In this educational game, you are playing as a Special Investigator for the Senate Foreign Aid Committee. Your mission is to obtain information about the Asian continent, the largest in the world. You begin your tour in Instanbul, Turkey, carrying only a compass and a scrap of paper.
This solution is by David Welbourn, and is based on version 2.0 of the game.
SPOILERS AHEAD. Reading a walkthrough prematurely can sometimes diminish one's enjoyment of a formerly commerical text adventure game. Please make an honest effort to play the game before reading this walkthrough.
CAUTION: Don't "fly away" on your magic carpet when navigating the seas. You'll teleport over to Cape Cormorin and lose access to this area since your sampan will be on the wrong side of the Sea of Japan.
Map 4: India
Walkthrough
Some opening notes:
This game is rather primitive by modern standards.
Use only lowercase letters in your commands.
Use "exam" to mean "examine". All words can be abbreviated to their first four letters. Unfortunately, there's not much to look at in this game and not everything has a description.
Use "go" to go towards or into a nearby feature.
Specific location names are not used in the game; the names of locations in this walkthrough are my own invention, based on the room descriptions.
There are several introductory screens that I'm skipping over. It should be obvious when to wait, or push space, or answer Y or N.
Instanbul, Turkey
> i. exam compass. read paper.(Signal sub in Indian Ocean at end of tour.)
> s. s.
Damascus, Syria
> take sword. exam sword.
> s. e. e. s.
Dead Sea
> read parchment.("FLY AWAY" to fly.)
> n. e. s. e. n. n.
Baghdad, Iran
> exam teacher. say hi.(He now follows you.)
> n.
Ankara, Turkey
> take tobacco.
> s. e.
Iran plateau
> take carpet. exam carpet. read tag.(It's magic!)
> n. n.
Aral Sea
> take sturgeon.(no: too big, too fast, too far out)
> n.
Ural Mountains
> go cabin.
Cabin
> take skis. e. e. e.
Central Siberia
The skis are needed to go north from here.
> n.
Taimyr Peninsula
> take bucket. e.
Uelen
> exam walrus. exam strait.
> w. s. s.
Ulan Bator, Mongolia
This is a dead end. Return to the Iran plateau:
> n. w. w. s. s. s.
Iran plateau
> e. e. n.
Tashkent, Soviet Union
> exam trough. fill bucket. e.
High plateau
> exam camel. water camel.(using bucket of water)
> ride camel.
Gobi Desert, Mongolia
Note that the camel is gone. When you leave this desert, you cannot return.
> take key. s. u.
Kunlan Mountains, China
> exam yak.
> d. e.
Great Wall of China (north side)
> exam wall. fly away.(The carpet carries you over the Wall.)
Great Wall of China (south side)
> read tablet.(Don't harm the yak, ox, or a Malayan.)
> e.
Peking
> exam factory.(locked)
> read billboard.(Ad for "Special Agent" by the author.)
> unlock door.(with the key)
> open door. go door.
Mao's Fireworks Factory
You have an inventory limit, so you should drop items you no longer need.
> drop key. drop skis.
> take skyrockets. exam skyrockets.(There's three.)
> s. s. s. s. w. w. n.
Thailand hills
> exam ox. w. n.
Burma plain
> take pouch. exam pouch. open pouch.
> look. drop pouch. take dollars.
> s. e. e.
Vientiane, Laos
> e. n. n. e.
Pyongyang, North Korea
Yes, you're just walking through North Korea as if that was possible. Isn't fiction wonderful?
> s. e.
Samchock, South Korea
> exam sampan. sail sampan. e. e.
Tokyo, Japan
> exam yawl. sail yawl. s.
Luzon, Philippines
> go trading.
Trader Jim's
> exam jim. read sign.(Wants something from Borneo.)
> e. s. s.
Manila
> exam junk. untie junk.(knot is too tight)
> cut rope.(using the sword)
> sail junk. s.
Borneo
> exam malayan.(has a shrunken head)
> exam orangutan.
> give tobacco. take head.
> sail junk. n. n. n. go trading.
Trader Jim's
> trade head. i. exam gold.
> e. sail yawl. n. w. sail sampan. w.
Samchock, South Korea
> w. n. w. w.
Great Wall of China (south side)
> fly away.
Great Wall of China (north side)
> w. w. s.
Hindu Kush Mountains
> e. e. s. e. e. n. e.
Ganges River
> swim river.(nope)
> w. n.
Kathmandu, Nepal
> exam sherpa.(needs payment for his services)
> pay sherpa.(using the dollars)
> go mountain.
Mount Everest
> take matches.
> d. s. s. s.
Cape Cormorin
> exam dhow. sail dhow.(no: The man wants payment.)
> pay indian.(using the gold coin)
> sail dhow. e. s.
Former Ceylon
> exam sub. signal sub.(heh)
An officer will soon ask you trivia questions about Asia. If you make a mistake, he returns to the sub and you have to light another skyrocket and try again. You may want to save game first. If you've answered wrong twice, the teacher starts volunteering the answers.
> light skyrocket.(using matches)
"Which is the highest mountain in the world?"
>> everest
"What is the world's most populous country?"
>> china
"Give me the name of India's capital."
>> new delhi
"Which river is Asia's longest river?"
>> yangtze
"What is the name of the strait which separates the Soviet Union from Alaska?"
>> bering
"What is the lowest point on any of the continents?"
>> dead sea
You are now invited to to join the Captain and crew on the submarine for a Victory Party.
> SPACE
You are again shown the registration form for the author's other games before the program closes.
Extras
Characters
A school teacher, Mr. Piddlebush, is looking somewhat lost in Baghdad. He'd welcome a kind word.
A sturgeon is swimming in the Aral Sea.
A walrus is in Uelen, USSR.
A camel is on the high plateau south of the Gobi Desert.
A yak is in the Kunlan Mountains, China.
A wild ox is in the Thailand hills.
Jim is in Trader Jim's.
A primitive Malayan is in Borneo.
An orangutan is in Borneo.
A sherpa is selling his guide services in Kathmandu, Nepal.
An East Indian is leasing his dhow in Cape Cormorin.
An officer of the submarine asks you several questions to test how well you explored Asia.
The captain and his crew wait for you inside their submarine off the coast of India.
Credits
There are no formal credits in the game, but there are calls to register your game and buy other Buttonware games. For example:
If you are not a registered user, please read this message:
If you enjoy playing this adventure & would like to encourage the author to release more adventures as shareware, please register by sending $15.00 to:
Conrad Button's Software 13807 S.E. 282 St. Kent, WA 98042
As an added BONUS for registering, you will receive a FREE copy of any one of our adventures shown on the next two screens.
Two other Educational Adventures are currently available:
SOUTH AMERICAN TREK
&
AFRICAN SAFARI
were designed to make the learning of geography an exciting and interesting experience for students in grades five through ten.
Recreational Adventures are also available:
Castaway - Novice
Nebula - Novice
Dark Continent - Intermediate
Red Planet - Advanced
Time Traveler - Expert
Special Agent - Expert
Sanctuary - Master
Raiders of the Star Temple - Master
Avenger of Rubicaon - Grand Master
Our ADVENTURE HINT DISK contains hints for ALL of our recreational adventures (educational adventures are excluded).
Endings
Farewell
if you hit the yak or the wild ox. It gores you with its horns.
if you hit the Malayan. He cuts your head off in one swing of his knife.
Victory Party
if you answer all the Ensign's trivia questions correctly.
You can also make the game unwinnable in various ways. For example:
If you hit the camel, it runs away and you can no longer get to the key.
If you fly away on the carpet from Japan, for example, you won't be unable to return to Japan.
If you answer the trivia quiz incorrectly three times. You no longer have any skyrockets to signal the sub with.
Inventory
You have an inventory limit, but I'm not sure if it's by weight, by bulk, or by number. I assume you can carry 10 items, not counting the teacher. Drop items you no longer need.
compass. You're carrying it.
Keep it. Ignore it. You need it to use compass directions to go anywhere.
scrap of paper. You're carrying it.
Read it. It tells you to signal the submarine in the Indian Ocean to end your tour of Asia.
steel sword. It's in Damascus, Syria.
In Manila, cut the rope (with the sword) to free the Chinese junk.
ancient parchment. It's in the Dead Sea.
Read it to learn the "FLY AWAY" magic phrase. It's used to make the flying carpet work.
mr. piddlebush. He's the school teacher in Baghdad, Iran. Say hi to him and he follows you.
The teacher will every so often tell you some fact about the country, city, or region you just entered.
turkish chewing tobacco. It's in Ankara, Turkey.
In Borneo, give the tobacco (to the primitive Malayan). He drops the shrunken head which you can now take.
carpet. It's in the Iran plateau.
Activate the carpet with the magic phrase "FLY AWAY" as written on the parchment.
When you're on one side of the Great Wall of China, you fly away to the other side of the Wall.
CAUTION: While you can use the carpet anywhere, you may make the game unwinnable. For example, if you fly away from Japan, you can't return because the sampan will be on the wrong side of the Sea of Japan.
cross-country skis. They're in the cabin in the Ural Mountains.
The skis are needed to go north from Central Siberia into the Taimyr Peninsula.
old wooden bucket. It's on the Taimyr Peninsula.
In Tashkent, fill the bucket with water from the trough. It's now styled as fresh water in a bucket.
On the high plateau, water the camel with your bucket of water. Now you can ride the camel; it takes you into the Gobi Desert.
key. It's in the Gobi Desert.
In Peking, unlock the door (to the fireworks factory with the key).
tablet of stone. It's on the south side of the Great Wall of China.
Read it. It warns you not to harm the yak, the ox, or the Malayan.
skyrockets. They're in Mao's Fireworks Factory.
In Former Ceylon, light the skyrockets (with the matches) to signal the submarine.
