Ollie Ollie Oxen Free is a Glulx interactive fiction game written with Inform 7 and is © 2013 by Carolyn VanEseltine. It was entered in IF Comp 2013 where it took 3rd place overall; it also won 3rd Place for the "Miss Congeniality" award. The game also won the Best NPCs award at the 2013 XYZZY Awards.
You play as Mr. Mark Ginsberg, an art teacher in an elementary school on a military base which has just been bombed. Weak and injured as you are, you must find your scattered students and get them to safety.
This solution is by David Welbourn, and is based on Release 1 of the game.
Is this your first time playing Ollie Ollie Oxen Free? (y/n) > n
Would you like to load a saved game? (y/n) > n
Would you like to turn the help cues off? (y/n) > n
North Hall
I usually examine myself and my inventory first in these games.
> x me. x tie. x shirt. x slack. x wedding band.
The game will suggest THINK as a verb. You can get a lot of background info with it.
> think about me. think about students. think about emily.
> think about jude. think about bunny.
> think about ashley. think about ashley's sister. think about william bradley.
> think about samir. think about dylan.
> think about george. think about keiko.
> think about adam. think about plane. think about rachel.
> think about school. think about mom.
Don't forget to check your surroundings.
> x rubble. x corpse. x skirt. x door. x alarms.
> think about avery. think about geo lab.
It will take two attempts just to get up off the floor.
> open door. again.
You want to try shouting everywhere to locate students in adjacent locations.
> shout. again.
> samir, look. (Samir isn't being cooperative right now.)
> exits. s.
Hall Junction
> x mural. think about science. think about computer lab.
> think about cafeteria. x bulletin board. shout.
> w.
Locker Hallway
> x americans. think about americans. think about predecessor.
> x lockers. search lockers. (The game cues TURN DIAL LEFT [number] and TURN DIAL RIGHT [number]. You'll use that later.)
> smell. think about gas. x water damage. shout.
> w.
Hallway (outside Ms. Wagner's Room)
> x posters. think about posters. shout.
> n.
Ms. Wagner's Room
> x tile. x decorations. x desk. x mug. think about mug.
> x pens. x blue tray. x clips. take clip. (The colour of the paper clip is randomized.)
Your strength is so poor, that you'll drop anything you manage to pick up soon afterwards. Also, your left pocket can only hold one item, and the right pocket has a hole in it. So you're going to have severe inventory problems.
> put clip in pocket. x blackboard.
> take chalk. (You auto-write a message, rather than keep the chalk.)
> shout. (Ashley answers from the closet.)
> open closet door. (It's locked?)
You need to rescue Ashley first. She's the only student able to free herself on her own, and you'll need someone to help you free everyone else.
> ashley, open door.
> ask ashley about block. ask ashley about her skirt.
> ashley, push block.
> ashley, pull her skirt.
> ashley, look. (She sees hooks, shelves, boxes, yardstick.)
> ashley, x shelves. (See sees paper and scissors.)
> ashley, take scissors.
> ashley, cut skirt. (She's afraid to...)
> ashley, cut skirt. (...but she'll do it if you ask again.)
> ashley, open door.
> hug ashley. x ashley.
The game cues to use HOLD HANDS WITH a student to lead them elsewhere. You can also TAKE a student, which does the same thing. Leading a student, however, uses up one of your hands and also one of theirs, so carrying capacity is reduced. Note that a student can hold at most two items, one in each hand, so ask a student to put extra items into their backpack, if they have one.
Also, unfortunately, INVENTORY (either for yourself or directed at a student) won't show contents of backpacks and pockets, nor who's holding hands with whom. You'll have to explicitly look inside containers and look around to get that information.
> n.
Supply Closet
> x yardstick. x block. x boxes.
> open boxes. g. g. (There's about five or so different box contents chosen at random.)
> x stacks. x high shelf. (flashlight!)
> take flashlight. (Alas, it won't be that easy.)
> s.
Ms. Wagner's Room
> take ashley. s. s.
Fountain Alcove
> x fountain. think about fountain. drink water.
> x signs. think about signs. x wet spot.
> shout. (Keiko answers from the girls'; Tyrone answers from the boys'.)
> think about tyrone. think about dustin.
> drop ashley. e. x wedge. take wedge.
> ashley, take wedge. (Tyrone is free.)
Unfortunately, the wedge is useless for holding open other doors, like the swinging door between the kitchen and cafeteria, so you might as well drop it.
> ashley, drop wedge.
> x tyrone. x backpack. look in it. (It's empty.)
> take ashley. w.
Girls' Bathroom
> drop ashley. ashley, drop scissors.
> x keiko. x right leg. x left leg. (You'll need to put a splint on Keiko's right leg, and find something she can use as a crutch.)
> ask keiko about right leg. ask keiko about left leg.
> ask ashley about keiko. x pipe.
> e.
Fountain Alcove
> take tyrone. n. n. n.
Supply Closet
> tyrone, take yardstick.
> tyrone, take flashlight. (He suggests he could climb the low shelves.)
> tyrone, climb low shelves. (He does and grabs the flashlight.)
> tyrone, put yardstick in backpack.
> turn on flashlight. turn it off. open it. take batteries.
> tyrone, take batteries.
> tyrone, drop batteries. (Discard the dead batteries.)
> tyrone, put flashlight in backpack.
> take tyrone. s. s. w.
Hallway (outside art room)
> x rubbings. think about rubbings.
> x mosaics. think about mosaics.
> n.
Art Room
Jude is trapped by her need for her toy bunny. She won't leave the room without it.
> x jude. look under table. x bunny. ask jude about bunny.
> take bunny. (You can reach it, but don't have the strength.)
> tyrone, take bunny. (It's too far for him.)
> w.
Mrs. McCaskill's Room
> x sprinklers. x poster. x corkboard.
> x desk. open drawer. (It's locked.)
> look under table. push bunny. (Gaps in the debris are too small.)
> tyrone, w.
> tyrone, take yardstick.
> tyrone, push bunny with yardstick. (Jude gets her bunny.)
> tyrone, put yardstick in backpack.
> tyrone, e.
> n. (Not a viable exit.)
> e.
Art Room
> take jude. take tyrone. s. w.
Hallway (outside gym)
> shout. s.
Gymnasium
> x bleachers. x mats. x horse. x beam. shout.
> w.
> tyrone, open equipment door. (It's locked.)
> s.
Locker Room
> drop tyrone.
> x boombox. open boombox compartment.
> tyrone, take batteries.
> tyrone, put batteries in flashlight compartment.
> x lockers. search lockers.
> jude, open locker.
You can ask a student to open the locker several times, in effect checking the "next" locker, so you can find more items. Usually, the locker will be empty, but you can find various junk items like a scrap of paper, an air freshener, a broken shoelace, a torn notebook cover, a broken ponytail holder, a bobby pin, a ratty towel, and an empty Cheetos bag. Only the bobby pin has any conceivable use to you, and only if you didn't take a paper clip.
> shout. (George answers from the office.)
> e. (The door is locked.)
> george, open door.
> ask george about pants. ask george about accident.
> ask george about george. ask george about pants.
Note that the second time you ask George about pants is when he tells you there's a spare pair in his locker.
> ask george about locker. ask george about regular locker. (It's A35.)
> ask george about combination. again. again. ("27 23 33?" It's randomly chosen.)
> n. n. e. e. e.
Locker Hallway
> x lockers.
> turn dial right to first-number.
> turn dial left to second-number.
> turn dial right to third-number. (The locker is still locked.)
> w. w. w. s. s.
Locker Room
> ask george about combination. (He just can't remember it.)
> take tyrone.
> n. n. e. e. e. e. n.
North Hall
> shout.
> tyrone, shout. (Samir thinks you're a ghost?)
> tyrone, shout. (Samir will now talk to you.)
> samir, look.
> samir, x wall.
> samir, x door.
> samir, x cabinets.
> samir, open cabinets.
> samir, x blackboard.
> samir, x desk.
> samir, x counter.
> samir, x shelves.
> samir, x rocks.
> samir, x mobiles
> samir, x vent.
> samir, open vent. (Too far up!)
> samir, climb desk.
> samir, open vent. (Still too far. Maybe the counter?)
> samir, climb counter.
> samir, open vent.
> samir, u.
> samir, look.
> samir, s.
> s. w.
Locker Hallway
> shout.
> samir, look.
> samir, e.
> e.
Hall Junction
> shout.
> samir, look.
> samir, s.
> s.
Cafeteria Hall
> x signs.
> shout.
> samir, look.
> samir, e.
> e. (The doors are locked.)
> s.
End of Cafeteria Hall
Tyrone will stay out of the dark kitchen to the east. Most students will be reluctant to go in there without any light.
> e.
School Kitchen
> x counters. n.
Cafeteria
> x windows. (Your first view of outside.)
> x tables.
> shout.
> samir, look.
> samir, x grate.
> samir, open grate. (It's screwed shut.)
> samir, s.
> s.
School Kitchen
> shout.
> samir, look.
> samir, d.
> samir, d. (Samir lands in the kitchen.)
> take samir. w.
End of Cafeteria Hall
> take tyrone.
> n. w. w. w. w. s.
Gymnasium
> drop tyrone.
> n. e. n.
Art Room
> w.
Mrs. McCaskill's Room
We have to use Samir for this. None of the other mobile students have both the will and the ability to pick locks.
> samir, w.
> give clip to samir.
> samir, unlock drawer with clip.
> x samir. x knapsack. open knapsack. x geode.
> samir, put clip in knapsack.
> samir, open drawer.
> look in drawer. x notebook.
You can get around the notebook/sprinkler issue if you just ask Samir to open the notebook for you, but you're supposed to take the notebook into a dry room and read it there.
> open notebook. (Sprinklers will ruin it.)
> samir, take notebook.
> samir, e.
> e.
Art Room
> samir, open notebook.
> read notebook. (You learn George's combination, eg: 57 R, 17 L, 13 R; it will be randomized.)
> samir, drop notebook.
> take samir.
> s. e. e.
Locker Hallway
> turn dial right to new-first-number.
> turn dial left to new-second-number.
> turn dial right to new-third-number.
> look in locker. x jeans.
> samir, take jeans.
> w. w. w. s. s.
Locker Room
> samir, give jeans to george.
> z. z. (George emerges from the office wearing the jeans.)
> e.
Coach's Office
> x desk. open drawer. look in drawer. x keys.
> samir, take keys.
> x poster. x basket. x soggy pants.
> samir, take stick.
> drop samir.
> samir, climb desk.
> samir, take stick.
> samir, put stick in knapsack.
> samir, w.
> w.
Locker Room
> take george. take jude.
> samir, n.
> n.
Gymnasium
> samir, unlock equipment door with keys.
> samir, drop keys. (The keys don't unlock any other doors, such as the cafeteria doors.)
> tyrone, open equipment door.
> w.
Equipment Room
> x tape.
> jude, take tape.
> jude, put tape in backpack.
> take jude. e.
Gymnasium
> drop jude. drop george. xyzzy.
I next want to help Keiko by getting the tape, lacrosse stick, and yardstick to her.
> jude, give tape to tyrone.
> tyrone, put tape in backpack.
> samir, give stick to tyrone.
> tyrone, put stick in backpack.
> look in tyrone's backpack.
> take tyrone.
> n. e. e. s. w.
Girls' Bathroom
I'm assuming I left the scissors here earlier.
> tyrone, drop tape.
> tyrone, drop stick.
> tyrone, break yardstick.
> tyrone, drop yardstick.
Fumbly attempts to put the yardstick on the broken leg or tying the yardstick to the leg, etc. will have the game cue the magic phrase SPLINT KEIKO. It'll work if the scissors, tape, and broken yardstick are here. You can't use your tie for any of this; you don't have the dexterity to untie or cut it, and the game doesn't recognize requests to students to remove, untie, or cut your tie.
> splint keiko.
> keiko, take stick.
> take keiko. (Unlike the other students, she'll follow at will unless you tell her to SIT.)
> take tyrone. e.
Fountain Alcove
All the students are free. Now it's time to create an exit. The only thing we've seen that remotely looked like an exit was the cafeteria window, which is high off the floor. We'll need to get the vaulting horse all the way over there so everyone can reach the window. And since we'll need to go through the dark kitchen, we better put the flashlight there first.
> take ashley. n. e. e. s. s. e.
School Kitchen
Only Keiko and Samir are willing to enter the kitchen when it's dark, so you've got to use one of them to plant the lit flashlight here.
> keiko, turn on flashlight.
> keiko, put flashlight on counter.
> n.
Cafeteria
> keiko, sit.
> s. w.
End of Cafeteria Hall
> take tyrone. take ashley. n. n. w. w. w. w. s.
Gymnasium
> samir, push horse n.
> n.
Hallway (outside gym)
> samir, push horse e.
> e.
Hallway (outside art room)
> samir, push horse e.
> e.
Hallway (outside Mrs Wagner's room)
> samir, push horse e.
> e.
Locker Hallway
> samir, push horse e.
> e.
Hall Junction
> samir, push horse s.
> s.
Cafeteria Hall
> samir, push horse s.
> s.
End of Cafeteria Hall
> samir, push horse e.
> e.
School Kitchen
> samir, push horse n.
> n.
Cafeteria
> open window.
> samir, throw geode at window.
> x window.
> keiko, give stick to ashley.
> ashley, break shards. (The window's too high up to do a good job of it.)
> ashley, climb horse.
> ashley, break shards. (The window is now safe as it's gonna get.)
> ashley, get off horse.
> ashley, give stick to keiko.
We're gonna need one of those floor mats from the gym too.
> take samir. take tyrone. s. w. n. n. w. w. w. w. s.
Gymnasium
> tyrone, take mat.
> tyrone, push mat n.
> n.
Hallway (outside gym)
> tyrone, push mat e.
> e.
Hallway (outside art room)
> tyrone, push mat e.
> e.
Hallway (outside Mrs Wagner's room)
> tyrone, push mat e.
> e.
Locker Hallway
> tyrone, push mat e.
> e.
Hall Junction
> tyrone, push mat s.
> s.
Cafeteria Hall
> tyrone, push mat s.
> s.
End of Cafeteria Hall
> tyrone, push mat e.
> e.
School Kitchen
> tyrone, push mat n.
> n.
Cafeteria
> tyrone, push mat e. (It goes through the window onto the sidewalk below.)
> ashley, climb horse.
> ashley, e. (She lands outside.)
> jude, climb horse.
> jude, e. (She lands outside.)
> keiko, stand.
> keiko. climb horse.
> keiko, e.
Keiko wants to know if this is her best option; she could wait here.
Answer Keiko (y/n) > y. (She lands outside.)
> george, climb horse.
> george, e. (He lands outside.)
> samir, climb horse.
> samir, e. (He lands outside.)
> tyrone, climb horse.
> tyrone, e. (He lands outside.)
> climb horse.
Are you sure you're ready? (y/n) > y.
Sidewalk (1st)
> x fence. n.
Sidewalk (2nd)
> x chopper. x figures. shout. (You can't seem to do it.)
> samir, shout. (All the kids shout until they're spotted.)
> x building. x driveway. z. z.
A hazmat suited woman descends a rope ladder from the hovering copter. She doesn't seem to see you.
> x woman. z.
The kids don't see you either.
> ask samir about me. (Or hear you. But Adam's somehow here.)
> x adam. (It seems that both you and Adam are ghosts. Samir was right all along.)
> save.
You have a choice. You can go with Adam or stay with the kids.
> follow adam —or— take hand —or— wait (several turns as the two of you argue it out).
*** The End ***
The player character:
Mr Ginsberg's homosexuality is irrelevant to the game's puzzles, but it does colour how the story is told. Although it's obstensibly a positive story about a gay hero who rescues children, one can't help but notice that his husband Adam seems to be the only good thing mentioned about his homosexuality. Every other mention involves conflict and negativity. We learn he was gaybashed when he was 17, that his mom didn't attend his wedding, that he was talked into a plainer wedding band than he wanted so as not to appear too provocative, and that his job could be lost if he complains about how his fellow teachers treat him. Admittedly, this is a bad day he's having, so perhaps he's justifiably feeling somewhat more negative than usual.
The students that you rescue:
Ashley is trapped in the supply closet in Mrs Wagner's room. A cinderblock fell on her skirt. You'll need to talk Ashley into cutting her skirt to free herself.
George is stuck in the coach's office because of a "pants accident"; he won't unlock the door until someone gives him his spare pants, which are in his normal locker. You'll have to ask him for the locker combo, which will prove to be wrong. When it's established that he simply can't remember the combo, you will then be willing to break into McCaskill's desk drawer for the combination. You'll need to ask Samir to do the actual lockpicking; none of the other students have both the will and the skill to do it.
Jude is stuck in your classroom because she needs Mr Bunny. Mr Bunny is stuck under a rubble-covered table. You will have to get another student to crawl over the table to the other side, into Mrs McCaskill's room, and push Mr Bunny free with the yardstick.
Keiko is trapped in the girls' washroom with a broken leg. You'll need to find materials for a splint and something she can use for a crutch, then splint her leg.
He's trapped in Mr Thomas's room; the door is blocked by rubble. You'll first need to convince him that you're not a ghost by getting other students to talk to him. Well, shout, rather than talk. Then guide him up into the vents and back out through the kitchen.
Tyrone is trapped in the boys' washroom; another student stuck a wedge under the door so he can't get out. You're too weak to pull the wedge out, but you can ask one of the other kids to take it.
Other non-player characters:
Other young people mentioned:
Other adults mentioned:
Famous people mentioned:
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