1893: A World's Fair Mystery

This solution is by David Welbourn, and is based on Unregistered Version 1.4 of the game.

General Information

Introduction

You are a detective who has been hired (on an unofficial basis) to search for and recover eight diamonds that were stolen from the Kimberly Diamond Mining Company exhibit at the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago. You are carrying a dossier containing various information related to the case, and start the game at "Court of Honor, In Front of Terminal Station" at 10:00 a.m. Monday morning. Enter the Administration Building and head into the "Columbian Guards Station" where you'll meet your friend and ally, Carl Masters, the chief detective for the Fair:

After Carl greets you and briefly summarizes the situation, don't move a step. Open your dossier and examine all the materials inside. You'll probably want to ask Carl about topics like: diamonds, Chicago, Fair, Masters, cigar, Wentworth, guards, Midway, Columbus, money, kidnapping, Bob, Delbras.

Since he doesn't seem to know much about your two suspects, you must tell him about them:

Carl will pass on your descriptions to the other guards, which will help later in the game.

Once you're finished with Carl, go north into your office. Carl will immediately leave to do work on his own case; you probably won't see him again until Tuesday morning. In your office, take the bill of draft that's on the desk. Examine the desk, open the drawer, and take the guide (see News). To open the safe, just "open safe"; it's assumed that you already know the combination. There's nothing under the cot, but it never hurts to check.

Next, you should visit the rest of the Administration Building. Specifically, you should head into the bank and exchange the bill of draft for money (see Money for details), otherwise you won't be able to buy lunch or anything else. Once you have your money, you should also visit the "Columbian Newspaper and Publicity Department" and take a newspaper and the "Western Union Telegraph and Messenger Service" and ask the clerk about telegram (see News for details on both).

At this point, the game is wide open. You'll probably want to visit the crime scene and talk to Wentworth (see Allies), and more importantly, find a place to eat lunch before noon (see Food). Since the Fair is so huge, you'll need to explore the place just like any other tourist for awhile, before the riddle on the crime scene note (in your dossier) starts to make any sense.

Maps

Money

Your only source of money is via the bills of draft left on your desk every morning, which must be given to the teller in the bank (northwest corner of the Administration Building). All you have to do is:

You'll notice that the amount of money you have, and the prices of meals and buyable objects are never stated exactly. You should have enough for two meals, and maybe a few extra purchases (if you don't eat too extravagently). If you run out of money, you'll simply have to wait until you get money on the next day. Examine your money to get a rough idea how much you have.

Besides meals, you'll likely want to buy transportation; see Transports. Other items you can buy are:

If there's something you want that isn't for sale, it may be possible to just ask about it (if someone's holding it), trade for it, steal it, or break it (and steal the piece that broke off it). Ironic, that in order to catch a thief, you must sometimes be a thief and vandal yourself.

Food

You will want to eat breakfast at 6:00 a.m., lunch at 12:00 noon, and dinner at 6:00 p.m. Meals cannot be eaten until you're actually hungry. On the other hand, there are edible food items that have no particular effect on your hunger. Here's how it works:

Breakfast is always doughnuts and coffee, provided free of charge in the Columbian Guards Station at 6:00 a.m. every morning — except Monday, of course, since the game starts at 10:00 a.m. Consuming the doughnuts and coffee is awkward, since all you see is a "box of doughnuts" and a "pot of coffee", and you can't eat a box nor drink a pot. To confuse matters, looking in the box lies to you, claiming the box is empty. It isn't:

This creates a new doughnut object, and leaves the box on the desk. Note what kind of doughnut it is, and eat krueller or eat powdered or whatever type it is. You can say "eat doughnut" okay, but not "eat it", since "it" still refers to the box. It's a similar bit of business with the coffee:

I don't know what a minimal breakfast is; I always ate two doughnuts and drank one cup of coffee. That seemed sufficient.

Lunch and Dinner must be eaten at one of the cafes, inns, and restaurants in the game. If you can find them. And if you can afford them; you don't have much money. Use the syntax "eat at restaurant" when at a restaurant; if you can afford the price, you'll eat a meal there. Meals also take time: you might spend up to forty minutes eating.

In general, the cafes serve lunch-type meals, and the restaurants serve dinner-type meals, with a larger price tag and longer eating time. You should have enough money for one of each, but if you plan on spending money elsewhere, you might consider sticking to light meals or skipping a meal altogether. By the way, the rumours of free food in the Agriculture Building at lunchtime are false, see Time & Events.

(Note:When I played, I ate a big "dinner" at lunchtime at the Haywood Restaurant on Monday, but couldn't afford a second meal there at dinner, and couldn't find anywhere else to eat and did without. As a consequence, I only had to eat breakfasts for the rest of the game, and was never otherwise hungry from Tuesday onward. I don't know if the game's supposed to work that way or not.)

Other foodstuffs are either puzzle items or snacks that have no effect on your hunger.

Sleep

You will get sleepy promptly at 10:00 p.m. every evening. You should return to your office in the Administration Building as soon as reasonably possible, sit on the cot, extinguish the oil lamp (if lit), and sleep. (You may also sleep on the other two beds in the game, if you wish to do so.)

Failure to reach a bed by 11:40 p.m. is punished harshly. If you become too sleepy, you'll trip, fall, pass out for a day, and the case will be assigned to someone else.

Smokes

You can buy cigarettes from the Agriculture Building and light them with matches from the Machinery Hall. Once you start smoking, though, you'll be prompted to smoke more. I haven't investigated this behaviour in detail, but it looks like if you just ignore the cravings, eventually the prompting to smoke another cigarette will stop.

Allies

Carl Masters is your best ally. Feel free to ask him about any topic and show him any of your possessions. Not that he has an answer for everything by any means, but he does respond to several conversation topics. At the very least, you should tell him about Greenback Bob and Delbras right away. And show him any telegrams you receive. He's available in the Guards Office every day from 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m.

Wentworth has only limited usefulness to you, but you do need him to verify every diamond you find. Don't bother to give or show him anything else except diamonds. His conversation topics seem to be limited to: diamonds, case, woman, zulu, demonstration, salt, carbon/coal, alabaster, shale, bauxite, aluminum oxide. Maybe a couple more topics, but probably not much more. He is always at the Kimberly Diamond Mining Company exhibit (east of the north end of the Mines and Mining Building), day and night.

The Boy is (at first) an unlikely ally, but his eagerness to help is apparent if you tell him about Bob, Delbras, and the diamonds (all of which you should tell him). I'm not sure what else he knows; he responds to questions about his hat, chocolate, and the Prince. His aid is a necessary link to getting the Adam diamond, and necessary towards surviving the endgame. You can also earn a Bonus point from him. Furthermore, if you ask him to follow you, he will... but not forever. It's not clear where in the Fair you might want him to follow you to. Lastly, he wanders all over the outdoor areas of the Wooded Island; you will likely have to search and follow him around if you're planning on a long conversation.

Lloyd and Floyd and both guardsmen and brothers. Lloyd guards the Government Building until 4:00 p.m., and Floyd guards the Government Building from 4:00 p.m. onward. They have different temperments; don't assume for a second that their attitudes and reactions to events or questions are identical. Generally, Lloyd is stuffy and by-the-book. Floyd is easy-going and less uptight. I couldn't find many conversation topics for them; you can at least ask them about Lloyd, Floyd, keys, hog, globe.

(There's a bit of implementation wonkiness involved with Lloyd and Floyd. First, if you enter the Government Building from any entrance, they are always in that room to greet you. So if you don't want to search all nine rooms of building for either of them, just walk out and back in again. Second, they might erroneously make a quip more appropriate for another room when you walk in this way. Third, the Lloyd to Floyd changeover seems to be triggered not by the clock per se, but by you entering the building at 4:00 or after. This means that if you hang around inside the Government Building past 4:00, Lloyd will remain past 4:00 and Floyd won't appear.)

News & Help

Your dossier contains all the background information about your case. You should examine all of its contents at least once. The riddle poem (the crime scene note) is your biggest clue.

Your guidebook is in your office desk drawer, and you can look up any of the Fair's major buildings or monuments in it. There are no vital clues in the guidebook, but it does give you some background information about the Fair. (Most of the buildings' invididual structural details are not implemented at all. Nor do any of the characters in the game have anything to say about any the buildings. You can usually only "examine XYZ building" or "look up XYZ building in guide".)

Newspapers can be obtained daily from either the Publicity Department in the southwest corner of the Administration Building, or from a newspaper stand on the lakefront, east of the Manufactures Building. It's probably simplest to take a new newspaper at the start of each day, just after breakfast. Because of disambiguation problems, it's best to read a newspaper outside the scope of any other newspapers. Several of the newspaper's articles will end up being related to your case.

Telegrams are obtained from the Telegraph Office in the southeast corner of the Administration Building. You should visit the clerk first thing every morning (including the first day, Monday), and ask the clerk about telegram. (After he stops fussing and pays attention to you.) After reading your telegram, if any, show it to Carl Masters. There are at least two telegrams in the game.

The American Bell Telephone exhibit (west of south end of Electricity Building) has a row of phones. Take the black phone and a voice will answer, asking you if you're enjoying the scavenger hunt. This is the voice of the villain who's arranged all this. You may ask him about any of the diamonds by name, or about any of your suspects. Since the villian wants you to continue the search, he will give you small clues to help point you in the right direction. (Very small clues. I never heard him say anything that I hadn't already figured out.)

Transports

Besides walking, you have a few other options to help you navigate about the fairgrounds, for a small fee, of course:

Elevated Trains, the Columbian and the Republic, run on elevated tracks which loop around at the northern and southern ends. The train stations are (from north to south):

*Note that the Terminal Station can't be entered; you may only exit from Terminal Station.

Ferries run in a cycle from locations called Boat Launch, using the natural and man-made waterways. Boat Launches are found at these locations:

The Rolling Chair Company Pavilion, located on the lakefront outside the northeastern side of the mammoth Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building, offers a wheelchair ride to any building in the Fair. To use this service, sit in chair, then say driver, take me to horticulture building, or whichever building you wish to visit.

Gondolas, like the ferries, are located at the Boat Launches, but don't wait for one if it isn't there. You'll most likely find one at the Boat Launch east of the Horticulture Building's main entrance. To use this service, enter gondola, then say gondolier, take me to agriculture, or any other place where the gondola can dock.

There's also a very unusual way to travel quickly in the game; see the Bonus Point you can earn from Tesla.

Time & Events

Most game actions take only one minute of game time, although other actions, like sleeping, waiting, or eating a meal, can take up much more time. The game begins on a Monday at 10:00 pm. You have until 7:00 pm on Sunday to reach the endgame area. (Or else what? I haven't played out that ending.)

From the daily newspapers, signs, and other clues, the following schedule of events can be determined:

Also, Tesla's demonstrations are every hour on the hour. On Thursday, crowds for Illinois Day prevent you from entering the Illinois Building. On Sunday, the bank and telegraph offices are closed.

If you wish to wait a long time, use the syntax wait until 7:00 to wait until that time. The minutes must be specified; "wait until 7" won't work.

During the endgame sequence, the normal date and hour:minutes reckoning in the status bar is replaced with a 120 minute countdown. I assume that all urges to eat or sleep during the endgame are nullified, since what o'clock it is no longer matters.

Inventory Management

Eventually, you will find you have more items than you can comfortably carry. I suggest that you return every so often to your office and unload unnecessary items. You should hold onto your money and dossier at all times.

There are really only two portable containers, your dossier, and a basket found in the Women's Building. The dossier can hold several of the paper items you'll find, but not all of them. The basket also has a limited capacity, but it can be useful. The gunpowder horn is reserved for gunpowder only. And the Zulu shield, a supporter, not a true container, seems only capable of supporting the white sheet. [Oops, I forgot about the ornate box. How much can it hold, anyway?]

Careful with pouring the gunpowder. Once poured, you can never pick it up again, even if it's just sitting there.

Although it's clear that some items are heavier than others, I saw no adverse effect of object weight with regard to inventory.

One item in the game cannot be dropped: a baby. The baby must be given to someone else, not just put on the floor. If you need to pick up an item while carrying the baby (and you will), and the game complains that you're carrying too many objects, you must drop one or more of your other possessions.

Hazards

Most hazards can be avoided with a little common sense. Don't forgo your sleep (see Sleep). Don't go without food if you're hungry. Don't operate dangerous equipment that you haven't learned how to use correctly. Don't do obviously stupid things (unless you have a very good reason or backup).

Common sense also suggests that if you do something like put an object into a deep pond or a furnace, you're going to lose that object forever. Bad moves like this can be easily negated by using undo to undo a move. In fact, the game supports multiple uses of undo, so you can negate a series of actions. Also, don't forget to use save if you think you're about to enter a dangerous situation.

One of the few hazards in the game that is not obvious is the ape in the Javanese Village in the midway. The ape steals an object from you each and every time you leave the village, and won't let you take any of your objects back. It's best to avoid him until late in the game, and when you're equipped to outsmart him.

Weather

Every day has a different weather pattern. For example, Monday is very hot, and Thursday is rainy and cloudy. The game makes a remark about the weather almost every time you exit a major building. Otherwise, the weather has no effect on gameplay: you never get thirsty, or need to wear sunscreen or a coat, or need an umbrella. If you've forgotten what the weather is like, just examine sky from any outdoor location.

The Diamonds

The primary clue to the diamonds' whereabouts is the poem (the crime scene note in your dossier). Every diamond you find should be given to Wentworth in Kimberly Mining Company Exhibit to be verified. Once verified, put the diamond in your office safe.

Because the thief named all eight diamonds, you can refer to the diamonds by their names also.

Dennis

Get the oil lantern from Railroad Supplies (north of the east end of the Transportation Building) and several matches from German Exhibit (east of north end of the Machinery Hall). Go to the Horticulture Building, and walk around the mountain to Central Pavilion, West Side, then go east to the State of South Dakota Exhibit. There's a trapdoor there. Open the trapdoor. Light the lantern with a match, and go down.

Go either north or south from the Grotto to the Gallery. Examine, then look behind the "waterfall". Take the rock. Return either east or northwest to the Grotto, go up, and extinguish the lamp.

If you haven't already done so, watch the mining demonstration given by Zulu workers east of Wentworth's location. Take careful note of exactly how they use the machinery to turn a chunk of rock into a diamond. The sign says that demos are at 10:00, 12:00, 2:00, and 4:00.

Unhappily, the Zulu warrior won't let you past to use the machines yourself. Everytime you try to do so, or try to talk to him, he makes a curious gesture with two figures at his lips. This isn't a weird thing known only to Zulus. He's miming smoking a cigarette.

(Sad to say, the only way I "figured" this out was by giving every inventory object to the Zulu in desperation, until he responded favorably. Imagine the conversation going like this: "Here. Have a arm made of chocolate. You no like? Okay. Here. Have a boat made of soap. What's wrong with you? Everyone wants boats made of soap. No, huh? Alright. Here's a pamphlet from Hayti. No? Your loss. Hey, look at this ostrich egg! Have you ever seen egg this big? You'll be eating this egg for a week!" etc.)

Buy a pack of cigarettes from the Egyptian Cigarette Booth (northwest corner of Agriculture Building). Armed with the cigarettes, a match, the clump of rock, and a basket, visit the Zulu warrior between demos (or after they're done for the day). Open the pack, take a cigarette, and light it with a match. Give the cigarette to the Zulu. He smiles and smokes the cigarette, and lets you go north past him.

Inside the demonstration area, use the funnel and tray machines as you saw the Zulus did. Be careful! The funnel machine can destroy the diamond or even explode if you don't know what you're doing. Save the game first. Then, carefully, follow these instructions:

>put basket on hook. (The bucket you saw the Zulus use isn't here. If the basket isn't empty, remove its contents first. This basket is from the south side of the Women's Building.)

Do not use the porcupine machine; Dennis is supposed to be an unfinished diamond. And this is the Dennis diamond. Visit Wentworth and show Dennis to him; he'll verify it. Then put Dennis in your office safe.

Ida

With so many areas of water, this hardly seems to be a sufficient clue. The MacMonnies Fountain has a figure of Fate, but you see nothing unusual there. But in Tuesday's paper, you can read the following classified ad:

And you might remember from Monday's cover story that the kidnapped man's name is William, making this classified ad very suspicious. The only body of water in the Machinery Hall is the Pumping Exhibit (south of the east end). Examine the water; it's too turbulent to see anything, because of all the pumps. Examine the pump. It has a pipe, and a switch you can use to turn the pump on and off.

To drain the basin of water, take the firehose from the fire truck in the far west Annex of the Machinery Hall. Bring the hose to the Pumping Exhibit, and then:

At this point, the exhibitors of the pumps and of the fire truck arrive to complain, swiftly followed by a guard and Carl Masters. Carl demands that you show him something, anything, to justify your action:

Carl will read the poem and understand that you're looking for Ida. He stations the guard to guard the pumps, forbids anyone from disconnecting the hose, and tells you that it'll take five or six hours until the basin is drained. Leave and return six hours later.

When the basin is fully drained, the guard disconnects and returns the hose to the exhibitors, whom he dismisses. Inside the basin, you'll see a dead man holding the missing diamond. But there's no obvious way to safely climb down into the basin and back up again. You can, however, use the world's longest belt as a rope:

This is the Ida diamond. Visit Wentworth and show Ida to him; he'll verify it. Then put Ida in your office safe. You may wish to show the wet note to Carl at your next opportunity. You can let someone else worry about the body, belt, and basin.

Adam

"Bullish" refers to an actual bull in the Stock Pavilion, mentioned in the second page articles of Monday's newspaper. Visit the Stock Pavilion. A little exploration shows that it's a maze in there, and there's a farmer at the Stock Pavilion's entrance.

Talk to the farmer, and ask him about the farmer, cattle, bull, and his hat (which he is looking for). He offers this bargain: he'll tell you where the bull is if you can find his hat for him. The farmer mentions visiting the Horticulture Building and the Wooded Island.

The Boy on the Wooded Island is wearing the missing hat. Ask the boy about the hat, and he'll tell you that he'll let you have it in exchange for a chocolate bar. Ask the boy about chocolate, and he'll tell you that Menier Chocolate is the best.

The Menier Chocolate Company has a pavilion in the Court of Honor at the south entrance of the Mines and Mining Building. Enter the pavilion and ask the man about the chocolate bar. He'll tell you that it's free in exchange for one of their coupons. He's not very helpful telling you where you might obtain such a coupon.

The only such coupon you can find is in a mouse hole in the lace exhibit at the northwest corner on the first floor of the Women's Building. Of course, the mouse won't let you just take his coupon.

So... over in the northeast corner of the Agriculture Building is a Canadian Monster Cheese in a vat. Go up to the viewing platform, then enter the vat, standing on the cheese itself. Take cheese to get a hunk of cheese, then leave the vat. While in this building, find the silk exhibit in the center of the building and take the mostly red Swiss flag. (Red cloth and bulls always go together in these games.)

Back in the Women's Building, drop the cheese in the room where the mouse is. The mouse will be practically hypnotized by the cheese, and you can easily take the coupon. If you feel like waiting, before the mouse can either consume or consummate his relationship with the cheese, a guard will smash the mouse with a shovel and toss its remains into a waste bin. Ouch.

Go back to the Menier Pavilion, and give the coupon to the man. He'll give you the chocolate bar.

Go back to the Wooded Island, find the boy, and give the chocolate bar to him. He doesn't automatically give you the hat, but doesn't object when you take the hat off his head.

Go back to the Stock Pavilion Entrance and give the hat to the farmer. Ask him about the bull. He'll give you a long list of instructions, and leave soon after (but he will tell you to visit the Indiana Building, if you need to find him (and get these instructions) again.)

Follow the farmer's directions exactly. You will find a bull in a gated pen. Examine the bull: he's wearing a diamond necklace.

>show flag to bull. g. (continue to repeat showing the flag to the bull over and over and over again. Eventually, the bull becomes so exhausted, it rams into the pen's wall.)

This is the Adam diamond. Visit Wentworth and show Adam to him; he'll verify it. Then put Adam in your office safe.

Mary

Egyptian hieroglyphics can be found in three places in the game, and surprisingly, none of them are in the Streets of Cairo part of the Midway. (Okay, they're not real Egyptian hieroglyphics, but something similar invented for the game. It won't help you if you actually know any real hieroglyphics.)

The first place is the Anthropology Building. Go there and examine the replica of the Rosetta Stone. Note that the name "Ra" is spelt "open mouth" + "vulture" + "man with skirt", where this last symbol means "god".

The second place is in the Egyptian Cigarette Booth (northwest corner of Agriculture Building). Examine the hieroglyphics on the wall. Then ask man about hieroglyphics. He'll show you how the artist signed his initials "HDJ" as "twisted flax wick" + "hand" + "cobra" + "kneeling man". He'll also point out that all Egyptian names end with a symbol indicating if it's the name of a man or a woman.

The third place is the Egyptian Temple (east of north end of Electricity Building). Examine the cases, and the ten glyphs. With the knowledge gained from the Rosetta stone and the Egyptian cigarette vendor, you can draw up this chart:

To spell out Mary's name, you need to push the glyphs for M + A + R + Y + woman. No one has told you what the symbols for M or Y are, but there's only two possibilities. Either the owl means M and slashes mean Y, or it's the other way around. As it happens, the first guess is correct:

This is the Mary diamond. Visit Wentworth and show Mary to him; he'll verify it. Then put Mary in your office safe.

Owen

This points to the U.S. Government Building, and frankly, the building is one big puzzle box. There are nine rooms: a central rotunda surrounded by eight other rooms, each of which is devoted to a different branch of government.

The rotunda is very curious. A large redwood trunk is surrounded by eight pedestals, each with a different symbol. In fact, each symbol is a different shape.

These same symbols can be found in the corresponding side rooms, near objects with the same shapes as the symbols. One of the objects, a walrus tusk, is already on the south pedestal with the crescent moon shape symbol, and is obviously from the walrus in the south side room.

So, it's simply a matter of finding the eight objects and putting them on the appropriate pedestals and — something ought to happen, right?

A general problem is that Lloyd, the guard from 6:00 a.m to 4:00 p.m., doesn't like you moving any of the exhibit pieces, so wait until he's out of the room when you do move them. His brother, Floyd, the guard from 4:00 p.m. and onward, isn't so fussy.

Once the final token is in place, Carl Masters will enter and start to scold you for moving the exhibits. But he quickly changes his tune when the redwood tree trunk rises up from the floor, revealing a hidden door and stairway down into a secret basement.

Go down, and find a diamond, and a dead man holding some blueprints. Take the diamond, and examine the body and blueprints. The blueprints are for the Government Building, showing how the secret pedestal mechanism works. Carl examines the body and suggests it might be the architect who altered the building's plans. He suggests asking him about the blueprints later, after he's had a chance to investigate his architect hunch.

This is the Owen diamond. Visit Wentworth and show Owen to him; he'll verify it. Then put Owen in your office safe. Ask Carl about the blueprints at your next opportunity.

Neal

This refers to the Pullman Palace Car in the Transportation Building, definitely a train with style. But the "art" is an odd painting on the wall which shows a green church sunk into the ground.

In the Central Rotunda of the Transportation Building, there is a Pullman town model. Examine the model: there's a green church. Listen to the model: it's making a whirring sound. Push the church. The entire model flips over, revealing two pegs: one motorized, one stationary. The motorized peg turns clockwise. If you try to turn the stationary peg, it gives slightly clockwise, but not counterclockwise.

In the Bicycles exhibit, examine the parts and take the red wheel and the blue wheel. There's also some deflated tires on the wall: take tire.

Go back to the Rotunda, and put one wheel on each peg, then put the tire on each wheel. This forces the stationary peg to turn, and the entire model flips rightside up again, and a hiss is heard to the west.

Go back to the Pullman Palace Car, and find a rolled parchment. Examine it: it shows a statue in an art gallery. (Note which statue it is; it's different from game to game.) The picture on the wall has changed; examine it to discover that it now depicts Humpty Dumpty.

Head northwards for the East Wing of the Fine Art Gallery, and locate the statue you saw on the parchment. Push the statue repeatedly until it falls over and breaks. Guards surround you: take head (of the statue).

In Hutchinson's office, show the rolled parchment to Hutchinson, then take the head, and break the head. Luckily for you, this reveals a diamond, and that the statue was a fake. Hutchinson is shaken, but gives the diamond to you and lets you go.

This is the Neal diamond. Visit Wentworth and show Neal to him; he'll verify it. Then put Neal in your office safe.

Dolores

The cabin referred to is not Daniel Boone's cabin on the Wooded Island, but "Uncle Tom's Cabin" by Harriet Beecher Stowe. A copy of this book is in the display case of the second floor library in the Women's Building. Unfortunately, the librarian refuses to let you open the case while she's there.

Ask the librarian about women's books. She'll get a book from the bookcase and give it to you, recommending it, but in the process accidently drops a card underneath the bookshelf, and starts to go frantic looking for it. You have no interest in the book she gave you; ignore it. Look under the bookcase, take the card, and examine it: it's a claim check. Give the claim check to the librarian. She is instantly relieved, but instead of taking the check, asks you to take it to the Children's Building and get a package for her, since she can't leave the library.

Go the Children's Building (just south of the Women's Building), and give the claim check to the matron. She gives you a baby.

Go back to the library and give the baby to the librarian. Well, you try to. The librarian produces a rattle and suddenly drops it, saying that isn't her baby! A male friend of the librarian confronts you, demanding that you bring to her her baby in an hour or else. Take the rattle, and ask the librarian about the rattle: it's her baby's favorite toy.

Return to the Children's Building and give the baby to the matron (wherein you automatically explain that it's the wrong baby). The matron lets you into the Nursery, and invites you to take the right baby. There are eight babies in eight cribs here. Shake the rattle, the correct baby will say "Mama?" Take whichever baby that responded.

Return to the library, and give the right baby to the librarian. She leaves with the baby, leaving you alone. Open the case and examine Uncle Tom's Cabin: the book is hollow and contains a diamond. Take the diamond. Close the case. You might as well drop the rattle here; you have no further use for it.

This is not the Dolores diamond. Visit Wentworth and show Dolores to him; he'll say it's a fake and tosses it back to you. It rattles. Break it. Inside the diamond you find a gold key and a small note reading:

The Japanese Tea Ceremony is performed in a building at the north end of the Wooded Island every day at 2:30 p.m. Except...

Enter the Temple, also at the north end of the island, and note that the Japanese woman is sad. Try to enter the north and south rooms; you are refused entry to both places. The north room is for the visiting Prince, the south room is the Master's. Ask the woman about the prince and the master. You learn that the Master of the tea ceremony is very ill, and refuses western medicine. Ask the woman about illness, remedy, ginseng, lotus root, and bear's paw. Obviously you must find these last three ingredients to cure the Master's illness.

The ginseng is indeed in the Manufactures Building. Visit the Corean exhibit in the southeast corner and take some.

The other two ingredients are in the Horticulture Building. Take the bear's paw from the northwest exhibit, and a lotus plant from the southwest exhibit.

Give the ginseng, lotus, and paw to the Japanese woman in the temple. This will cure the Master, and he'll perform the Tea Ceremony at 2:30 p.m. each day.

Visit the Tea Ceremony and watch carefully. Examine the tea set. Make note of exactly how many turns clockwise and counterclockwise the cup is turned during the ceremony.

Next, visit the Japanese exhibit in the southwest corner of the Manufactures Building, where there's another tea set. Turn the cup exactly as it was turned in the ceremony, eg:...

... and the the nearby eagle statue will open, revealing a diamond in a secret compartment. Take the diamond.

This is not the Dolores diamond either. You can visit Wentworth again or shake the diamond yourself. It rattles. Break it. Inside the diamond you find a silver key and a folded note reading:

This refers to the Indian legend of Keelkoonak, slave of whales. Look at the large totem on the west entrance of the Anthropology Building and examine it closely. Read the sign beside it.

Then go to South Wing of the Anthropology Building and examine the model of the village of Skidgate in excruciating detail. There are ten houses, each with a different miniature totem pole. Examine all ten houses (and totems). Take any totems that have a figure wearing a hat with rings, specifically the raven totem, the owl totem, the earthquake totem, and the chief's totem.

Return to the large totem outside Anthropology, and note that the characters wearing hats on the small totems match the figures in the large totem, and those figures have small holes:

Sorry, but this is still not the Dolores diamond. You can visit Wentworth again or shake the diamond yourself. It rattles. Break it. Inside the diamond you find a bronze key and a rolled note reading:

At last, something relatively simple. Go to the Deck of the Santa Maria, southeast from the South Inlet. Examine the cabin door: it has a gold keyhole. Unlock the door with the gold key, open the door, and go in. Inside the cabin is a desk. Examine the desk: it has a drawer with a silver keyhole. Unlock the drawer with the silver key, and open the drawer to reveal an ornate box. It should be no surprise that the ornate box has a bronze keyhole. Unlock the ornate box with the bronze key, and open the box, revealing a diamond. Take the diamond.

Finally. This is the true Dolores diamond. Don't forget to visit Wentworth and show Dolores to him; he'll verify it. Then put Dolores in your office safe.

Mother

This refers to the Statue of the Republic, at the east end of the Basin. Go to Water Gate and examine the Statue from there. You'll see that the statue is on its own little island, and that there is a maintenance door, undoubtably locked.

The key to this door is inside the trunk in the piranha tank in the East Wing of the Fisheries Building. On the off-chance that you weren't already suspicious of a trunk in a piranha tank, the letter found in Delbras's hideout clearly refers to a key hiding in a tank here. (see Delbras.)

The piranha are flesh eaters and will try to eat you if you attempt to open the chest. So you should try to give them something else to eat. Most food they ignore, but they are momentarily interested in the dried fish you can get from the Fisheries Main Hall. But they prefer living flesh. Like one of the goldfish in the West Wing's pond.

To catch a goldfish, you'll need a fishing pole. The clerk in the Telegraph Office will let you take his, asking only that you return it by 4:00. Ask the clerk about fishing, and he'll recommend a spot east of the German building. Go to the Breakers east of the German building, and take the fishing line. And in the Fisheries Main Hall, take the hook that's on the floor (examine the glint). Tie the line to the pole, and the line to the hook to assemble the fishing pole.

In the West Wing, fish in pond with pole. Repeat until you catch a fish. Take it to the East Wing, and put it in the tank. While the piranha chase the goldfish, open the chest and take the skeleton key. When the goldfish escapes the tank, it's up to you to ignore it or return it to either the pond or the tank.

Next, find a gondola for hire, most likely at the Boat Launch east of the Horticulture Building. (If, for some reason, you can't remember where he is, consider riding the ferry until you find the dock where he is.) Enter the gondola, and say gondolier, take me to the Statue of the Republic, and he'll take you there. Leave the gondola, unlock the door with the skeleton key, open the door, ascend the stairs to the top, and take the diamond. Return to the Statue's base, close the door, lock it, enter the waiting gondola, and say gondolier, take me to horticulture (or any other dock you wish). Exit the gondola.

This is the Mother diamond. Visit Wentworth and show Mother to him; he'll verify it. Then put Mother in your office safe. Don't forget to return the fishing pole to the Telegraph Office before 4:00.

The Villians

Greenback Bob

You must first tell Carl Masters about Bob, so that the guardsmen can be on the lookout for him. Later in the game, Carl will find you as you exit a building and tell you that they've found Bob's hideout in Hagenbeck's Auditorium (east end of Midway). He asks you to meet him there in front of Hagenbeck's at 8:00 sharp that night so they can raid the place and take him by surprise.

Naturally, go to the east end of the Midway (where the barker is) and wait until 8:00. Carl Masters will arrive, give you a pistol, explain that Lloyd is inside, and that Floyd is guarding the rear. Follow Carl south into Hagenbeck's. Wait a couple turns until Lloyd signals Carl. Follow Carl south to Backstage. Again wait until Lloyd finishes arguing with the manager. Follow Carl south to Greenback Bob's hideout.

Inside the hideout are four men, one of whom is Bob. Carl tangles with one of the men, Lloyd tangles with another, and the other two run east. Go east.

Keep chasing Bob. He will run west to the ferris wheel, climb up a Service Stairway, up again to a Metal Platform, then west onto a Beam. Once both you and he are on the beam, and he draws a revolver, you might want to save the game.

I don't know if this is the only way to do this section, but it worked well enough:

>w. w. w. w. (Go towards the carriage. The gunshots have made the platform unstable; you will die if you try to go east.)

Inside the carriage, you are safe. A conductor and woman passenger welcome you aboard. You are unable to talk, but the woman easily chats enough without any prompting, until it's clear this is Samantha, the wife of the farmer (Josiah) who lost his hat.

When you regain the ground, Carl Masters tells you that Bob's men know little, and of course, Bob can't tell you anything now. But he was printing more than counterfeit money. Carl gives you a ticket found on Bob: a ticket for the Spectatorium for any time before Sunday, August 27, 7:00 p.m. Which is really odd, since the Spectatorium was never finished, nor ever opened to the public. Carl takes back the pistol.

[In the event that Bob successfully escapes and you don't get killed, Carl will find you when you attempt to leave the Midway. He'll give you the ticket and take back the pistol then.]

Delbras

Tell both Carl Masters and the Boy about Delbras at your earliest opportunity. Carl doesn't recognize Delbras's description, but the Boy does. He says that he's seen Delbras play pool in the big building (Manufactures) at 7:00. I waited in French Manufactures until 7:00 p.m., then walked across the wall to British Manufactures where the billiards table is.

Follow the tall gentleman's lead. Wait or examine things. He introduces himself as "Alfred Mounteback", and begins a game of billiards. Take a cue stick and hit the balls with the cue stick when it's your turn to play. The game is a short one, with Alfred as the winner. When he puts on his hat, you see the distinctive scar — it's Delbras!

Delbras casually strolls through the Manufactures Building, and it's easy to follow him. Until he makes a run for it into the woods of the Wooded Island, where you lose sight of him. [Optional: Find the Boy, and say: boy, follow Delbras. He can follow Delbras and find out where his hideout is. (I haven't done this myself, but I'm told it can be done.)]

Eventually, a guard will find you, and tell you that Delbras has been seen often entering a rug shop in the Streets of Cairo section of the Midway. There's not enough evidence for them to stage an arrest, but if you can obtain the evidence...

Find and enter the Rug Shop, east of The Okala. Examine the rugs; the east rug is worn. Look behind the rug: there's a doorway behind it. Go east into the back room, where there's a desk and a cot. Open the drawer, examine the letter and wig. Take the letter and wig as evidence. When you go west, you almost bump literally into Delbras coming in!

Delbras makes a run for it. Follow him! In the Streets of Cairo, he tosses a handful of money into the air, and the crowds block you as you try to follow. Keep trying. When you do reach the Ferris Wheel, go west to the end of the Midway. You and Delbras will spot each other again, and he'll head east.

This time, you have no clues where he's gone. (He's not here, but try looking under the hood of the executioner in the wax museum.) He's run to the Captive Balloon Ride, where his accomplises untie the balloon's mooring ropes (except for one rope, which he shoots — a shot you can hear anywhere in the Midway when it happens). You cannot prevent the ascent in the balloon, and the balloon slowly drifts east and southeast.

As quickly as you can, get yourself, a match, the horn of gunpowder (from a Shoe & Leather Building exhibit), and the mop (from the southwest corner of the Agriculture Building) to the East Side of Krupp's, where a cannon faces Lake Michigan. The balloon will be seen floating over Lake Michigan. Hopefully, you watched a noon demonstration of this cannon being fired.

Open the horn. Put gunpowder in the cannon. Close the horn. Put the mop in the cannon (to tamp the powder). Take a cannonball (from the pile). Put the cannonball in the cannon. Light a match (with the match?). Put the match in the firing hole. The cannon will fire, bursting the balloon. Ask Carl about Delbras at your next opportunity to learn that a navy ship recovered the remains of the balloon, but Delbras's body wasn't found. He is presumed dead.

The Mastermind Behind It All: Harvey Mackaye

The ticket found on Greenback Bob clearly points to an investigation of the Spectatorium. (So do the blueprints found in the Government Building, if you asked Carl about them later.) Unfortunately, a visit to the Spectatorium shows that the doors are welded shut, and the scaffolding cannot be climbed. However, there is a mysterious steel door with an odd-looking keyhole in the far northeast end of the underground tunnels. And the letter found in Delbras's hideout refers to a key lost in the ape's cage in the Midway.

Visit the Turkish Pavilion in the Midway and buy a banana. Then buy a second banana. Go to the Javanese Village (where the ape is) and examine the puppet (which is now in the cage). It looks like a key.

>take puppet. (the ape doesn't notice, because he eats the banana, dropping the banana peel outside the cage.)

>take banana peel. (if you don't take it, you'll slip on it when you try to exit, and lose the puppet.)

If you haven't done so already, tell the Boy about the diamonds. He will now call you "Cap'n" or "partner".

Go to the Illinois Building. The Boy should be there. Examine and look inside the tree trunk: there's a trapdoor there. The Boy will invite to a game of Hide and Seek and disappear behind the trunk. Light the oil lamp with a match, open the trapdoor, and go down. You find the Boy waiting for you in the tunnel. Boy, follow me.

Making sure that the Boy is following, go to the steel door and unlock it with the puppet. Open the door and go north. This is the basement of the Spectatorium. Examine the statue; it's the original of the statue that you broke in the Fine Arts building. Leave the statue here. Go up into the lobby. Put the ticket in the ticket box. The wooden doors open. Go north.

A spotlight blinds you. If you try to leave or move in any other direction, a warning shot is fired. You are directed to sit in a chair with seats. Examine the audience. Sit in the seat. (Trapped!) The Boy is gone.

At this point, all you can do is wait repeatedly while the voice, weak and wheezing, introduces himself as Harvey Mackaye, and outlines the importance of art and his dreams for the Spectatorium. (During a blackout in this monologue, the Boy reappears with a cutter he found in the basement and begins to cut your bindings.) Your final show will be a spectacular recreation of Columbus's voyage, terminating at his grave. Unfortunately, his grave contains a statue of Columbus wearing a belt of dynamite, and the statue itself is filled with explosives. The countdown begins; you have two hours (or 120 minutes, as the status bar now shows.) But soon after the show begins, the voice passes out, and the lights go out.

The Boy finishes freeing you. Stand. The Boy asks what next, and the Prince's chamberlain answers him, quickly assigning roles. The chamberlain will use the Boy's cutter to continue to free the rest of the audience. The Boy will try to reach the bomb to defuse it. You will go to the Control Room and assist the Boy from there. Go up (or west) to the Control Room.

The Control Room contains the dead body of Harvey Mackaye, sitting in a leather chair, and slumped over some devices. Examine the devices and fiddle with them to learn what they do. The devices are:

You should also note that the combination of red light with clouds creates a highlighting effect on the set pieces. Secret symbols are revealed under the correct red light + set piece + cloud setting combinations.

>turn wind dial to 2. push thin lever. (this brings the boat over to Stage Right, and Boy enters the boat.)

>turn wind dial to 0. turn neb dial to 1. (Remember the symbol highlighted on the Convent. It will be either a circle, square, or triangle.)

>pull stages lever. again. turn neb dial to 2. (Remember the symbol on the volcano.)

>pull stages lever. again. turn neb dial to 3. (Remember the symbol on the gravestone.)

>flip red switch. (Assuming the wind is off, the current will bring the ship over to the set, and the Boy will disembark at the statue.)

>wait. (Repeat waiting while the Boy investigates the statue. He will report that the fuse is inside the statue, and that there are three buttons: a circle, a square, and a triangle. He says that you'll have to tell him which buttons to push.)

This defuses the bomb, and soon after, Carl Masters and his men manage to break into the Spectatorium and everyone is rescued. The Prince invites you to visit him in Japan (all expenses paid), and Carl remarks that both your career and his have been given a huge boost by rescuing all these important people. Carl offers the Boy an undercover detective job, which he happily accepts. The game ends, whether you've found all the diamonds or not. There are end notes, which I recommend reading.

Bonus Points!

You can earn a few bonus points in the game for accomplishing some good deeds above and beyond the call of duty. These are not added to your main score, but noted separately. The author may add additional Bonus Points in new releases of the game, so don't take this as a final or definitive list.

Give a rose (plucked from the Rose Garden on the Wooded Island) to Susan, the bank teller, to earn one bonus point. As a side-benefit, you can now give your daily bill of draft to the now cheerful Susan without needing to wait in line.

Buy Cracker Jack from the vendor at the West End of Midway Plaisance and eat the box. You find a prize. Examine it: it's a sheriff's badge. Give the prize to the Boy to earn one bonus point.

Tell the Boy to follow Delbras when Delbras runs into the woods. I haven't done this myself yet, but another player said this earned her a Bonus Point.

Tesla, in the Westinghouse exhibit in the Electricity Building, mutters that he needs carbon. If you ask him (or Wentworth) about carbon, you'll be told that coal is a good source of carbon. [So are diamonds actually, but nobody seems to acknowledge that.]

First, get the pickaxe from the Kentucky Mining Exhibit. Then go to the Pennsylvania exhibit in the Mines Building, which has a needle of coal. Hit the needle with the pickaxe. Take the chunk (of coal). Give the chunk to Tesla, who will then want aluminum oxide.

Ask Wentworth about aluminum oxide. He'll tell you that it's easy to make from bauxite. In the "Display of Minerals and Ores" (south of west side of Mines), there is a pillar of bauxite. Hit the pillar with the pickaxe. Take the sliver. Give the sliver to Tesla, who rejects it, saying that he'll need seven pounds of bauxite to make the amount of aluminum oxide that he needs.

Return to the pillar of bauxite and hit it with the pickaxe. Hit the chunk of bauxite with the pickaxe. This splits the "chunk" into a "piece" and a "hunk". Drop the sliver and the now broken pickaxe. Take the hunk of bauxite.

Go to the scales in the Annex of the Machinery Hall. Put the hunk of bauxite on the left pan. Examine a bag of coffee: each weighs exactly one pound. Put a bag on the right pan. Repeat "put bag on right pan" until there are seven bags on the right pan. The scales should come into balance, proving that the hunk weighs seven pounds. Take the hunk.

Give the hunk of bauxite to Tesla. He now invites you to take a small Tesla coil, drop it anywhere in the Fair, and touch it. Take the small coil, and drop it far away from Tesla's location, and touch it. If you're too close, nothing much happens. But if you're far enough away, you'll teleport to Tesla! This earns you one bonus point. Isn't science wonderful? The small coil remains where you dropped it, of course. [I should test this more. Distance may not be critical; it may be that you merely need to be outdoors.]