HISTORY
- The first ever text-only computer game was Colossal Cave, created in 1975.
- In 1978, a small group of MIT computer science faculty members who played Colossal Cave created their own game for fun; a game they informally called "ZORK", which meant "unfinished program". It was meant to be a temporary title but after they named their finished game "Dungeon", the publishers of Dungeons & Dragons threatened to sue them so they changed it back to Zork.
- In 1979 the group formed a company they called INFOCOM. Then to make the game run on personal computers they had to create a new programming language called Zork Implementation Language, or ZIL, would could run on personal computers which more and more households were buying. However, they discovered that their original game map would take up too much memory so they had to remove about half of the map.
- In 1980 Infocom sold the first copy of the game on an 8" floppy disk with a hand-copied version of the manual.
- In 1981 Infocom released Zork II and Zork III using the previously removed portions of the Zork I map.
- In 1986 Infocom was purchased by Activision for 7.5 million dollars.
- Activision continued the series by creating Beyond Zork, Zork Zero, Return to Zork, Zork Nemesis, Zork: The Undiscovered Underground, and Zork: Grand Inquisitor.
- An Easter egg in the 2010 game Call of Duty Black Ops allows players to play the full version of Zork I by typing "Zork" on a computer screen.
ZORK I: The Great Underground Empire
WALK-THROUGH
Above Ground
Open the mailbox. Get the leaflet and read it, then drop it. Go north twice to a Forest Path location and climb the tree. Get the egg from the nest and go back down. Try to open the egg, but you'll find that you can't do it. (This action is essential, otherwise the Thief won't open the egg for you later.) Go south and east to Behind House. Open the window and enter the house.
Get the sack and bottle. Open the sack and you will see it contains a lunch and a clove of garlic. You can either eat the lunch and drink the water, or keep them as an alternate solution for a later puzzle. Either way, make sure you hang on to the garlic and the sack itself. Go west to the Living Room. Get the sword and lantern. Move the rug and open the trap door. Turn on the lamp. Go down into the Great Underground Empire.
For Your Amusement:
Eat the garlic.
Regarding the Thief
At any point underground, the Thief may come by and steal treasures directly from you, or he may steal any item you have seen from any room while you are not present. There is a much higher chance he will steal treasures than non-valuable objects, and he may later drop something non-valuable elsewhere. If you lose a treasure this way, don't worry; you'll get it back near the end of the game.
The Thief is difficult to defeat in a fight. If he is already in a room when you enter, it is usually a good idea to leave immediately. Alternatively, giving him a treasure will distract him from attacking you for one turn. You become a better match as you gain points, so don't purposely attack him until near the end of the game. The nasty knife from the Attic is a slightly better weapon against the Thief than the sword is -- according to the source code, his strength is calculated at -1 if you use the knife. (I didn't include picking up the knife in the "Above Ground" section for weight capacity reasons.)
The Cellar Area and Maze
Drop the egg here in the Cellar so the Thief can find it and open it. You may wish to save your game here, as the battle with the troll stands a good chance of killing you. Go north. Attack the troll with the sword. (The troll is vulnerable to the sword in the same way the Thief is to the knife.) Repeat, and save and restore as necessary. When you have succeeded in killing the troll, drop the sword (I know, I know; but it's not really necessary, and the inventory limits are annoying in this game), save the game again, and go west to enter the Maze.
Go west, west, and up. Save here so that you can restore if the Thief steals the key from you before you can use it. Get the bag of coins and the skeleton key. (If the game tells you they are too heavy "especially in light of your condition," you were wounded in the fight with the troll. Diagnose and wait until your wounds are healed. One wait command passes three turns.) Go southwest, east, south, and southeast to the Cyclops Room.
Here, you have a choice of two solutions to deal with the Cyclops: 1. say "Odysseus" to scare him away (my preferred solution because it opens a direct path between here and the house), or 2. give him the lunch, then open the bottle and give him the water.
If you said "Odysseus", you can now exit the room through the destroyed wall; go east twice and you'll be back in the Living Room. If you gave the Cyclops the lunch and water, you'll need to exit the Maze another way and make your way back to the house. Check your inventory and make sure you still have the skeleton key. If not, restore and try again. If so, save the game and go northwest, south, west, up, west, southwest, and northeast. Unlock the grating with the skeleton key, open it, and go up; then go east, south, and west three times. Either way, now that you have found another exit from the Great Underground Empire (besides the chimney), the trap door in the Living Room will not close behind you.
Open the trophy case and put the coins in it. Drop the key and bottle here, as well as the lunch if you didn't use it (or you can eat it now and drink the water too, if you like). Keep hold of the brown sack itself, since it's a container, as well as the garlic.
Open the trap door again and go down. Go south, then east to the Gallery. Get the painting, then go west, north, and up to the Living Room and put it in the trophy case.
For Your Amusement:
Go down the chimney from the Kitchen.
Give various things to the troll, especially the nasty knife from the Attic.
Knock the troll unconscious (save a game so you can retry the battle until you accomplish this) and take his axe, then return it to him after he wakes up.
Say hello to, listen to, and take the troll and Cyclops.
Damage the painting (for example, by cutting or burning it).
The Dam and Reservoir
Go down, north, then east three times to the Loud Room. Type echo. Get the platinum bar. Go west, west, west, south, and up to the Living Room and put the platinum bar in the trophy case. (This is the easier solution to this puzzle, requiring the fewest moves, but you can also get the bar by emptying the Reservoir, closing the dam gates, and coming back to the Loud Room to get it while the Reservoir fills up again. See the next moves if that solution interests you.)
Go down, north, east 3 times, up, east, and north to Dam Lobby. Get the matchbook. Go north or east to the Maintenance Room. Get the wrench and screwdriver. Push the yellow button. Go south twice back to the Dam. Turn the bolt with the wrench. Drop the wrench.
Go west to Reservoir South and wait two turns until the reservoir empties ("The water level is now quite low here..."). Go north to Reservoir and get the trunk of jewels. Go south, southwest, southwest, west, south, up to the Living Room and put the trunk in the trophy case. Return to the Reservoir: down, north, east, north, northeast, and north. Go north again to Reservoir North and get the air pump. Go north again to the Atlantis Room and get the crystal trident. Go up, north, north, west, and then down from the Slide Room to the Cellar. Go up and put the trident in the case.
For Your Amusement:
Read the matchbook.
The Temple Area
From the Living Room, go east to the Kitchen, then up to the Attic and get the rope. Go back down, west, and down into the Cellar. Go north, east, east, southeast, and east to the Dome Room. Tie the rope to the railing and go down to the Torch Room. Get the torch and turn off your lamp. Go south to the Temple and drop everything but the torch.
Save a game here, since the ivory torch is a treasure as well as a light source and there's a chance that the Thief will come by and steal it from you, leaving you in the dark and likely to be eaten by a grue. It's easier to restore to this point than to deal with making your way back to where you were when you died. (You may also wish to save every ten or twenty moves until you pick up the lamp again.)
Go east to the Egyptian Room and get the coffin. Open it and take the sceptre. Go west, then south to the Altar. Ignore the candles and book for now and pray at the altar. You will be teleported to a Forest location. Go east, south, east, in to the house Kitchen, and west to the Living Room. Put the coffin and sceptre in the trophy case.
Return down, north, east, east, southeast, east, down, south to the Temple, where you dropped everything. Get the matchbook and bell. Open the matchbook. Go south to the Altar. Get the candles and black book. Put out the candles. Check inventory and be sure you're carrying nothing but the book, candles, bell, matchbook, and torch. Go down twice to Entrance to Hades. Ring the bell. You will drop both it and the candles. Get the candles, light a match, light the candles, then read the book. Put out the candles. Drop the book.
Go south to the Land of the Dead. Get the crystal skull. Go north, up, north three times, west, west, south, and up to the Living Room. Put the skull in the trophy case. Get the sceptre again while you are here. Return down, north, east, east, southeast, east, down, south to the Temple and collect all your belongings. You should have the air pump, screwdriver, lantern, sack with garlic, sceptre, candles, matchbook, and torch; if any of the non-valuables is missing, restore.
For Your Amusement:
Read the black book at the Altar.
Light the candles with the torch. (save first)
Burn the black book. (save first)
Try something naughty with the bodies in the Land of the Dead.
Old Man River
From the Temple, go south, down, north, north, north, east, up, east, east to Dam Base. Inflate the pile of plastic with the air pump. Drop the pump. Read the label (notice that the boat is made of "thin" plastic), then drop it. Put the screwdriver and sceptre in the sack; they are sharp and will puncture the boat it if you board while carrying them. Get in the boat and launch. Wait four turns while the river carries you downstream on the Frigid River.
When you see the red buoy, get it and go east to Sandy Beach to land. Stand up out of the boat. Open the buoy, take the emerald, and drop the buoy. Get the shovel. Go northeast to Sandy Cave and dig in the sand with the shovel four times. Drop the shovel and take the scarab. Go southwest back to Sandy Beach.
If you still have the sceptre: Go south twice to Aragain Falls. Wave the sceptre. Go west twice across the rainbow. You're carrying too much weight to get the pot of gold at the moment, so go southwest, up, up, northwest, west to Behind House, and west twice to the Living Room.
If the Thief stole the sceptre from you while you were underground: Go west to the Sandy Beach and board the boat again; launch and immediately go west to land. Stand, then go north, west five times, south, and up.
Put the scarab, emerald, and sceptre (if you have it) in the trophy case. If you didn't have the sceptre, skip to the next section, The Coal Mine. Otherwise, go back for the pot of gold by going east four times to Canyon View, down, down, north to End of Rainbow. (If the pot of gold is gone, then the Thief has stolen it; the End of Rainbow location is technically "underground".) Get the pot and return southwest, up, up, northwest, west, west, west and put it in the case too.
For Your Amusement:
Continue digging in the sand after you find the scarab. (save first)
Wave the sceptre while standing on the rainbow. (save first)
The Coal Mine
Take the garlic out of the sack and carry it normally. From the Living Room, go down, north, east twice, and south twice to the south Mirror Room. Touch the mirror and you will be transported to the north Mirror Room. (The game's description doesn't really make this apparent.) Go north, west, north, west, and north to the Bat Room. (The garlic you are holding repels the vampire bat, hence he is "holding his nose".) Get the jade figurine. Go east to the Shaft Room. Put the candles and screwdriver in the basket. Drop the torch here and turn on your lantern.
Go north, then down to the Gas Room. Get the bracelet. Go east, northeast, southeast, southwest, and down twice to Ladder Bottom. Go south and get the coal. Go north, then up twice back into Coal Mine. Go north, east, south, and north through the mine, then up and south to the Shaft Room. Put the coal in the basket. Get the candles, light a match, light the candles, then put them back in the basket.
Lower the basket. Retrace your steps to the bottom of the ladder: north, down, east, northeast, southeast, southwest, down, down. Go west to the Timber Room, drop everything, and then west again to the Drafty Room. Get the coal, screwdriver, and candles from the basket. Go south to the Machine Room. Open the machine, put the coal inside, and close it again. Turn the switch with the screwdriver. Open the machine and get the diamond. Drop the screwdriver.
Go north and put the candles and diamond in the basket. Go east, pick up your items (except the timber), and go back through the coal mine to the Shaft Room: east, up, up, north, east, south, north, up, south. Raise the basket. Take the diamond and candles. Put out the candles. Get the torch if it's still here (although likely the Thief will have stolen it).
Go west, south, east, and south, then down to the Cellar. Go up to the Living Room and put the torch (if you have it), diamond, bracelet, and figurine in the trophy case. You can drop the garlic.
For Your Amusement:
Enter the Gas Room with an open flame, such as the torch or candles. (save first)
The Treasure Room and the Barrow
Go east and up to the Attic and pick up the nasty-looking knife. Return down and west to the Living Room. If you used the "Odysseus" solution to the Cyclops puzzle, go west twice from the Living Room to the Cyclops Room. If not, go down to the Cellar, north and west into the Maze, then west, west, up, southwest, east, south, southeast.
Once in the Cyclops Room, save the game (because the Thief can definitely still kill you) and go up to the Treasure Room. If by chance the Thief is not there, go down and return up until he appears. Attack the Thief with the nasty knife. Repeat. When you have killed him, take the silver chalice, egg (notice that it now has a canary), and any treasures that he stole from you. You can leave the stiletto. (If you have number or weight problems with inventory, you may have to make multiple trips back to the Living Room.)
Go down to the Cyclops Room and then east twice to the Living Room (or return through the Maze: northwest, south, down, south, north, east, south, up). Get the canary from the egg. Put the chalice and egg (and any other treasures you may have recovered) in the case. Turn off the lamp.
Leave the house by going east twice to Behind House, and go north twice to a Forest Path locationkil. Wind the canary. Get the brass bauble. Return south and east to Behind House, go west twice to the Living Room, and put the canary and bauble in the case.
If the Thief stole the sceptre from you or you had to give it to him, you're still lacking the pot of gold. Go east four times, down, down, north. Raise or wave the sceptre and pick up the pot of gold. Return southwest, up, up, northwest, west, west, west and put it and the sceptre in the case.
Once you have all the treasures ("An almost inaudible voice whispers in your ear..."), look at the trophy case, and you will find an "ancient parchment", a map, has appeared. Take it and look at it. Go east twice, then south and west to West of House. Go southwest down the "secret path" which has appeared, then enter the Stone Barrow to the west.
Congratulations, adventurer, you're now in Zork II!
For Your Amusement:
Say hello to, listen to, and take the Thief.
For Your Amusement at various times:
Swear.
Cut something with the knife or sword.
Light something on fire (such as the pile of leaves), then pour water on it from the bottle.
Get killed after praying at the altar, then wait or score while a spirit.
Walk around the house or in the forest.
Try these commands: Zork; xyzzy or plugh; chomp; win; lose; mumble or sigh; repent; yell or scream; bite myself; take myself; find, count, listen to, what is, and smell various things (house, hands, teeth, myself, candles, leaves, matches…).
LINK TO ZORK I MAPS
LINK TO ZORK I ONLINE
List of Zork I Treasures
Zork I Speed Run Directions (rtf file)
Zork I Speed Run Directions (pdf file)
WALK-THROUGH
Above Ground
Open the mailbox. Get the leaflet and read it, then drop it. Go north twice to a Forest Path location and climb the tree. Get the egg from the nest and go back down. Try to open the egg, but you'll find that you can't do it. (This action is essential, otherwise the Thief won't open the egg for you later.) Go south and east to Behind House. Open the window and enter the house.
Get the sack and bottle. Open the sack and you will see it contains a lunch and a clove of garlic. You can either eat the lunch and drink the water, or keep them as an alternate solution for a later puzzle. Either way, make sure you hang on to the garlic and the sack itself. Go west to the Living Room. Get the sword and lantern. Move the rug and open the trap door. Turn on the lamp. Go down into the Great Underground Empire.
For Your Amusement:
Eat the garlic.
Regarding the Thief
At any point underground, the Thief may come by and steal treasures directly from you, or he may steal any item you have seen from any room while you are not present. There is a much higher chance he will steal treasures than non-valuable objects, and he may later drop something non-valuable elsewhere. If you lose a treasure this way, don't worry; you'll get it back near the end of the game.
The Thief is difficult to defeat in a fight. If he is already in a room when you enter, it is usually a good idea to leave immediately. Alternatively, giving him a treasure will distract him from attacking you for one turn. You become a better match as you gain points, so don't purposely attack him until near the end of the game. The nasty knife from the Attic is a slightly better weapon against the Thief than the sword is -- according to the source code, his strength is calculated at -1 if you use the knife. (I didn't include picking up the knife in the "Above Ground" section for weight capacity reasons.)
The Cellar Area and Maze
Drop the egg here in the Cellar so the Thief can find it and open it. You may wish to save your game here, as the battle with the troll stands a good chance of killing you. Go north. Attack the troll with the sword. (The troll is vulnerable to the sword in the same way the Thief is to the knife.) Repeat, and save and restore as necessary. When you have succeeded in killing the troll, drop the sword (I know, I know; but it's not really necessary, and the inventory limits are annoying in this game), save the game again, and go west to enter the Maze.
Go west, west, and up. Save here so that you can restore if the Thief steals the key from you before you can use it. Get the bag of coins and the skeleton key. (If the game tells you they are too heavy "especially in light of your condition," you were wounded in the fight with the troll. Diagnose and wait until your wounds are healed. One wait command passes three turns.) Go southwest, east, south, and southeast to the Cyclops Room.
Here, you have a choice of two solutions to deal with the Cyclops: 1. say "Odysseus" to scare him away (my preferred solution because it opens a direct path between here and the house), or 2. give him the lunch, then open the bottle and give him the water.
If you said "Odysseus", you can now exit the room through the destroyed wall; go east twice and you'll be back in the Living Room. If you gave the Cyclops the lunch and water, you'll need to exit the Maze another way and make your way back to the house. Check your inventory and make sure you still have the skeleton key. If not, restore and try again. If so, save the game and go northwest, south, west, up, west, southwest, and northeast. Unlock the grating with the skeleton key, open it, and go up; then go east, south, and west three times. Either way, now that you have found another exit from the Great Underground Empire (besides the chimney), the trap door in the Living Room will not close behind you.
Open the trophy case and put the coins in it. Drop the key and bottle here, as well as the lunch if you didn't use it (or you can eat it now and drink the water too, if you like). Keep hold of the brown sack itself, since it's a container, as well as the garlic.
Open the trap door again and go down. Go south, then east to the Gallery. Get the painting, then go west, north, and up to the Living Room and put it in the trophy case.
For Your Amusement:
Go down the chimney from the Kitchen.
Give various things to the troll, especially the nasty knife from the Attic.
Knock the troll unconscious (save a game so you can retry the battle until you accomplish this) and take his axe, then return it to him after he wakes up.
Say hello to, listen to, and take the troll and Cyclops.
Damage the painting (for example, by cutting or burning it).
The Dam and Reservoir
Go down, north, then east three times to the Loud Room. Type echo. Get the platinum bar. Go west, west, west, south, and up to the Living Room and put the platinum bar in the trophy case. (This is the easier solution to this puzzle, requiring the fewest moves, but you can also get the bar by emptying the Reservoir, closing the dam gates, and coming back to the Loud Room to get it while the Reservoir fills up again. See the next moves if that solution interests you.)
Go down, north, east 3 times, up, east, and north to Dam Lobby. Get the matchbook. Go north or east to the Maintenance Room. Get the wrench and screwdriver. Push the yellow button. Go south twice back to the Dam. Turn the bolt with the wrench. Drop the wrench.
Go west to Reservoir South and wait two turns until the reservoir empties ("The water level is now quite low here..."). Go north to Reservoir and get the trunk of jewels. Go south, southwest, southwest, west, south, up to the Living Room and put the trunk in the trophy case. Return to the Reservoir: down, north, east, north, northeast, and north. Go north again to Reservoir North and get the air pump. Go north again to the Atlantis Room and get the crystal trident. Go up, north, north, west, and then down from the Slide Room to the Cellar. Go up and put the trident in the case.
For Your Amusement:
Read the matchbook.
The Temple Area
From the Living Room, go east to the Kitchen, then up to the Attic and get the rope. Go back down, west, and down into the Cellar. Go north, east, east, southeast, and east to the Dome Room. Tie the rope to the railing and go down to the Torch Room. Get the torch and turn off your lamp. Go south to the Temple and drop everything but the torch.
Save a game here, since the ivory torch is a treasure as well as a light source and there's a chance that the Thief will come by and steal it from you, leaving you in the dark and likely to be eaten by a grue. It's easier to restore to this point than to deal with making your way back to where you were when you died. (You may also wish to save every ten or twenty moves until you pick up the lamp again.)
Go east to the Egyptian Room and get the coffin. Open it and take the sceptre. Go west, then south to the Altar. Ignore the candles and book for now and pray at the altar. You will be teleported to a Forest location. Go east, south, east, in to the house Kitchen, and west to the Living Room. Put the coffin and sceptre in the trophy case.
Return down, north, east, east, southeast, east, down, south to the Temple, where you dropped everything. Get the matchbook and bell. Open the matchbook. Go south to the Altar. Get the candles and black book. Put out the candles. Check inventory and be sure you're carrying nothing but the book, candles, bell, matchbook, and torch. Go down twice to Entrance to Hades. Ring the bell. You will drop both it and the candles. Get the candles, light a match, light the candles, then read the book. Put out the candles. Drop the book.
Go south to the Land of the Dead. Get the crystal skull. Go north, up, north three times, west, west, south, and up to the Living Room. Put the skull in the trophy case. Get the sceptre again while you are here. Return down, north, east, east, southeast, east, down, south to the Temple and collect all your belongings. You should have the air pump, screwdriver, lantern, sack with garlic, sceptre, candles, matchbook, and torch; if any of the non-valuables is missing, restore.
For Your Amusement:
Read the black book at the Altar.
Light the candles with the torch. (save first)
Burn the black book. (save first)
Try something naughty with the bodies in the Land of the Dead.
Old Man River
From the Temple, go south, down, north, north, north, east, up, east, east to Dam Base. Inflate the pile of plastic with the air pump. Drop the pump. Read the label (notice that the boat is made of "thin" plastic), then drop it. Put the screwdriver and sceptre in the sack; they are sharp and will puncture the boat it if you board while carrying them. Get in the boat and launch. Wait four turns while the river carries you downstream on the Frigid River.
When you see the red buoy, get it and go east to Sandy Beach to land. Stand up out of the boat. Open the buoy, take the emerald, and drop the buoy. Get the shovel. Go northeast to Sandy Cave and dig in the sand with the shovel four times. Drop the shovel and take the scarab. Go southwest back to Sandy Beach.
If you still have the sceptre: Go south twice to Aragain Falls. Wave the sceptre. Go west twice across the rainbow. You're carrying too much weight to get the pot of gold at the moment, so go southwest, up, up, northwest, west to Behind House, and west twice to the Living Room.
If the Thief stole the sceptre from you while you were underground: Go west to the Sandy Beach and board the boat again; launch and immediately go west to land. Stand, then go north, west five times, south, and up.
Put the scarab, emerald, and sceptre (if you have it) in the trophy case. If you didn't have the sceptre, skip to the next section, The Coal Mine. Otherwise, go back for the pot of gold by going east four times to Canyon View, down, down, north to End of Rainbow. (If the pot of gold is gone, then the Thief has stolen it; the End of Rainbow location is technically "underground".) Get the pot and return southwest, up, up, northwest, west, west, west and put it in the case too.
For Your Amusement:
Continue digging in the sand after you find the scarab. (save first)
Wave the sceptre while standing on the rainbow. (save first)
The Coal Mine
Take the garlic out of the sack and carry it normally. From the Living Room, go down, north, east twice, and south twice to the south Mirror Room. Touch the mirror and you will be transported to the north Mirror Room. (The game's description doesn't really make this apparent.) Go north, west, north, west, and north to the Bat Room. (The garlic you are holding repels the vampire bat, hence he is "holding his nose".) Get the jade figurine. Go east to the Shaft Room. Put the candles and screwdriver in the basket. Drop the torch here and turn on your lantern.
Go north, then down to the Gas Room. Get the bracelet. Go east, northeast, southeast, southwest, and down twice to Ladder Bottom. Go south and get the coal. Go north, then up twice back into Coal Mine. Go north, east, south, and north through the mine, then up and south to the Shaft Room. Put the coal in the basket. Get the candles, light a match, light the candles, then put them back in the basket.
Lower the basket. Retrace your steps to the bottom of the ladder: north, down, east, northeast, southeast, southwest, down, down. Go west to the Timber Room, drop everything, and then west again to the Drafty Room. Get the coal, screwdriver, and candles from the basket. Go south to the Machine Room. Open the machine, put the coal inside, and close it again. Turn the switch with the screwdriver. Open the machine and get the diamond. Drop the screwdriver.
Go north and put the candles and diamond in the basket. Go east, pick up your items (except the timber), and go back through the coal mine to the Shaft Room: east, up, up, north, east, south, north, up, south. Raise the basket. Take the diamond and candles. Put out the candles. Get the torch if it's still here (although likely the Thief will have stolen it).
Go west, south, east, and south, then down to the Cellar. Go up to the Living Room and put the torch (if you have it), diamond, bracelet, and figurine in the trophy case. You can drop the garlic.
For Your Amusement:
Enter the Gas Room with an open flame, such as the torch or candles. (save first)
The Treasure Room and the Barrow
Go east and up to the Attic and pick up the nasty-looking knife. Return down and west to the Living Room. If you used the "Odysseus" solution to the Cyclops puzzle, go west twice from the Living Room to the Cyclops Room. If not, go down to the Cellar, north and west into the Maze, then west, west, up, southwest, east, south, southeast.
Once in the Cyclops Room, save the game (because the Thief can definitely still kill you) and go up to the Treasure Room. If by chance the Thief is not there, go down and return up until he appears. Attack the Thief with the nasty knife. Repeat. When you have killed him, take the silver chalice, egg (notice that it now has a canary), and any treasures that he stole from you. You can leave the stiletto. (If you have number or weight problems with inventory, you may have to make multiple trips back to the Living Room.)
Go down to the Cyclops Room and then east twice to the Living Room (or return through the Maze: northwest, south, down, south, north, east, south, up). Get the canary from the egg. Put the chalice and egg (and any other treasures you may have recovered) in the case. Turn off the lamp.
Leave the house by going east twice to Behind House, and go north twice to a Forest Path locationkil. Wind the canary. Get the brass bauble. Return south and east to Behind House, go west twice to the Living Room, and put the canary and bauble in the case.
If the Thief stole the sceptre from you or you had to give it to him, you're still lacking the pot of gold. Go east four times, down, down, north. Raise or wave the sceptre and pick up the pot of gold. Return southwest, up, up, northwest, west, west, west and put it and the sceptre in the case.
Once you have all the treasures ("An almost inaudible voice whispers in your ear..."), look at the trophy case, and you will find an "ancient parchment", a map, has appeared. Take it and look at it. Go east twice, then south and west to West of House. Go southwest down the "secret path" which has appeared, then enter the Stone Barrow to the west.
Congratulations, adventurer, you're now in Zork II!
For Your Amusement:
Say hello to, listen to, and take the Thief.
For Your Amusement at various times:
Swear.
Cut something with the knife or sword.
Light something on fire (such as the pile of leaves), then pour water on it from the bottle.
Get killed after praying at the altar, then wait or score while a spirit.
Walk around the house or in the forest.
Try these commands: Zork; xyzzy or plugh; chomp; win; lose; mumble or sigh; repent; yell or scream; bite myself; take myself; find, count, listen to, what is, and smell various things (house, hands, teeth, myself, candles, leaves, matches…).
LINK TO ZORK I MAPS
LINK TO ZORK I ONLINE
List of Zork I Treasures
Zork I Speed Run Directions (rtf file)
Zork I Speed Run Directions (pdf file)
ZORK II: The Wizard of Frobozz
WALK-THROUGH
Regarding the Wizard
The Wizard of Frobozz can appear at any point and may cast various spells on you when he does. Most of them are harmless or merely inconvenient, and the best course of action is simply to do nothing and wait until the effect has worn off. Cast at the wrong time, though, their effects can occasionally cause you to die or get into an unsolvable state. You'll take care of the Wizard eventually, but until that point, I recommend you save your game regularly, just in case.
The Garden Area
Take the lamp and sword. Go south, south, south, southwest, south (don't worry about this one turn in the dark) and southeast to North End of Garden. If you see a "large, white animal" (the unicorn), look at it; we'll be back for that key later.
Enter the gazebo and get the teapot, then leave the gazebo. Go north and northeast to Shallow Ford and fill up the teapot with water. Turn on the lamp, and go south, southwest, and southwest to the Carousel Room.
You feel "sort of disoriented" because this room is spinning, and this means that you will only succeed in going the direction you type about 30% of the time. Save the game. Try going southeast. If you end up in the Riddle Room, great. If not, restore, or return to the Carousel Room and try again. (southeast from Cool Room, south from Marble Hall, southwest from Path Near Stream, northeast from Cobwebby Corridor, west from Topiary, north from Menhir Room)
For Your Amusement:
Hang around in the Topiary for a while.
The "Alice" Area
When you make your way to the Riddle Room, answer the riddle by typing answer "well". Go east to the Pearl Room. Get the necklace. Continue one more room east to the Circular Room. You are actually at the bottom of a well here. Enter the bucket, then pour water into it (from the teapot). After the bucket rises to Top of Well, get out of it by saying stand. Go east to the Tea Room. You can try reading the cakes, but the writing's too small to read on all but the green one: "Eat Me". Take all the cakes, and eat the green cake.
Now that you are in the Posts Room (the legs of the table in the Tea Room, natch, since you have shrunk), go east through what was once just a small hole to the Pool Room. Read the red, orange, and blue cakes through the flask. (I gotta say that "through" is a pretty sophisticated preposition understanding here.) "Evaporate", "Explode", and "Enlarge", huh? Drop the orange "Explode" cake and throw the red "Evaporate" cake in the pool. Take the candies. Go west back to the Posts Room and eat the blue "Enlarge" cake.
For Your Amusement:
Eat the orange "Explode" or red "Evaporate" cakes. (save first)
Eat the blue "Enlarge" cake in the Pool Room. (save first)
Open the flask. (save first)
The Robot and Room Spinner
Go northwest to the Low Room. Read the paper, which is instructions for the robot, then drop it. You have to be in the same room as the robot to give it commands, so to bring it along with you, you have to send it on ahead (e.g. robot, east) and then follow it.
Bringing the robot along, go east, then south to the Dingy Closet. Try to take the red crystal sphere. Tell the robot to lift the cage. Get the sphere and look into it. Send the robot north, then follow it to the Machine Room.
The buttons here control the room spinner that spins the Carousel Room. The square button increases the spin to high, the round button decreases the spin to low, and the triangular button switches the field between the Low Room and the Carousel Room. Have the robot push the triangular button. Go west to the Low Room. Save the game, then try to go southeast to the Tea Room. If you wind up back in the Machine Room, either restore or just try again, as with the Carousel Room.
When you make it to the Tea Room, go west to Top of Well and enter the bucket again. Fill the teapot (from the bucket) and you will descend to the bottom again, i.e. the Circular Room. Stand up from the bucket and drop the teapot. Go west twice and northwest back to the Carousel Room.
For Your Amusement:
Push one of the buttons in the Machine Room yourself. (save first)
Set the room-spinner to high, flip the field to the Low Room, then go west to the Low Room. (save first)
The Dreary Room and the Dragon's Lair
Open the steel box that has appeared (since the room is no longer spinning) and get the violin. Go southwest to Cobwebby Corridor, get the string, then go southwest once more to the Guarded Room. Give the candies to the lizard head to put it to sleep. Drop the necklace, violin and red sphere here, since this is near where you'll need them in the future.
Go north, northeast, east, north, north to North End of Garden. Go in to the gazebo and get everything. Leave the gazebo and go south, west, southwest, and north to the Marble Hall. Get the brick (it's plastic explosive, actually).
Go north, north, and up to the Tiny Room. Put the place mat under the door, open the keyhole lid, then put the letter opener in the keyhole. Remove the letter opener and drop it. Get the place mat, and then get the key. Unlock the door with it, open the door, drop the key, and go north into the Dreary Room.
Take the blue sphere and look into it. Go south, down, west, and north to the Dragon Room. Attack the dragon with your sword. (If the Wizard has filched your sword, the brick will also work.) Leave by going south. The dragon will follow. Attack him with the sword again to keep him interested. Go south again, attack the dragon once more, and go west to the Ice Room.
After the fracas, you will be able to exit west to the volcano region, but we're not going there just yet.
For Your Amusement:
Read the newspaper from the Gazebo.
Say hello to the dragon.
Give a treasure to the dragon. (save first, since you can't get it back)
Attack the dragon repeatedly, without leaving the room, while under the influence of the fireproof spell. (Hang around in the Dragon Room and the Wizard is likely to eventually appear and cast fireproof.)
The Princess and the Wizard's Rooms
Return east, north, north, and north again to the Dragon's Lair. Kiss the princess, and she will wake. Wait one turn for her to leave. Follow her back to the Formal Garden and into the Gazebo (south, east, east, down, south, wait, east, east, north, in). Wait a few turns. Soon, the unicorn will appear, and you'll have the golden key from its neck as well as a perfect rose. You can drop the rose.
Leave the gazebo and go south, south, west, southwest, and southwest to the Guarded Room. Unlock the door with the gold key. Drop the key here. Get the red sphere. Open the door and go south, then west twice to the Aquarium Room. Throw your sword at the aquarium to break the glass. (If your sword has been filched, the steel box from the Carousel Room will also work.) Get the clear sphere. Look into the clear sphere. Hmm... strange. Go east to the Wizard's Workroom.
Put the clear sphere on the diamond stand, the red sphere on the ruby stand, and the blue sphere on the sapphire stand. Pick up the black sphere that appears. Look into the black sphere. (And now that you have it, the next time you run into the Wizard, notice what he does!)
For Your Amusement:
Attack the princess. (save first)
Smell the rose.
Read the Wizard's degree from GUE Tech (in the Trophy Room, one room east and one south of the Wizard's Workroom).
Repeatedly look in the Wizard's Quarters (one room south from the Aquarium Room).
Break the aquarium glass directly rather than by throwing an object. (save first)
Take the serpent. (save first)
The Volcano
From the Wizard's Workroom, go east, north three times, down, and west into the Lava Room. Pick up the moby ruby and continue south to Volcano Bottom.
The odd wicker basket and cloth bag contraption here is a hot air balloon. Enter the basket, open the receptacle, and then put the newspaper in it. Light a match and burn the newspaper. (Yeah, yeah, that's nowhere near enough hot air. Moving along...) Read the label that drops from the balloon as it inflates, then drop the label. The balloon will begin to rise. Wait one turn until you come to Volcano Near Small Ledge. Land. Tie the wire to the hook.
Stand. Get the zorkmid. Go south to the Library. Open the purple book and get the stamp. Return north to the balloon and get in. Untie the wire from the hook.
Wait three turns until you are at Volcano Near Wide Ledge. Land and tie the wire to the hook. Stand and go south to the Dusty Room. Put the brick in the hole, put the string in the brick, and then light a match and burn the string. Immediately return north. After the explosion, go back south and get the crown. Read the card. ...Uh oh.
Hurry back north to Wide Ledge, enter the basket, and untie the wire. Close the receptacle to smother the fire. Wait 6 times while the balloon deflates and descends back to Volcano Bottom. Drop the card and matches. Stand.
Go north, east, east, southeast, southwest, and southwest to the Guarded Room. Drop your treasures (crown, stamp, zorkmid, and ruby) and head all the way back to the Dragon Room: north, northeast, north three times, west, and north. Go north into the Dragon's Lair and open the chest, twice if necessary. Take the statuette, and then go south and west twice to the Bank Entrance.
For Your Amusement:
Read the purple and white books.
Hang around in the Dusty Room while the brick explodes. (save first)
Go all the way up and out the top of the volcano. (save first)
After you have set off the bomb in the Dusty Room, wait at Wide Ledge. (save first)
The Bank
Go northwest or northeast into one of the Teller's Rooms, then west (if you went northwest) or east (if you went northeast) into the Safety Depository. Read the paper on the ground, and then drop it. Read the stone cube (i.e., the bank vault). Go south to the Chairman's Office and take the portrait. Return north.
The north wall in the Safety Depository is actually made out of light, and can be walked through to teleport to other Bank locations. The direction from which you entered the Depository controls your destination. If you come in from the east or west, walking through the north wall sends you to the East or West Viewing Rooms; if from the south, you go to the Small Room; if from the north, you go to the Vault. Thus, the immediate goal is to enter the Depository from the north, so that when you go (back) north, you'll teleport to the Vault.
So, from the Safety Depository: Walk through north wall. Leave the Small Room by walk through south wall, thus entering the Depository from the north. Walk through north wall again to be transported to the Vault.
Get the bills, and then walk through the north wall once more. If you try to just walk out with the portrait or bills, you'll set off an alarm, so drop the bills and the portrait in the Depository. Exit the room to the east or west, and then return east (if you went east) or west (if you went west) into the Safety Depository. (This will change the destination when you walk through the north wall.) Pick up the bills and portrait and walk through the north wall again. You will now be transported to the East or West Viewing Room, from which you can safely go south to the Bank Entrance.
Summoning the Demon
Go east, east, south, south, and southeast to the Carousel Room. Take a quick detour west and pick up the can of grue repellent. Go east, southwest, and southwest to the Guarded Room. Pick up what you can with get all and start transporting treasures to the Pentagram Room: south, west, and south of here. This will take a couple of trips (go north, east, north back to the Guarded Room); when dropping items, make sure to keep hold of your lamp, the black sphere, and the can of grue repellent. The treasures you need are: pearl necklace, gold key, dragon statuette, violin, portrait, moby ruby, zorkmid bills, crown, Flathead stamp, and zorkmid coin. (Treasures the Wizard has filched from you and, if you have died, any you had in your possession at the time are not required.)
When finished moving things, put the black sphere in the pentagram to summon the demon. Pick up the treasures and give them to the demon one at a time. After he finally agrees to do you a service, say demon, give me the wand, then get the wand. (Other possibilities are demon, kill the wizard, which the demon seems to find quite cathartic, or demon, move the menhir. This last, however, does not dispose of the Wizard's power.) If the Wizard has filched anything from you, you can take this opportunity to go to the Trophy Room (north, east, and south) and filch it back, if you like. (To filch your sword, refer to it as "elvish sword" to distinguish it from the others.)
For Your Amusement:
Ask the demon to kill Cerberus.
Die after freeing the demon (kill me with sword, if nothing else).
Play around with the wand. To cast a spell, point or wave the wand at something and say "[spell]". Unfortunately for the cause of said amusement, you cannot point the wand at yourself, and not everything else is an appropriate target. I have therefore not been able to figure out exactly what all the spells do. The possible spells are:
fall (makes target trip and fall when they move)
float (makes an object float)
freeze (makes target unable to move)
fence (makes target unable to leave the room: "An invisible fence of magical force bars your way")
fierce (enrages target)
ferment (makes target drunk)
fear (makes target afraid and run from the room)
feeble (makes target weak and unable to carry much or fight)
fumble (reduces target's carrying capacity, possibly making them drop items)
filch (steals a possession from target)
fantasize (makes target hallucinate)
fireproof (what it sounds like)
fry (destroys target "in a puff of smoke"; when the Wizard casts it on you, you get a much more dramatic description of being struck by lightning)
fudge ("a strong odor of chocolate permeates the room")
fluoresce (makes an object glow with light; I speculate this is the spell seen in the Enchanter games as frotz)
free
frobizz, frobozzle, frobnoid (effects unknown; the Wizard attempts to cast these spells while you are in the process of summoning the demon, but fails)
The Oddly-Angled Rooms
From the Pentagram Room, go north, east, north, north, northeast, and south to the Menhir Room. Point the wand at the menhir and say "float". Go southwest into the Kennel. Get the collar and return northeast. Go south, then down into the Oddly-angled Room maze.
This maze is actually a baseball diamond. (Hmph, "oddly-angled" Implementor brains, if you ask me!) The solution is to walk in the sequence of directions of a standard baseball diamond, starting from the pitcher's mound. (The pitcher traditionally faces west, hence a left-handed pitcher being a "southpaw".) You may wish to save the game before you start moving.
In the room with the stairway leading upward, examine diamond. (You don't see this "diamond shaped window" in the room description, but it's there.) If the diamond is not already dark, alternate east and west until it turns dark. Then, go west. You should see a "long wooden club" - a baseball bat, as you're at home plate. If not, restore. From home, go southeast (dimly glowing), northeast (glowing), northwest (glowing brightly), and southwest (glowing serenely). You will hear "a strange rusty squeal echoing in the distance", and see the wooden club again.
For Your Amusement:
Wander around the Oddly-angled Rooms while under the influence of the fantasize spell.
Pet or kill Cerberus after collaring him.
Remove Cerberus' collar. (save first)
Cast all the spells on Cerberus.
The Crypt
Go west (or south? not always the same direction?) back to the room with the stairway. Go down to the Cerberus Room. Put the collar on Cerberus. Go east to the Crypt Anteroom. Open the door and go south into the Crypt. Apply repellent to me and turn off your lamp. Open the secret door you can now see, and - congratulations, moby adventurer - go south to Zork III.
For Your Amusement at various times:
Diagnose whenever the Wizard has just cast a spell on you (especially ferment, freeze, float, or feeble).
Try to move around while you are under the float spell.
Cast several spells in succession without waiting for the wand to recharge.
When the robot and the Wizard are both in the room, tell the robot to take the wand.
LINK TO ZORK II MAPS
Link to Zork II Online
WALK-THROUGH
Regarding the Wizard
The Wizard of Frobozz can appear at any point and may cast various spells on you when he does. Most of them are harmless or merely inconvenient, and the best course of action is simply to do nothing and wait until the effect has worn off. Cast at the wrong time, though, their effects can occasionally cause you to die or get into an unsolvable state. You'll take care of the Wizard eventually, but until that point, I recommend you save your game regularly, just in case.
The Garden Area
Take the lamp and sword. Go south, south, south, southwest, south (don't worry about this one turn in the dark) and southeast to North End of Garden. If you see a "large, white animal" (the unicorn), look at it; we'll be back for that key later.
Enter the gazebo and get the teapot, then leave the gazebo. Go north and northeast to Shallow Ford and fill up the teapot with water. Turn on the lamp, and go south, southwest, and southwest to the Carousel Room.
You feel "sort of disoriented" because this room is spinning, and this means that you will only succeed in going the direction you type about 30% of the time. Save the game. Try going southeast. If you end up in the Riddle Room, great. If not, restore, or return to the Carousel Room and try again. (southeast from Cool Room, south from Marble Hall, southwest from Path Near Stream, northeast from Cobwebby Corridor, west from Topiary, north from Menhir Room)
For Your Amusement:
Hang around in the Topiary for a while.
The "Alice" Area
When you make your way to the Riddle Room, answer the riddle by typing answer "well". Go east to the Pearl Room. Get the necklace. Continue one more room east to the Circular Room. You are actually at the bottom of a well here. Enter the bucket, then pour water into it (from the teapot). After the bucket rises to Top of Well, get out of it by saying stand. Go east to the Tea Room. You can try reading the cakes, but the writing's too small to read on all but the green one: "Eat Me". Take all the cakes, and eat the green cake.
Now that you are in the Posts Room (the legs of the table in the Tea Room, natch, since you have shrunk), go east through what was once just a small hole to the Pool Room. Read the red, orange, and blue cakes through the flask. (I gotta say that "through" is a pretty sophisticated preposition understanding here.) "Evaporate", "Explode", and "Enlarge", huh? Drop the orange "Explode" cake and throw the red "Evaporate" cake in the pool. Take the candies. Go west back to the Posts Room and eat the blue "Enlarge" cake.
For Your Amusement:
Eat the orange "Explode" or red "Evaporate" cakes. (save first)
Eat the blue "Enlarge" cake in the Pool Room. (save first)
Open the flask. (save first)
The Robot and Room Spinner
Go northwest to the Low Room. Read the paper, which is instructions for the robot, then drop it. You have to be in the same room as the robot to give it commands, so to bring it along with you, you have to send it on ahead (e.g. robot, east) and then follow it.
Bringing the robot along, go east, then south to the Dingy Closet. Try to take the red crystal sphere. Tell the robot to lift the cage. Get the sphere and look into it. Send the robot north, then follow it to the Machine Room.
The buttons here control the room spinner that spins the Carousel Room. The square button increases the spin to high, the round button decreases the spin to low, and the triangular button switches the field between the Low Room and the Carousel Room. Have the robot push the triangular button. Go west to the Low Room. Save the game, then try to go southeast to the Tea Room. If you wind up back in the Machine Room, either restore or just try again, as with the Carousel Room.
When you make it to the Tea Room, go west to Top of Well and enter the bucket again. Fill the teapot (from the bucket) and you will descend to the bottom again, i.e. the Circular Room. Stand up from the bucket and drop the teapot. Go west twice and northwest back to the Carousel Room.
For Your Amusement:
Push one of the buttons in the Machine Room yourself. (save first)
Set the room-spinner to high, flip the field to the Low Room, then go west to the Low Room. (save first)
The Dreary Room and the Dragon's Lair
Open the steel box that has appeared (since the room is no longer spinning) and get the violin. Go southwest to Cobwebby Corridor, get the string, then go southwest once more to the Guarded Room. Give the candies to the lizard head to put it to sleep. Drop the necklace, violin and red sphere here, since this is near where you'll need them in the future.
Go north, northeast, east, north, north to North End of Garden. Go in to the gazebo and get everything. Leave the gazebo and go south, west, southwest, and north to the Marble Hall. Get the brick (it's plastic explosive, actually).
Go north, north, and up to the Tiny Room. Put the place mat under the door, open the keyhole lid, then put the letter opener in the keyhole. Remove the letter opener and drop it. Get the place mat, and then get the key. Unlock the door with it, open the door, drop the key, and go north into the Dreary Room.
Take the blue sphere and look into it. Go south, down, west, and north to the Dragon Room. Attack the dragon with your sword. (If the Wizard has filched your sword, the brick will also work.) Leave by going south. The dragon will follow. Attack him with the sword again to keep him interested. Go south again, attack the dragon once more, and go west to the Ice Room.
After the fracas, you will be able to exit west to the volcano region, but we're not going there just yet.
For Your Amusement:
Read the newspaper from the Gazebo.
Say hello to the dragon.
Give a treasure to the dragon. (save first, since you can't get it back)
Attack the dragon repeatedly, without leaving the room, while under the influence of the fireproof spell. (Hang around in the Dragon Room and the Wizard is likely to eventually appear and cast fireproof.)
The Princess and the Wizard's Rooms
Return east, north, north, and north again to the Dragon's Lair. Kiss the princess, and she will wake. Wait one turn for her to leave. Follow her back to the Formal Garden and into the Gazebo (south, east, east, down, south, wait, east, east, north, in). Wait a few turns. Soon, the unicorn will appear, and you'll have the golden key from its neck as well as a perfect rose. You can drop the rose.
Leave the gazebo and go south, south, west, southwest, and southwest to the Guarded Room. Unlock the door with the gold key. Drop the key here. Get the red sphere. Open the door and go south, then west twice to the Aquarium Room. Throw your sword at the aquarium to break the glass. (If your sword has been filched, the steel box from the Carousel Room will also work.) Get the clear sphere. Look into the clear sphere. Hmm... strange. Go east to the Wizard's Workroom.
Put the clear sphere on the diamond stand, the red sphere on the ruby stand, and the blue sphere on the sapphire stand. Pick up the black sphere that appears. Look into the black sphere. (And now that you have it, the next time you run into the Wizard, notice what he does!)
For Your Amusement:
Attack the princess. (save first)
Smell the rose.
Read the Wizard's degree from GUE Tech (in the Trophy Room, one room east and one south of the Wizard's Workroom).
Repeatedly look in the Wizard's Quarters (one room south from the Aquarium Room).
Break the aquarium glass directly rather than by throwing an object. (save first)
Take the serpent. (save first)
The Volcano
From the Wizard's Workroom, go east, north three times, down, and west into the Lava Room. Pick up the moby ruby and continue south to Volcano Bottom.
The odd wicker basket and cloth bag contraption here is a hot air balloon. Enter the basket, open the receptacle, and then put the newspaper in it. Light a match and burn the newspaper. (Yeah, yeah, that's nowhere near enough hot air. Moving along...) Read the label that drops from the balloon as it inflates, then drop the label. The balloon will begin to rise. Wait one turn until you come to Volcano Near Small Ledge. Land. Tie the wire to the hook.
Stand. Get the zorkmid. Go south to the Library. Open the purple book and get the stamp. Return north to the balloon and get in. Untie the wire from the hook.
Wait three turns until you are at Volcano Near Wide Ledge. Land and tie the wire to the hook. Stand and go south to the Dusty Room. Put the brick in the hole, put the string in the brick, and then light a match and burn the string. Immediately return north. After the explosion, go back south and get the crown. Read the card. ...Uh oh.
Hurry back north to Wide Ledge, enter the basket, and untie the wire. Close the receptacle to smother the fire. Wait 6 times while the balloon deflates and descends back to Volcano Bottom. Drop the card and matches. Stand.
Go north, east, east, southeast, southwest, and southwest to the Guarded Room. Drop your treasures (crown, stamp, zorkmid, and ruby) and head all the way back to the Dragon Room: north, northeast, north three times, west, and north. Go north into the Dragon's Lair and open the chest, twice if necessary. Take the statuette, and then go south and west twice to the Bank Entrance.
For Your Amusement:
Read the purple and white books.
Hang around in the Dusty Room while the brick explodes. (save first)
Go all the way up and out the top of the volcano. (save first)
After you have set off the bomb in the Dusty Room, wait at Wide Ledge. (save first)
The Bank
Go northwest or northeast into one of the Teller's Rooms, then west (if you went northwest) or east (if you went northeast) into the Safety Depository. Read the paper on the ground, and then drop it. Read the stone cube (i.e., the bank vault). Go south to the Chairman's Office and take the portrait. Return north.
The north wall in the Safety Depository is actually made out of light, and can be walked through to teleport to other Bank locations. The direction from which you entered the Depository controls your destination. If you come in from the east or west, walking through the north wall sends you to the East or West Viewing Rooms; if from the south, you go to the Small Room; if from the north, you go to the Vault. Thus, the immediate goal is to enter the Depository from the north, so that when you go (back) north, you'll teleport to the Vault.
So, from the Safety Depository: Walk through north wall. Leave the Small Room by walk through south wall, thus entering the Depository from the north. Walk through north wall again to be transported to the Vault.
Get the bills, and then walk through the north wall once more. If you try to just walk out with the portrait or bills, you'll set off an alarm, so drop the bills and the portrait in the Depository. Exit the room to the east or west, and then return east (if you went east) or west (if you went west) into the Safety Depository. (This will change the destination when you walk through the north wall.) Pick up the bills and portrait and walk through the north wall again. You will now be transported to the East or West Viewing Room, from which you can safely go south to the Bank Entrance.
Summoning the Demon
Go east, east, south, south, and southeast to the Carousel Room. Take a quick detour west and pick up the can of grue repellent. Go east, southwest, and southwest to the Guarded Room. Pick up what you can with get all and start transporting treasures to the Pentagram Room: south, west, and south of here. This will take a couple of trips (go north, east, north back to the Guarded Room); when dropping items, make sure to keep hold of your lamp, the black sphere, and the can of grue repellent. The treasures you need are: pearl necklace, gold key, dragon statuette, violin, portrait, moby ruby, zorkmid bills, crown, Flathead stamp, and zorkmid coin. (Treasures the Wizard has filched from you and, if you have died, any you had in your possession at the time are not required.)
When finished moving things, put the black sphere in the pentagram to summon the demon. Pick up the treasures and give them to the demon one at a time. After he finally agrees to do you a service, say demon, give me the wand, then get the wand. (Other possibilities are demon, kill the wizard, which the demon seems to find quite cathartic, or demon, move the menhir. This last, however, does not dispose of the Wizard's power.) If the Wizard has filched anything from you, you can take this opportunity to go to the Trophy Room (north, east, and south) and filch it back, if you like. (To filch your sword, refer to it as "elvish sword" to distinguish it from the others.)
For Your Amusement:
Ask the demon to kill Cerberus.
Die after freeing the demon (kill me with sword, if nothing else).
Play around with the wand. To cast a spell, point or wave the wand at something and say "[spell]". Unfortunately for the cause of said amusement, you cannot point the wand at yourself, and not everything else is an appropriate target. I have therefore not been able to figure out exactly what all the spells do. The possible spells are:
fall (makes target trip and fall when they move)
float (makes an object float)
freeze (makes target unable to move)
fence (makes target unable to leave the room: "An invisible fence of magical force bars your way")
fierce (enrages target)
ferment (makes target drunk)
fear (makes target afraid and run from the room)
feeble (makes target weak and unable to carry much or fight)
fumble (reduces target's carrying capacity, possibly making them drop items)
filch (steals a possession from target)
fantasize (makes target hallucinate)
fireproof (what it sounds like)
fry (destroys target "in a puff of smoke"; when the Wizard casts it on you, you get a much more dramatic description of being struck by lightning)
fudge ("a strong odor of chocolate permeates the room")
fluoresce (makes an object glow with light; I speculate this is the spell seen in the Enchanter games as frotz)
free
frobizz, frobozzle, frobnoid (effects unknown; the Wizard attempts to cast these spells while you are in the process of summoning the demon, but fails)
The Oddly-Angled Rooms
From the Pentagram Room, go north, east, north, north, northeast, and south to the Menhir Room. Point the wand at the menhir and say "float". Go southwest into the Kennel. Get the collar and return northeast. Go south, then down into the Oddly-angled Room maze.
This maze is actually a baseball diamond. (Hmph, "oddly-angled" Implementor brains, if you ask me!) The solution is to walk in the sequence of directions of a standard baseball diamond, starting from the pitcher's mound. (The pitcher traditionally faces west, hence a left-handed pitcher being a "southpaw".) You may wish to save the game before you start moving.
In the room with the stairway leading upward, examine diamond. (You don't see this "diamond shaped window" in the room description, but it's there.) If the diamond is not already dark, alternate east and west until it turns dark. Then, go west. You should see a "long wooden club" - a baseball bat, as you're at home plate. If not, restore. From home, go southeast (dimly glowing), northeast (glowing), northwest (glowing brightly), and southwest (glowing serenely). You will hear "a strange rusty squeal echoing in the distance", and see the wooden club again.
For Your Amusement:
Wander around the Oddly-angled Rooms while under the influence of the fantasize spell.
Pet or kill Cerberus after collaring him.
Remove Cerberus' collar. (save first)
Cast all the spells on Cerberus.
The Crypt
Go west (or south? not always the same direction?) back to the room with the stairway. Go down to the Cerberus Room. Put the collar on Cerberus. Go east to the Crypt Anteroom. Open the door and go south into the Crypt. Apply repellent to me and turn off your lamp. Open the secret door you can now see, and - congratulations, moby adventurer - go south to Zork III.
For Your Amusement at various times:
Diagnose whenever the Wizard has just cast a spell on you (especially ferment, freeze, float, or feeble).
Try to move around while you are under the float spell.
Cast several spells in succession without waiting for the wand to recharge.
When the robot and the Wizard are both in the room, tell the robot to take the wand.
LINK TO ZORK II MAPS
Link to Zork II Online
ZORK III: The Dungeon Master
WALK-THROUGH
The Lake and Aqueduct
Get the lamp and turn it on. Go south to the Junction. Notice your faithful Elvish sword, stuck in the rock, but you can't take it just now. Continue south three times to Lake Shore. Turn the lamp off and drop it. Save the game.
Enter lake. There are two enemies to watch out for here: a giant roc above the surface, and a giant fish below it. If you see the roc, dive to avoid it; if you see the fish, surface. (It's also possible that you will immediately be killed by either. In that case, restore.)
Dive. Underwater, you will see a "small, shiny object", "something sparkling", or "something shiny" in the sand. Take the object. If you don't get it, keep trying. If you run out of air you will automatically return to the surface, but you may need to exit the lake and re-enter it lest you freeze to death from staying in the water too long. (When you see "You are becoming very weak. You had better leave the water before you drown!" you have 2 turns to leave the water or you will die.)
When you have the amulet, surface and go west, then south to Scenic Vista. Get the torch and wait until the indicator over the viewing table reads "II". Touch the table. You'll find yourself in Room 8 from Zork II. Get the can of grue repellent and wait one turn; you will return to the Scenic Vista. When the indicator reads "III", touch the table again. Damp Passage is a location one south and one east from the Endless Stair at the start of the game. Drop the torch here and again wait one turn to be returned to the Scenic Vista.
Return north to Western Shore and enter the lake once more. Dive, get the grue repellent can you dropped, and return to the surface. Swim across to the southern shore. Apply repellent to me. Go south, south, and east to the Key Room. Get the key. Raise the manhole cover. Go down to the Aqueduct, then north three times to the Damp Passage. Get the torch that you left here earlier. (Hang on to the empty grue repellent can; in this walkthrough we'll be using it later.) You can return west and south to the Lake Shore for the lamp if you like (nostalgic?), but the torch will last the rest of the game in this walkthrough.
For Your Amusement:
Try to pull the sword from the stone about 10 times.
Get eaten by the roc or the fish. (save first)
At On the Lake or Southern Shore, enter swamp.
Underwater, eat the algae.
Visit Zork I (indicator "I") and Enchanter (indicator "IV"). (save first for Enchanter)
Be at Aqueduct View (southeast of Lake Shore) or on the aqueduct at High Arch when the earthquake happens, somewhere around turn 85-130. (save first, unless you've already gotten the key and come back around to Aqueduct View. if you're on the aqueduct when the earthquake happens you'll be trapped, and if you're at Aqueduct View but haven't gotten the key yet, you are likely to be eaten by grues if you try to retrace your steps back to the lake from the Key Room; although it is possible to survive the trip by saving and restoring.)
Burn the grue repellent can. (save first)
The Cliff and Land of Shadow
From Damp Passage, go west three times to the Cliff. Get the bread. Go down the rope to Cliff Ledge. Get the chest. Wait at Cliff Ledge for a man to appear at the top of the cliff. Tie the chest to the rope as he asks, and wait again until he reappears. Grab the rope and you will be hauled up the cliff. The man will give you a wooden staff from the chest.
Head back down the cliff twice to Cliff Base and go south to the Flathead Ocean. Wait until you see a ship. Type hello sailor (you were waiting for the game where that would do something, wouldn't you?) and the sailor will throw you a gift. Look, and pick up the vial and examine it - it's an invisibility potion.
Go east. The Land of Shadow is an area consisting of 8 rooms; you've just arrived in room 7:
Wander about in the Land of Shadow until you encounter "a cloaked and hooded figure". You can also try just waiting when you "hear quiet footsteps nearby". When you encounter the figure, the Elvish sword will appear in your hand. Attack the figure repeatedly, but don't kill it. If you are getting hit a lot, leave the room in a direction that the figure is not blocking and wander around from there until your wounds heal.
When the figure is "badly hurt and defenseless", take its hood and cloak. Then find your way east out of the Land of Shadow to the Creepy Crawl.
For Your Amusement:
Say hello to the man, both while still on Cliff Ledge and when he is examining his treasure.
Throw something at the man from the cliff.
Burn the staff and the trees. (save first)
Say "hello sailor" before the ship arrives, or after it leaves.
Enter the quicksand at the south side of the Land of Shadow. (save first)
The Royal Museum
From the Creepy Crawl, go east twice and south once to the Royal Hall. Examine the seal. Go south again to the Great Door. If the earthquake hasn't happened yet, wait here until it does. Go east through the "gaping cleft in the rock" to the Museum Entrance, then north to the Technology Museum. Try to read the plaque.
Examine the gold machine. This is a time machine, and the dial displays the current year (948). Push the gold machine south to Museum Entrance. Open the stone door and push the gold machine east into the Jewel Room. Read the plaque there. Dedicated in 777, huh? Turn the dial on the gold machine to 776, then sit on the seat and push the button. (Don't worry about your possessions; you can't carry anything with you through time.)
You are now in the Jewel Room in the year 776. Look. Take the ring. Wait until you hear the guards leave ("You hear, from outside the door, guards marching away..."). Open the door. Go west. Open the wooden door, then go north to the Technology Museum. (The descriptions of the grey and black machines may be amusing to players of Zork I and Zork II!) Look under the seat (i.e, of the gold machine). Put the ring under the seat. Sit in the gold machine. Turn the dial to 948 (your present), and push the button. Look under the seat and you will retrieve the ring. Stand, open the (wooden) door, and go south. Open the stone door and go east to the Jewel Room. Get all your belongings. Read the plaque again.
For Your Amusement:
Be at the Great Door when the earthquake happens.
Hang around in the Royal Museum and try to catch a glimpse of the robot. (It's annoying, but harmless; it puts things you have moved back into their places, and closes doors you've left open.)
In 776, repeatedly listen to the guards through the door.
Read the plaque in the Technology Museum in 776.
Go to the Museum Entrance and Jewel Room in 777, and listen to the dedication.
The Royal Puzzle
Go west and south to the Royal Puzzle Entrance. Read the note. ("Intrepid adventurers do not fear mere warning notes!") Save the game. Go down into the Royal Puzzle.
Look. The sandstone "walls" are actually the sides of cubical blocks that are light enough for you to push and move (unlike the marble that is mostly the perimeter of the puzzle and a couple of blocks within it). It is essentially a sliding tile puzzle. You need to get the lore book that is hiding under one of the blocks and then maneuver a ladder that is attached to one side of another block into a position that will allow you to climb back out at the place you came in. There are two blocks with ladders, but only one can be positioned correctly. The following sequence of moves will work:
PUSH EAST WALL. S. S. SE. PUSH SOUTH WALL. N. NE. PUSH SOUTH WALL. TAKE BOOK. PUSH SOUTH WALL. E. NE. PUSH WEST WALL. SW. NW. NE. PUSH SOUTH WALL. SW. PUSH EAST WALL. NE. PUSH SOUTH WALL. NW. N. N. N. PUSH EAST WALL. SW. S. SE. NE. N. PUSH WEST WALL. NW. PUSH SOUTH WALL. AGAIN. W. NW. NW. PUSH SOUTH WALL. SE. SE. SE. NE. PUSH WEST WALL. AGAIN. SW. PUSH NORTH WALL. AGAIN. AGAIN. NW. UP. (You may wish to YELL at this point!)
The Mirror Box
From the Royal Puzzle Entrance, go north, west, north, north, west, west, north, east, northeast to the Engravings Room. If no one is there, leave the room and return until "an old and wizened man" appears. Shake the man to wake him, and then give him the bread. Open the secret door and go north twice to the Beam Room. Drop the can of grue repellent to block the beam of light. Go south to the Button Room and press the button. Go north twice to the Hallway. Notice the mirrored panel that has opened. Go north one more time and you will now be inside the mirror box. Save the game.
Read the long description of Inside Mirror carefully. The mahogany panel moves the whole box when you push it, if the passageway is clear. The pine panel swings out if you push it, allowing you to exit the box. The red and yellow panels rotate the box clockwise; the black and white ones rotate it counter-clockwise. The short pole steadies the box while it moves north or south, but prevents it from rotating. The compass rose and T-bar on the long pole indicate the direction the mahogany panel is facing, which is the directon of movement of the box.
Raise the short pole so you can rotate the box. Push the yellow wall twice, so the compass rose now points north. Lower the short pole again. Push the mahogany wall three times. Raise the short pole. Push the white or black walls to rotate the box so the mahogany wall faces south. Push the pine wall and go north to the Dungeon Entrance.
(The puzzle here is that you've bypassed the twin Guardians of Zork, who kill anything that comes between them, but can't tell the difference between their twin and their own reflection. You must have the short pole in the channel when you move the box because the Guardians can detect the reflection by the box's wobble if the short pole is not steadying it. An alternate solution is to drink the invisibility potion from the vial and walk past while invisible.)
For Your Amusement:
Throw something at the Guardians of Zork. (When you first enter the mirror box, raise the short pole, then rotate it so the mahogany wall faces south, and push the pine wall so you can exit to the north before bypassing them.) (save first if you choose the book, hood or cloak, staff, key, amulet, or ring, all of which you need to win the game.)
The Dungeon Master
Knock on the door and the dungeon master will answer. Go north, then east or west, then north twice to the Parapet. Look at the sundial. Turn the dial to 4, then press the button. Go south, open the door, and go south into the Prison Cell. Tell the Dungeon Master to go to the Parapet. Tell him to turn the dial to another number (pick any). Tell him to press the button. Unlock the bronze door with the key. Open the bronze door. (What's going on here is that the prison cells are on some kind of rotating "lazy susan" thing. Turning the sundial to a number summons that cell, and that cell is returned to its original position when a different number is pressed. You can only unlock the door while in cell 4 and when that cell is in its original position.)
Go south into the Treasury of Zork. Congratulations, Dungeon Master!
For Your Amusement:
Look into the mirror or knock on the dungeon door while invisible.
Throw something into the flaming pit in the dungeon.
For Your Amusement at various times:
Get eaten by a grue (surely you know how?) - you may run into not merely one grue, but an entire convention!
Repeatedly examine the key.
LINK TO ZORK III MAPS
LINK TO ZORK III ONLINE
WALK-THROUGH
The Lake and Aqueduct
Get the lamp and turn it on. Go south to the Junction. Notice your faithful Elvish sword, stuck in the rock, but you can't take it just now. Continue south three times to Lake Shore. Turn the lamp off and drop it. Save the game.
Enter lake. There are two enemies to watch out for here: a giant roc above the surface, and a giant fish below it. If you see the roc, dive to avoid it; if you see the fish, surface. (It's also possible that you will immediately be killed by either. In that case, restore.)
Dive. Underwater, you will see a "small, shiny object", "something sparkling", or "something shiny" in the sand. Take the object. If you don't get it, keep trying. If you run out of air you will automatically return to the surface, but you may need to exit the lake and re-enter it lest you freeze to death from staying in the water too long. (When you see "You are becoming very weak. You had better leave the water before you drown!" you have 2 turns to leave the water or you will die.)
When you have the amulet, surface and go west, then south to Scenic Vista. Get the torch and wait until the indicator over the viewing table reads "II". Touch the table. You'll find yourself in Room 8 from Zork II. Get the can of grue repellent and wait one turn; you will return to the Scenic Vista. When the indicator reads "III", touch the table again. Damp Passage is a location one south and one east from the Endless Stair at the start of the game. Drop the torch here and again wait one turn to be returned to the Scenic Vista.
Return north to Western Shore and enter the lake once more. Dive, get the grue repellent can you dropped, and return to the surface. Swim across to the southern shore. Apply repellent to me. Go south, south, and east to the Key Room. Get the key. Raise the manhole cover. Go down to the Aqueduct, then north three times to the Damp Passage. Get the torch that you left here earlier. (Hang on to the empty grue repellent can; in this walkthrough we'll be using it later.) You can return west and south to the Lake Shore for the lamp if you like (nostalgic?), but the torch will last the rest of the game in this walkthrough.
For Your Amusement:
Try to pull the sword from the stone about 10 times.
Get eaten by the roc or the fish. (save first)
At On the Lake or Southern Shore, enter swamp.
Underwater, eat the algae.
Visit Zork I (indicator "I") and Enchanter (indicator "IV"). (save first for Enchanter)
Be at Aqueduct View (southeast of Lake Shore) or on the aqueduct at High Arch when the earthquake happens, somewhere around turn 85-130. (save first, unless you've already gotten the key and come back around to Aqueduct View. if you're on the aqueduct when the earthquake happens you'll be trapped, and if you're at Aqueduct View but haven't gotten the key yet, you are likely to be eaten by grues if you try to retrace your steps back to the lake from the Key Room; although it is possible to survive the trip by saving and restoring.)
Burn the grue repellent can. (save first)
The Cliff and Land of Shadow
From Damp Passage, go west three times to the Cliff. Get the bread. Go down the rope to Cliff Ledge. Get the chest. Wait at Cliff Ledge for a man to appear at the top of the cliff. Tie the chest to the rope as he asks, and wait again until he reappears. Grab the rope and you will be hauled up the cliff. The man will give you a wooden staff from the chest.
Head back down the cliff twice to Cliff Base and go south to the Flathead Ocean. Wait until you see a ship. Type hello sailor (you were waiting for the game where that would do something, wouldn't you?) and the sailor will throw you a gift. Look, and pick up the vial and examine it - it's an invisibility potion.
Go east. The Land of Shadow is an area consisting of 8 rooms; you've just arrived in room 7:
Wander about in the Land of Shadow until you encounter "a cloaked and hooded figure". You can also try just waiting when you "hear quiet footsteps nearby". When you encounter the figure, the Elvish sword will appear in your hand. Attack the figure repeatedly, but don't kill it. If you are getting hit a lot, leave the room in a direction that the figure is not blocking and wander around from there until your wounds heal.
When the figure is "badly hurt and defenseless", take its hood and cloak. Then find your way east out of the Land of Shadow to the Creepy Crawl.
For Your Amusement:
Say hello to the man, both while still on Cliff Ledge and when he is examining his treasure.
Throw something at the man from the cliff.
Burn the staff and the trees. (save first)
Say "hello sailor" before the ship arrives, or after it leaves.
Enter the quicksand at the south side of the Land of Shadow. (save first)
The Royal Museum
From the Creepy Crawl, go east twice and south once to the Royal Hall. Examine the seal. Go south again to the Great Door. If the earthquake hasn't happened yet, wait here until it does. Go east through the "gaping cleft in the rock" to the Museum Entrance, then north to the Technology Museum. Try to read the plaque.
Examine the gold machine. This is a time machine, and the dial displays the current year (948). Push the gold machine south to Museum Entrance. Open the stone door and push the gold machine east into the Jewel Room. Read the plaque there. Dedicated in 777, huh? Turn the dial on the gold machine to 776, then sit on the seat and push the button. (Don't worry about your possessions; you can't carry anything with you through time.)
You are now in the Jewel Room in the year 776. Look. Take the ring. Wait until you hear the guards leave ("You hear, from outside the door, guards marching away..."). Open the door. Go west. Open the wooden door, then go north to the Technology Museum. (The descriptions of the grey and black machines may be amusing to players of Zork I and Zork II!) Look under the seat (i.e, of the gold machine). Put the ring under the seat. Sit in the gold machine. Turn the dial to 948 (your present), and push the button. Look under the seat and you will retrieve the ring. Stand, open the (wooden) door, and go south. Open the stone door and go east to the Jewel Room. Get all your belongings. Read the plaque again.
For Your Amusement:
Be at the Great Door when the earthquake happens.
Hang around in the Royal Museum and try to catch a glimpse of the robot. (It's annoying, but harmless; it puts things you have moved back into their places, and closes doors you've left open.)
In 776, repeatedly listen to the guards through the door.
Read the plaque in the Technology Museum in 776.
Go to the Museum Entrance and Jewel Room in 777, and listen to the dedication.
The Royal Puzzle
Go west and south to the Royal Puzzle Entrance. Read the note. ("Intrepid adventurers do not fear mere warning notes!") Save the game. Go down into the Royal Puzzle.
Look. The sandstone "walls" are actually the sides of cubical blocks that are light enough for you to push and move (unlike the marble that is mostly the perimeter of the puzzle and a couple of blocks within it). It is essentially a sliding tile puzzle. You need to get the lore book that is hiding under one of the blocks and then maneuver a ladder that is attached to one side of another block into a position that will allow you to climb back out at the place you came in. There are two blocks with ladders, but only one can be positioned correctly. The following sequence of moves will work:
PUSH EAST WALL. S. S. SE. PUSH SOUTH WALL. N. NE. PUSH SOUTH WALL. TAKE BOOK. PUSH SOUTH WALL. E. NE. PUSH WEST WALL. SW. NW. NE. PUSH SOUTH WALL. SW. PUSH EAST WALL. NE. PUSH SOUTH WALL. NW. N. N. N. PUSH EAST WALL. SW. S. SE. NE. N. PUSH WEST WALL. NW. PUSH SOUTH WALL. AGAIN. W. NW. NW. PUSH SOUTH WALL. SE. SE. SE. NE. PUSH WEST WALL. AGAIN. SW. PUSH NORTH WALL. AGAIN. AGAIN. NW. UP. (You may wish to YELL at this point!)
The Mirror Box
From the Royal Puzzle Entrance, go north, west, north, north, west, west, north, east, northeast to the Engravings Room. If no one is there, leave the room and return until "an old and wizened man" appears. Shake the man to wake him, and then give him the bread. Open the secret door and go north twice to the Beam Room. Drop the can of grue repellent to block the beam of light. Go south to the Button Room and press the button. Go north twice to the Hallway. Notice the mirrored panel that has opened. Go north one more time and you will now be inside the mirror box. Save the game.
Read the long description of Inside Mirror carefully. The mahogany panel moves the whole box when you push it, if the passageway is clear. The pine panel swings out if you push it, allowing you to exit the box. The red and yellow panels rotate the box clockwise; the black and white ones rotate it counter-clockwise. The short pole steadies the box while it moves north or south, but prevents it from rotating. The compass rose and T-bar on the long pole indicate the direction the mahogany panel is facing, which is the directon of movement of the box.
Raise the short pole so you can rotate the box. Push the yellow wall twice, so the compass rose now points north. Lower the short pole again. Push the mahogany wall three times. Raise the short pole. Push the white or black walls to rotate the box so the mahogany wall faces south. Push the pine wall and go north to the Dungeon Entrance.
(The puzzle here is that you've bypassed the twin Guardians of Zork, who kill anything that comes between them, but can't tell the difference between their twin and their own reflection. You must have the short pole in the channel when you move the box because the Guardians can detect the reflection by the box's wobble if the short pole is not steadying it. An alternate solution is to drink the invisibility potion from the vial and walk past while invisible.)
For Your Amusement:
Throw something at the Guardians of Zork. (When you first enter the mirror box, raise the short pole, then rotate it so the mahogany wall faces south, and push the pine wall so you can exit to the north before bypassing them.) (save first if you choose the book, hood or cloak, staff, key, amulet, or ring, all of which you need to win the game.)
The Dungeon Master
Knock on the door and the dungeon master will answer. Go north, then east or west, then north twice to the Parapet. Look at the sundial. Turn the dial to 4, then press the button. Go south, open the door, and go south into the Prison Cell. Tell the Dungeon Master to go to the Parapet. Tell him to turn the dial to another number (pick any). Tell him to press the button. Unlock the bronze door with the key. Open the bronze door. (What's going on here is that the prison cells are on some kind of rotating "lazy susan" thing. Turning the sundial to a number summons that cell, and that cell is returned to its original position when a different number is pressed. You can only unlock the door while in cell 4 and when that cell is in its original position.)
Go south into the Treasury of Zork. Congratulations, Dungeon Master!
For Your Amusement:
Look into the mirror or knock on the dungeon door while invisible.
Throw something into the flaming pit in the dungeon.
For Your Amusement at various times:
Get eaten by a grue (surely you know how?) - you may run into not merely one grue, but an entire convention!
Repeatedly examine the key.
LINK TO ZORK III MAPS
LINK TO ZORK III ONLINE
