Key & Compass presents:
The Babysitter
by Garry Francis

• Map
• Walkthrough
• Extras
  • Amusing, Characters, Credits, Inventory, Score
• Thank You to my Patreon supporters
• Support me on Ko-Fi
• External links:
  • This game at Homepage, IFDB, and IFWiki.
  • Follow me at Bluesky, Ko-Fi, Mastodon, Patreon, and Wordpress.

Map

Walkthrough

Living Room

> x me. (You're Veronica.)

> i. (nothing)

> x couch. look under couch.

> n.

Lower Hall

> x dust. (needs mopping)

> n.

Bottom of Stairwell

> u. (no: too dark)

> s. w.

Kitchen

> x sink. x dishes. (need washing)

> wash dishes. (+20; found something)

> x sink. take key. x key.

> open door. (locked)

> unlock door with key. open door. n.

Laundry

> x mop. take it.

> x machine. open it.

> s. s.

Dining Room

> x board. read message. ("INCOMING CALLS ONLY")

> x phone. (push-button wall phone)

> e. n.

Lower Hall

> mop floor. (+20, with mop; note found)

> take note. read it. ("CLAP to turn on lights")

> n.

Bottom of Stairwell

> clap. (lights come on)

> u. n.

Upper Hall

> x door. open it. (locked)

> e.

Small Bedroom

> x bed. look under bed.

> x toys. x cartoon.

> w. w.

Master Bedroom

> x closet door. unlock it. (no: stuck latch)

> x bed. look under bed.

> x clothes. take clothes.

> e. s. d. s. w. n.

Laundry

> put clothes in machine. close machine.

> push start. (+20)

You hear the phone ringing.

> s. s.

Dining Room

> answer phone.

> e. n. n. u. n. w. s.

Bathroom

> x basin. clean it. (+20; found something)

> x basin. take hairpin. x it.

> n. e.

Upper Hall

> unlock door with hairpin. (not quite)

> pick lock with hairpin. open door. n.

Darkness / Storeroom

> clap. x junk. search junk.

> take bottle. x it.

> s. w.

Master Bedroom

> spray latch. unlock door. open it. n.

Closet

> take Anna.

> s. e. e.

Small Bedroom

> put Anna on bed. (+20)

Anna's parents return home and pay you your fee. If you did all the chores, you get a bonus.

*** You have won ***

> amusing

> full

Extras

Amusing

This is the response to AMUSING, after you've won the game:

Have you tried:

• Examining yourself.
• Examining everything in every room, including scenery and the rooms themselves.
• Using CALL, CLAP, DANCE, DIG, JUMP, LISTEN, PRAY, SHOUT, SING, SLEEP, SMELL, SNEEZE, THINK or the magic word XYZZY.
• Looking under the couch and the two beds.
• Entering the couch and the two beds.
• Examining the cartoon characters and the toys in Anna's room.
• Wearing the dirty clothes, the clean clothes and the hairpin.
• Starting the washing machine when it's empty or the lid is open.
• Closing the closet door when you're in the closet.
• Spraying the lubricant on something other than the latch.
• Attacking, kissing, waking or talking to Anna.
• Doing things a second time.

Characters

• Veronica is the player-character, a teenage girl who feels naked without her mobile phone.
• Anna is the child you're babysitting, but she's not in her bed as she should be.
• The Grahams are Anna's parents. They may phone you at one point, and they return home during the epilogue.

Credits

This is the response to ABOUT:

This game was originally known as 'Midnight Emergency'. It was written in Turbo BASIC for IBM-compatible PCs by John H Doolittle circa 1989 and used in his 'Scientific Thinking in Psychology' classes when he was a professor of psychology at California State University, Sacramento.

It was ported to ZBasic by Eric Thornton and published by Critical Thinking Press as game 2 in the 'Adventures in Danger!' trilogy. This was released for the Apple II and Macintosh in 1992.

John continued to update the game until 1996 and released the Turbo BASIC source code in 2023. This was ported to Inform 6 by Garry Francis using the PunyInform library. It was then enhanced in collaboration with the original author to become 'The Babysitter'.

Original concept by John H Doolittle.
Game design and coding by Garry Francis.
Play testing by Audrey Lee, Jade J Aincioa, John H Doolittle and Timur Ozturk.

Inventory

• a key. You find it in the kitchen sink after you wash the dishes.
• The key unlocks the laundry door in the kitchen.
• a mop. It's in the laundry room.
• In the lower hall, mop the dust with the mop to find a note.
• a note. Find it in the lower hall by mopping the dust with the mop there.
• Read the note to learn that clapping can turn on a light.
• some dirty clothes. They're in the master bedroom.
• In the laundry room, put the clothes into the washing machine, close the machine, then push the START button to wash the clothes.
• a hairpin. Find it in the bathroom's basin after washing the basin.
• In the upper hall, pick the lock (of the storeroom door) with the hairpin to unlock it.
• a bottle of Latchfree lubricant. Find it by searching the junk in the storeroom.
• In the master bedroom, spray the latch (of the closet door) with the bottle. Now you can unlock the closet door.
• Anna. She's sleeping in the closet north of the master bedroom.
• After completing all your other chores, pick up Anna and put her on the bed in the small bedroom. This action ends the game in victory.

Score

This is the response to SCORE:

You have so far scored N out of a possible 100, in T turns.

Points are awarded as follows:

• 20 points for washing the dirty dishes.
• 20 points for mopping the dusty floor.
• 20 points for washing the dirty hand basin.
• 20 poitns for washing the dirty clothes.
• 20 points for putting Anna to bed.

Thank You to my Patreon supporters

This walkthrough is provided free of charge since the work it's based on has less than fifteen locations. Please consider it a thank you for your support!

I create larger walkthroughs too! Please visit my Patreon account if you're interested in helping me create more interactive fiction walkthroughs. I appreciate all the help I can get! Thanks again.

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