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+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ THE UPGRADED, CONSOLIDATED, INFOCOM BUGS LIST by Graeme Cree +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ graemecree@aol.com Revision 4, Serial Number 001126 (Based on earlier lists by C.E. Forman) "Last version was better," says Floyd. "More bugs. Bugs make game fun." -FLOYD's response to the VERSION command in all non-Solid Gold versions of Planetfall. During the 1980's, Infocom published 31 all-text and 4 illustrated text adventure games. Though they published other items: role-playing games, interactive comic books, a Clue-like strategy game and a corporate database, their text games are what they are primarily remembered for today. Although these games were remarkably well constructed, the occasional programming glitch did creep in here and there, and this list is an attempt to show all known bugs in these 35 games (plus a couple of others). Since many of them were corrected when the game was updated, this list also shows you exactly which versions of each game the bugs do and do not appear in. Each bug is given a number. At the beginning of each game's description is a chart, showing all known versions of the game, cross-referenced with a column for each bug. The column will show a "Y" if the bug appears in that version, and an "N" if it doesn't appear. The versions are listed in the format [Release #/Serial #]. For example, 10/880531 is Release 10, Serial Number 880531. The serial number is actually the date that the datafile was compiled. Versions that appear in the IBM version of Lost Treasures of Infocom or The Infocom Masterpieces Collection are preceded with an asterisk. This is usually the most recent version of the game, but not always. Commands that are to be entered into the actual game to produce the bug are shown in all caps. If anyone has any corrections, or comments, you may contact me at at graemecree@aol.com. Datafiles that do not appear on this list are of especial interest. NOTE: Chris Forman's earlier lists originally appeared in several different installments in XYZZY News, an online magazine devoted to text adventures (http://www.xyzzynews.com). This list is said to be "upgraded" in the sense that it has had many new bugs added since then, (and because it tells you which versions of the game do and do not have the bug), and "consolidated" in the sense that it's now all available in one place. BUGS THAT ARE NEW TO VERSION 4 OF THIS LIST When new bugs are added to the list, they are not always just stuck on to the end. Generally I try to arrange bugs for each game in order from least frequently occurring to most frequently, which may mean renumbering them. The discoverer of each bug is listed, when known. These are the bugs that are new to Version 4 of this list: Arthur: #1, #2, #3 Border Zone: #1 Beyond Zork: #7, #8 Enchanter: #6, #11, #12 Hitchhiker's Guide: #3 Infidel: #6 Leather Goddesses: #3 Lurking Horror: #8 Planetfall: #5, #8, #9, #10 Plundered Hearts: #7 Quarterstaff: #2, #3 Shogun: #1 Sorcerer: #4, #6 Spellbreaker: #4 Trinity: #6, #7 Wishbringer: #2 The Witness: #2 Zork 1: #12, #15, #16, #17, #18, #19, #20, #24, #25, #28 Zork 2: #4, #7, #8, #9, #10 Zork 3: #12 Zork: TUU: #1 Generic: #1, #2, #3, #4 Nord and Bert Unconfirmed: 11-24-00 A REMINDER: The Zork 1 Invisiclues book contains this question and answer: Q: Where do I find a machete? A: There is none. The game must have _some_ limitations. You can't expect to walk to the nearest airport and fly to London to see the British Museum... It is important to keep this in mind while perusing the list. Some of the bugs herein are legitimate (and amusing) problems, but others are things that would only have been found by enthusiastic players stretching the game beyond reasonable limits, and reflect no discredit on Infocom, Inc. Regardless, all bugs are presented here because a) they're fun and amount to unintentional Easter Eggs, and b) they may provide guidance to authors of shareware text adventures about what kinds of problems to look out for when writing their own games. These are things that not only got past the pros, but got past the _best_ of the pros. NOTE: The labeling for the list has been changed slightly. The old 3.1, 3.2, labeling format was getting impractical, since tiny changes in this list may be made at any time, sometimes frequently. As a result, the list is now labeled like an Infocom game, with a revision number and a serial number. The serial number is the date that the list was last updated. The revision number will increase by one every time I create a new update of The Ultimate Infocom Collection (i.e., next time I make a new version, the list will be changed to Revision 4). The Ultimate Infocom Collection (or TUIC) is my own personal archival backup of Infocom games that I created with a CD burner in 1995, and which I use for checking out new bugs (extreme overuse of the word "Ultimate" in the computer game world has made me regret the title, but it's too late to change it now). It has every Infocom game except Quarterstaff, (including Cornerstone, Fooblitzky, the Infocomics, et cetera), and all the various versions of the games, indexed with a series of batch file driven menus. For example, if I just want to play Zork 1, I can pop the CD in, type ZORK1 at a prompt, and go immediately into the Solid Gold version of the game. If I need to go bug hunting, the command ZORK1 ? gives a menu of all known versions of Zork 1, and lets you can push F1 to play Version 5, F2 to play Version 15, F3 to play Version 23, and so on. Little improvements are frequently made to the collection. When Infocom Masterpieces was released, I put all of its Adobe Acrobat documentation files into the next version. Now that I've gotten a colour scanner, I mean to scan in all the original Infocom documentation for a future version. I've been asked if I could distribute this, and of course I couldn't since it was all copyrighted material, but there may be hope on the horizon. There is a new program at ftp.gmd.de that lets you create a patch to turn one version of an Infocom game into another, provided that you first have the necessary legal copy of the game. With this program, I can upload patch files to GMD that would allow legal owners of a game access to any other version of the game. From that point, I could simply upload just the batch files and directory structure of the collection, and allow people to plug in the datafiles and create their own version. I've also thought of giving a copy to Activision in the hopes that they may use it as a giveaway with their next Zork graphic adventure, or something like that. ======================================= A Mind Forever Voyaging ======================================= VERSION BUG 1 2 3 4 *77/850814 Y Y Y Y 79/851122 Y Y Y Y 1. THE BEER BUG: The command PUT [noun] ON COUNTER (in the post office or a bar) will be interpreted by the game as PUT BEER ON COUNTER. For example, if you type PUT KEY ON COUNTER (in the Post Office when you are not holding a beer), the response is "That's easy for you to say since you don't even have the mug of beer." -- Torbjörn Andersson 2. Spending too many turns in Library Mode without exiting to Communications Mode, causes the game to crash and drop you to the DOS prompt. With Infocom's interpreter, there is no error message at all. With Frotz, you get "Fatal error: Stack overflow." When using Infocom's interpreter, the crash will occur after about 105 turns. With Frotz, it may take anywhere from 140 to 200 turns, but milage may vary from system to system. Apparently the stack is released upon leaving Library Mode, because if you time it so that you leave Library Mode just before the crash, the game will continue to operate normally. Since there only a few messages to read in Library Mode, nobody should have any reason to stay there nearly long enough to cause a problem. -- Torbjörn Andersson 3. In any version, if you stay in Simulation Mode long enough, you will find that the year does not advance, and the months keep going past December. The day after 12/31/2041 for example, is 13/1/2041. The 13th month has 31 days, but all succeeding months have 30. In addition, although Perelman explicitly tells you that the simulation takes place in real time, and that a minute in the sim equals a minute in the outside world, he never tries to reboot you or lose patience in any other way, no matter how many long you spend in Simulation Mode. -- Edan Harel NOTE: Let's not be too hard on Infocom on this or the previous bug. It may behoove us to recall the words of the Zork 1 Invisiclues Book that the games must have some limitations, and that you can't (in Zork 1) expect to go to the nearest airport and fly to London to visit the British Museum. Although both of these bugs could be fixed, Infocom would most likely have regarded them as examples of stretching the game beyond its reasonable limitations. -- GC 4. FUNNY RESPONSES: These work in any version (in Simulation Mode): >ENTER WALLET You see nothing unusual about your head. >ENTER HEAD You hit your head against your head as you attempt this feat. You must be holding your wallet in the first example for this to work. -- Steve McKinney ======================================= Arthur: The Quest for Excalibur ======================================= VERSION BUG 1 2 3 54/890606 Y Y Y (Amiga/Macintosh Version) 63/890622 Y Y Y (Apple ][ Version) 74/890714 Y Y Y (IBM Version) 1. THE UBIQUITOUS IDIOT: Although the idiot is in Town Square, you can fully interact with him (i.e. talk to him, trade with him), not only from the Churchyard, but also from Behind Gravestone. This works in all versions. -- Steven Marsh 2. THE PAPIER-MACHE IDIOT: On the first turn of the game (or any turn when the idiot is in sight, try this command (in any version): >POKE IDIOT The idiot is powerless to stop your attack, and you slay him mercilessly. Merlin appears before you and says sadly, "I see you have learned nothing, Arthur. I'm afraid my time with you has been wasted." Merlin says sadly, "You have failed in your quest, Arthur. Dark days lie ahead for all England." Sonafagun! What a wuss! But almost any "attack", however slight, will do the same thing; PUSH IDIOT, HIT IDIOT WITH DEAD MOUSE, SLAP IDIOT, et cetera. You can even kill him THROUGH the gate (i.e. from Churchyard, or Behind Gravestone)! At least TOUCH IDIOT won't kill him. Neither will LICK IDIOT, though the response, "You gnaw briefly on the idiot's leg, but quit when he begins to put salt and pepper on your arm." is more like what one would expect from BITE IDIOT. -- Steven Marsh 3. In all versions, trying to TELL the Kraken about anything (i.e. TELL KRAKEN ABOUT ME) gives the response "You can't talk the giant kraken. You are an eel." Not only is the word "to" missing from the sentence, the statement is also incorrect. You CAN talk to the kraken with verbs other than TELL. For example: ASK KRAKEN ABOUT ME, or KRAKEN, GO NORTHEAST. -- Alex Hoffer ======================================= Ballyhoo ======================================= BUG VERSION 1 2 *97/851218 Y Y 1. If you say RIMSHAW, FEEL MY HEAD in his presence, then the "put" command will no longer work with either the bucket or the dress-suit combination. PUT MASK IN BUCKET or PUT VEIL IN POCKET (of the dress-suit) will both work before issuing this command, but if you try it afterwards you get messages about how useless the command is. Using the put command to wear something (i.e. PUT MASK ON) will still work. If you say RIMSHAW, FEEL MY BUMPS, instead of FEEL MY HEAD, then the put command will still work normally afterwards. -- Torbjörn Andersson 2. If you put on the clown mask, and then try to wear the veil over the mask, you will be told "It won't fit over the veil." -- Duncan Stevens ======================================= Beyond Zork ======================================= BUG VERSION 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 47/870915 Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y 49/870917 Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y 51/870923 Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y *57/871221 N N Y Y Y Y Y Y 1. In versions 47, 49, and 51, you can take the hurdy-gurdy away from the Monkey Grinder without killing him, by using the levitation wand. He'll still be able to use it against you though, even if you leave and return without it. If you get rid of him by giving him the chest, the hurdy-gurdy will appear in the same area (Outside Guild Hall) regardless of where you left it. In version 57, the levitation wand doesn't work on the hurdy-gurdy. If you try it, the grinder grabs the hurdy-gurdy before it floats away and says "Cute." 2. BUTTERFLY BUG: In Versions 47, 49, and 51 if you have the butterfly on the rim of your goblet you can sell it in any of the shops with the command GIVE BUTTERFLY TO WOMAN (SELL BUTTERFLY will not work). A few turns later the butterfly will fly out of the case and land on your goblet again, allowing you to sell it repeatedly. You get 5 zorkmids the first time you sell it, with the value doubling on each succeeding sale (10, 20, 40, 80, 160, et cetera). It is even possible to win the game without obtaining the Crocodile's Tear by doing this. Selling the butterfly when you have more than 20,000 zorkmids, will make your balance go crazy, giving you something like -30,000 zorkmids. In Version 57, it is impossible to sell the butterfly at all. If you try, you get the message "You'd have to take the butterfly out of the goblet first.", and if you do take it, you can't hold onto it. 3. If you go to the Pool of Radiance, then type DIP ME IN POOL (as opposed to GET IN THE POOL), it will say that you see yourself in the pool, even though you really aren't there. However, you will now be unable to interact with yourself (EXAMINE ME, POINT WAND AT ME, etc.) for the remainder of the game, unless you are at the pool. There is no way to get "yourself" back out of the pool once you "put" yourself in. This works in any version. 4. If you read the scroll of recall while at the snowy clearing, you will be able to magically return to the lava and inscribe the glyph without obtaining the Ring of Shielding. This works in all versions. 5. In any version, typing THANKS, will generate the response "There's no need to thank the [string of garbage]." With Frotz, the string of garbage will merely be "ac" ("bc" in version 47). With the original Infocom interpreter it will be somewhat longer, varying depending on the version of the game. 6. The hourglass and arch, combined with the chest, can cause the game to lock up on you if used together, if you haven't opened the chest previously. Use the hourglass to travel anywhere in the Plaza's past or future. Wait until the sands have stopped falling, and then EXIT the arch. Then drop the chest and open it. You will go through the scene at the Fields of Transinfinite Splendor, but when the unicorns send you back, you will be in a room called simply "Darkness," and are told that you may be eaten by a grue, just like when you are inside the idol. However, apparently you are still in the vicinity of the arch, because your magic items (including the Scroll of Recall) still fail with the same error message you get when you are in the past or future, about how a nearby influence is blocking its magic. You can still feel the wind changing direction occasionally, indicating that you are outside. However, you cannot enter or exit the arch. If you try to go NE, SW, or W, nothing happens and you go to the next turn. If you go another direction, you are told "There's no exit that way." (even if your direction was ENTER!). If you turn on the lamp to see where you are, the status window will say "There's [your name] here. Inside [your name] you see [a list of your inventory]," your location will change to gibberish ("bc" in Version 47, "jc iindyysgvxc" in Version 57) and the game will immediately crash. This bug was probably not discovered during playtesting because of the great difficulty in getting to the ruins without the rose, combined with the fact that you cannot obtain the rose without first opening the chest. This bug is present in all versions. -- Chris D. Lang 7. THE RUG BUG: In all versions, you can move in a blocked direction simply by standing on the rug first. For example, on the first turn of the game, go NW (to "Edge of Storms") and then WEST, and you will be told: Kerblam! Forks of lightning dance across your path, and the clouds boom with laughter. However, bring the rug to the Edge of Storms, DROP RUG, STAND ON RUG, and then go WEST, and you will be able to get past without having the goblet. This bug can be used in several other ways. You can use it to get past the warning nymph into the Guild Hall, to get past the Christmas Tree Monsters without the caterpillar, to get past the wall of corbies to the rosebush in the Gray Grotto without the proper key, and to get past a hostile monster. This last can be very useful in escaping from a superior foe who is blocking the only exit. -- Paul Hart 8. In all versions, it is impossible to interact with the crocodile when you are in the same location as the idol, because of the similarity of their names. For example, if you try to ATTACK CROCODILE, you are told "Which crocodile do you mean, the idol or the crocodile?" Answering THE CROCODILE repeats the process. (NOTE: There are similar bugs in Deadline and Zork 2.) -- Mike Schiraldi ======================================= Border Zone ======================================= BUG VERSION 1 *9/871008 Y 1. OFF IN HIS OWN LITTLE WORLD: In Part 2, the owner of the hut can be most inattentive. Try this; leave your exploding pen on his front doorstep, set to go off at about 5 minutes after six, and then go to the north side of the house and watch. When the pen explodes, EXAMINE HUT will tell you "There's not much to tell; the entire wooden structure is now engulfed in flames, and the heat and smoke make it hard to get much closer." Does this disconcert our hero? Not a bit of it. If you keep waiting, you will soon seen him get up from his easy chair, and go to the back of the hut. He will then come back (still not noticing the fire), count the logs by his wood stove, and head out to the shed to get some more (to fuel the fire?). Only when he comes back from the shed will it dawn on him that his house is on fire, and you will be told "The man, carrying a pile of wood, walks into the clearing and seeing that his hut is on fire, runs off into the forest to the northeast." -- Dave Moderski ======================================= Bureaucracy ======================================= BUG VERSION 1 86/870212 Y *116/870602 Y 1. In both versions of Bureaucracy, if you leave the Foyer of the camouflagued house by going NORTH, the gate will close and lock behind you, preventing your return. However, if you leave using the GO TO command (i.e. GO TO BANK), this will not happen. - Torbjörn Andersson ======================================= Cutthroats ======================================= [No Known Bugs] VERSION *23/840809 ======================================= Deadline ======================================= BUG VERSION 1 2 3 4 5 6 18/820311 N N Y Y Y Y 19/820427 Y N Y Y Y Y 21/820512 N N Y Y Y Y 22/820809 N Y Y Y Y Y 26/821108 N Y Y Y Y Y *27/831005 N Y Y Y Y Y 1. In Version 19/820427 (only), the bathroom door on the first floor is impossible to open. OPEN DOOR generates the response, "Which door do you mean, the door or the south closet door?" Answering THE DOOR will start the process all over again. In earlier versions, the south closet door is visible from the hallway, but cannot be interacted with unless you are inside the closet itself, and so the game regards the bathroom door as the only one in the room. In later versions, it is called THE BATHROOM DOOR, rather than just THE DOOR, thus fixing the problem. However, not until Version 27/831005 is it possible to close the closet door from the hallway. Trying to CLOSE THE CLOSET DOOR generates the same "Which door do you mean" loop as trying to open the bathroom door in Version 19. -- New Zork Times 2. You can give objects to characters by putting the objects inside them, using the command PUT [object] IN [character]. For example if you PUT BOOK IN MS. DUNBAR, and then LOOK, you get the message: Ms. Dunbar is holding: a book. In Versions 18, 19, and 21, this is merely an oddity rather than a true bug, since the book can be given to the character anyway. But in Versions 22, 26 and 27, you can STILL give her the book by putting it inside her, although she will now refuse it if you try to give it to her in the normal fashion (i.e. GIVE BOOK TO MS. DUNBAR). -- Chris D. Lang 3. MR. ROBNER'S GHOST: Mr. Robner's ghosts haunts the estate, and can be interacted with if you phrase the commands properly. You can SAY TO MR. ROBNER "WHERE IS GEORGE", and get a response like "I haven't seen him today." or "I last saw him a few minutes ago. I don't know where he went, though." Mr. Robner's ghost will report seeing other characters at the same time you last saw them, as if you had asked the game WHERE IS GEORGE? On the other hand, if you phrase the command as ASK MR. ROBNER ABOUT GEORGE, you get the response "Mr. Robner can't hear you." Finally, you can even get this sequence: >KILL MR. ROBNER With a lethal blow of your hand, Mr. Robner falls dead. You must put a period after the "r" in Mr. for this to work. Since Mr. Robner is already dead before the game begins, this is a clear-cut case of overkill. To add insult to injury, the game then gives a description of your remorse and arrest for killing someone who's already dead. This bug appears in all versions of the game. -- Chris D. Lang 4. In all versions, Sergeant Duffy will always show up immediately if you try to arrest someone (or something!), even if he is away at the lab awaiting analysis results. Interestingly, in The Witness (all versions) this error is corrected, and you won't be able to arrest anyone in that game until Duffy returns. -- Chris D. Lang 5. No versions recognize the player as being in the room when he's sitting on a piece of furniture. For example, sitting on the couch and typing, BAXTER, TELL ME ABOUT ROBNER would respond with "You can't see any me here." -- New Zork Times 6. The six-letter recognition system used by Infocom's early parser often creates problems. LISTEN TO THE GARDENER generates a reply of "The roses make no sound." in all versions. The game, looking at the first six letters, considers "GARDEN" and "GARDENer" to be the same word. -- New Zork Times ======================================= Enchanter ======================================= BUG 1 1 1 VERSION 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 10/830810 Y Y Y Y Y Y N Y Y Y Y Y 15/831107 Y Y Y Y Y Y N Y Y Y Y Y 16/831118 Y Y Y Y Y Y N Y Y Y Y Y 24/851118 N N N N N N Y Y Y Y Y Y *29/860820 N N N N N N Y Y Y Y Y Y 1. THE JUG BUG: A well-documented bug in versions 10, 15, and 16 allows the player to fill the jug anywhere in the game simply by typing FILL JUG WITH WATER, provided that there is at least a small quantity of water already in it. If you try this in Versions 24 or 29 when there is no external water source present, you are told "The only water here is in the jug." -- New Zork Times NOTE: Both Chris Forman and I mistakenly claimed in earlier lists that this bug was corrected before Version 10, because the New Zork Times report listed the incorrect command: FILL JUG. However, Hekan Huss discovered the correct command, FILL JUG WITH WATER, and relayed it to me. All versions of Enchanter which contain The Jug Bug also contain The It Bug. See the discussion of this in the Generic Bugs section to learn how it affects this one - GC 2. In versions 10, 15, and 16, sending the turtle into the temple is interpreted by the game as though you'd gone in instead, and you are the one that is killed. This is also true if the turtle encounters the hideous shapes that roam near the Banquet Hall and Library. In later versions, the turtle is unaffected. -- New Zork Times 3. In versions 10, 15, and 16, casting Guncho on the rope around the jewelled box will work, but the box will be empty, and typing LOOK while the box is on the ground nearby will show you the rope, even though it isn't really there. In later versions, casting Guncho on the rope makes the box disappear as well. 4. In versions 10, 15, and 16, the lighted portrait in the gallery disappears one turn after you take it. The only way to get it is to TAKE it two turns in a row, and then immediately leave the Gallery with it. The first time you take it, the description says that you place it on the ground. The second time, it is added to your inventory. On the next turn, any command except an INVENTORY, or a directional command which takes you out of the Gallery, will result in the portrait being removed from the game permanently. In addition, it will also be removed from the game if you ever bring it BACK to the Gallery. Interestingly, in all versions of the game, even after this bug was fixed, the portrait continues to be called a "lighted portrait" even after you take it away from the candle. -- Alan Franzman 5. In versions 10, 15, and 16, if the turtle dies from walking into a dark space, his death is reported as though it were yours, like so: >TURTLE, GO NORTH The rainbow turtle, ever the good friend, leaves you. Oh, no! Something slithered alongside you and feasted on your person! *** The rainbow turtle has died *** In later versions, the turtle could survive the darkness. This is similar to what happens when you send the turtle into the temple in Versions 10, 15, and 16, but with this one, the turtle really is the one killed, not you. -- Graeme Cree 6. THE PHANTOM BLOCK BUG: In Versions 10, 15, and 16 the block of stone in the cell remains in the room description even after you've taken it. The block itself is invisible if taken and/or moved, and it can be made to teleport back into the cell. When you first enter the cell, the room description reads: This is a damp and unhealthy dungeon cell with writing on the walls. The rusty door of the cell is open. There are two ways that this description can change. One is by closing the door. The other is by taking the square block of stone (which can be seen by examining the walls). The first time you do this, the block is dropped in the room rather than added to your inventory, and an extra sentence is added to the end of the room description which reads: "A square block sits beside a passage in the eastern wall." However, if you TAKE BLOCK (again, this time putting it in your inventory), you will still be able to see it in the cell when you LOOK. You can take it anywhere, but it will be invisible both in your inventory and in LOOK commands (if you should drop it somewhere else and then LOOK). You will be able to EXAMINE it however. If you drop the block somewhere else, return to the cell, and then type TAKE BLOCK, the block will be teleported away from wherever you left it, and back into your inventory. In versions 24 and 29 this bug was fixed by making the block too heavy to lift. -- Allen Garvin 7. Here's one of those rare bugs that occurs only in later versions of a game. In Enchanter, you can "unfrotz" any glowing item except yourself with the command EXTINGUISH [tem], (EXTINGUISH SPELL BOOK, for example) generating the response "The [item] is now off." However, in the last two versions (24 and 29), this will be followed by: "It is now pitch black," regardless of whether you are now in the dark or not. -- Graeme Cree 8. Normally, if the player continues to wander around without sleep for long enough, he'll drop from exhaustion. If you happen to be near the Engine Room when this occurs, however, you won't be able to sleep because of the noise. After you drop, try typing DIAGNOSE, and you'll see garbage for the description of how rested you are. Repeat this several times, and eventually you'll start seeing the Rainbow Turtle's dialogue mixed in. This one works in all versions. 9. Here's a bug that erases the entire contents of your spell book. At the Landing, enter the following sequence: MEMORIZE BLORB. EAST. KULCAD THE STAIRS. CAST BLORB ON ME. When Belboz restores you to life, your spell book will be empty when you try to read it! You can do this in any version. 10. In all versions, it is possible to obtain the Kulcad scroll without the help of the turtle, by the following method. Empty the jug, and use the exex spell to go to the control room yourself. Then type the following four commands: TAKE SCROLL. PUT SCROLL IN JUG. THROW JUG AT HAMMER. NW. When you are brought back to life, the jug with the scroll still in it will be nearby. If you try to walk out of the room without throwing the jug at the hammer the (empty) jug will be at your feet when you are resurrected, but not the scroll. The THROW JUG AT HAMMER command is responsible for a slight bug all of its own. In versions 10, 15, and 16, you get the odd response: "The jug shatters into innumerable pieces. You're not carrying the jug." In versions 24 and 29, the second sentence is deleted. After you've thrown the jug at the hammer, but before you've been killed, the scroll is nowhere to be seen, of course. -- Asad A. Zaidi 11. TURTLE EGRESS BUG: If you are Inside Gate with the turtle, and say TURTLE, WEST (ordering him to leave the castle), he will refuse, explaining: "Uh, no thanks. I prefer to stay near my beach. I don't see much yummy seaweed out that way." But you can get around this simply by saying TURTLE, OUT. He will obey this command (which has exactly the same effect as TURTLE, WEST) and may then be ordered around normally once outside. This works in all versions. -- Allen Garvin 12. THE GATE BUG: A minor bug, present in all versions of the game. Every time you Rezrov the gate to Largoneth Castle, you get this same message: >REZROV GATE The chains of the iron gate fly into the air and vanish. The gate flies open and a blast of cold air fills your lungs. Even though the gate is already open (and the chains gone) after the first Rezrov, and can never be closed again. Interestingly, this bug is not there in the case of the Cell Door. If you try to Rezrov the Cell Door when it is already open, you get the natural response, "It's open already. Why bother?" -- Graeme Cree ======================================= The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy ======================================= BUG VERSION 1 2 3 4 47/840914 Y Y Y Y 56/841221 N N N Y 58/851002 N N N N 59/851108 N N N N (SG) *31/871119 N N N N 1. In Version 47, you can block the robot panel with almost anything (even the panel itself!) including unmovable items, by using the command BLOCK PANEL WITH [noun]. The only item this doesn't work with is "no tea." You can block the panel with Ford Prefect, the door, the display case, the switch, the keyboard, the fish dispenser, even the atomic vector plotter. This last will remove the plotter from the case, letting you obtain it without having to solve the babel fish puzzle! If you block the panel with an untakable item, there will be no way to move it again, which will make the game unwinnable if you haven't gotten the fish and plotter yet. Pseudo-items like the underwear, the mattress, and the cups will not work, of course. In later versions, you have to be carrying something before you can block the panel with it. -- Chris D. Lang 2. THE FLYING BODY PARTS BUG: In Version 47 (only), it is possible to detach parts of your own body, by placing them on top of the satchel in the Vogon Hold. For example, you can PUT HEAD ON SATCHEL (or eyes, ears, or hand), and you will see the part lying there. If you push the button, the body part will fly through the air, and be carried away by the cleaning robot, never to be seen again (assuming that the other parts of the puzzle are taken care of). You can lose your head this way, but still have your eyes and ears. Once removed, body parts are not takable. You can get them off the satchel, only by taking the satchel, in which case you will see them lying on the floor. Examining your head (or eyes or ears) while they are on the floor gives the same message as if they were attached (i.e. "That would involve quite a contortion"). The only way to move them after removing them is by pushing the button, picking up the satchel, or using the BLOCK PANEL WITH... bug. You can also MOVE EARS away from the panel, without picking them up. If you lose any body parts this way, you will, of course, be unable to interact with them for the rest of the game (for example, you won't be able to cover your ears during the Vogon Poetry reading if you have lost them). Otherwise, losing your head is no big loss. Later versions of the game tell you that you have gone insane if you even think about putting any body parts on the satchel. -- Linards Ticmanis 3. In Version 47, trying to SEARCH BED before GETting UP (at the beginning of the game) will cause the game to return no output at all, and go on to the next turn. In later versions it says "It's empty (not counting you)." -- Steven Marsh 4. In versions 47 and 56, you get 25 points each time you open the plotter case in the Vogon Hold. As there is time to open it twice before being put into the airlock, you can finish the game with 425 points out of a possible 400. In versions 58, 59, and 31, you only get the 25 points the first time you open the case. -- Matthew Russotto ======================================= Hollywood Hijinx ======================================= BUG VERSION 1 2 *37/861215 Y Y 1. You can empty the bucket while swimming underwater with it. -- Edan Harel 2. You can type JUMP from the Cannon Emplacement, and end up in the ocean inlet, thus providing an alternative to the gap in the stairs puzzle. You won't get the ten points, however. -- Chris D. Lang ======================================= Infidel ======================================= BUG VERSION 1 2 3 4 5 6 *22/830916 Y Y Y Y Y Y 1. The wooden mast of the Royal Barge is responsible for multiple problems in this game. According to the hint book, you're supposed to need both hands free to take the beam, which means you have to put the torch in the knothole. However, if you remove the shim, then go back up to Center of Barge, you'll be able to TAKE BEAM no matter what you're holding. So you never have to put the torch in the knothole. -- New Zork Times 2. THE BOOMERANG BEAM BUG: The beam also has the power of teleportation. It will always return to Center of Barge whenever you do, making it harder to get rid of than the Thing Your Aunt Gave You in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Try leaving it any place you like, other than in the niches. You can even throw it into the Nile and let it float away. Or burn it with the torch. No matter. When you return to Center of Barge, it will instantly be moved there with you from wherever it was before. If you put the beam in the niches, and return to Center of Barge, the beam is in limbo, so to speak. It will not be visible to LOOK commands, but it will still have been teleported there. You will be able to EXAMINE it and (if you didn't break the plaster) TAKE it. After you TAKE it, it will be completely visible again. However, if you don't take it, and go back to the west end of Narrow Passageway, it will still (?) be there in the niches, despite the fact that you saw it in Center of Barge and left it there. If you put the beam in the niches, DO break the plaster, return to Center of Barge, and TAKE the beam, you will fall into the pit of rats, just as if you had been standing on the beam in the Narrow Passageway at the time that you took it. If you return to Center of Barge with the beam in your possession, it will be teleported out of your inventory and onto the floor of the room! It is important to note that this bug will ONLY work if you used the PREVIOUS bug to take the beam without putting the torch in the knothole. Apparently lifting the beam up through the Hole in West End of Hold sets off some kind of flag in the program. If that flag is not set off, the program thinks the beam should be in Center of Barge and keeps transporting it back there every time you return. -- New Zork Times 3. You can LIGHT THE TORCH WITH THE MATCH anywhere in the game, regardless of whether or not the torch is present. If you leave the torch on the Royal Barge, move somewhere else, and light it from a distance, the Barge will not be destroyed. But for that matter, the Barge also won't be destroyed if you drop the UNLIT Torch on the Barge and light it while you're in the same room. (This provides yet another unintended solution to the Mast puzzle). Only dropping the Torch while it's already lit will destroy the Barge. -- New Zork Times 4. If you FILL THE SILVER CHALICE WITH WATER when it's already full, you get the contradictory response, "Okay. The silver chalice has been filled, but the silver chalice is now empty." (Sort of like "tea" and "no tea"?). This only works when there is not another full container present that you could have poured from. This does not work if the canteen is full. If the canteen is present and open, you will be told that the canteen is now empty, not the chalice. If the canteen is closed or absent or both, you will be told that the silver chalice is already full. This also works with the golden chalice -- New Zork Times 5. The container bug from Starcross and Zork I is also here, this time involving the knapsack and either the Cigarette Pack, the Silver Chalice, the Gold Chalice, the Matchbook, the Ancient Map, or the Pink Jar. If you first put the knapsack into one of these items, and then put that item in the knapsack, both will disappear. The Matchbook, Cigarette Pack, and Pink Jar, must be open for this to work with them. Although you CAN put the Knapsack into them while they're closed (!), you cannot then see the knapsack, in order to put the item into it. -- New Zork Times 6. As with many games, there are some items in Infidel that have an initial description when you first see them, and a secondary description after you've picked them up. For example, the first time you see the Opal Cluster, the line description says "An opal cluster, glistening with the light of a thousand fires, lies on the floor." If you pick it up and then drop it again, the line description will say simply "There is an opal cluster here." If you put one of these items inside the ancient map, fold the map, and then unfold it again, you will get the (now completely inappropriate) initial description. For example: >PUT THE NOTE IN THE MAP Done. >FOLD THE MAP Okay. The map has been folded. >UNFOLD THE MAP The ancient map opens. Tacked up to the inside of one of the tent flaps is a note. The last line SHOULD simply say "Unfolding the ancient map reveals a small spatula." (or whatever the item is). This bug works with the Cigarette Pack, the Shovel, the Matchbook, the Farewell Note, the Knapsack, the Bronze Torch, the Golden Cluster, the Diamond Cluster, the Ruby Cluster, the Emerald Cluster, the Opal Cluster, the Silver Chalice, and the Papyrus Scroll. This bug does NOT work with the Blackened Rock, Rope, Broken Lock, Sticker, Stone Cube, Jewelled Ring, Golden Chalice, Wooden Shim, Wooden Beam, or Small Spatula. It also does not work with the Pick Axe, Canteen, Crate, Navigation Box, Pink Jar, Broken Head, or Ancient Book, for the simple reason that these items won't fit inside the map. This bug works with closable items other than the map. For example, PUT THE KNAPSACK IN THE MATCHBOOK. CLOSE MATCHBOOK. OPEN MATCHBOOK., gives you the same effect. -- David J. Wildstrom ======================================= Journey ======================================= BUG VERSION 1 2 3 4 26/890316 Y Y Y Y (Macintosh version) 30/890322 Y Y Y Y (Amiga version) 77/890616 Y Y Y Y (Apple ][ version) 83/890706 Y Y Y Y (IBM version) 1. While looking for the White Stone (after having already found the Dwarf, Nymph, and Elf Stones), Bergon is wounded in a fight with the Orcs. It is possible to cure him. If however, you leave him to die, then later when you have left the caves and are trapped by the half-sentient trees, the game will give you this line: "I have seen these trees before," Bergon said darkly, "in the forest, where Minar was stricken by the Nightfang. We must find some other way, for there is no escape for us if we are caught in their grasp!" -- Torbjörn Andersson 2. Trying to drop the rope, generates the following message: Trying to lighten my load, I started to drop the rope on the ground. "Tag!" Praxix called out loudly, startling me. "What on earth are you doing with that rope? Dropping it here, of all places! How do you know we won't be needing such things? Now make yourself useful before I turn you into a toad!" This message even appears at the end of the game when Praxix has been knocked unconscious! -- Torbjörn Andersson 3. At the end of the game, if you haven't discovered the proper direction to the Misty Isle when you cast the Wind spell to get there, you will be asked if you really want to cast the spell. If you do, you will get lost. If you don't you will use up one unit of air essence, even though no spell has been cast. -- Torbjörn Andersson 4. On using the 'wind' spell to successfully get to the Misty Isle, Praxix is struck unconscious. In all versions, if this spell used up the last of the air essence, he will be sure to mention it, while out cold, like so: ... knocked Praxix to the ground, unconscious. "I have no time for parlor magicians," he said mockingly. Praxix now turned his thoughts to his magical powders, since his last spell had used up all his air. "Let us hope we shall not be needing it," he said, resignedly. "We know who you are, and we know what you seek," the demon continued, "but you will be needing a lesson in manners." -- Torbjörn Andersson ======================================= Leather Goddesses of Phobos ======================================= BUG VERSION 1 2 3 50/860711 N Y Y 59/860730 N Y Y 59/861114 N Y Y (SG) 4/880405 Y Y Y 1. At any point in the game, you can examine or push the purple and orange buttons on the barge, even when you're not in the same place as the barge. For example: >EXAMINE THE PURPLE BUTTON You can't see any purple button. The huge purple button reads: Go With The Flow. This one is only present in the Solid Gold release (4/880405). 2. This isn't exactly a bug, but is sort of an excessively long way to go to avoid having to add another feature to the game: The software refuses to let you take the portable circle into the mad scientist's house on Venus. He will ask you to "leaf your tube outsite,", claiming that he's allergic, and will make you drop it before dragging you inside, even if it is hidden inside something else, like the basket. -- John Payson 3. THE BOBBIT BUG: In all versions of Leather Goddesses of Phobos, it is possible to detach parts of your body by putting them on one of the black circles. However, unlike a similar bug in Hitchhiker's Guide, this one only works with your "naughty bits." You have three "naughty bits," all three of which ARE referred to as "naughty bits" by the game, and each of which can be placed on a circle separately. One represents the male genitalia, one the female genitalia, and the third represents the mammalian glands. You have the same three "naughty bits" regardless of whether you are playing the game as a male or a female! (If you REALLY want to know all the synonyms the game uses for these, you can either use the infodump.exe utility to list the game's vocabulary, or look at the raw HTML file of this page, and look for a comment tag. I'm not mentioning them here as this list is staying G-string rated...Ack! G-rated!!). If you put a naughty bit on a circle, it will disappear just like any other item. For example: >PUT BOSOM ON CIRCLE You get all cross-eyed trying to follow the non-dimensional journey of your naughty bits into the black circle. When you get your eyeballs untangled again, your naughty bits is gone. Ouch! Just like any other item placed on the circle, it will be waiting for you at the other end when you teleport through the circle, and will be listed on the item line after the room description. For example after the room description it might say "You can see your naughty bits here.", or "You can see your naughty bits and a blanket here." If you put all three on the same circle and then teleport through, you will be told "You can see your naughty bits, your naughty bits and your naughty bits here." However, you will be unable to interact with said bit or bits for the rest of the game. Any attempt to do so (when they are in the same room with you) gives the standard reply "You don't need to refer to your naughty bits to complete LEATHER GODDESSES OF PHOBOS." A generic TAKE ALL command will not work either. Once you have left your naughty bits behind (no pun intended), you will be unable to interact with them for the rest of the game. If you try to EXAMINE BOSOM (for example) after leaving it behind, you will be told "You can't see any bosom here!" (rather than the generic message about not needing to refer to it). As mentioned, trying to do this with any other body part does not work, and gives you insulting messages (like "It's the looney bin for you!") if you try. After fixing a similar bug in the first release of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Infocom presumably was on the lookout for such things in the future, but forgot to do so when a game came along with body parts not included in previous games. -- Scott Lindsay ======================================= Lurking Horror ======================================= BUG VERSION 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 *203/870506 Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y 219/870912 Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y 221/870918 Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y 1. When you encounter the rats in the steam tunnels, try escaping them by climbing on the coaxial cables above you. Eventually the rats will swarm up and start to bite you, making you fall. But if you try letting go of the cables before they do this, you'll get two descriptions of your death -- one saying that you let go of the cables, and the other saying that the rats bit you and made you fall. 2. If you ask the hacker about the keyring or a single key, the response goes like this: "I've accumulated a few keys over the years. I'm a licensed locksmith, which helps. I can get into any room at Tech. He pulls the keyring out on its chain, and *shows off a key you hadn't noticed before*." This happens every time you repeat the question, even if you already do know about the master key. 3. You are able to go through the login procedure on the PC more than once. If you enter the wrong values while the PC is already up and running, the response goes as usual: "Invalid Login, Login Please". EXAMINE PC on the other hand, shows that the computer still executes its current task. 4. The behavior of the PC after your returning from the 'stone-scene' isn't consistent. The command EXAMINE SCREEN produces the reasonable reply "There's nothing recognizable on the screen", but EXAMINE PC still answers "On the screen you see a menu box." In addition, the help key doesn't recognize that the pc has crashed and works as before. 5. When the hacker sits in the plastic chair during the debugging sequence, go south and then return north to the terminal room. The room description says that the hacker is sitting in the plastic chair, while the output from EXAMINE HACKER claims that he is sitting in his own office chair. -- Martin Braun 6. Go to the Chemistry Building without finding or reading the suicide note. Knock on the door, WAIT and you will be admitted to the Alchemy Lab. Read the sign-up sheet, then WAIT three times and you will remember that the student on the sheet had jumped off the tallest building on campus. Then READ SHEET again, and you will realize that the student was also the author of the suicide note that you haven't seen yet. -- Cable Hicks 7. The command ASK HACKER ABOUT KEYS will automatically teleport the master key into the hacker's hands no matter where it is, even if you have lost it in a place where it cannot be recovered (for example, if you have dropped it in the pit beside the altar). When you first get the key, go south to the second floor and drop it. Then go NORTH, ASK HACKER ABOUT KEYS, SOUTH, LOOK. The key will be gone. Go NORTH again, and ASK HACKER FOR MASTER, and he will give it to you again. This works in any version. 8. If you leave items lying around, the urchin may pass by, and pick them up (similar to the thief in Zork 1). But any time the urchin is in the room with you, you can take any of your items that he has simply by typing TAKE [item]. You will not be able to see an item in his possession first, but you can deduce that he has it if you know that it isn't where you left it lying. This only works with items of yours that he has picked up, not with the bolt cutter, or any items mentioned in his description (i.e. parka, hat, shoes). This works in all versions. -- Jeffrey Scott Nuttall ======================================= Mini-Zork I ======================================= NOTE: This game was never released commercially. It was an abridged version of Zork I released as a demo for the Amiga in 1987. BUG VERSION 1 34/871124 Y 1. The lunch can be eaten an infinite number of times. If you eat it, you get a message saying that it was yummy, but it will still be in your inventory. This is likely a bug and not a "feature" because a) it doesn't work this way in the full-size version of Zork I, and b) the lunch is not necessary to win the game. -- Graeme Cree ======================================= Moonmist ======================================= BUG VERSION 1 4/860918 Y *9/861022 Y 1. On a certain turn, Bolitho will always ask if you are the famous young detective, even if he has already told you so on a previous turn, or the same turn! As a result, this odd exchange can be generated: >ASK BOLITHO ABOUT ME "You're [your name], the famous young detective. Bolitho coughs diffidently, and asks [your name]? Am I right in assuming that you are the well-known young American detective? To be fair though, I discussed this with Stu Gally via e-mail once, and he said that even if they had noticed this that they might very well have left it in deliberately because in an introductory game, it's more important to make sure that the players know who they are, especially if they didn't read the documentation well. -- Graeme Cree ============================================== Nord and Bert Couldn't Make Head or Tail of It ============================================== [No Known Bugs] VERSION *19/870722 ======================================= Planetfall ======================================= BUG 1 VERSION 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 20/830708 Y Y Y Y N Y Y Y N Y 26/831014 N Y Y Y N Y Y Y N Y 29/840118 N N Y Y N Y Y Y N Y *37/851003 N N N Y Y Y Y Y N Y (SG) 10/880531 N N N N N Y Y Y Y Y 1. In version 20, pushing the elevator button more than once will make it restart its descent, with no ill effects. In later releases, pressing the button again has no effect while you're on the way down. But if you press the button after reaching the bottom, you get this result: >PUSH BUTTON Stunning. After days of surviving on a hostile, plague-ridden planet, solving several of Infocom's toughest puzzles, and coming within one move of completing Planetfall, you blow it all in one amazingly dumb input. The doors close and the elevator rises quickly to the top of the shaft. The doors open, and the mutants, which were waiting impatiently in the ProjCon Office for just such an occurence, happily saunter in and begin munching. **** You have died **** 2. In Versions 20 and 26, taking the fused bedistor, then dropping it, will make it impossible to pick up again without the pliers, since the game thinks it is still fused to the socket. -- New Zork Times 3. In Versions 20, 26 and 29, you can get Floyd to bring you the shiny fromitz board repeatedly, with FLOYD, GET BOARD, after you have first obtained it, but before you have installed it in the socket. However, if you type AGAIN, after FLOYD, GET BOARD, it will say "You already have it." In later versions, Floyd tells you that he already did that if you ask him to get the board a second time. -- New Zork Times 4. THE WEBBING BUG: In all versions except the Solid Gold, the safety webbing is responsible for a slight bug. Ordinarily, it is impossible to take items in the escape pod while you are in the webbing, as you will be told "You can't reach it from here," and LOOK will say that the item is outside the safety webbing. However, you can get around this by trying to WEAR the item (i.e. WEAR TOWEL). This will generate the response: (Taken) They're out of fashion, and besides, it wouldn't fit. In the Solid Gold Version, this bug was fixed, but not, as one might expect, by making it impossible to take items by trying to wear them. Instead, the restriction on taking items while you are in the web was dropped completely, and "(taken)" was changed to "Taking the [item] first." -- Jim Bakman NOTE: There is a similar bug in all versions of the game (even the Solid Gold), that allows you to TAKE the brochure while you are in bed, by READing it. -- GC 5. In Version 37 (only), you cannot open or close containers (such as the canteen or the survival kit) while in bed. If you try, you are told "You can't reach it from here." In previous and later versions, there is no problem doing this, provided of course that you are holding them at the time. -- David J. Wildstrom 6. It's more of a style error than a bug, but all versions of the game consider Blather and Br'gun-te'elkner-ipg'nun to be sexless. If you try to SHOOT BLATHER or SHOOT AMBASSADOR, you will be told "You have nothing to shoot it with." -- Matthew Russotto 7. If you turn Floyd off in any room with a door, you can generate this response: >POINT AT DOOR "You go first," says Floyd. Similiarly, pointing at any other object in the room causes the deactivated Floyd to give you a confused look. This works in all versions. -- Chris D. Lang 8. THE TIDE BUG: The rising ocean bypasses the Winding Stair in all versions of the game. At the beginning of the game, there are four locations arranged vertically; the Crag, the Balcony, the Winding Stair, and the Courtyard. On Day 2 the Crag will be underwater (this can be seen from the Balcony). On Day 3 the waters will be lapping at the base of the Balcony. On Day 4 the Balcony will be underwater, and you will hear lapping water from the Winding Stair. On Day 5 you will see ocean water splashing against the steps of the Winding Stair. So far so good, but now it gets weird. On Day 6, the Winding Stair reverts back to its original description, with no sight or sound of ocean. Meanwhile, you'll now be able to hear the sound of surf from the Courtyard (the top level). On Day 7, nothing changes. On Day 8, ocean water will be washing against the top steps of the Courtyard. The Winding Stair MUST be submerged by now, right? Wrong, you can still go there safely and see no signs of the ocean, just like on Days 1-3. Another problem: the Invisiclues book specifically states that the rising ocean is caused by melting polar ice caps. However, repairing Planetary Course Control has no effect on the ocean level, despite the fact that we get the "Course Diversions Minimizing" message after making the repair. We can explain the failure of the waters to _recede_ by arguing that repairing the planet's course is a much slower process than its deterioration was. But why should the water continue to rise? Perhaps the process must first slow to a stop before reversing? There is a final problem with the tides. If you fall asleep on the Crag the first night, you will be drowned by the rising water. No problem there. However, if you fall asleep in the Pod the first night, and then reach the Crag for the first time on Day 2, it will look completely normal. If you then climb up to the Balcony, you will get the Day 2 description about how the Crag is underwater today. -- Graeme Cree 9. THE DOOR BUG: In the Solid Gold Version (only), you can open the door to the pod while still in the webbing, and get the response "The bulkhead opens and cold ocean water rushes in." Of course this is wrong. The pod is still on the Crag, and does not fall into the ocean until after you've gotten out of the webbing. The phantom "water" has no effect (the game doesn't even know the word "water"). Nothing will happen, and the pod will not flood if you wait around. There is still no danger until you get out of the webbing, and the pod really falls into the ocean. This bug only appears in the Solid Gold version because in previous versions, it was impossible to open the door while inside the webbing. Various restrictions on actions you could perform from inside the web were removed in this version. In so doing, they fixed the Webbing Bug (ibid) but created this one. -- Graeme Cree 10. THE ESPNIS/GIRGOL IN SPACE BUG: There is a major glitch in Planetfall's treatment of time-based events (e.g. elevators, shuttlecars, bio-lock, rad-lock, the entire endgame from Station 384 on, Floyd's initial awakening, hunger, et cetera), namely that they are put on hold when you fall asleep. For example: at 5000 chrons or so you can move the shuttle car out of the station and wait around until you get sleepy. (You can't do it any later because you can't activate the shuttlecar in the evening). Then when you're about to drop from fatigue you set the lever on +. You'd think that you whould die in your sleep, after ramming into a concrete wall at 60 or so MPH. Nope.... when you wake up, only one turn has passed from the point of view of the shuttle... if the car was going 25 when you drop, it's 30 when you wake, and you've only moved one location. You can sleep in the rad-lock without dying of rad-poisoning (although you still die 3 turns AFTER you wake up). You can sleep in the bio-lock with the door open, if you time it right. You can also sleep after you close the door behind Floyd and leave him to fight the mutants for the Miniaturization Card (although timing is critical...). Despite the fact that Floyd is not in the room, when you wake up he will comment that you look silly sleeping on the floor. And of course, he does not die in the lab because you were sleeping when you should have been letting him out. You can let him out just as if you'd never slept at all. If you summon an elevator and fall asleep, it arrives after you wake up. If you take a trip on an elevator, it will end after you've woken. If you activate Floyd for the first time and fall asleep, he will wake up after you do. Station 384 will not reactivate in your sleep, nor will the laser completely cool, if it's been fired. If you're fighting the microbe when you fall asleep, he won't kill you, though you will have to pick up the laser when you wake up, since you drop everything when you fall asleep. And of course, you can fall asleep with the mutants chasing you, or in the ride on the Cryo Elevator. No problem. Again, the rest of the world will just have to wait while you have your little nap. You won't die of hunger in your sleep, but you will be reminded of it as soon as you wake up. This last taken by itself would not be considered a bug, though. You sleep so long, that you could easily go to sleep not hungry, and die of starvation anyway, if every turn that passed while you were asleep counted normally. We can simply chalk that one up to lowered metabolism while asleep. -- David J. Wildstrom ======================================= Plundered Hearts ======================================= BUG VERSION 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 *26/870730 Y Y Y Y Y Y Y 1. Although the game normally makes you drop Lafond's hat if you try to leave the library with it, you can remove it from the Library by first taking it, and then throwing it out the window. It isn't particularly useful elsewhere, though. Lafond has no interest in it, even if you point it out to him. If you return to the library with it, you will have to go through the same procedure to remove it again. -- Chris D. Lang 2. THE BEWIGGED MAN: Lafond is present everywhere you go, in a manner of speaking. If you refer to him as "bewigged man" (a synonym suggested to the player in the ballroom dance scene) and not as "Lafond", "man" or anything else, you'll get responses from Lafond whether he is present or not. If you say EXAMINE BEWIGGED MAN, you'll get a description of Lafond. If you speak to him, (i.e. BEWIGGED MAN, TELL ME ABOUT THE RING), you'll generally get the response "He fails to notice you've spoken." Attacking the "bewigged man" anywhere except the Ballroom or the Balcony will get you Lafond's, "Consider this a warning, my love," reaction the first time, and will get you killed the second time. If you ATTACK THE BEWIGGED MAN at the Balcony, you'll be told "You can't reach Lafond." If you ATTACK THE BEWIGGED MAN at the Ballroom, you'll get Lafond's humorous reply, about how you shouldn't try to kill him at the ball for fear of what the guests would think. Lafond is apparently the only character in the game who has a "double." -- Chris D. Lang 3. THE FIRE BUG. If you try to burn something you are holding when there is no fire present, you get a double message; one saying that you don't have any fire, and another telling you that you need to drop it first. For example: >BURN INVITATION You have no source of fire. You'll have to drop the invitation first. If you drop the item, and then try again, you get another double message, one saying that there is no fire, and another saying that the item won't burn anyway. Like so: >BURN BANKNOTE You have no source of fire. You can't burn a banknote! If you try to burn something you're wearing, you are told there is no fire, and then told to remove the item for your own protection. i.e.: >BURN BALL GOWN You have no source of fire. Unless you relish a fiery death, you had better remove the beautiful ball gown. If you try to burn anything in a room that DOES have a fire source (for example a torch or fireplace), you'll be told "Ladies do not play with fire." -- Chris D. Lang 4. Whenever you read the invitation to the ball, you get the message afterwards, that says "A ball! You haven't been to a ball in months!" as though you were just hearing about it for the first time. You can even take the invitation back from the butler and get this same message while you're AT the ball. (This is more of a stylistic error than a bug). -- Graeme Cree 5. When you enter the Dungeon to rescue Jamison from Crulley, the game output immediately switches to Brief mode. -- Torbjörn Andersson NOTE: Torbjörn disassembled the datafile and showed me a page from the code, that showed how Brief mode was called when you entered the room. There may have been some programming reason why this was included, since it seems completely arbritrary otherwise. - GC 6. THE LOVE BUG: When Jamison is trapped in the manacles, an alternate way of rescuing him is to tell him that you love Lafond, which makes him walk away in disgust. Unfortunately, the game will now be unwinnable, since he never shows up again. If you tell him you love Lafond abord the Helena Louise (before you could possibly have met Lafond), he will tell you not to make jokes. If you tell him at the Folly or the Ball, he will walk away in disgust, but will show up later. If you try to tell him just before Crulley shoots him to save him, he will be unable to hear you over the waves. -- Brian Almquist 7. In the hold of the Helena Louise, you can PUT or THROW HAND THROUGH GAP. If the fuse is still burning, you get the response: "You throw your hand into the ammunition area. It skids into the darkness, over the burning end of the fuse. The fuse falters, spits and resumes burning. If the fuse is not burning, the message will just read: "You throw your hand into the ammunition area. It skids into the darkness." As with similar body part bugs in other games, you will still be able to move and pick up things normally, but will no longer be able to interact with your hand. Trying to LOOK, TOUCH, SMELL, et cetera, your hand will meet with the response, "You can't see any hand here!" -- Michael Cuffaro ======================================= Quarterstaff ======================================= NOTE: This was a role-playing game purchased and rewritten by Infocom in 1988. BUG VERSION 1 2 3 2.0c (Macintosh) Y Y Y 2.0e (Macintosh) Y Y Y 1. You've tried to burn something and your machine crashed, right? Or you walked into a particular location and your Mac froze up for an eternity? You've had the privilege of encountering the dreaded BURN bug in QUARTERSTAFF. To avoid the crash, NEVER burn anything that has a sub-menu (for instance, any creature carrying an item or any item that acts as a container). Stick to burning torches and doors. When you get to the Charred Room, don't linger there. The room is so hot it will set your party on fire and, eventually, crash your machine. So, go through in just one turn. (The only item in the room is a BRONZE SEAL. Once you get the BRONZE SEAL KEY, send one party member back to unlock it. That will eliminate problems there). Finally, on the second level of the dungeon, the region with areas A1 through A5, etc., contains land mines which will also set your party on fire. If you stick to the D's and the 5's, you'll avoid the mines and the crashes. -- Quoted from The Status Line 2. It's picky and obnoxious to mention it, but what the heck, it's an excuse for a screen capture (in the HTML version of this list, at least). The colour graphic for both known versions of Quarterstaff describe the huge spider as a "Hige Spider". -- Graeme Cree 3. In Quarterstaff, tapping on a wall with a secret room behind it will yield a hollow sound, while tapping on other walls gives a solid thud. So far, so good. However, if you tap on a wall that has a NON-secret room behind it, you ALSO get the solid thud. -- Graeme Cree ======================================= Seastalker ======================================= BUG VERSION 1 15/840501 Y 15/840522 Y 16/850515 Y *16/850603 Y 1. If you try to use the words RESTART, RESTORE, VERSION, or $VERIFY as either your first or last name, the program will regard them as commands, not names, and react accordingly. This can be very interesting with VERSION, since the player's name is a part of the game's title. If you try to use VERSION as your last name (i.e. JOE VERSION), the output from the version command will list the games title as "SEASTALKER: JOE --- AND THE ULTRAMARINE BIOCEPTOR". If you try to use VERSION as your first name, the title is "SEASTALKER: --- --- AND THE ULTRAMARINE BIOCEPTOR." -- Graeme Cree ======================================= Sherlock ======================================= BUG VERSION 1 2 3 *21/871214 Y Y Y 26/880127 Y Y Y 1. In all versions, it is possible to travel on foot through the darkened streets of London without the lamp if you know where you're going, and can arrange for a light to be there waiting for you. On the first turn (for example), typing GO NORTH will generate the response: You start off into the fog, but think better of it when you realize you have no light to guide your way. However, try the following commands at the start of the game: BLOW WHISTLE. BLOW WHISTLE. DRIVER, GO TO YORK PLACE. NORTH. The driver will go to York Place without a passenger in the cab, and the game will let you walk there without the lamp on the next turn because there is a light at the destination (all cabs have lights, even though they aren't mentioned in the description). As a result, you can go anywhere in town without the lamp simply by sending the cab on ahead. You must have an accurate map, however. In the preceding example, you must type DRIVER, GO TO YORK PLACE, because DRIVER, GO NORTH will not work. Incidentally, speaking of light sources, there is one exterior location where it is never dark: outside Holmes residence, where there is a gas light, the only one in the game. Apparently Holmes' importance to the nation was so great that he was the first person in London to get one installed. -- Graeme Cree 2. It's possible to get rid of Wiggins forever. At Threadneedle Street, first type WIGGINS, FOLLOW ME. Then, call a cab and enter it. When inside, type WIGGINS, STAY. Then exit the cab, and let it drive off with Wiggins inside. You'll see the cab (or A cab) again, but Wiggins is gone for good. Apparently, the cab drops him off somewhere outside of the game, then returns without him. You can only do this AFTER Holmes has been kidnapped, since Wiggins will not follow you anywhere before then. -- Chris D. Lang 3. If you type THANKS or THANK HOLMES in Holmes Study before he learns about the jewel robbery you will be told "[There's nobody here to thank.]" -- Graeme Cree ======================================= Shogun ======================================= BUG VERSION 1 292/890314 Y (Macintosh Version) 295/890321 Y (Amiga Version) 311/890510 Y (Apple ][ Version) 322/890706 Y (IBM Version) 1. In Chapter 6, Voyage to Osaka, after Rodrigues has been swept overboard, there are two things you can do about it. You can either swim after him during the storm, leaving the ship in danger, or you get the ship to safety first, row the skiff to shore, and search for him along the cliffs. If you take the second course of action but, when you enter the skiff, type ROW TO RODRIGUES, instead of ROW EAST (to get to shore), you will get the descriptions you would have gotten from the first course of action. You will be told how you are swimming towards him (even though you are rowing), and he will criticize you for leaving the ship in danger (even though it isn't). You will be unable to rescue him, and the other samurai in the skiff with you will be no help. The problem is caused by the fact that Rodrigues is not moved to the cliff area until AFTER the player goes ashore, and so the Implementors did not count on the player being able to reach him in the skiff. It could have been fixed by moving Rodrigues to the cliffs as soon as the ship reached the bay, and adding messages about being unable to row to him. -- Alan Franzman ======================================= Sorcerer ======================================= BUG VERSION 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 4/840131 Y Y Y Y Y Y Y N 6/840508 N Y Y Y Y Y Y N 13/851021 N N N N Y Y Y N *15/851108 N N N N Y Y Y N 18/860904 N N N N Y Y Y Y 1. In Version 4, you can TAKE any spell scroll except VARDIK and AIMFIZ at any point in the game, no matter where it is, as long as you are not in bed (awake), and the spell has not yet geen gnustoed. If you are in bed, you will be told you can't reach it. If you try to TAKE VARDIK, you are told that your twin refuses to part with the smelly scroll. AIMFIZ can only be taken after the chest is opened, and you can get a second AIMFIZ scroll this way. If you try to TAKE SWANZO, the glass maze rearranges, and you get the normal message about turning around and seeing it happen, no matter where you are. If you TAKE GOLMAC and cast it on yourself outside the mine, the game says "You are surrounded by a puff of smoke and feel disoriented for a moment. When the smoke clears, nothing seems to have changed." In most cases, this is a reasonable response if all that has happened is that you've gone back in time a couple of minutes. Golmac can be Gnustoed, but casting it on yourself twice in the same game will make you cease to exist. Trying to take a scroll that has already been gnustoed will give you one of several different error messages, claiming that it's impossible. Apparently, to the game the scroll no longer exists to be taken after it has been gnustoed, but does still exist if it has only been used. If you take and gnusto the MALYON spell, then play and win the Hawker's game (which should make him give you the no-longer-existing MALYON Scroll), he will seemingly give you the glittering scroll, and you will be able to see it in your inventory, but any attempt to interact with it (i.e. read, examine, drop, gnusto, et cetera) produces the response "Bug #72." Although the scroll doesn't exist any more, the fact that it is listed in your inventory will make the game think that you are encumbered, and you will be unable to stop in the Slanted Room when you go down the chute. If you TAKE YONK, and then go to the cannon and look in the barrel, you will see the pile of identical scrolls. This is supposed to represent the Yonk scroll that you have plus the Yipples imitating it, but the game considers the Identical scrolls to be a separate item). If you then put the guano in the cannon, the yipples will leave the cannon, and the yonk scroll will be moved from wherever it is (even if it is in your inventory), and put into the cannon in place of the Identical Scrolls. Since the Yonk spell cannot be gnustoed, there is no way to create a "Bug #72" error, like the one in the preceding paragraph. If you frotz a scroll, use it (without gnustoing it), and then take it again, it will still be frotzed. If you take a scroll while dreaming at the beginning of the game, you will still have it when you wake up. Apparently the implementors never considered the possibility that you might acquire an item while asleep. -- New Zork Times 2. In versions 4 and 6, Belboz's journal can be opened with the key, but cannot be closed. If you try to close it, you get a message saying "It's already open." -- Graeme Cree 3. In versions 4 and 6, the Spell Book is ruined by water, but scrolls are not. -- Graeme Cree 4. In versions 4 and 6 you cannot drop items down the lower coal chute in the Coal Bin Room. -- Matthew T. Russotto 5. Trying to fill a vial with water causes a warning nymph to appear and warn you against damaging the vial this way, even if you are underwater with the vial already open when you do it. -- Graeme Cree 6. THE VILE VIAL BUG: Vials and water don't mix in Sorcerer. In all versions of the game, if you try to open a vial full of potion in the Lagoon (either at Surface of Lagoon, or Lagoon Floor), you get the message "As you open the vial it fills with water, washing away the potion. A moment later a fish swims by, acting very strangely." However, the vial ISN'T opened at all. It is in fact impossible to open a vial at either of those locations. Furthermore, in versions 4 and 6 (only) just TRYING to do this will make it impossible to interact with the white door, making the game unwinnable. Okay, well what about if the vial is opened BEFORE you enter the lagoon? Well, in every version except Version 18, taking an opened vial full of potion with you into the lagoon has no effect on the potion at all. You don't lose it, and in fact, can even drink it underwater! In Version 18, opening the (already opened!) vial will cause you to lose the potion, though there is no message telling you that this has happened. -- Matthew Russotto 7. If you die while in the presence of your older self and get resurrected, the game continues to report his exploits, even though you cannot see them. Go to the Sooty Room and have the Vilstu and Blort potions handy. Then Gaspar yourself, and from the Sooty Room, type the following commands: EAST. DRINK ORANGE POTION (your older self will now appear). DRINK AMBER POTION (being under the effects of both potions at once will kill you). You will die and reappear at the West End of the Midway. After the room description, it will say "From the NEXT room you glimpse someone gasping for air." At the end of the next turn's output it will say: "Someone in the coal bin room dives into the lower chute." Strange. You will be unable to enter the Coal Bin Room again, as it has been permanently blocked by a cave in. Therefore, your older self should have ceased to exist. This works in all versions, but was apparently never spotted before owing to the difficulty of finding a way to die after drinking the Vilstu potion. -- Graeme Cree 8. There have been numerous rumours of problematic responses in version 18 of Sorcerer. Here are a couple of examples. From the beginning of the game, input the following commands in sequence: Z, GET UP, WEST. Then, you can get the following responses: >LOOK AT THE SORCERER You see nothing special about the Servants' Quarters. >LOOK AT THE SERVANT Someone must have cast the frotz spell on the River Bed, because it is glowing brightly. In all previous versions of the game, you get a normal response telling you that those things aren't there. -- Linards Ticmanis ======================================= Spellbreaker ======================================= BUG VERSION 1 2 3 4 63/850916 Y Y Y Y *87/860904 N N N Y 1. In Version 63, if you try using the knife to cut up the magic carpet while you are sitting on it, the game will still consider that you are sitting on the carpet, even though it was destroyed (you will be told that you need to get up first if you try to move). If you then get off the carpet, the status line will show garbage, and you will find yourself in a location with no description and no exits. The only way out of this area is via blorple. If you destroy the carpet while in one of the blorple areas, (i.e. when one of the cubes is missing) and blorple a second time to escape the jumbled area, only the second cube will materialize in your hand when you leave the Blorple area. The first is gone forever. NOTE: This bug may behave differently, under different interpreters. When playing the Apple ][ version, the game hangs when you try to leave the jumbled area. -- GC 2. Also in Version 63, typing THANKS gives you the response, "How do you do that with a [string of garbage]?" Weird, considering Infocom usually handled Q&A and rhetorical replies pretty well. Version 87 responds with "You're welcome, I guess." 3. GIRGOL/BLORPLE BUG: Finally, Version 63 also has the famous Girgol/Blorple bug that caused quite a commotion in the rec.games.int-fiction newsgroup a while back. Normally, if you try to get by the ogre by casting Girgol, the scroll and gold box will be frozen in time and you won't be able to take them until the spell wears off, at which point the ogre will come in and kill you. But casting the Blorple spell on a non-magical object, and then waiting in the Nondescript Room until Girgol wears off, allows you to exit and take the Espnis spell and gold box without being killed by the ogre. There was considerable disagreement as to whether or not this was really a bug, until it was discovered that, in the second release (version 87/860909), included with LTOI, the Girgol/Blorple solution to the ogre's cave does not work. Apparently the folks at Infocom decided that it was in fact a bug and removed it from the game. 4. In all versions of Spellbreaker, if the bottle is full, using the command TINSOT WATER on any body of water (except the water in the Oubliette), will affect the bottle, wherever it is, rather than the water you cast the spell on. For example, fill the bottle with water, and drop it in Hall of Stone. Go SOUTH to Ruins Room, and TINSOT WATER to try to freeze the water in the channel. You will get the response, "The water and bottle freeze and shatter into a million pieces!" Go back NORTH, and the bottle will be gone. Another minor problem. Freezing the water in the bottle will always shatter the bottle, regardless of whether the bottle is open or closed, although realistically, the bottle should not shatter if it is open. -- Paul Rizzo ======================================= Starcross ======================================= BUG VERSION 1 2 3 4 5 6 15/820901 Y Y Y Y Y Y *17/821021 N N Y Y Y Y 1. In version 15, you are able to get the red rod from the rat's nest by typing NEST, DROP RED ROD. -- New Zork Times 2. In version 15, you can turn off the beam of energy in the Laboratory by typing BEAM, GO WEST, generating the reply "The beam leaves the room." -- Graeme Cree 3. In versions 15 and 17, you can put the red disk on the blue disk, then put the blue disk on the red disk. This causes them both to disappear, along with anything else that was on either of them. Similar bugs appear in early versions of a few other games (such as Zork I and Infidel) that have items acting as containers. 4. Climbing the tree and typing THROW HANDS results in, "The pair of hands sails away, drifting in a long arc towards the ground." 5. The bunk on the Starcross is not openable, yet if you try to PUT THE TAPE LIBRARY IN THE BUNK, you will get the response "The bunk isn't open." -- Graeme Cree 6. Here's an odd case where a bug got worse instead of better in later versions. In Version 17, if you ENTER VIEWPORT on the bridge of the Starcross, and drop an item, then it is gone forever. However, in the older Version 15, the item is only gone forever, if you leave the viewport after dropping it, and then return. If you drop it and then try to pick it up again without leaving, you will be able to. -- Graeme Cree ======================================= Stationfall ======================================= BUG VERSION 1 *107/870430 Y 1. On any turn, the command HAND HAND HANDS will generate the response "I don't think the c uuoyseems even has hands." This is most likely due to unitialized memory in the interpreter. It occurs in both Frotz and the original Infocom interpreter, but Linux zip just gives blank spaces instead of the garbage. -- Bernd Schmidt ======================================= Suspect ======================================= BUG VERSION 1 *14/841005 Y 1. It is possible to get to Veronica's office before her murder occurs. At the beginning of the game, you have to get to the office by going west 3 times, south 6 times, west twice, and then north twice. This will get you to the office at 9:13 P.M., where you will see the fairy mask, but not the description of Veronica's body. Although Veronica actually reaches the office at 9:11, two minutes earlier (which can be confirmed by playing the game using the ZIP or FROTZ interpreter with the -o switch active), her description doesn't turn up until 9:14. Typing LOOK the turn after you enter the office will cause time to pass, making it 9:14, and Veronica's body will suddenly appear out of nowhere. -- Paul David Doherty ======================================= Suspended ======================================= BUG 1 1 VERSION 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 5/830222 Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y 7/830419 N Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y 8/830521 N N Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y *8/840521 N N Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y 1. In the earliest version (5/830222), there is no way to determine which of Iris' shorted chips needs to be repaired. 2. THE CARBON UNITS BUG: In versions 5 and 7, it is possible to establish a cryolink to the humans in charge of deactivating you. At any point in the game, even before they arrive (except when they are sleeping), you can give the command HUMANS, KILL HUMANS, (or SELF) and get the response: FC: Cryolink established to People. HUMANS: They're shutting me off! FC: So much for that robot. Too bad. There is no way of reactivating them again (obviously). If you try to contact them, after deactivation, you will be told: "FC: Humans is no longer functional." Robots in the same room will be able to detect the deactivated humans. The humans have a name for everything, just as the robots do, but they were never intended to be seen by the player. HUMANS, EXAMINE ME, for example, will give the response "That's difficult unless the HOME has been opened." With other orders the humans will take no notice of you, and you will be told simply "They don't respond." Once you get a "They don't respond," you will be unable to break the cryolink, or contact any of the robots. Even the suicide order and the RESTART command will give you a "They don't respond," although QUIT works normally. In both Version 8's of the game (Version 8/Serial #830521, and Version 8/Serial #840521), attempts to contact the intruders will be met with "FC: You can't talk to the humans!" -- Fredrick Ramsberg 3. You don't need to use two robots to move Fred from the cabinet. In all versions, you can cheat and use just one by typing BOTH SENSA AND SENSA, MOVE FRED. 4. In any release, you can CONFIGURE the game on the second move, not just the first. This means you can make one move (most likely picking up an object) and then re-configure the game to put the robot with the object in a better position. This can be a great time-saver if used correctly. 5. There's also an error with the map that was never fixed. Referring to the southeastern (blue) section: Alpha FC / | / Primary Channel / | --- Cavernous Room --- East End --- Beta FC \ | \ Secondary Channel \ | Gamma FC While you can walk northeast from East End to the Alpha FC, there is no direct route back from Alpha FC to East End using compass directions, and no indication that this is a one-way corridor. Any attempt to backtrack by typing SOUTHWEST results in a standard "You can't go that way" message (slightly different for each robot), despite the fact that it directly contradicts the map. However, if a robot in Alpha FC is ordered [ROBOT], GO TO EAST END, he can make it in one turn, which could only be achieved by going Southwest. 6. Have Waldo get the four-inch cable and be incapacitated. Have Poet drag him to Alpha Repair to be fixed, and send them both back to the Primary Channel, this time letting Waldo get zapped. If Poet LOOKs, he will see a non-functional Waldo in the room, while Waldo will see a non-functional Poet. This works in all versions. -- Graeme Cree 7. Setting robots to follow each other in a chain doesn't work in any version. From the beginning of the game, try this sequence: >IRIS, GO TO CENTRAL CHAMBER >SENSA, FOLLOW IRIS >POET, FOLLOW SENSA >IRIS, GO TO WEATHER MONITORS >WAIT >IRIS, SENSA, POET, REPORT The report will show you that Sensa followed Iris, but Poet did not follow Sensa, and remained behind in the Central Chamber. -- Jim Bakman 8. Another Cryolink bug, but this one was never fixed. It is possible to establish a cryolink to most inanimate objects in the game, by first establishing a link to a robot in the same room, and then ordering both the robot and the inanimate object to do something, all with a single command line. This can be used to win the game faster, or just to produce amusing results. For example, if Sensa is in the Small Supply Room, you can get the following sequence: >SENSA, HI. SENSA, HOLDER, GIVE CUTTER TO SENSA FC: Cryolink established to Sensa. SENSA: Hello. FC: Cryolink already established to Sensa. SENSA: I don't have the metal tool. FC: Cryolink established to top shelf. FC for both robots: Given. and Sensa gets the cutter without having to use the step. Here's another example: what would happen if you tried to use this bug to get Iris's panel to open by itself? Put Iris and Waldo together and try this: >WALDO, HI. WALDO, PANEL, OPEN PANEL. FC: Cryolink established to Waldo. WALDO: Hello. FC: Cryolink already established to Waldo. WALDO: It's too delicate for my normal extensions. FC: Cryolink established to panel. FC for both robots: I'm not equipped to do that to the MP1. The last line will repeat until the game crashes to DOS with a "Fatal Error: Stack Overflow" error (in Frotz; no error message with the original Infocom Interpreter). There are far too many possibilities to mention them all here, as different objects cause different results though moving from one room to another usually causes a crash. A whole book could probably be written about the effects of this bug and experimentation can be quite amusing. -- Jim Bakman 9. WHERE'S THE BLT?: In any version, Whiz can see the motorized walkway, or BLT, until he has to interact with it. Send Whiz and another robot (Waldo, for instance) to Alpha Repair, and you can get this sequence: >WHIZ, EXAMINE BLT FC: Cryolink established to Whiz. WHIZ: There is nothing on the BLT. >WHIZ, DRAG WALDO TO BLT FC: Cryolink already established to Whiz. You'll have to tell me where the BLT is. Either this is a bug, or Whiz won't carry out your orders until you get him a bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich. -- Jim Bakman 10. THE GHOST OF IRIS: Iris is supposed to be confined to 7 areas at the southwest corner of the map. To ensure this, the designer made it impossible for her to be dragged by any of the other robots, and made her refuse to follow them outside of the area. However, it is possible to get her into the other areas of the map by having her "ghost" follow another robot. Just follow these steps: 1. Have a robot take the Dense Wedge (or W1) from the Sub Supply Room to Alpha Repair and put it on the step there. 2. Have Waldo Fix Iris' visual circuits. 3. Have Waldo Fix the machine in the Main Supply Room. 4. Push the button in the Main Supply Room to expose the wires. 5. Have Iris follow Waldo. 6. Have Iris try to take the wire in Main Supply, shorting herself out. 7. Send Waldo to Alpha Repair. (You'll get a message that he can't go from one of the rooms to the next, but he'll make it anyway. Iif you tell him to LOOK while he's in motion, you'll be told "In the room with me is a non-functional Iris." The ghost of Iris is following him.) 8. Once in Alpha Repair, say WALDO, PUSH IRIS ONTO BLT 9. Wait a few turns until you get the message: "IRIS INTERRUPT: It's great to be back." Iris can now be moved throughout the complex using either compass directions or GO TO commands, though if she enters her old perimeter, she will be "stuck" again. -- Jim Bakman 11. THE MOBILE-CAM BUG: The TV camera beams images to Iris, but can only be plugged in at the Primary or Secondary Channels. When a robot carrying a plugged-in camera leaves either of these areas he/she automatically unplugs the camera first...unless! Unless that is, the robot left the area as an indirect result of a follow command, instead of a direct order. Try this: Give the camera to Whiz, and send Whiz and Sensa to the Primary Channel. Then enter the following commands: >WHIZ, FOLLOW SENSA >WHIZ, PLUG IN TV1 >SENSA, SOUTH >WHIZ, POINT CAMERA AT SENSA When Sensa moves, there will be no mention of the camera being unplugged, and when Whiz points it at her, Iris will receive the transmission, even though there is no place at Beta FC (their new location) to plug it in. In fact the camera will now work anywhere. This bug is present in all versions. -- Jim Bakman ======================================= Trinity ======================================= BUG VERSION 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 11/860509 Y Y Y Y Y Y Y *12/860926 Y Y Y Y Y Y Y 1. The Book of Hours is not reversed after passing through the Pergola in any version of the game. This could be considered more of a design flaw than an actual bug. (Or perhaps the book doesn't change because it represents time, which, unlike directions, cannot be reversed.) 2. When you're on the paper bird above Nagasaki, and you hear the plane approaching, type LISTEN. You'll die, but the message will be the same as if you'd still been on the ground rather than flying on the paper bird. 3. Saying ROADRUNNER, DROP ME results in "The roadrunner drops yourself at your feet." The room description then says "There's yourself here." Leaving the location and coming back does not change the situation. And strangely, referring to the dropped "yourself" is interpreted by the game as an attempt to interact with the roadrunner. The roadrunner will only drop "you" once -- trying it again causes the game to say "The roadrunner doesn't have that." 4. Carrying the splinter into the bottom of the reservoir also reveals a small blooper. The room description talks about the lantern's beam, even if you are carrying the splinter instead of the lantern. Evidently the author never considered the possibility of someone going to the Trinity site without solving all the other puzzles first. 5. Typing THANKS gives the reply "There's no need to thank the b ." -- Graeme Cree 6. You can prevent the origami bird from being damaged in the pram ride by storing it in the bag of crumbs after emptying it. Thus, you never need to give it to the little girl to refold it. This works in both releases. -- Allen Garvin 7. No matter where you are in the game, the command FIND LONDON gives the response "You're already in London.". FIND NAGASAKI on the other hand works correctly, and gives the response "You'll have to do that yourself." if you are elsewhere. <I>-- Zach Matley</I> ======================================= Wishbringer ======================================= BUG VERSION 1 2 68/850501 Y N *69/850920 N N (SG) 23/880706 N Y 1. THE GOLD BUG: In Version 68, you can take the gold coin back from Miss Voss after buying a movie ticket, enabling you to repeat the action and earn an infinite number of points. This version was included in the Macintosh version of LTOI2, but not the IBM version. 2. THE CAT BUG: Try the command FOLLOW CAT, from anywhere in the game, (except when you're in the tower with the black cat, or at the end when you have Chaos but haven't removed him from the display case. In Version 68 you get the response "But the black cat is nowhere to be seen!". In Version 69 you get the slightly less revealing response "You can't see any cat here!". But in the Solid Gold Version you get the buggy response "You can't reach inside the closed display case." even though the display case isn't there. -- Benjamin Anderson ======================================= The Witness ======================================= BUG VERSION 1 2 3 4 5 13/830524 Y Y Y Y Y 18/830910 N N Y Y Y 20/831119 N N Y Y Y 21/831208 N N Y Y Y *22/840924 N N Y Y Y 1. In Version 13, a player can become trapped in the shower or broken window by typing GET IN WINDOW or GET IN SHOWER (ENTERing the tub or shower will not work). If you try to leave, the game will think you are sitting in the chair and tell you that you need to stand up first. However, if you try this you will be told that you are already standing up. In later versions, GET IN [shower or window] produces the same failure message as ENTER [shower or window]. - New Zork Times 2. In Version 13, you can GET IN CLOCK, but you will be unable to get out of it again. Furthermore, almost every command you give from then on, will respond "You can't see any clock here!", including QUIT, RESTORE, and RESTART. -- Mike Cuffaro 3. You can GET A DRINK anywhere in the game. This is present in all versions. -- New Zork Times 4. THE PHREAKY PHONG BUG, or THERE'S A PHONG US AMONG US: Any time after Phong goes to his room (about 11:45), if you drop the mystery book you will get the message, "Phong picks up the book and starts to read," even if he isn't in the room with you. If he is in the room, you get the same message. Anytime you drop the book in his room in his presence, he will pick it up and read, but he will let you take it back from him without argument. What an agreeable fellow. -- Laurie M. 5. THE GUN BUG: If you open the clock and put the hidden handgun back inside (after retrieving it from Monica), you will be unable to interact with it for the rest of the game. If you LOOK IN CLOCK, you will see it, but if you try to take it or interact with it in any other way, you will be told that you cannot see it. -- Edan Harel ======================================= Zork Zero ======================================= BUG VERSION 1 2 3 296/881019 N Y Y (Macintosh Version) 366/890323 N Y Y (Amiga Version) 383/890602 Y Y Y (Apple ][ Version) *393/890714 Y Y Y (IBM Version) 1. In the IBM and Apple ][ versions there is a slight bug, based on the fact that Y and YES are synonymous that allows you to get credit for incorrectly answering a riddle. When you try to TAKE THE KEY in the Solar, the Jester will ask the following: "You can find me at the beginning of youth, in the center of every eye, and at the end of eternity. What am I?" The answer is Y, but if you say YES, you will get the key all the same, since the game thinks that Y and YES are the same thing. Note that you must say only YES. Variations, such as ANSWER YES, ANSWER "YES", and the like will not work. In the Macintosh and Amiga versions, saying YES draws the response "You sound rather positive," and you do not get the key. -- Brock Kevin Nambo 2. After you put John Paul Flathead's spyglass in the cauldron of Megaboz, you can go back to the Frigid River Valley and ask Otto for it again, and put it in the cauldron repeatedly. You can't get infinite points this way, because you can never put more than 24 Flathead items into the cauldron. Trying to put in a 25th, gives you the message: "As though there were now an invisible bubble around the cauldron, the [item] slides away from it and lands on the floor." Putting in ANY 24 Flathead items, even 24 spyglasses will let you say the magic word and activate the curse, so technically, this is the only item you need to win the game. There is no way to get two spyglasses at the same time this way, as getting a second spyglass will make the first one disappear. 3. Any chess piece on the plain can be duplicated by use of the teleportation pigeon and the perch. Take the perch and pigeon, and wear the cloak to get to the plain. Drop the pigeon in an empty square, then go to a square with a piece, and order the piece into the square where the pigeon is. The piece will leave, pick up the perch, and then rematerialize in your square. However, if you go to the square where the pigeon is, an exact duplicate of the piece will still be there, holding the pigeon. -- Admiral Jota ======================================= Zork I ======================================= BUG 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 VERSION 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 2/AS000C Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y N N Y Y Y Y N Y N Y Y Y N Y N N Y Y 5/ N N Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y N Y Y Y 15/UG3AU5 N N N N N N N N N N N N Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y N Y Y Y 20/ N N N N N N N N N N N N N Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y N Y Y Y 23/820428 N N N N N N N N N N N N N Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y N Y Y Y 25/820515 N N N N N N N N N N N N N Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y N Y Y Y 26/820803 N N N N N N N N N N N N N Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y N Y Y Y 28/821013 N N N N N N N N N N N N N Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y N Y Y Y 30/830330 N N N N N N N N N N N N N N Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y N Y Y Y 75/830929 N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y 76/840509 N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N Y N Y Y Y Y Y Y Y *88/840726 N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N Y Y Y Y Y Y Y (SG) 52/871125 N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N Y Y Y Mini-Zork 1 34/871124 N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N Y N N Y Y N N 1. Many commands which produce strange output in later versions, give no response at all in Version 2, and the game simply goes on to the next turn. For example, the commands READ MAILBOX, and EAT ME give no response at all in Version 2, but in the next version (Version 5), you get "How can I read a mailbox?" and "I don't think that the you would agree with you." -- Alan Franzman 2. THE SLIDE BUG: In Version 2, when you drop items down the slide, the game first tells you that it's done, then tells you it can't be done, and then removes the item from the game entirely. For example: >DROP TRIDENT IN SLIDE The crystal trident falls through the slide and is gone. I can't do that. The trident is now out of the game. -- Alan Franzman 3. The earliest releases of Zork I (Versions 2 and 5) can become very confused if you nest objects too deeply in your inventory, such as putting the lunch in the sack, then the sack in the coffin. You may get very spurious output from the INVENTORY command like "Such language in a high-class establishment like this!" messages, with other random junk interspersed in it. This can also lead to the object hierarchy getting screwed up, in such a way that an INVENTORY might claim that you are carrying a bunch of rooms around! ADDITIONAL: Technically this bug is present in all versions of the game. In Versions 2 and 5 it occurs when three objects are nested (i.e. canary in egg in sack). In later versions it only occurs when 7 objects are nested, which is difficult but not impossible to create. Take the canary, egg, sack, buoy, coffin, and (inflated) boat to the Shaft Room, and issue the following commands: PUT EGG IN SACK. PUT CANARY IN EGG. PUT SACK IN BUOY. PUT BUOY IN COFFIN. PUT BOAT IN BASKET. PUT COFFIN IN BOAT. LOOK. (As everything can't be carried simultaneously, some TAKE and DROP commands may need to be interspersed here.) When you LOOK, a random phrase from somewhere else in the game may be mixed with the output. In the Solid Gold version, the phrase "up to your ankles" (from when the water is rising in the Maintenance Room) will be before the description of the canary. In other versions there are different effects, some random phrases, and some gibberish. -- Michael the Great 4. In Versions 2 and 5, commands such as GO DOOR or GO TREE can send players into random locations. -- New Zork Times 5. In Version 5, the command HIT MIRROR WITH SWORD will generate combat responses, such as "The mirror parries", or "The mirror dies in a cloud of sinister black fog." In Version 2, you miss the mirror and the game crashes with a Stack Overflow error. -- Graeme Cree 6. In Versions 2 and 5, the command GIVE AXE TO TROLL will generate a response like: "The troll accepts your gift, and not having the most discriminating taste, eats it. The troll, dismarmed, is cowering and begging for forgiveness in the gutteral language of the trolls." (In Version 2, he GLEEFULLY eats it. Picky, picky.) Though the troll can no longer attack you, he still blocks the exits and parries, while continuing to beg for forgiveness. -- Graeme Cree 7. In Versions 2 and 5, if you give the troll to himself, he eats himself and disappears. He still bars you from leaving the room though, only now he can't be attacked. -- Graeme Cree NOTE: In fact, as Ethan Dicks has pointed out, virtually anything can be given to the troll (or thief) in this version: your hands, your eyes, the eastern wall, a compass direction, even "ME". The troll will then eat them and you will be unable to interact with them for the rest of the game (although you can still go "east" if you give "east" to the troll). The thief of course will leave them lying around instead of eating them. 8. In Versions 2 and 5, if you give the troll to the thief, the thief puts the troll in his bag, but the troll still blocks the exits. If the thief is killed, the troll reappears. -- Graeme Cree 9. In all versions after Version 5, if you try to use a compass direction while in the boat, the game will (reasonably) tell you that you can't go that way in a magic boat. In Versions 2 and 5, it will tell you that you can't go that way in a tan label. -- Graeme Cree 10. In all versions after Version 5, when you reach the portion of the river where the buoy is, the description will tell you that the buoy is "(outside the magic boat)". Versions 2 and 5, tells you that the buoy is "(in the room)"! -- Graeme Cree 11. If you try to GET OUT OF THE BOAT while floating down the river, all versions of the game tell you that you realize "just in time" that such a course would be suicidal. In all versions before and after Version 5, the game prevents you from leaving the boat. In Version 5, it lets you leave and kills you, despite having told you that you had realized not to do it. -- Graeme Cree 12. THE FLOODGATES BUG: In version 5, if the nest is not taken at location "Up a Tree", the room description eventually changes to a torrential flood of output, several screens long, containing a mishmash of fragments of room, noun, and action descriptions that you see whenever you enter the room (except in superbrief mode), or do a LOOK. It isn't clear precisely what causes it, but it happens every time if you go down into the GUE, through the maze, grab the bag, come out through the Cyclops Room into the Living Room, and outside to the tree. It might be triggered by a certain point level, or something else. If you try to TAKE the nest after the bug has triggered, the game will lock up. Taking the egg before or after has no effect. -- Graeme Cree 13. In Versions 2, 5 and 15, shaking an open container that isn't empty may crash the game. This works with the sack, but not the bottle. -- New Zork Times 14. In Versions 2, 5, 15, 23, 25, 26, and 28, you can bump your head on things such as the river by trying to enter them. -- New Zork Times 15. THE WIMPY PHANTOM THIEF BUG: You know, that thief is really tough in combat. Why not fight his phantom instead? He doesn't fight back. In Versions 2, 5, 15, 23, 25, 26, 38, and 30, engage the thief in combat (outside of his lair). Wait until he robs you and leaves; you will see this message: The other occupant just left, still carrying his large bag. You may not have noticed that he robbed you blind first. At this point, continue to attack the thief, using the AGAIN command. You will continue to attack the no-longer-present thief, but he will not fight back, and eventually you can do enough damage to kill him. A couple of points; this won't work if you attack the thief with the sword, since when he "robs you blind", he takes the sword as well as your treasures. You must use the axe or nasty-looking knife. Also this only works with the AGAIN command, (with AGAIN representing ATTACK THIEF WITH AXE, or something like that) not by attacking him directly. Thirdly, it may take several tries to get this to work, since the thief does not always rob you in the middle of a fight. Sometimes he stays and fights (and kills you). Killing the phantom thief kills the real one as well, and you can now explore the game without interference from him, even when you find his lair. Sound great? Well, there is one SLIGHT hitch. Remember the things the thief took when he robbed you blind? He never had a chance to stow them in his lair, and they are nowhere to be found when you kill the phantom (his stiletto is left behind, but not his bag). This means any treasures that he took are out of the game, and the game may be unwinnable. Therefore, the only way to use this bug to your profit is to engage the thief in combat when you are carrying no treasures (except the sword, which he will take). -- Kevin (Piouhgd@aol.com) 16. In Versions 2, 5, 15, 23, 25, 26, 28, and 30, you can take the torch into the Gas Room without setting off an explosion, provided that it is inside the Raft or the Coffin (open or closed). -- Allen Garvin 17. In versions 5, 15, 23, 25, 26, 28, and 30, the single-line description of the torch and candles stays unchanged after they have been removed from their initial locations. For example, put the torch into the gold coffin, close it, then open it again. You will see: >OPEN COFFIN The gold coffin opens. Sitting on the pedestal is a flaming torch, made of ivory. OR: >OPEN COFFIN The gold coffin opens. On the two ends of the altar are burning candles. In versions 75, 76, 88, and 52, this is fixed, and you get these responses: >OPEN COFFIN Opening the gold coffin reveals a torch. >OPEN COFFIN Opening the gold coffin reveals a pair of candles. This doesn't seem to work in Version 2, if only because in that one, the coffin is so much smaller, and can't contain either the torch or candles. -- Graeme Cree 18. In Versions 2, 5, 15, 20, 23, 25, 26, 28, and 30 you can take the boat while already in it. Drop the (inflated) boat in the living room. Then GET IN BOAT, PUT BOAT IN CASE, and then GET ALL FROM CASE. The game will respond: magic boat: Taken. nail: It's not in that! At this point you will be both occupying and carrying the boat. A LOOK command (and attempting to move) will tell you that you are in the boat, but it will not show up in an INVENTORY command. Once you get out of the boat, it will be placed in your inventory. This assumes that you are playing the game from the original Infocom interpreter. Frotz 2.32 will put up with none of this nonsense, and will crash the game when you try to GET ALL FROM CASE. In versions 75, 76, 88, and 52 this does not work, because you are prohibited from PUTting things unless you TAKE them first. But the lack of such a prohibition in earlier versions may be responsible for numerous bugs. For example in versions 30 and earlier, you can take the raft to the Treasure Room, and PUT CHALICE IN RAFT without first defeating the Thief in combat. -- Allen Garvin 19. THE PICKUP BUG: In games like Planetfall and Enchanter, people have reported situations where one could exceed normal weight limits, and carry something that they could not pick up themself, simply by having someone hand it to them. I have never regarded these as bugs, reasoning that if you're holding an armload of equipment it's easier to take something that someone gives you than bending over and picking it up. I can't defend this bug, though. In all versions up to Version 30, (except perhaps Version 2 again, where the containers are so much smaller) you can pick up items that you normally couldn't, simply by putting them into something else that you're already carrying. For example, try this: 1) Put the bell and axe (nothing else) into the gold coffin, and leave it open. 2) Have only the lunch, garlic and coffin (loaded with bell and axe) in your inventory, with the empty sack at your feet. If you then try to PICK UP SACK you will be told "Your load is too heavy.", but if you PUT SACK IN COFFIN it works, and you're told "Done." You can signifigantly exceed your weight limits this way if you pick up items by putting them in the coffin and then take them out of the coffin to make room for new items, but there are limits. Eventually things will start slipping from your fingers and falling to the ground when you try to take them out of the coffin. In versions 75 and later, you cannot put something into something else unless you already have it in your inventory when you issue the command. --Fredrik Ekman 20. THE PHANTOM BOAT: In Versions 2, 5, 15, 20, 23, 25, 26, 28, 30, 75 and 76, you may continue to occupy the boat after you've destroyed it. Inflate the boat, and drop it. GET IN BOAT, then CUT BOAT WITH SWORD. The game will reply: "Your skillful swordsmanship slices the magic boat into innumerable slivers which evaporate instantaneously." However, you will still be considered to be in the boat for all locational purposes, save that you will not be able to refer to it. If you were in the water when you destroyed the boat, you will still be afloat. Unfortunately, in most versions you will not be able to get out of the boat, (such as by saying DISEMBARK BOAT) not being able to refer to it, nor will you be able to give it directional commands (if you are in the river), which means that you are trapped, and the game is unwinnable. In versions 75 and 76, you will at least be able to escape the phantom boat by typing STAND, a command that exits the boat without directly referring to it. Earlier versions do not know this word. The same thing will happen if, instead of destroying the boat, you give it to the thief while inside it, and he leaves with it. -- Allen Garvin 21. If you knock the thief unconscious and try to take his stiletto, the game says that it is "white hot," and that you drop it -- obviously some sort of protective magic. However, in Versions 2, 5, 15, 23, 25, 26, 28, 30, and 75, if you try to PUT STILETTO IN SACK (for example) it will let you, but when the thief wakes up, he continues to attack you with the stiletto, even if you have moved it to a different room! In later versions, it refuses to let you put it in the sack at all, saying that you don't have the stiletto. -- B.J. Parker 22. BIRTHDAY CANDLES BUG: In all versions except the Solid Gold (and Mini-Zork), Zork 1 apparently uses trick relighting candles. The first time you go to the Temple, type BLOW OUT CANDLES, *without* taking them, then type LOOK. The description will say "On the two ends of the altar are burning candles.", but if you examine them, it will say that they are out. If you try to light them, you will be told "The candles are lit," instead of "already lit" which is what it says when they are burning. If you do an INVENTORY command, the candles will not say "(providing light)". However, the room description is correct, and all of the other indicators are wrong. The candles *are* still lit and will quickly become too small to use unless you put them out for real, by taking them and either dropping them, or lighting and blowing them out again. The only reliable way to blow out the candles is to hold them while you do it. This bug drove me, well, buggy, until I tracked it down, trying to figure out why my candles were being destroyed even though I knew I had blown them out. -- Graeme Cree 23. Here's a variation on the Starcross disk bug. If the sack and the bottle are both empty, it's possible to put the sack in the bottle, then put the bottle in the sack, causing both to vanish. This exists in all versions except the Solid Gold, Mini-Zork, and Version 2 (because the bottle is too small to hold the sack in that one). -- New Zork Times 24. BOTTLE BUG: In all versions except the Solid Gold and MinniZork, you can POUR WATER regardless of whether the bottle is open or closed. -- Graeme Cree 25. TRAPDOOR BUG: In versions 75, 76 and 88, there is a way to open the trapdoor from the inside. At the beginning of the game, enter the following commands: n. e. open window. w. w. take lamp. move rug. light. open trapdoor. d. n. g. When you enter the G (or AGAIN) command, you will be told "The trap door opens." You can then return to the Living Room, and the trapdoor will not be barred behind you when you descend to the Cellar later. The order of the commands matters. If you reverse the order of LIGHT, and OPEN TRAPDOOR, then you will be told "It is already on" when you type AGAIN. For some reason the AGAIN command thinks you are referring to the lamp. It isn't clear if this is a bug or a playtesting device that Infocom forgot to remove. -- Allen Garvin NOTE: Matthew Russotto suggests that this bug is a combination of another bug wherein AGAIN did not check to see if the object referred to was still present, and a deliberate change that made AGAIN ignore directional commands. The Phantom Thief Bug was another manifestation of this, but that bug was patched separately, rather than fixing the underlying problem. Therefore, AGAIN in this case refers to your opening of the trapdoor three moves ago, because all commands in between have been directional. He points out that similar tricks can be used to disarm the troll, and to attack him when he is not present (a la, the Phantom Thief Bug). From the Troll Room, the commands TAKE AXE, S, AGAIN, will let you take the axe while you are in the cellar, even though it will be invisible to LOOK and INVENTORY commands. Also from the Troll Room, the commands, ATTACK TROLL WITH SWORD, S, AGAIN, gives you the Phantom Troll Effect (similar to the Phantom Thief), allowing you to attack the Troll while he isn't present, and can't fight back. 26. Another container bug, but this one is in all versions, even the Solid Gold edition (EXCEPT for Version 2, with its notoriously small containers again). If you put the (inflated) raft in the coffin, then the coffin in the raft, both will disappear. This does not work the other way around, however. If you put the coffin in the raft first, then the raft in the coffin, you get a message saying that there is no room. In Mini-Zork, this bug not only appears, but the game locks up to boot (no pun intended). -- Graeme Cree 27. THE RAFT OF HOLDING: When you put objects in the raft and then deflate it, they effectively cease to exist, allowing you to carry as much weight and as many objects as the raft will hold (it won't hold the gold coffin, unfortunately, and of course sharp objects are out). This is because the game handles the pile of plastic and the raft as two separate objects, and there's no provision for handling any objects inside the raft when the switch is made. -- Stu Galley in The New Zork Times 28. TEETH OVERBOARD: All versions of the game (except Mini-Zork) have an odd problem synonyming the word "overboard" (which really shouldn't be a noun at all, should it?). In versions 2-28, "overboard" is a synonym for "object 212", in version 30 "object189", and in versions 75 onward as "teeth" (!), as can be seen by typing EXAMINE OVERBOARD on the first turn of the game. -- Gunther Schmidl ======================================= Zork II ======================================= BUG 1 1 VERSION 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 7/UG3AU5 Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y 15/820308 N Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y N Y 17/820427 N Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y N Y 18/820512 N Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y N Y 19/820721 N Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y N Y 22/830331 N Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y 23/830411 N Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y *48/840904 N N N N Y Y Y Y Y Y Y 1. In version 7, you are able to give commands to some inanimate objects. Contrary to the report in XyzzyNews #2, you cannot use the standard Infocom command syntax (such as AQUARIUM, GO EAST, which generates the reply "You must supply a verb"), but must use the same types of commands that you use to direct the robot. For example, you could say TELL AQUARIUM "GO EAST", and the game will say "The aquarium has left the room." TELL AQUARIUM "GO EAST THEN GO EAST" results in a message saying that you have been killed by a grue, but in reality it is the aquarium that has "died," as the next line informs you. ADDITIONAL: Besides, the aquarium, you can also do this to the Glacier, the Pool of Tears, and the dead Dragon. The most useful application of this bug is to wait until the wizard appears and stays long enough for you to react. Normally, the wizard appears, casts a spell, and leaves before you have a chance to do anything, but occasionally, you get this sequence: A strange little man in a long cloak appears suddenly in the room. He is wearing a high pointed hat embroidered with astrological signs. He has a long, stringy, and unkempt beard. The Wizard draws forth his wand and waves it in your direction. It begins to glow with a faint blue glow. The Wizard seems about to say something, but thinks better of it, and peers at you from under his bushy eyebrows. When this happens, the wizard is still there on your turn, and if one of these four objects is present, you can order it to take his wand, then order it to drop the wand, then take it yourself (i.e. TELL GLACIER "TAKE WAND", TELL GLACIER "DROP WAND", TAKE WAND). You can win the game with an absurdly low score this way. Oddly, when you take the wand by this method, it will be invisible. It will not show up in either LOOK or INVENTORY commands, though you can EXAMINE it, and use it normally. The Dragon will not react to the Glacier anywhere except in the Ice Room. If you order the Glacier into the Dragon's Lair, and then wake him up, he won't even notice it. Conversely, if you move the Glacier OUT of the Ice Room, before leading the Dragon there, he will still see it, and react accordingly. Although this bug only appears in Version 7, you can GIVE items to these four inanimate objects in every version except Version 48, although this has no real effect on game play. For example if you GIVE SWORD TO GLACIER, it will say "given", but if you LOOK, the sword will be lying on the floor in the room (whereas if you order the glacier to take it, it will be in the Glacier's "inventory" until you tell him (her? it?) to drop it. -- Allen Garvin 2. There is a parser bug in Versions 7, 17, 18, 19, 22, and 23 that stems from having two objects of the same color in the same room (such as the blue label and the blue sphere), and then referring to the object simply by its color when trying to take it. For example: >TAKE THE BLUE Which [several lines of garbage] do you mean? In the LTOI version (48/840904) the parser bug has been fixed, and the reply "There seems to be a noun missing in that sentence" replaces the garbage. (Early parser versions of other Infocom games may have similar bugs.) 3. In versions 7, 17, 18, 19, 22, and 23, you could take immovable objects by reading them. For instance, READ UNICORN will (provided the unicorn is actually present in the first place) reply: Taken. How can you read a unicorn? Another example: Reading the stands on the Wizard's workbench will let you take them, even though the game claims they are firmly bolted to the table. However, since the text about the stands is a part of the room description, they remain attached to the table, even if you're carrying them, and even if you drop them elsewhere, though the table itself doesn't move along with them. 4. KILL, KILL, KILL: In every version except version 48, you can die an unlimited number of times simply by typing KILL repeatedly. Ordinarily, the game ends the 4th time that you die, but the game doesn't count the third death if you die in one of the mist rooms (i.e. when you're ALREADY dead), though it will count the second one. Eventually the game will overflow and crash when your score gets low enough. In version 48, this does not work. If you try to KILL yourself, you are told "Suicide is not the answer." -- Allen Garvin NOTE: Allen says that long ago he wrote a C program (on a 386) that kept inputting the KILL command until finally the game crashed, after a couple of hours. This was presumably done with the original Infocom interpreter. I tried it with Frotz 2.32, using the Alt-P command, and rather than crashing, when the score got to -32760, the next KILL command changed the score to (positive) 32766. - GC 5. When the wizard appears before you, but doesn't cast any spell, you will see the following text: The Wizard seems about to say something, but thinks better of it, and peers at you from under his bushy eyebrows. If you type KILL THE WIZARD, you will get the following reply: The Wizard retreats, waving his wand and chanting. He says, "Fear!" Nothing happens! With a terrified glance at the demon, the Wizard runs past you and out of the room. This text clearly belongs much later in the game, after you've freed the demon and ordered him to kill the wizard. This works in all versions. 6. In all versions, if your sword is "filched" by the Wizard, filching it back with the Wizard's wand may be a little confusing, since there are nicked swords of other adventurers in the room also. If you try to POINT WAND AT SWORD, you will be asked "Which sword do you mean, the sword, or the nicked swords?" Saying "the sword" will not work and starts the process over again. Fortunately, this can be gotten around if you have the sense to say "the Elvish sword". -- Graeme Cree 7. In all versions, you can get the dragon to follow you into and through the mist rooms, into the barrow (when you are brought back to life), and almost anywhere else in the game. Simply find the dragon and type ATTACK DRAGON WITH SWORD until he kills you. Once in the Room of Red Mist, simply type G (or AGAIN), and the dragon will appear in the room with you. You can get him to follow you through the blue, white, and black mist rooms into the barrow, by following the same procedure you normally use to lead him to the glacier (i.e. attacking him once with the AGAIN command, then moving to the next room). This procedure shouldn't work, for two reasons: a) you no longer have the sword, and b) when you go west to the blue mist room, the AGAIN command should make you move west again, not attack the dragon again. However, it does work. After you die from the command ATTACK DRAGON WITH SWORD, the AGAIN command will automatically refer to and successfully implement that command thereafter, regardless of whether or not you have the sword, or whether the dragon is in the room with you. In fact, you can even try this sequence: ATTACK DRAGON WITH SWORD (getting yourself killed), WEST, WEST, WEST, AGAIN. After the third WEST, you will be back in the barrow, and the AGAIN command will attack the dragon (with the sword that you no longer have), bringing him into the barrow with you. The AGAIN command seems to return to normal functioning by issuing a WAIT (Z) command. No matter what room you are with the dragon in, typing LOOK will give the standard description of him: "A huge red dragon is lying here, blocking the entrance to a tunnel leading north. Smoke curls from his nostrils and out between his teeth." The designers did not believe it possible to take the dragon into a room where there was not a tunnel leading north. The dragon can kill you while you're already dead (i.e. in one of the Mist Rooms). -- Brian Uri 8. Since it doesn't affect gameplay, this is a style error, rather than a bug. But in all versions of Zork 2, the description of the Marble Hall says: "To the south the hall opens into a large room. There is rather [sic] annoying whirring sound coming from that room.", regardless of whether or not the Carousel is still in motion. A little picky to mention it, I know, but Infocom changed room descriptions for things such as this on many occasions. There is a similar problem in the Crypt. If you are there without a lit lantern, the room description will say: It is dark, but on the south wall is a faint outline of a rectangle, as though light were shining around a doorway. You can also make out a faintly glowing letter in the center of this area. It might be an "F". regardless of whether the secret door is open or not. Conversely, if you are there with a lit lantern (after the secret door has been discovered), then this will be appended to the normal room description: Looking closely at the south wall, you can see the dim outline of a secret door labelled with the letter "F". regardless of whether or not the door has been opened. -- Graeme Cree 9. THE BUCKET BUG: In all versions, you can ENTER or EXIT the bucket regardless of whether it is open or closed. However you can only LOOK IN BUCKET when it is open. If it is closed, you can't look inside, even if you ARE inside! For example, when you first enter the Circular Room, enter these commands: >CLOSE BUCKET Closed. >ENTER BUCKET You are now in the wooden bucket. >OPEN BUCKET Opening the wooden bucket reveals a cretin. >EXAMINE CRETIN That's difficult unless your eyes are prehensile. "Cretin" is a synonym for the player in Zork 1, 2, and 3. But the talk about revealing a cretin makes no sense. You were already in the bucket with a light source, so you could already see yourself before you were "revealed." However at least the game maintains a weird consistency because you can't LOOK IN THE BUCKET while it is closed either, even if you are in it. -- Justin Edwards 10. There is a bug in versions 22, 23, and 48 that results from saying TELL GENIE "MOVE MENHIR" (or any other command that results in the Genie leaving, but the Wizard staying). Once the Genie has left, type ATTACK WIZARD WITH SWORD. The Wizard will cast a Fear spell on you, chasing you back to the Wizard's Workroom. At this point, immediately go SOUTH to return to the Pentagram Room, and WAIT five times, and you will get this message: Suddenly the Wizard materializes in the room. He is astonished by what he sees: his servant in deep conversation with a common adventurer! He draws forth his wand, waves it frantically, and incants "Frobizz! Frobozzle! Frobnoid!" The demon laughs heartily. "You no longer control the Black Crystal, hedge-wizard! Your wand is powerless! Your doom is sealed!" The demon turns to you, expectantly. Whoops! This is a repeat of the text you saw when the Wizard first appeared while you were bribing the genie! In earlier versions (Versions 15, 17, 18, and 19), this bug does not work (although in Version 7, the game crashes for some unknown reason when you attack the wizard after telling the genie to move the menhir). In those versions, when you attack the Wizard, he does TRY to cast Fear on you, but it fails, and he runs away. So, why does this appear only in later versions and not earlier ones? Well, in the early versions, when you attack the Wizard, he tries to cast Fear on you, fails, runs away, and is never seen again. In the later versions however, the Wizard returns to the Pentagram Room after a few turns, if he still has his wand, and remains there the rest of the game. If you LOOK, you will see a line saying, "A dejected and fearful Wizard watches from the corner." He will continue to cast Fear on you every time you try to attack him, but won't leave. Apparently, when the game mechanics were changed to make him return to the Pentagram Room, there was no special message written to describe his appearance if you happened to be watching at the time, so the game defaulted back to a previous message. -- Duncan Stevens 11. THE WINGED GRUE BUG: Those pesky Grues are EVERYWHERE! It's a judgment call as to whether this is a bug or cheesy game mechanics, but even if you are in the balloon, in flight, turning the lights off will make those naughty Grues slither into the "room" and kill you. This works in all versions. -- Graeme Cree ======================================= Zork III ======================================= BUG 1 1 1 VERSION 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 10/820818 Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y 12/821025 N N Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y 15/830331 N N N N Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y 16/830410 N N N N Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y 15/840518 N N N N Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y *17/840727 N N N N Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y 1. THE CHEST BUG: In version 10, the chest is too big and can contain items that normally aren't supposed to fit. The most notable is the wooden staff, which, if put safely inside, will not get broken if the player fights and kills the man at the cliff ledge. Thus a player can get the treasure and keep the staff intact as well. Another interesting use of this bug involves using the chest to transport the lamp or torch across the lake, eliminating the need for the grue repellent and viewing table. This allows the player to win with only 6 of the 7 possible points. If you enter the Dark Room with a light source, the grues won't attack or even be mentioned, but the room is still called the Dark Room, and there is no room description. Typing LOOK generates no response at all, and sends you to the next turn. In later versions, the _unbroken_ staff and lamp won't fit in the chest. It's incredibly difficult to find a version with this bug still intact. -- New Zork Times SUBJECTIVE COMMENTARY: IMHO, the solution created a bug rather than fixed one. Since the old man took the staff out of the chest, what is the sense in saying that it doesn't fit if the player tries to put it back? And if the staff fits, the lamp should also. One person wrote me and suggested that perhaps the DM didn't get the staff out of the chest at all, and we merely assumed it. I went back and checked the game text, which confirms that he did: "He hands you a plain wooden staff from the bottom of the chest and begins examining his valuables." On the other hand, A. Franzman points out that if you shake the chest before opening it (in any version of the game), you get the unequivocal response "There's nothing in the chest." This message may be an error, or perhaps the DM put the items in the chest while he was off getting the rope (though this still doesn't explain why the staff can't be put back). I would have fixed the bug in the following two ways: 1) Make the chest leak, thus preventing the lamp or torch from surviving the trip across the lake, and 2) Allow the player to get both the staff and the treasure in this way, but have the Dungeon Master reject him as an unworthy candidate at the end of the game. - GC 2. At the very end of Version 10, the sword is often a source of trouble. If the player happens to be holding it when he/she is in cell #4, the game will crash when the player asks the Dungeon Master to push the button. This is because there are two different possible exits to the north, and the sword routine gets confused when it checks the adjacent rooms to see whether or not the sword should glow. Infocom's testers didn't find this originally, because they'd been leaving the sword behind to block the beam of light. -- New Zork Times 3. In Version 10, it's possible to get the Dungeon Master to follow you beyond the Dungeon area, if you get past the door, drop one of the items you need, then knock on the door again, from the INSIDE! It's even possible to get the DM stuck in the area from Zork I. -- New Zork Times 4. If you use the previous bug (in Version 10 only) to go to the Zork I area with the Dungeon Master, you may occasionally (but not always) be able to produce the following exchange: >dungeon master, go east "I prefer to stay where I am, thank you." You suddenly find yourself back in the viewing room! The dungeon master leaves the room. Very strange. The Dungeon Master leaves the room after refusing to do so. Also, not only are you not really back in the viewing room, you and the DM will be stuck in the Zork I area permanently. (The Zork 1 area is only 3 or 4 areas large, and you cannot move beyond them, even in directions where Zork 1 really did have passages). -- Graeme Cree 5. After you've climbed down the rope to the cliff ledge, you can't climb back up again with the chest. However, typing CLIMB THE ROPE (as opposed to CLIMB UP THE ROPE) or even DOWN, will make you climb DOWN the rope to the cliff base, even though the rope ends a few feet above the cliff ledge. (The long description of the room even comments on the fact that you might be able to climb down). You can escape with the chest this way, however, nobody except the old man can open it, so you can't get the staff (or the treasure) out of it unless you let the old man "rescue" you. Very odd, since the text makes it clear that you are supposed to be stuck whether you have the chest or not. This one's present in all versions. 6. When you get to the Dungeon area, try this (in any version): >DUNGEON MASTER, KILL ME WITH THE STAFF "If you wish," he replies. If you insist... Poof, you're dead! **** The dungeon master has died **** The dungeon master follows you. Your sword has begun to glow very brightly. 7. Or this: >DUNGEON MASTER, KILL DUNGEON MASTER WITH STAFF "If you wish," he replies. "If you wish," he replies. You aren't even holding the staff! The last message appears even though you ARE holding the staff! Very surreal. 8. This bug is not only in all versions of Zork III, it also exists in most Dungeon/Zork ports. While you're shoving blocks around to solve the Royal Puzzle, drop the book in the slot to open the door, then move a block in front of the door and leave the usual way (via the ladder). Walk around to the side door and you'll find it's not blocked! If you re-enter the puzzle via the side door, the sandstone block will be gone. If you move away from the door (without exiting the puzzle) the sandstone block will reappear in the area as soon as you leave. This bug was reported to Infocom many years ago, but it doesn't seem to have ever been fixed. -- Dave Newkirk 9. Interacting with the pedestal in the Jewel Room is always difficult. In all versions after Version 10, if you try to TAKE PEDESTAL, you get the response "You can't reach it through the cage", even if the cage is not present (i.e. you travelled back to a time before it was installed). In Version 10, it says "You can't see any pedestal here.", even though it is mentioned in the room description. Thus, in all versions, if you take one of the crown jewels other than the ring, and realize your mistake, there is no way to put it back on the pedestal. -- Graeme Cree 10. When you reach the Zork I area, go east and south. It will say: "You have come to a dead end in the mine. There is a small pile of coal here." However, the coal is not really there and cannot be interacted with. In fact the game doesn't even know the word "coal." "Pseudo-items" frequently appear in room descriptions, but not on separate lines of their own. This bug is present in all versions, but is hard to find because of the difficulty of staying in the Zork I area long enough. -- Graeme Cree 11. THE KLEPTO BUG: In the Jewel Room, you can retrieve not only the ring, but also the sceptre or knife without traveling back in time, by use of the command UNLOCK CAGE WITH <NOUN>. For example: >UNLOCK CAGE WITH RING (Taken). It doesn't seem to work. You can take them all at once with UNLOCK CAGE WITH ALL. You will then get a message that says something like "You can't use multiple indirect objects with "unlock". (the exact message varies slightly from version to version), but you will take them all the same. Once taken, the items will not be listed in your inventory, though you will be able to examine them. If you try to wear the ring you will be told you are already wearing it. They will still be listed in the room description, even if you leave them someplace else and return. If you drop them, then you will not be able to see them with a LOOK command, but may still EXAMINE them. If you try to take them again, you will be told that they are in the locked cage, and there will be no way to pick them up again unless you are still in the Jewel Room and can repeat the whole process. This works in any version. -- J. Smith 12. THE HELLO SAILOR BUG: At the Flathead Ocean, if you say you say HELLO SAILOR before the Viking ship arrives you are told "Nothing happens yet." and if you say it after it has left, you are told "Nothing happens any more." This can cause a minor bug in that there is sometimes a 1-turn window after you get the vial, but before the ship has gone, in which you are told "Nothing happens yet." even though it already has. For example: >WAIT Time passes... Passing alongside the shore now is an old boat, reminiscent of an ancient Viking ship. Standing on the prow of the ship is an old and crusty sailor, peering out over the misty ocean. >HELLO SAILOR The seaman looks up and maneuvers the boat toward shore. He cries out "I have waited three ages for someone to say those words and save me from sailing this endless ocean. Please accept this gift. You may find it useful!" He throws something which falls near you in the sand, then sails off toward the west, singing a lively, but somewhat uncouth, sailor song. >AGAIN Nothing happens yet. The boat sails silently through the mist and out of sight. >AGAIN Nothing happens anymore. For some odd reason, if you say something other than WAIT on the turn the ship arrives, this doesn't work. The ship will give you the vial, and leave, all on the same turn. In this case, the message that says "The boat sails silently through the mist and out of sight." is added on to the end of the previous turn's output. -- Alan Franzman =================================== Zork: The Undiscovered Underground =================================== NOTE: This game was never released commercially. It was provided by Activision as a promotional freebie for their Zork: Grand Inquisitor graphic adventure game in 1997. BUG VERSION 1 16/970828 Y 1. If you THROW any object (other than the lamp or sword), the room you are in will be plunged into darkness, despite the fact that an INVENTORY command may show that your lamp is still burning. As long as your lamp is lit, you will not be killed by a grue, despite the fact that you are told that it is pitch black. There are two ways to be able to see again. Either leave the room you are in (it will be normal when you return), or throw an object again (again, other than the lamp or sword, but you can throw the same object you threw before, since it will still be in your inventory). -- Ted McManus ======================================= Generic Bugs ======================================= 1. There is a curious feature in several of the .z3 games. If you type EXAMINE, the game responds "What do you want to examine?" If you type EXAMINE again, the game responds "What do you want to examin?" (with the "e" at the end truncated). Apparently this has something to do with the fact that all of these games examine only the first 6 letters of any inputted word, but there is no easily detectable pattern. It does not appear in the earliest games, but many games respond differently after the second EXAMINE command (such as with "There seems to be a noun missing in that sentence"). These are the games that this bug appears in: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (all versions except Solid Gold), The Lurking Horror (all versions), The first 4-in-1 Infocom Sampler (all versions), Stationfall, Suspect, Wishbringer (all versions except Solid Gold). Interestingly, all of the demos featured in the 4-in-1 Sampler feature this bug, even if the full versions of the game did not. -- Steven Marsh 2. THE "IT" BUG: There is a bug that occurs in all known versions of Zork 2 and 3, in versions 5, 15, and 20 of Zork 1, and in versions 10, 15, 16, and 20 of Enchanter. When the noun IT is used, the game does not check to see if the noun that it refers to is still present before executing the command. Here's an example. At the very beginning of Zork 2, issue these commands: TAKE LAMP. THROW LAMP AT SWORD. TAKE IT. At this point, there will be two lamps: a broken one on the ground, and the unbroken one in your inventory. Throwing the lamp at the sword smashed it, but when you said to take "IT", the game took the (no-longer existing) normal lamp instead of the smashed one on the ground. In Zork 3, you can do the same thing by throwing the lamp at the embedded sword, the duct in Aqueduct View, or any number of other things. In Zork 1, you can throw it at the door in the Living Room, or any number of other things. Referring to the working lamp when both exist in the same place may be difficult. TURN OFF LAMP gets you the reply, "Which lamp do you mean, the lamp or the broken brass lantern?" Saying "the lamp" starts the process over again (There are similar problems with the bathroom door in Deadline, and the sword/nicked swords in Zork 2). In Zork 3, if you die when both lamps exist, it is the Broken Lantern that will be waiting for you at Endless Stair, and the working lamp that will be sent to a random location. As the Grand Inquisitor would say, this is generally a Bad Thing. In Zork 1 and 2, it's the other way around; the good lamp is waiting for you, and the bad one is scattered. This bug works with items other than the lamp. For example, in versions 5, 15, and 20 of Zork 1, you can EAT LUNCH, and then TAKE IT to get it back. World hunger solved, courtesy of Infocom. In Enchanter, you can eat the last of the bread and then TAKE IT. (For some reason after you do this, the command EXAMINE BREAD will produce gibberish). Or POUR WATER, getting a message about how it evaporates, and then TAKE IT to get it back. (See The Jug Bug for more on this) Side Note: Some versions of Enchanter contain The Jug Bug, a similar bug which allows one to fill a partially filled jug with water in places where there is no other source. All versions of Enchanter which contain The Jug Bug also contain this one. Version 24 is interesting however, because in that one, The Jug Bug has been fixed, but The It Bug has not. In Version 24, if you drink the last of the water, then type TAKE IT, the response is "The only water here is in the jug". This response was created to fix The Jug Bug, but is not correct in this case, as there is no water present, not even in the jug. It is not known what other games, if any, this might appear in. It does not appear in Infidel, and so probably does not appear in any games made after that. In Infidel, if you BREAK LOCK, then TAKE IT, you take the Broken Lock, not the unbroken one, which is gone for good. -- The Redneck 3. THE LAMP BUGS: The lamp itself is responsible for two small bugs, that are present in Zork 1, 2, and 3. In all versions of Zork 2 and 3, and in versions 5, 15, 20, 23, 25, 26, 28, and 30 of Zork 1, if you smash the (lit) lamp in an otherwise dark area, the area will remain lit until you leave and come back, even if you no longer have a light source. For example, at the beginning of Zork 3, enter these moves: TAKE LAMP. LIGHT. SOUTH. THROW LIGHT AT SWORD. The lamp will smash, but the room will still be lit, for all purposes. Then try the commands NORTH. SOUTH. When you return, the room will be dark, as it should be. The second bug is a mere quibble. In all versions of Zork 1, 2, and 3, when you THROW LAMP AT SWORD (or whatever), and break it, the response reads, "The lamp has smashed into the floor, and the light has gone out.", regardless of whether or not the lamp was lit when you broke it. -- Graeme Cree 4. Some miscellaneous parser quirks that may appear in many games: a) In Sorcerer the IT command may become confused, like so: >OPEN VIAL Opening the orange vial reveals orange potion. >CLOSE IT You must tell me how to do that to orange potion. -- Graeme Cree b) In Leather Goddesses of Phobos, you can get the following sequence: >EXAMINE [What do you want to examine?] >EXAMINE TIFFANY You can't see examine tiffany here. -- Matthew Auger -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------- UNCONFIRMED BUGS These are bugs that have been reported to me, or appeared in Chris Forman's bug list that I have been unable to make work. There may be one of 4 explanations for this: 1) The bug was reported in error, and doesn't really exist; 2) The bug was a part not of the game, but of Infocom's interpreter. Since I used zip.exe or frotz.exe to check out all of the bugs, I would not discover problems like this; 3) No one has ever published a complete list of all the different versions of every Infocom game ever published, and the bug may appear in a version that I don't know about; 4) The bug exists, but the reported description of how to produce it was in error. A MIND FOREVER VOYAGING: The right side of the screen is truncated in Library Mode using the original Infocom interpreter in Version 79, but not in Version 77 or when using Frotz. As an interpreter problem, this strictly does not fall under the scope of this list, but is still worth noting. -- Linards Ticmanis BEYOND ZORK: According to Chris Forman's version of the bug list, the potion of forgetfulness doesn't erase your map in Version 57 (the LTOI version), but does in all of the others, and he wondered whether it was a bug or an act of kindness on the part of Infocom. I could not make this one work. In every version, my map was erased. There may be some special circumstance which will protect the map from the potion's effects, but I couldn't find it. - GC BEYOND ZORK: There is supposedly a bug similar to the "Dip me in Pool" bug. Typing "Hang me in Tree" in a location that has one one results in "the yourself" sliding out of the tree, onto the ground, never to be reclaimed. Re-entering the area later results in the statement "There's yourself here." -- Kris Raney NOTE: I tried several commands, but was unable to climb the tree at all. - GC BUREAUCRACY: According to Chris Forman's list, there is a bug in Bureaucracy whereby typing RING THE DOORBELL in front of your house produces the same message that you get when typing it in front of the mansion. However, in both known versions of the game typing RING THE DOORBELL in front of my house produced the message "You can't see any doorbell here." DEADLINE: According to the New Zork Times, after the murder of Ms. Dunbar, two Dunbars may sometimes be present; one living and the other dead! It says that the bug is present in Version 18, but gone by Version 26. I was unable to reproduce this bug myself, and thus don't know when it happens or whether it occurs in Versions 19, 21 or 22. ENCHANTER: An error similar to the Jug Bug reportedly allows the player to obtain any spell he wants simply by typing GNUSTO [spell name]. It isn't clear if this works with KULCAD, GUNCHO, or FILFRE. This one was corrected by Version 10. HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY: Typing SEARCH BED after getting up in the first scene, gives no response at all. This doesn't work in the 5 versions that I know about. THE LURKING HORROR: GIVE THE FUNNY BONES TO THE HACKER, and he will swallow them. However, the Bones remain in your inventory, closed and untouched. NOTE: I couldn't get this to work in any version. When I tried, they left my inventory, but they still existed in the room. They couldn't be spotted by examining the room or the hacker, but when I tried to take them again, the hacker responded "Hey, no snarfage, loser,", which the game tells you means "Stop". -- GC THE LURKING HORROR: I haven't checked this out yet because it's a hit or miss proposition to make it happen. It is impossible for the player to carry the axe, flask or vat northwest from Sub-Basement to Tomb because they are too large to fit through the passageway. The only way to get them into the Steam Tunnel is to go the long way through the elevator shaft, which necessitates opening the padlock and trapdoor in the Tomb first. But Jeffrey Scott Nuttall reports that if the urchin steals any of these things, HE can carry them into the Tomb, and if you can encounter him there after he has stolen the Flask from you, you can take it back from him and get the Flask into the Tomb without opening the padlock and trapdoor first. Nuttall reports that when he did this, he tried pouring the liquid on the Padlock in the Tomb to see what would happen. It gave the regular message about the liquid shattering the lock due to the cold. After this, the lock continued to appear in the room description, even though it was gone. MOONMIST: If you give another character a sequence of commands, ending with a request that the character follow you, the character will instantly appear at your side, no matter where he or she is. For example, lead a character to the first-floor gallery. Now type: "[character], GO DOWN THEN GO WEST THEN GO NORTH THEN GO WEST THEN GO DOWN THEN FOLLOW ME." (You may have to abbreviate the directions to fit all of them into one command, depending on what interpreter you are using). The character should now be in the kitchen, but if you go east, into your room, he or she will instantly reappear at your side. This works in both versions of the game, but will only work after you have left the room in the dinner scene, as characters will not follow you until then. NOTE: Based on further information from Chris Forman, I have now gotten this to work, but I am not convinced that it is a bug. Movement in Moonmist, for both the player and the non-player characters seems to be much faster than in other Infocom games. For example, in the situation listed above, the player can him/herself get to the kitchen from the gallery in one turn (and one minute!) with the command GO TO KITCHEN, rather than having to enter all 5 directions, which would take 5 minutes, regardless of whether they were entered one command at a time, or with all 5 directions on one line. In fact, the player can go almost anyplace in one turn with the GO TO command, so it's not surprising that the NPC's can go there and back again. Perhaps it shouldn't have been done that way, but it appears to be deliberate. NORD AND BERT COULDN'T MAKE HEAD OR TAIL OF IT: Although he couldn't recall details, Chris Forman once got the game into an unsolvable state by performing several actions out of sequence, with the skeleton in the bathtub in the "Meet the Mayor" scene. He remembers being unable to interact with the skeleton, despite the fact that the room description said it was still there. Len Pitre confirms that this is accomplished simply by Throwing The Baby Out With The Bathwater before Deep Sixing The Skeleton. Throwing the baby out empties the tub (which disappears and can't be refilled) even though you still need it to be able to Deep Six the Skeleton. It's not clear if this is a bug or not. If not, it's certainly a design weakness, as there's no indication that you should hold off on emptying the tub unless you happened to look in the closet first. And most people would assume that an emptied tub could just be refilled later if necessary. PLANETFALL: Ordering Floyd to take an item is interpreted by the game as if the player typed TAKE FLOYD. -- New Zork Times NOTE: I could not get this one to work. In all four known versions, asking Floyd to take something just made him say "Enough talking! Let's play Hider-and-Seeker!" (...good old Floyd.) -- GC SORCERER: In earlier versions, it is possible to get and GNUSTO the Golmac spell. Trying to leave with the Golmac scroll causes a paradox, and you lose your grip on the rope if you try to enter the room with the spell book. However, if you cast the GASPAR spell on yourself, and then leave the room without picking up the scroll, you'll reappear in the room after you're resurrected. When this happens, all your possessions will be intact, and you'll be able to take the scroll and GNUSTO GOLMAC. Unfortunately, the Infocom programmers never planned for this, so casting it elsewhere in the game doesn't accomplish anything. Interesting trick, though. NOTE: I couldn't get this to work in any version. In the early versions, you didn't reappear with all your possessions, and in the later versions, you didn't reappear with the golmac scroll. Either I did something wrong, or there is another version of Sorcerer not on the above list where this trick works. The Golmac spell can be Gnustoed in Version 4 of course, by using the "Take any Scroll" bug. -- GC SORCERER: In an early version, you could open the trunk with a Rezrov spell, although you would fail to gain points by doing so, and thus be unable to finish with a perfect score. I can't find a version that this works in, not even Version 67 (a beta-test datafile that is outside the scope of this list), however it was reported in the New Zork Times, so it must exist somewhere. -- Graeme Cree SPELLBREAKER: In Version 63, it's impossible to offer the merchant an exact number of zorkmids in exchange for the magic carpet (for example, you can't OFFER 250 ZORKMIDS). All you can do is offer him the opal or the coin. NOTE: I had no problem offering an exact number of zorkmids. Either OFFER 250 or OFFER 250 ZORKMIDS worked. If it were impossible to offer a specific number of zorkmids, there would be no way to haggle the price down to 500. -- GC STARCROSS: You can climb into the viewport of the Starcross or the alien ship, but can't climb back out. You get the response "Super-brief descriptions", as if you had typed the SUPERBRIEF command. There is apparently no way out other than restarting or restoring... -- Chris D. Lang NOTE: I couldn't make this work in either Versions 15 or 17. - GC STARCROSS: Trying to shake an object puts the game into an infinite loop. NOTE: I couldn't get this to work either. - GC TRINITY: THE SHINING BUG - This involves getting a string of garbage from shining the splinter without specifying an object. It is not present in the LTOI version. Earlier versions should have it, though. -- C.E. Forman NOTE: I couldn't get this to work in either version 11 or 12. -- GC THE WITNESS: In Version 13, you can trap Phong in the following way (or something like it). Take the keys from Phong. Go outside to the front door and ring the bell (although Phong has to be far from the door when you do this, I think), and then unlock the door and go inside and wait for Phong to go out the door to let you in, close the door and lock it. Phong will be both inside and outside the door. I'm not sure if this is the exact way to do it, as I've only managed to get him trapped once, and the following times it didn't seem to work, so maybe there's more to it than that. -- Edan Harel ZORK I: Ethan Dicks refers to a review of Zork I which stated "In one of the original versions of Zork I, it was possible to be killed by a random caving in of rocks. However, due to a bug in the scheduling system, this could happen when you were outside in the forest. Meteors, no doubt." I've never seen this happen in version 5. Perhaps the review refers to one of the mainframe versions of Zork. ZORK I: The Two Boats Bug. In all versions up to at least version 23, it is possible to create a situation where there are two boats in play, the inflated boat, and the pile of plastic. I have a saved game showing this phenomenon, but have been unable to discover yet how to deliberately create it. -- Graeme Cree ZORK I: Alan Franzman reports a situation where the thief spares you, then thinks better of it, like so. >ATTACK THIEF WITH KNIFE Your stroke lands, but it was only the flat of the blade. Shifting in the midst of a thrust, the thief knocks you unconscious with the haft of his stiletto. The thief, a man of good breeding, refrains from attacking a helpless opponent. The thief, forgetting his essentially genteel upbringing, cuts your throat. It appears that that last blow was too much for you. I'm afraid you are dead. *** You have died *** ZORK II: If you look into one of the three spheres when they are all in the same place, the game will recursively describe the room as seen through each sphere, which will overflow the interpreter stack. NOTE: I couldn't get this to work in any version. If I looked into a sphere while holding all three, I saw only darkness. If I dropped them all and looked into one, the room was described normally, with no crash. However, one of the two spheres that I didn't look into was always missing from the room description. -- GC ZORK II: Another minor parser bug: Start the game, and try using a pronoun in your first command, such as EXAMINE IT. You should get the reply: There's nothing special about the <short string of garbage>. This happens in other games running early versions of the Infocom parser. In games where the problem has been corrected, it will say "There's nothing special about the ." NOTE: This is in fact a parser bug, and not a bug in the actual game. It also occurs in both the IBM and Apple ][ original interpreters in Deadline, Infidel, and most of the early games. With frotz, you will always get "There's nothing special about the ." -- GC ZORK II: If you time it right, you can blow up the base of the volcano while in the balloon. This requires dropping the bomb on the ground and lighting it, then crawling into the basket before it explodes. If you do it right, the computer should tell you that the balloon settles to the ground, followed by "You can't go that way." -- John Payson ZORK II: I made this work before, but somehow it doesn't work for me now. In Zork 2 (and probably other early games), using the word IT more than twice in a row would make the game forget what "IT" was. For example, the third time I tried to EXAMINE IT, the game said "I see nothing special about the random object." -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------- BETA-TEST DATAFILES Betatest datafiles are not considered in this list, as they were never intended to be seen by the general public, and because betatest programs are "supposed" to have bugs in them. Nevertheless, there are a couple of beta versions of Infocom games known to be floating around, whose existence is worth noting: GAME VERSION Seastalker 86/840320 Sorcerer 67/000000 Zork 1: Das Grosse Unterweltreich 3/880113