In this old-school-style escape game, you play as someone whose car battery dies while driving in deadly acid rain. You go to a nearby mansion for help, but soon find yourself trapped inside! You must build an electronic door opener from the scattered electronics in the house if you want to escape.
This solution is by David Welbourn, and is based on Release 1 of the game.
SPOILERS AHEAD. Reading a walkthrough prematurely can sometimes diminish one's enjoyment of an interactive fiction game. Please make an honest effort to play the game before reading this walkthrough.
> wear coat. pull knob.(to unlock the car's bonnet)
CAUTION: If you're not wearing your raincoat, the acid rain kills you.
> out.
Outside Your Car
> x rain. x car. x mansion.
> w.
In Front of Your Car
> x fence. open bonnet.
> x engine. x battery.(must replace it)
> close bonnet. e. e.
Behind Your Car
> unlock boot with key. open boot.
> x tyre. x lever. take lever.
> close boot. w.
Outside Your Car
While you can lock the car with the key, you don't need to.
> s.
Entrance to Mansion
> x gate. x chain. break chain with lever.
> open gate. s.
Front Path
> x lawn. s.
Front Porch
> x door. knock on door. push doorbell. open door.(locked)
> x pot. x plant. look under pot.(too heavy to move)
> take plant. look in pot. take brass key.
> put plant in pot.
> unlock door with brass key.
> open door. s.
Entry Foyer
> e.(You need light.)
> turn on torch. e.(The front door slams shut!)
> read sign.(You need an opener.)
> e.
Library
> x book. read it. open it. read it.
To make an electronic door opener, you need a screwdriver, a soldering iron, and the relevant parts.
> read note.(Lists the eight parts you need.)
You can ignore the table, shelves, and other books.
> w. w.
Scientist's Study
> x card. read card. x switch. take all.
> e.
Entry Foyer
Because there's an inventory limit and no convenient portable container in this game, you should choose a few locations to drop objects in that you don't need immediately. Drop the book and note if you took them.
By the way, the torch's batteries won't last forever. But the author has been kind enough to put some spare batteries in the ground floor bathroom's vanity drawer, and walking around in the dark won't kill you.
> drop car key, brass key, lever.
> s.
Northern End of Long Hallway
> e.(A monster stops you.)
> x monster.
> w.
North End of Dining Hall
> x sideboard. x bowl. x banana. take it.
> s.
Middle Dining Hall
> x table. x dish. x caviar.
> take dish.(no: too delicate)
> e. e.
Kitchen
> x sink. open cupboard.
> x crackers. take them.
> w. s.
Southern End of Hallway
> x metal door. put card in slot.(Metal door opens.)
> x wooden door. open it.(locked)
> w.
South Dining Hall
This room is empty.
> e. e.
Western End of Hallway
Note the stairs going down.
> e.
Junction of Hallways
CAUTION: Going north from here is one-way because the floor will collapse.
> s.
Broom Closet
> x broom. take it.
> n. e. s.
Bathroom
> x vanity. open it. take batteries.
I can't predict when the torch's light will fail, but when it does, just put batteries into torch, and it'll work again.
> x basin. x mirror.
> n. n.
Guest Room
You can ignore the bed and its clean sheets.
> x window. open window. n.
Southern Ledge
> take red key.(too far)
> take red key with broom.(success, but the broom is gone)
CAUTION: If you don't take the peel, you will slip on it and die when you try to open the cage.
> take peel.
> open cage. put peel in cage. take white key.
> e. s.
Electronic Workshop
Since the soldering iron can't be taken, you'll be making the door opener here. I suggest putting all the components and the screwdriver on the bench here when your inventory is full or nearly so.
> x soldering iron. x components. x board.
> x bench. x door. open it.(locked)
> put switch on bench.
> take board. put it on bench.
> n. e.
Storage Area
> x coil. take it.
> w. s.
Electronic Workshop
> put coil on bench.
> n. u. w.
Southern End of Hallway
> unlock wooden door with red key.
> drop red key. open wooden door.
> s. u. n. w.
Upstairs Bathroom
> open vanity. x box. take it.
> x mirror. read it.("RUTH WAS HERE")
> n.
Upstairs Lavatory
You don't need the toilet paper, but:
> x paper. read it.("LED under sheets in linen closet")
> s. e. n.
Middle of Wide Hall
> x sealed door. n.
Northern End of Wide Hall
> unlock white door with white key.
> drop white key. open white door.
> w.
Storeroom
> x transducer. take it.
> e. n.
Balcony
> x macaw. give crackers to macaw.
Molly, the macaw, will now follow you and give hints.
> x trellis. x vines. x fruit. take fruit. x fruit.
> ask Molly about fruit.(for goat)
> ask Molly about caviar.(for monster)
> s. e.
Small Closet
> x coats. search coats.
The revealed opening is south.
> s.
TV Room
> x remote. take it.
> x TV. turn it on. turn it off.
> n. w. s. s. e.
Lounge Room
> x glasses. take them. wear them.
> e.
West End of Short Hall
> open louvred door. s.
Linen Closet
> x sheets. look under sheets.
> x LED. take it.
> n. e.
East End of Short Hall
> x goat. give fruit to goat.(It falls asleep.)
> n.
Upstairs Bedroom
You can ignore the bed and its clean sheets.
> x window. open it. n.
Ledge
> x silver key. take it.(can't: soaked with acid rain)
> s. s. w.
West End of Short Hall
> open plain door. n.
Darkroom
This is an optional exercise for a clue you probably don't need.
> x bench. x chemicals. x tools. x enlarger. x film.
> x lamp. turn it on.
> close door. turn off torch.(Only want red light.)
> take film. develop film.
> x negatives. take them. put them on enlarger.
> read negatives.("Code is alphabet reversed")
> open door. turn on torch. turn off lamp.
> s. w. w. s. d. n. e. d. s.
Electronic Workshop
> put LED, remote, transducer, box on bench.
> n. u. w. w. n.
Middle Dining Hall
> take caviar. n. e.
Northern End of Long Hallway
> give caviar to monster.(It dies!)
> x monster. e.
Private Bar
> x bottle. take it.
> w. s. e.
Kitchen
You can fill the bottle with water from the kitchen or from either bathroom.
> fill bottle with water.
> w. s. e. e. e. n. n. jump. n.
Bedroom
I'm assuming you're still wearing the UV spectacles.
> read message.("VZX")
> type VZX.(A hidden panel opens to the north.)
> n.
Secret Room
> x module. take it.
> x journal. read it. open it. read it.
> x notes.
> s. s. jump. s. s. w. w. w. s. u. n. e. e. e. n. n.
Ledge
> pour water on silver key. take silver key.
> s. s. w. w. w. s. d. n. e. d. s.
Electronic Workshop
> unlock door with silver key.
> drop key. open door. e.
Tiny Room
> x tools. g. g.
> take screwdriver and car battery.
> w.
Electronic Workshop
You should now have everything you need either on the bench or in your inventory:
> make opener. take opener. x it.(It has a button.)
> n. u. w. n. n. n.
Entry Foyer
Don't forget to pick up your own stuff:
> take car key and lever.
> push button. open door.
> n.
Front Porch
Molly says "bye" before flying away, ignoring the acid rain.
> n. n. n.
Outside Your Car
I'm assuming you left your car unlocked.
> in.
Inside Your Car
> pull knob. out. w.
In Front of Your Car
> open bonnet. put new battery in bonnet.
> close bonnet.
> e. in.
Inside Your Car
> put key in ignition. turn key.
> drive car.
*** You have won ***
Extras
Characters
A monster, undescribeable, appears at the northern end of the long hallway when you first try to go east from there. It can be defeated with caviar.
A gorilla is outside of its cage in the laboratory. You can pacify it with the gift of a banana.
A goat, in the east end of the short hall, blocks the way to the upstairs bedroom. Give the goat some fruit to put this problem to bed.
A macaw named Molly can be found on the balcony. If you give her some crackers, she'll follow you (until you get to the porch) and give you hints.
A dead scientist is under the sheets in the ground-floor bedroom. It's not clear how he died.
Mentioned:
"Ruth Was Here" according to a message written on the upstairs bathroom mirror. This may be an in-joke that I don't understand.
Credits
This is the response to ABOUT:
In the 1980s, I wrote an adventure column for the UK Atari magazine 'Page 6'. Around 1987, the editor sent me a disk of five home-brew adventures to review. I played all the games and sent review comments, which were forwarded to the authors, but, for some reason, the games were never published.
I can no longer read the disk with the original adventures, so I decided to recreate them from my map and playing notes.
The first of these was an Atari BASIC program called 'Breakdown' by an unknown author. I rewrote this from scratch and expanded it to create 'Acid Rain' for ParserComp 2021.
Concept by unknown author.
Game design and coding by Garry Francis.
Testing by Andrew Schultz, Dee Cooke, Giannis Georgiou, Mike Carletta, Jade, Jonathan and Rovarsson.
Cryptogram
There's a coded message in the main bedroom:
GL TVG GSV RMKFG XLWV, IVZW GSRH NVHHZTV DRGS FE HKVXGZXOVH TO GET THE INPUT CODE, READ THIS MESSAGE WITH UV SPECTACLES
The cipher is the alphabet backwards, which you'll be told if you solve the photography puzzle in the darkroom:
if you go outside where it's raining acid rain, and you're not wearing your raincoat.
if, in the laboratory, you attempt to open the cage while the banana peel is on the floor.
You have won
if you succeed in driving the car.
Inventory
You have an inventory limit of eight items, not counting items you're wearing.
Door opener components
The note lists all eight components you need. Take all the components and the screwdriver to the electronic workshop, then make opener.
a loose light switch. It's in the scientist's study.
a remote control unit. It's in the TV room.
a laser power module. It's in the secret room.
a printed circuit board. Find it by examining the components in the electronic workshop.
a coil of wire. It's in the storage area of the basement.
a piezoelectic transducer. It's in the storeroom, which is upstairs behind the white door.
a pink jiffy box. It's inside the upstairs bathroom's vanity.
NOTE: This is not the sort of box that you can open and put things into.
a three-volt LED. It's under the satin sheets in the linen closet.
NOTE: There's a message written on the toilet paper telling you where the LED is.
Food
a banana. It's in the fruit bowl at the north end of the dining room.
Give the banana to the gorilla in the laboratory. It will eat the banana and drop the peel. The gorilla will no longer stop you from opening the cage or taking the white key, but you must pick up that peel first!
some caviar. It's in a dish on the table at Middle Dining Room.
Note that you cannot pick up the dish; it's too delicate.
Take the caviar in your bare hands and give it to the monster at the northern end of the long hallway. The monster will die and you can now go east into the private bar.
some Jatz crackers. They're in the kitchen cupboard.
Give the crackers to the macaw on the balcony. Molly the macaw will now follow you and give you hints. You can ask her about things you've seen, and she might have something to say about them.
You don't actually need any of Molly's hints.
a purple fruit. Find it by examining the vines on the trellis on the balcony.
At the east end of the short hall, give the fruit to the goat. The goat will immediately fall asleep and you can now go north into the upstairs bedroom.
Keys
your car key. It's in the ignition inside your car.
Turn the key when it's in the ignition to attempt to start your car. But the car won't start until you've replaced the car battery.
The key locks and unlocks the car itself, but you don't need to worry about car theft. (The car door isn't implemented.)
When behind your car, unlock the boot with the car key. Now you can open the boot and take the tyre lever. Close the boot afterwards so it doesn't fill with acid rain.
Note that the car key doesn't unlock the car's bonnet. To do that, pull the knob that's inside your car.
a brass key. It's inside the pot on the front porch, hidden underneath the plant. Take the plant out of the pot to find the key.
The brass key unlocks the front door, but only from the porch side. To unlock the front door from the foyer side, you need to use an electronic door opener.
a security card. It's in the scientist's study.
At the southern end of the hallway, put the card in the slot of the metal door. The metal door slides open, and the card stays in the slot. You now have access to the east wing of the ground floor and also the basement.
a red key. It's on the southern ledge, outside the window of the guest room.
The red key is out of reach. To take it, you need to take the red key with the broom.
The red key unlocks the wooden door at the southern end of the hallway on the ground floor. This gives you access to upstairs.
a white key. It's in the cage in the laboratory, guarded by the gorilla who is outside the cage.
Give the banana to the gorilla; it will no longer block you from the cage, but it will drop a banana peel.
Pick up the peel before attempting to open the cage. Otherwise, you'll slip on the peel and the gorilla kills you.
The white key unlocks the white door at the north end of the wide hall upstairs. The white door leads to a storeroom.
a silver key. It's on the ledge outside the bay window of the upstairs bedroom.
You cannot take the silver key while it is soaked with acid rain. You must first pour water on the key (see whiskey bottle), then you can take the key.
The silver key unlocks the door in the workshop door that leads to the Tiny Room.
an electronic door opener. Make it yourself by bringing all eight door opener components and the screwdriver to the electronic workshop (where the soldering iron is) and make opener.
You know you need an opener by reading the sign on the back of the front door after it slams shut.
You know how to build an opener by reading the book in the library.
You know which components you need by reading the note that falls out of the book.
To use the opener, take it to the Entry Foyer and push its button. The front door unlocks and can now be opened.
Readables
You don't need to carry any of these readables around. Just read them and leave them where they are.
a book. It's in the library.
Open the book and read the book to learn how to make an electronic door opener. You'll also learn that you'll need a soldering iron and a screwdriver.
Read it. It tells you that the scientist was trying to control animals electronically, but not why.
Tools
a torch. This flashlight is inside your car's glovebox.
You'll need its light to see when exploring the mansion since most of the rooms don't have any light. The torch must be on before you can try to leave the entry foyer to the west, east, or south. This attempt to explore the mansion with a lit torch triggers the front door slamming.
The torch's batteries won't last forever. However, by the time they run out, you should have found two D-cell batteries for the torch. Just put the batteries in the torch, and you'll automatically discard the old ones.
As near as I can tell, you can safely walk around the house in the dark; you just won't be able to see anything. You won't fall or trip or be eaten be a grue or anything like that. You won't slip on the banana peel in the dark. You won't fall into the collapsed-floor hole in the dark.
a tyre lever. This tire iron is inside your car's boot. Unlock the boot with your car key.
At the entrance to the mansion, break the chain with the lever. This is all you need the lever for.
two D-cell batteries. They're in the vanity of the ground floor bathroom.
Hold onto them until the torch's power dies out completely. Then put the batteries into the torch to restore its power.
Or, I suppose you can try putting the batteries into the torch immediately and hope the torch now has power forever? It's not something I've checked.
a long-handled broom. It's in the broom closet.
On the southern ledge (north of the guest room), take the red key with the broom to acquire it. The broom will fall and be gone.
a whiskey bottle. It's in the private bar.
In the kitchen or either bathroom, fill the bottle with water. Do not bother trying to fuss with taps; that won't work.
On the ledge (north of the upstairs bedroom), pour the water on the silver key to wash the acid rain off of it. Now you can take the silver key.
a screwdriver. Find the screwdriver in the tiny room by examining the tools there.
Take it to the electronic workshop. When it and all eight components are there, make opener. You don't explicitly use the screwdriver, but it does need to be there.
a new car battery. Find the car battery in the tiny room by examining the tools there a second time.
Put the new battery into your car's bonnet. You'll automatically toss the flat battery away. Close the bonnet.
With the new battery installed, get back into your car, put your car key into the ignition, turn the key, and drive away to win the game.
Wearables
a plastic raincoat. It's inside your car's glovebox.
Wear it immediately and never take it off. It's your only protection from the deadly acid rain whenever you're outside.
some UV glasses. They're in the lounge room, upstairs.
Wear them. Return to the ground-floor bedroom, and as per the cryptogram, read the message while wearing the glasses. You'll see the entry code "VZX". Type VZX on the keypad to open a hidden panel to a secret room.
Feel free to leave the glasses on for the rest of the game or discard them after the panel is open. I found no additional messages with the glasses.
Other stuff
a pot plant. It's in the plant pot on the front porch.
Take the plant to reveal the brass key that was hiding underneath it in the pot. Take the brass key.
Put the plant back into the pot. You'll be unwilling to leave the porch if the plant is not back where it belongs.
some toilet paper. It's in the upstairs lavatory.
You don't need the toilet paper at all, and the goat won't eat it, but if you read the paper, you're told the LED is under the sheets in the linen closet.
some satin sheets. They're in the linen closet.
Take the sheets or look under them to find the LED. You don't need the sheets themselves for anything.
a banana peel. The gorilla in the laboratory drops the peel when you give the banana to it.
IMPORTANT: You must take the peel before opening the cage. Otherwise you'll slip on the peel and die.
As near as I can tell, the danger of slipping on the peel goes away once you've taken it. But to be safe, I suggest never dropping it onto a floor.
You can get rid of the peel by giving it to the goat. It's one of the few things it will eat.
Alternatively, leave the peel on or in something else just to get it out of the way. You could put it in the cage, for example.
some undeveloped film. It's in the darkroom.
First, make sure there's only red light in the room. Turn on the red lamp, turn off the torch, and close the door.
some developed negatives. Create them by developing the film in the darkroom.
Put the negatives on the enlarger, then read the negatives to see this message: "Code is alphabet reversed". This is a clue on how to solve the cryptogram in the ground-floor bedroom.
