guide. The compass makes sure you go in the direction you want to go, and you "read guide" to learn what plant is beside you. (You can also mostly map it with the aid of the helium balloons instead of the Guide, but then you won't have the balloons available when you really need them at the Vine. Also, there's only six balloons, which isn't really enough for mapping purposes.)
Going from the "Plant Shop" to "By the Hanging Vine" requires eight steps; for example: northeast (to geranium), east (to orchid), northeast (to aspidistra), southeast (to badly wilted), southeast (to bonsai maple), south (to oleander), south (to covered with thrips), northeast (to Vine).
Returning from Vine to Plant Shop requires only three steps; for example: northwest (to aspidistra), southwest (to geranium), southwest (to Plant Shop).
The location T16 with its "(plaque?)" notation is the dead end of what the game acknowledges as the longest wrong path in this maze. The author invites players who reach this location to email him about this achievement -- reaching this location -- so that their names may be added to a plaque in subsequent releases of the game. But since this game's most recent release, version 1.02, came out in 1999, and I'm writing this in 2015, I suspect your window of opportunity to get your name on this plaque has passed.
We enter the monkey palace from the west side at of the middle level (at M1 on my map) and are trying to get to the platform on the lower level. Most locations in the palace are just called "In the Monkey Palace" by the game; the map label names are just the arbitrary room names I made up for them, where the first letter (T, M, L) refers to Top, Middle, or Lower level respectively. Green triangles (▲) on the map represent the forest edge; blue O's represent the open area in the middle of the palace. Black triangles mark "up" (▲) and "down" (▼) travel options.
The blue star at M9 is where we can make use of a shortcut, if we have the rope or wings. Tie the rope to the bamboo, wear the wings, and jump down directly to the causeway below; the wings will break. On the return trip, climb the rope; the bamboo will break, but you'll get back to M9.
Or you can take the long route, which takes you up to the top level before heading down to the lower level. Fortunately every travel connection in the palace is bidirectional (although not always symmetrically). I mapped this maze entirely by noting the differences in the room descriptions.
In the game, you're never shown the entire track layout, but you can see representative samples by examining the train, the mountain, and the crane. It's a bit tricky because the ASCII art used to display portions of the track aren't necessarily to scale, since you need to be able to see the next branch or merge point, and which way is north changes. The ends of the track seem to be hexagonal, but I think that's a limitation of the ASCII art representation. Since all track terminals are also turnables, it's safe to assume the turnables are actually circular, not hexagonal. I've indicated the desired path with red stopping points on my map. Go from the south terminal to the northwest terminal, picking up the gold key en route, then turn around and return the same way.
CAUTION: Hidden inside the mountain is a cross track that can let the train enter the southwest tunnel entrance and leave via the northeast tunnel entrance.
The Parking Lot
Note that stuff inside your coat's pockets aren't listed in your inventory,
Did anyone else find it odd that we came to the mall to buy something without any cash or credit cards in our wallet?
In case you're curious, inside the car contains a steering wheel, an ignition keyhole, a rear-view mirror, and an empty glove compartment. The locked trunk contains a flat tire, which you don't need and can't take. You'd think there'd be a carjack in there too, but you'd be wrong. So you can ignore the car completely, really.
> verbose.
> i. x coat. look in pockets. x key. take wallet. open it. x license. read it.
> put license in wallet. put wallet in coat. x car. s.
Main Entrance
> x marquee. read marquee.
| Anagram | Store name | |
|---|---|---|
| DOCK THEME IS WING | = SOMETHING WICKED | |
| RUE FOGGY USER SOLO | = YOUR GORGEOUS SELF | |
| PORK ROY TAUT | = PARK YOUR TOT | |
| SORE VENAL COAL DUST | = COLOSSAL ADVENTURE | |
| BUY DYING SW SHAM MILE | = BIG YUMMY SANDWICHES | |
| PINK IN WINTER FELL | = INKWELL FINE PRINT | |
| TUBE LP | = BELT UP | |
| A + | TAN HER DUFFERS | = FEATHERS AND FUR |
| N + | STUDY HO HO VALUE | = YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE |
| THAT FIG CHEST LATIN | = THE LIGHT FANTASTIC | |
| G + | RAW RED MARS SAND | = GRANDMA'S DRAWERS |
| R + | GHOST HATH RAGING | = HOT RAGS HANG RIGHT |
| MUTE NITE | = TUNE TIME | |
| A + | APE FOLLY CAP | = PALACE OF PLAY |
| PINE THINK | = IN THE PINK | |
| RE + | OUT I OGLE SHY KOAN | = HERE'S LOOKING AT YOU |
| R + | QUELL SONG CAST AND A BIB | = BIG ON BALLS AND RACQUETS |
| SIREN FED GERM NY | = MY GREEN FRIENDS | |
| TOOTH BEST CORE | = THE BOOT SECTOR |
It's fairly obvious that the bizarre phrases on the marquee are the scrambled names of the stores in the mall; the names of the stores are easy to find once we're inside and have restored the electricity. What's less obvious is that eight of the letters (and all three apostrophes) have gone missing. This is a clue for something much later; for now, note that the missing letters "ANGRAERR" anagrams to "ARRANGER".
> x trash. look in trash. take bag. (+2 pts) x bag. take gloves. x gloves.
> look in bag. x paper. take paper. read paper.
The shopping bag is our carry-all. It can hold an amazing amount of stuff, but not everything.
The paper has clues to two puzzles: restoring the electricity and the monkey logic puzzle. Also note that to read something other than a sign in this game, you must directly hold it. Likewise, you can't normally examine something if it's inside something else, except to note that it's in there.
> x arch. x walkway. e.
Hedge Path
> x hedge. search hedge. wear gloves. search hedge. remove gloves.
> x tower. e.
Behind the Stairs
> x cable. take it. x stone. w. w. w.
Patio
> x door. open it. (It's locked, of course.)
> x sign. x grate. x water. open grate. (It doesn't open.)
> e. s.
Chilly Passage
The passage "gives an impression of inexpressible sorrow" notorizes what the "pigeon-flecked substance" of the entrance and the "possibly even rotting" tower shingles promised: that this mall has decayed badly. I suppose this helps the mall's many puzzles fit in better with such an environment and also lets several of the stores be all but empty of merchandise, but it feels a bit odd to pair up decay with the spirit of Christmas. How are we supposed to feel that a mall devoted to Christmas is all but dead?
Assume that if a store's door is closed that it is also locked. As we'll discover, only two stores are initially open: a children's play area and a music shop.
> x door. x sign. w.
Security Office
I guess the guard is the "Ray" mentioned on the scrap of paper, but the game doesn't let us refer to the guard by his name. Needless to say, you probably don't want to wake him in any way where he can see you; he's just going to escort you out of the mall (or to jail if he sees you've got his gun).
> x guard. x nightstick. x revolver. x holster. take gun. (+2 pts)
> x brass key. take it. pull it. (Alas, we can't take the key that easily.)
> x monitors. info on monitors. small monitors. x b3. x b4. x d3.
> x box. open it. x desk. e. s.
Arcade North
> x sign. x railing. x tree. s.
The Center of the Arcade
Neither the tree nor the fireplace can be climbed or moved.
> x tree. x fireplace. x stockings. e.
The East Side of the Arcade
Note there's stairs that go down from here.
Also, confusingly, the "Colossal Adventure" shop door that we saw at Arcade North is also visible here. I suppose we should think of the north and east sides of the arcade as regions that overlap at the northeast corner where the shop door is.
> e.
The Children's Play Area
This room is somehow so cold, you can't pick up anything at all here. Which means it's colder here than outside the mall, which doesn't make much sense. Best not to think about it too hard. Still, look at everything.
> x teddy bear. take bear. x lump. x blocks. x clay.
> x climbing toy. climb it. x pad.
> x blackboard. read it. x slogan.
The sums on the blackboard take a little explanation. You see 11426 + 6505 = 21234 and 34041 + 2431 = 42022. Note that there's no digit greater than a 6 in the first sum, and no digit greater than a 4 in the second sum.
If you're a math nerd or if you've done any programming involving binary, octal, or hexadecimal arithmetic, you're probably hip to base arithmetic in general, and may guess that these sums are in fact in base 7 and base 5, respectively. And, sure enough, a little calculation confirms that guess.
That's the takeaway from this clue: base 7 and base 5. Remember that.
> x window. x poster.
Note the colours and numbers on the music poster; that's another clue.
> w. w. w.
The West Side of the Arcade
And note the stairs that go up are on this side.
> x inkwell. x inkwell sign. x self. x self sign.
We could explore either the upper or the lower floors next, but there's some basic stuff we can do first that will make the exploration of those floors much more worthwhile. Go back to the security office.
> n. n. w.
In this section, we'll restore the mall's electricity, unlock almost all the shops, and turn on the furnace. Since I'd like to do this part quickly, this section won't be in "explore mode" and we'll be sometimes running to places I haven't shown you yet. Hope that's okay.
Security Office
Use the colours and numbers from the music poster to help us set the monitors so that they all show Mayberry. Yes, I know that the colours on the poster weren't clearly yellow, red, and green, nor is it easy to guess that the fourth colour/number combo ought to be what would logically follow in sequence from the first three. And it's a complete jump to match up the poster with the monitors in the first place since they have nothing in common.
But you know what? That's how we did things old-school, and we thought it was normal, so get used to it.
> x monitors.
> turn dial to 1. push yellow.
> turn dial to 2. push red.
> turn dial to 3. push green.
> turn dial to 4. push yellow. (+6 pts)
That will help the guard stay sleepy. Next, to restore power (there's a lot of dark areas in the mall, upstairs and downstairs), we need to go to the top of a pole behind the mall.
> e. s. e. d. s. s. w. u.
Top of the Pole
Careful! Don't electrocute yourself!
> wear gloves. put cable in connector. d.
At the Foot of a Power Pole
Make sure you're still wearing the gloves! You'll spot a crow fly by during this sequence.
> x box. put cable in connector. drop gloves.
Examining the keypad will reveal that you can't type 10612, the code from the scrap of paper, because there's no 6 button on the keypad. The buttons only go from 0 to 4. You must deduce, after seeing the blackboard sums, that the number to type here must be in base 5, and further, that the number you found is in base 7.
I confess I couldn't be bothered to calculate the true code, 41304, myself; I visited www.coolmathgames9.com/base/10612base7base5.html instead.
> x keypad. press 4. press 1. press 3. press 0. press 4. (+6 pts)
Go back to outside the security office.
> e. n. n. u. n. n.
Chilly Passage
This is a timed bit of business, where we lure the guard out of the office with a loud noise, hide in the niche, grab the brass key, and hide in the niche until he's back in the office sleeping again. Don't let him see you!
> save. shoot gun. nw.
In the Niche
> z. z. z. se. w.
Security Office
> take brass key. (+5 pts) e. nw.
In the Niche
> z. z. z. z. se. w.
Security Office
Inside the box are two buttons (X and O) and a purple light. The X button closes and locks all the shops; the O button opens and unlocks all the shops. The purple light shows the lock status: dark means all the shops are closed, lit means they're all open, and blinking means a mix, some open and some closed.
So just push the O button. Unfortunately, the shop with the ballerina in it is an exception and unaffected by these controls.
Important: You must close the box after you push the O button, or the doors will close again! If you're on the wrong side of a shop door when it closes, you can get trapped inside that shop with no way out! Maybe the guard pushes the X button in his sleep?
> unlock gray box with brass key. open gray box.
> push o. close box. lock box. put brass key on desk.
> e. e.
Candle Shop
We'll explore the rest of this shop later.
> x shelves. (+1 pt) take candle. take matchbook. open it.
> w. s. e. d. e.
Furnace Room
Another clue for the junction box is written in the dust on the furnace ducts, but it's a particularly useless clue because the furnace room is originally dark! There was no way to see this clue before solving that puzzle!
Caution: It's easy to fill this room with poisonous gas and kill yourself. Light the hole first, then work the switches.
> x furnace. x hole. x ducts. x dust.
> take match. light match. put match in hole.
> blow out match. drop burnt match.
> turn green switch. turn red switch. (+3 pts) save.
In the next few sections, we'll be exploring the mall in more depth, floor by floor. Since we're already on the lower level, might as well start here and work our way up.
Furnace Room
> x paint can. take it. x paintbrush. take it.
> w. nw. e.
Souvenir Shop
Don't try to take the plate yet. We're too clumsy; the china will all break if you try it now.
> x souvenirs. x bookmarks. x crucifixes. x rabbits. x slippers.
> x cabinet. x plates. x plate. n.
Haunted Room
The ghost can't harm us, but does prevent us from taking the Victrola.
> x ghost. x victrola. n.
Antique Furniture Store
Impossible to tell yet which hole in the desk we want.
> x sideboards. x loveseat.
> x desk. open it. x pigeonholes. ne.
Cloak Room
> x cloth. take it. put it in bag. x stone. s. w.
North End of the Lower Concourse
> x mannequins. n.
Fashion Boutique
> x angel. take wings. x wings. e.
Anteroom to the Dressing Rooms
Feel like solving a maze? No? Too bad. This is the easy one.
We solve this one by painting the mirrors with the paint, and dropping trash items to make the locations dissimilar. Except I won't need to drop anything now since I've mapped this already; see map 7.
There's a few ways to get the paint can open, but one tool you should always have is your car key.
> take car key. open can with key. (+1 pt) put key in pocket.
> n.
Small Mirrored Room/Small White Room (four of these)
> paint mirrors. (+4 pts) nw. paint mirrors. nw.
> paint mirrors. sw. paint mirrors. n.
A Dressing Room
A coathanger. The prize of this maze is an ordinary wire hanger. Really.
> x coathanger. take it. (+2 pts)
> put hanger in bag. e. e. sw. w.
Anteroom to the Dressing Rooms
> close can. drop it. drop paintbrush. w. s. w.
Lamp Store
You'd think there'd be a nice friendly flashlight in here, but no, you're stuck with the candle and matches as your only portable lightsource options.
> x floor lamps. x table lamps. x gooseneck. x porch. x track. x chandelier.
> x stepladder. take it. e. s.
Pet Shop
The dog won't hurt us, but he does block access to the machine.
> x comb. take it. put it in bag.
> x cage. x cable. x counter. x machine. nw. x mastiff. e.
South End of the Lower Concourse
> look through window. sw.
Leather Goods Shop
Open the stairwell door, but don't go through it. It's one of those doors that automatically closes behind you after you go through.
By the way, the awl can also be used to open the paint can.
> x awl. take awl. x bottle. take it. put awl and bottle in bag.
> open stairwell door. n. se. s.
Narrow Passage
I'm dropping the bulky things here to minimize inventory awkwardness in the next room. I'm carrying too much, really.
> drop wings. drop ladder.
> e. w.
Darkness
> take candle. take matchbook. take match. light match.
Squatter's Den
(+2 pts for seeing the Squatter's Den.)
If the candle ever goes out while in here, UNDO.
> light candle. blow out match. drop burnt match.
> x cartons. take cardboard.
> x rags. search rags. x pendant. (Don't take the pendant. Just leave it here.)
> e. s. se.
At the Top of a Snowy Slope
Don't try going down the slope just yet; you'll be trapped with no way back up. We'll use the cardboard as a tobaggon later, so drop the cardboard here for now.
> x barn. x snow. drop cardboard.
> nw. w.
At the Foot of a Power Pole
We rushed past earlier, so take a moment to check out pole and cliff.
> x pole. x cliff. x ledge. x crow. e. n.
Narrow Passage
Unfortunately, we're carrying too much weight; we'll have to make another trip to get the wings.
> put candle in bag. take ladder. n. u. w.
The Center of the Arcade
The tree is as good a place as any to drop off stuff.
> drop ladder. e. d. s.
Narrow Passage
> take wings. n. u. w.
The Center of the Arcade
> drop wings. e. e.
The Children's Play Area
We can't inflate the lump with just our mouth; we'll need a pump. Leave the blocks; we just need to know what's written on them, not the blocks themselves.
> take clay. take lump. x lump. inflate lump. take pad. (+1 pt)
> take teddy bear. hug it. w. w.
The Center of the Arcade
> drop bear. drop pad. drop lump. put clay in bag. e. ne.
The Travel Agency
Since we don't know what code to use for the Jaunto booth, we can't do much here yet, unless you want to try random six-digit numbers. Might save first before trying it though.
> x poster. x booth. enter booth. x booth. x panel.
> out. sw. w. w. s.
Rare Book Shop
"The Curse of the Jigsaw" is a reference to two of Graham Nelson's games, Curses and Jigsaw.
> x sign. x books. open stairwell door. s.
The Print Shop
Look, but don't touch. Especially don't push the button; the binder will break.
> x binder. x hole. x belt. x button. x hopper.
> n. n. w.
Hairdresser's Salon
The magazines are a clue to the Jaunto. I'll jot down the listed coordinates: 1 N, 114 28' E; 19 8' N, 103 E; 2 47' N, 23 9' E.
Although the article mentions the relevant countries, it doesn't say which coordinates are for which country. You'll have to look at an atlas or Wikipedia, for example, to establish that they're for Borneo, Laos, and the Congo, in that order. (Don't ask me which Congo; I didn't care that much.)
> x magazines. read magazines.
> x scissors. take solvent. open it. pour solvent on scissors.
> close solvent. drop it. take scissors. (+2 pts) put scissors in bag.
> s.
Tacky Lounge
Caution! Taking the Elvis portrait is deadly!
The device is the mechanism that closes and opens the cage in the Pet Shop below. A bizarrely inconvenient arrangement, but it's par for the course around here.
> x Elvis. x cot. look under cot. take device. move cot. x device.
> n. e. nw.
Restroom
> x commode. x dispenser. x sink. x water. x drain. x faucet. x mirror.
> turn off faucet. (It's stuck.) take clay. put clay in drain. (+2 pts)
> se. n. n. n. w.
Patio
Now that all that water isn't going down the sink drain, it won't be in the grate either. (Where all that water will be going instead can be left to any fanfic authors who want to answer that question.)
> x grate. (You see a silver key.)
> take hanger. straighten it. put it in grate. take silver key. (+3 pts)
> put it in bag. drop hanger. s.
Snack Bar
> x case. x cookies. open case. x console. turn it on.
> x poster. x scribbles. x metal door. open it.
The scribbles are our clues to the console's secret code; the scribbles refer to the alphabet blocks and the marquee. We'll come back to this later.
> n. e. s. e. e.
Empty Storage Room
The hole in the floor here is the same hole we saw in the Cloak Room below. Leave the boards here for later.
> x hole. x boards. w. w. n. e. u. s.
Music Shop
> x piano. play it. open door. x roll. take it. (It's stuck.)
> push pedals. x beam. s. (Can't get past the beam yet.)
> n. w.
West End of the Promenade
Well, at least you know where the ballerina is now.
> x ballerina. x window. x sensor. x door.
> e. sw. s.
North Side of the Upper Concourse
A nice ASCII art mini-map pops up the first time you visit the Upper Concourse.
> w. nw. n.
North End of the Filthy Passage
Don't worry, the rats won't hurt you any more than the ghost or mastiff did. They are yet another guardian; the rats block you from the door.
> x rats. x door. x tiles.
> s. se. w.
In the Pink Health Supply
I haven't the foggiest notion why the scribbled note about a chess game is here.
> x bottle. take it. put it in bag. x bottles.
> x pamphelts. take paper. read it. put it in bag.
> e. sw.
Optician's Display Room
Note that the spectacles make almost everything dull and boring and most actions seem pointless.
> x heads. x binoculars. take them. put them in bag.
> x spectacles. wear specs. look. x bag. put specs in bag.
> remove specs. put specs in bag. open stairwell door.
> ne. s.
South Side of the Upper Concourse
> x poster. push nose. (+1 pt) x tree. e. se.
Shoe Store
I never found a use for the boot, but it turns out it can be used as a hammer. Since I've already got the revolver for that, I'll just leave the boot here.
> x boot. nw. e.
Sporting Goods Store
We will want the tricycle later, but for now, I'm leaving it here.
> x equipment. x tricycle. x pump. take it.
> w. ne.
Plant Store
I don't want to explore the plant maze just yet. I just want to look at and try taking the merchandise here. Shame we can't use any of the poison for the rats; I guess that would be too straightforward.
> x plants. take plants. x poison. take poison. x mulch. take mulch.
> x planters. take planters. x cactus. take cactus.
Anyway, now that we have a pump, let's grab that lump from downstairs.
> w. n. w. d. e.
The Center of the Arcade
The tree lights, when lit, make the nightingale ornament visible. How fortunate that I left the stepladder here so I can get it!
> x bird. climb ladder. take bird. (+2 pts)
> x bird. take silver key. wind bird with it. (+1 pt)
> d. drop bird. take lump. pump lump. x beach ball. deflate ball.
> w. u. n. n. n. s.
Music Shop
Caution: Don't deflate the ball once it's holding up the beam. The room will collapse on top of you and you'll be killed.
> put lump under beam. pump lump. (+3 pts)
> drop pump. s.
Collapsed Room
> x bagpipes. take bagpipes. x disc. take it. put it in bag.
> n. n. sw. s. w. nw. n.
North End of the Filthy Passage
Emulate the Pied Piper of Hamelin. The rats will follow you until you stop playing!
> play bagpipes. (Playing the bagpipes requires both hands.)
> drop bag. play bagpipes.
> s. se. d. e. e.
The East Side of the Arcade
Yes, there's a homeless man here now. His appearance here was triggered by turning on the Christmas tree lights. He wants food. Since we're kinda busy with the bagpipe playing, I'm not going to talk to him right this second.
> x man.
> d. s. s. w.
At the Foot of a Power Pole
The rats fall down the cliff to their doom. (+4 pts)
> stop playing. drop bagpipes.
> e. n. n. u. w. w. u. nw. n.
North End of the Filthy Passage
> take bag. x door. x tiles. (Oh no, a slider puzzle.)
> instructions on panel.
Anyway, time to find your Scrabble set or favourite online anagram solver. I usually go with Andy's Anagram Solver. It helpfully told me that the tiles can be anagrammed to CHECKING IT TWICE.
So, starting from ICIC TETE WING HCK...
> t k. t c. t i. t e. t right. t w. t h. t i. t e.
> t h. t w. t t. t h. t w. t t. t i. t c. t h.
CHIC I-TE TWNG IECK
> t t. t n. t g. t e. t n. t i. t c. t n.
> t e. t g. t i. t e. t n. t c, t e.
CHEC IT-N TWIG IECK
> t n. t g. t k. t c. t e. t i. t t.
> t w. t left. t k. t c. t e. t i. t t.
> t w. t left. t i. t t. t w. t i. t k.
> t t. t i. t k.
CHEC KING -TIC IWTE
> t t. t left. t t. t w. t down.
> t right. t i. t left.
CHEC KING ITTC I-WE
> t w. t e. t c. t t. t right. t w.
> t c. t t. t right. t c. t e. t w. t c.
> t t. t up. t e. t t. t left. t e. t t.
> t w. t c. t t. t e. t t. t w.
> t e. t left. t w. (+5 pts)
CHEC KING ITTW ICE- achieved!
> n.
Palace of Play Toy Shop
> x dinosaur. x case. look in case. x ballerina. open case. (It's locked.)
> x front door. unlock it. open it. x register.
> take ballerina. (Dinosaur blocks any "take" attempt; he wants to play ball.)
> sw.
The Model Train Room
There's probably something one can do with the coal, but I failed to discover it.
> x memorabilia. x coal. x train. x window. x blinds.
> x cord. pull cord. (It breaks.)
> e. s. s. se. d. e.
The Center of the Arcade
> take pad. w. u. n. e. e.
Sporting Goods Store
> take tricycle. w. n. n. n. ne.
Octagonal Room
The octagonal room is a very strange elevator; see map 6 which diagrams how it works. It took a crazy long time for me to figure it all out.
> drop tricycle. x pedestal. x floor.
Y'know, instead of trying to fit eight parts of the 12 Days of Christmas into awkward triangular spaces on a floor which is just going to get stepped on, I think I would've used the six walls that aren't being used for exits and put two verses per wall and they'd all fit.
I'm thinking about this too much, aren't I?
> push blue button. pull green lever. go mistletoe.
Abandoned Garden
(+2 pts for entering the garden.)
> x sleighbells. take them. shake them. put them in bag.
> x birdbath. x ice. take awl. break ice with awl.
> drop awl. take l-shaped metal. (+3 pts) x it. put it in bag.
> x monkeys. ask monkeys about monkeys.
Yikes, logic puzzle text dump! Using the information from the scrap of paper, we know that one monkey always tells the truth and another one alternates between truth and falsehood. We also know from reading the magazines in the hairdressing salon about Warburton's coordinates.
I reasoned that the truth-telling monkey was the left monkey, and that statements about adding or subtracting one from digits weren't likely to be true because the coordinates have 0's and 9's.
I then blindly guessed that maybe the center monkey's statement "take the first two digits of each set of coordinates, considering the countries in alphabetical order" was more plausible than anything else the monkeys were saying, so my first guess of the Jaunto code was 112419 which turned out to be correct. Yay me.
> x trees. nw.
Beneath the Balcony
We're dropping the pad here so the goblet has somewhere safe to fall to.
> x balcony. x goblet. drop pad. se. w.
Octagonal Room
Assuming blue button still pushed.
> pull red lever. go holly.
A Tiny Balcony
You enter here just to see the goblet fall off the railing. If you enter here and the padding isn't under the balcony, the goblet smashes to bits and you'll need to UNDO or restore from an earlier point in the game.
> x garden. sw.
Octagonal Room
> push green button. pull green lever. go mistletoe. nw.
Beneath the Balcony
> take goblet. (+6 pts) x it. put it in bag. se. w.
Octagonal Room
> push red button. pull green lever.
> push green button. pull red lever. pull green lever. go holly.
Crooked Defile
> take matchbook. take match. take candle. light match.
> light candle. snuff match. drop match. drop matchbook. nw.
Scintillating Cavern
> take rope. (+3 pts) x rope. x jewels. s. se.
Octagonal Room
> blow out candle. drop it. drop rope.
> push red button. pull red lever. g.
> push green button. pull red lever. go holly.
Catwalk
> sw. n.
Beside the packing crate (near the edge of the roof)
You can't do much with the elf right now; he's too glum.
> x elf. x crate. take binoculars. look at sky through binoculars.
> give binoculars to elf. drop binoculars.
> s. s.
The West Side of the Roof
This hidden ladder can be your salvation if you get trapped on the roof via the stairwell and the octagonal room isn't accessible.
> x hole. (+1 pt) x ladder. s.
South Side of the Roof
I do like the geographic continuity, seeing the power pole from this location.
> open door. e.
The Upper End of the Stairwell
> d.
A Landing in the Stairwell (three of these)
> d. d. e.
In the Janitor's Closet
This room is initially cold just like the children's play area was. But if you turned on the furnace, there's no problem.
Note 1: Having both the bag of nails and the shopping bag around makes "bag" ambiguous.
Note 2: If you put the open cigar box into your shopping bag, all the balloons will spill out of the box.
> x nails. take nails. put nails in shopping bag.
> x cigar box. take it. open it. x red balloon. close box. put box in shopping bag.
> smell. x brooms. take brooms. w. d. s.
A Dank Passage
Caution. Open this metal door but don't go through it! The door will slam and lock if you walk through, trapping you on the other side.
> open door. n. u. u. u. u. n. n. n. e. ne.
Octagonal Room
Assuming green button is still pressed.
> pull green lever. pull red lever. go mistletoe
On a high, sloping ledge
> s.
At the Base of a Flagpole
> x flagpole. x gutter.
> take flag. put flag on flagpole. pull rope. (+2 pts)
> take bells. shake bells. (+3 pts)
Caution: Don't try to ride the reindeer. There's no reins and you'll fall to your death.
> drop bells. x reindeer. x pouch.
> take comb. comb deer. drop comb. (The deer now trusts you.)
> open pouch. look in pouch. take compass. (+3 pts)
> x compass. put it in bag. ne. n.
Octagonal Room
> push red button. pull green lever.
> push green button. pull green lever. go holly.
Empty Storage Room
> take nails. take gun. take boards. put boards on hole.
> nail boards with gun. (+3 pts)
> drop nails. drop gun. s. e.
File Storage Room
> open cabinet. take sheet. (+1 pt) read it.
Do you remember the alphabet blocks back in the play area? Anagram the letters on the blocks into words that answer the cryptic clues on this new sheet of paper:
Recall that you need the secret phrase for the snack bar console which was clued by the rutabaga poster which, in turn, pointed towards the alphabet blocks and the marquee out front for more clues. And now we know that the blocks suggest MANGER and the marquee suggests ARRANGER.
Therefore, the passcode for the console is MANGER ARRANGER.
And would MANGER ARRANGER also be "Joseph's most important job" as suggested by the blackboard slogan? Well, maybe. It's a bit of a stretch, but I suppose it makes sense after the fact. But the slogan is of no use at all to help solve the console puzzle. You could be guessing phrases like COOKIE SALESMAN and REVERE RUTABAGA and never come close to the answer.
> drop sheet. w. s.
Long Balcony
In another bit of geographic continuity, we can see the children's play area through the window.
By the way, you can't turn off the furnace to cool off the hot floor. One the furnace it on, the gas switch gets stuck.
> s. (Too hot!) x window. n. n. nw.
Octagonal Room
> take tricycle. go holly. s. s.
Long Balcony
Ride the tricycle through the overheated room and back.
> drop tricycle. ride it. s. s.
In the Solarium
> x windows. x helium. take it. (+3 pts)
> n. n.
Long Balcony
> stand. n. n. w. w. s. w. s. s.
The Print Shop
> take l-shaped. put it in hole. turn crank. take guide. (+4 pts)
> x guide. read guide.
> n. n. u. n. e. ne.
Plant Store
Time to tackle the plant maze. Make sure you have the compass, the Botanical Guide, the six balloons, the helium tank, and the scissors.
> take compass. ne.
Somewhere in the depths of the plant store... (several locations)
The locations are distinquishable by the nearby plants, which must be identified by reading the Guide. Weirdly, you can't really "look up [plant] in guide"; that is, any attempt to look up a specific plant acts like you're reading the entire Guide.
Don't drop anything here; stuff gets lost forever in the foliage.
> read guide. (You identify a geranium nearby.)
> e. read guide. (orchid)
> ne. read guide. (aspidistra)
> se. read guide. (badly wilted)
> se. read guide. (bonsai maple)
> s. read guide. (oleander)
> s. read guide (covered with thrips)
> ne.
By the Hanging Vine
(+5 pts for reaching the vine.)
Believe it or not, all we're getting from this maze is a length of kite string. And we just can't cut it with the scissors because the whole vine will collapse and the string will be lost forever in the foliage.
> x vine. climb vine. x string. untie string.
> put compass in bag. put guide in bag. take cigar box. take helium.
> open box. take red balloon. inflate it. tie it to vine.
> take orange balloon. inflate it. tie it to vine.
> take yellow balloon. inflate it. tie it to vine.
> take green balloon. inflate it. tie it to vine.
> take blue balloon. inflate it. tie it to vine.
> take white balloon. inflate it. tie it to vine.
> drop box. drop helium. take scissors. cut string. (+3 pts)
> drop scissors. put string in bag. take compass. take guide.
> nw.
Somewhere in the depths of the plant store...
> read guide. (aspidistra)
> sw. read guide. (geranium)
> sw.
Plant Shop
> drop compass. drop guide.
> w. n. w. d. e.
The Center of the Arcade
> take teddy bear. e. d. nw. e.
Souvenir Shop
The pill will make you dexterious enough to take the plate without breaking anything.
> take pill bottle. open it. take pill. drop bottle.
> open cabinet. eat pill. take plate. (+3 pts)
> put plate in bag. n.
Haunted Room
While holding the teddy bear, you can ignore the fearful ghost.
> take victrola. (+3 pts)
> take disc. put disc on victrola. play victrola.
> n.
Antique Furniture Store
Assuming the rolltop desk is still open.
> drop bear. take specs. wear specs. x pigeonholes.
> look in holes. (+4 pts)
> remove specs. drop specs. x slip. (It's for $497)
> w. s. se. u.
The East Side of the Arcade
I'm assuming the homeless man is still here. If you interact with him a lot, he will wander to other places such as the Narrow Passage and Main Entrance.
> ask man about guard. ask man about elf. w.
The Center of the Arcade
> drop victrola. e. d. s. s. se.
At the Top of a Snowy Slope
> sit on cardboard. d.
Foot of the Snowy Slope
(+2 points for going down the slope.)
> stand. x barn. s.
In the Barn
We don't need the needle, but it's there to be found.
> x hay. search hay. x needle. put needle in bag. e.
Standing in the Stall
> x cow. take goblet. put it under cow. milk cow. (+2 pts)
> take goblet. x milk. w.
In the Barn
> x planks. push plank. (+1 pt) s.
Behind the Barn
> x barn. x stream. w. w.
Base of the Cliff
Hopefully you left this metal door open earlier. Other ways to escape this area involve either climbing the rope (assuming you tied it to the power pole earlier and threw the other end) or riding the cow back up the slope.
If you left the metal door open, but not any of the stairwell doors, you can go down the hole in the roof if you found the hidden ladder.
> n. n. u. u. w.
Rare Book Shop
> n. e. e.
The East Side of the Arcade
> give milk to man. (He runs off to change clothes?)
> w.
The Center of the Arcade
> put goblet on fireplace. n. n. n. w. s.
Snack Bar
Remember, we figured out the console code earlier.
> x console. type manger arranger. (+6 pts)
> open case. take plate. take cookies. put cookies on plate. (+2 pts)
> open metal door. sw.
Walk-In Refrigerator
> x steak. take it. put it in bag.
> x banana. take it. put it in bag.
> n. n. e. s. s. s.
The Center of the Arcade
> put plate on fireplace. w. e. (Santa's here!)
> x Santa. ask santa about ballerina. ask santa for ballerina.
> ask santa about elf. ask santa about reindeer. ask santa about tile puzzle.
> ask santa about dinosaur. ask santa about toys.
> ask santa for ball. (+2 pts)
> x ball. put ball in bag.
The Center of the Arcade
Hm. I think I left the rope in the Octagonal Room via the Candle Shop...
> take nightingale. n. n. e. e. nw.
Octagonal Room
> take rope. go holly. w. w. s. e. d. s. s. w.
At the Foot of a Power Pole
> tie rope to pole. throw rope. (+3 pts)
> d.
Narrow Ledge (hanging from the rope)
> x crow. x nest. x stone. take emerald.
> wind nightingale. take emerald. (+3 pts)
> put emerald in bag. u.
At the Foot of a Power Pole
> drop nightingale. take rope. untie rope.
> e. n. n. u. w.
The Center of the Arcade
> take wings. e. ne.
Travel Agency
You'll need the banana for this trip, and ideally, the rope and the wings as well. Remember we figured out the code 112419 back in the garden.
> x poster enter booth. x panel.
> push 1. push 1. push 2. push 4. push 1. push 9. push trip.
Before the Monkey Palace
(+5 points for getting to the palace.)
Don't drop anything inside the palace unless you want to lose it forever. but you can drop stuff inside the Jaunto booth safely.
Note that the booth itself is oddly not mentioned when outside it. Tsk tsk.
> remove coat. drop it. (It's too hot in the jungle for a winter coat.)
> out. e.
In the Monkey Palace (more locations than a barrel has monkeys)
You have a choice. Do you want the shortcut or the long way to the platform?
The shortcut to the platform:
> e. n. tie rope to bamboo.
> wear wings. d. (The wings break.) drop wings. e.
The long way to the platform:
> e. n. s. u.
> sw. w. n. ne. n. ne. s. w. d.
> w. s. s. s. w. s. d.
> nw. s. se. n. e. e.
On the Platform
Caution: Don't listen to the clock. It caused a stack overflow error when I played.
> x monkeys. x clock. take banana. give banana to monkeys.
> take clock. (+2 pts, but it also breaks.)
> x clock. put clock in bag. w.
On the Causeway
Again, your choice: the shortcut or the long way back to the booth?
The shortcut back to the booth:
> climb rope. (The bamboo breaks.) put rope in bag.
> w. nw. w.
The long way back to the booth:
> w. s. nw. n. se. u.
> nw. e. nw. n. n. e. u.
> se. n. sw. se. sw. s. e. n. d.
> n. w. nw. w.
Before the Monkey Palace
Are you wondering how to make the return trip? The poster in the travel agency suggested reversal, and the reverse of 112419 is 914211, so...
> enter booth. take coat. push clr.
> push 9. push 1. push 4. push 2. push 1. push 1. push trip.
Travel Agency
(+2 points for returning back to the mall.)
> wear coat. out. sw. s.
The Center of the Arcade
> take victrola. n. n. e. e. nw.
Octagonal Room
We're returning to the elf. Make sure you have the Victrola with its disc to cheer him up, the broken alarm clock for him to fix, and the emerald to pay him for his efforts.
> push green button. pull red lever.
> push red button. pull red lever. go holly. sw. n.
Beside the packing crate (near the edge of the roof)
> play victrola. (+3 pts) drop it.
> take binoculars. give binoculars to elf. drop binoculars.
> take clock. give clock to elf.
> take emerald. give it to elf. (+1 pt)
> give clock to elf. (+2 pts, and the elf leaves with Santa.)
> open crate. look in it. (It's empty. Bah humbug.)
> se. ne.
Octagonal Room
> push red button. pull green lever. g. g. go mistletoe.
Cloak Room
> s. w. s. w.
Pet Shop
The clock bit is a bit tricky, so I suggest saving after placing the steak.
> take steak. put steak in cage. save.
The clock's alarm will ring when the two hands point to the same time and when the brass button is popped out. The knobs advance the hands; pop out the brass button when you want to advance by smaller amounts.
The idea is to have the alarm ring and wake the dog when we're upstairs in the Tacky Lounge so we can trap the dog inside the cage. He can eat the steak faster than we can run upstairs; we don't want to trap a steak bone.
As I play this, I have the black hand at 4:34 and the red hand at 5:00.
> turn black knob. push brass button. turn black knob. g.
Okay, with black at 4:56 and red at 5:00, I should have enough time to get up there.
> drop clock. e. se. u. w. w. w. s.
Tacky Lounge
Unfortunately, we can't actually hear the alarm when in the Lounge.
> z. z. z. z. z. z. z. z. (+2 pts; The clock has gone off for the first time.)
> z. z. z. turn crank. (+6 pts)
> n. e. e. e. d. nw. w.
Pet Shop
> nw.
Behind the Pet Shop Counter
By experimenting, I learned that this machine turns one credit slip into two credit slips, where the sum value of the new slips equals the value of the inserted slip. The red button splits the value in two halves; the green button splits the value into two-thirds and one-third portions; and the blue button does a three-quarters and one-quarter split. The new slips are rounded up and down to the nearest applicable integer values so there aren't any fractional amounts.
Since we have yet to learn what amounts we want, just examine the machine for now.
> x machine. x slot. x tray.
> e. e. se. u. w.
The Center of the Arcade
> take stepladder. take ball. w. u. nw. n. n.
Palace of Play Toy Shop
If the ball's in your bag, step out off the shop to retrieve it. You can't take anything while the dinosaur wants to play!
> give ball to dinosaur. (+1 point)
> sw.
The Model Train Room
> drop ladder. take string. tie string to cord. (+4 pts)
> pull cord. x layout. x mountain. x crane. x gold key.
> x controls.
The red button advances the train.
The blue button rotates the train's terminal 180 degrees.
The gold button opens the crane, releasing the gold key.
The switch switches the tracks from left to right and back again.
And map 12 shows the full layout.
> x switch. (It's set to the right.)
> push switch. (Now it's to the left.)
> push red. g. g. g. g. g.
> push switch. (Now it's right.)
> push red. g. g.
> push switch. (Now it's left.)
> push red. g.
> push switch. (Now it's right.)
> push red. (The train is under the crane.)
> push gold button. (The key falls into the train car.)
> push switch. (Now it's left.)
> push red. g. (Train is at the far corner terminal.)
> push blue button. (Train turns around.)
> push red. g. (Under the crane again.)
> push switch. (Now it's right.)
> push red. g.
> push switch. (Now it's left.)
> push red.
> push switch. (Now it's right.)
> push red. g. g. g.
> push switch. (Now it's left.)
> push red. g. g. g. g.
> take gold key. (+5 pts)
> e.
Palace of Play Toy Shop
> unlock case with gold key. open case. drop key.
> take ballerina. (+7 pts) x ballerina. x bar code.
> scan bar code with pen. (+1 pt; the doll costs $325.)
> put doll in case.
> s. s. se. d. e. e. d. nw. w. nw.
Behind the Pet Shop Counter
> take slip. x it.
> put 497 in slot. push blue button. x tray. take 372. take 125.
> put 372 in slot. push blue button. x tray. take 279. take 93.
> put 93 in slot. push red button. x tray. take 46. take 47.
> e. e. se. u. w. w. u. nw. n. n.
Palace of Play Toy Shop
> take ballerina. put 279 in slot. put 46 in slot.
> push print. (+6 pts) take receipt. x it.
> n. e. n. w. n.
The Parking Lot
The guard wants to see your receipt.
> show receipt to guard. (+3 pts)
*** You have won ***
My final score: 220 out of 232. My rank: Saint Nicholas himself.
35 points are awarded for "using a minimum number of hints".
> full. amusing.
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