Key & Compass presents:
The Blue Lettuce
by Caleb Wilson

The Blue Lettuce is a Glulx interactive fiction game written with Inform 7 and is © 2021 by Caleb Wilson. It was a participant in the Text Adventure Literacy Jam 2021 event where it took 5th place. It was also a top-five finalist for the Scott's Choice Award.

In this short fantasy, you play as a groundhog in a wizard's garden. There's lots of tasty magical plants you want to eat today, but the blue lettuce is the tastiest!

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.

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Walkthrough
Extras
- Characters, Credits, Inventory, Score
Thank You to my Patreon supporters
Support me on Ko-Fi
External links:
- This game at Homepage, IFDB, and IFWiki.
- Tweet about this walkthrough on Twitter.

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Walkthrough

NOTE: You can only use one-word or two-word commands in this game.

Your Burrow

> x me. x fur.

> x mint. eat mint. (+1)

> x penny. take it.

> u.

Hillside

> x canal. x path. n.

Dock

> x pole. x gourd.

> push pole. (Gourd falls and a lily stops at the dock.)

> take gourd. ring it.

> x dock. x lily.

> e.

Canal

> smell. x lily. x water.

> eat lily. (+1)

> drop penny. (A lotus bloom floats up.)

> x lotus. eat lotus.

> e.

Near Roots

> x vines. u.

Trunk

> x trumpet. take it. blow it.

> u.

Top of the Vines

> x berry. x stem.

> pull stem. take berry. eat berry. (+1)

> d. d. w. n.

Field

> x grass. x dragon. eat dragon. (+1)

> wake dragon. ring gourd.

> play trumpet. (The dragon leaves.)

> eat gourd. (+1)

> eat trumpet. (+1)

> w.

Hedges

> x sign. x hedges. x machine.

> push button. take ticket. x it.

> w. (won't: That takes you outside the garden.)

> e. n.

Craneyard

> x crane. x eyes. give ticket.

> n.

Greenhouse

> x frame. x lettuce. x soil.

> open frame. take lettuce.

> eat lettuce. (+1)

*** You win! ***

Extras

Characters

A squash dragon sleeps in the field. It has green and orange stripes.
A crane, actually an animated statue made of metal and glass, asks for your ticket in its craneyard.

Mentioned:

A wizard owns the garden.
Human visitors have to obey the wizard's rules, but you don't!

Credits

The response to CREDITS is:

This game was written for the Text Adventure Literacy Jam. It was playtested by Lisa Wilson, Seth Kaplan, Mathbrush, L. Pad, the Yako family, Christopher Merriner, and Garry Francis.

Inventory

a penny. It's in your burrow.

At the canal, drop the penny. A lotus will float up into view.

a bell gourd. It's on the top of a pole at the dock.

Push the pole to make the gourd fall.
You can shake the gourd to make it ring.
Eat the gourd. It's one of the magical plants that you can get a point for.

a lotus. It floats up from the depths of the water when you drop the penny at the canal.

Eat the lotus. It's one of the magical plants that you can get a point for.

a trumpet flower. It's growing on the trunk of the tall vines.

Blowing the trumpet makes a loud noise.
At Field, blow the trumpet to make the squash dragon wake up and move out of your way.
CAUTION: Don't blow the trumpet near the crane. It will take it from you!
Eat the trumpet. It's one of the magical plants that you can get a point for. Note that you won't eat it all, in case you need to blow it later.

a pink sky berry. It's growing on a thorny stem at the top of the vines.

Pull the stem to bring the berry within reach.
Eat the berry. It's one of the magical plants that you can get a point for.

a ticket. The silver machine at the hedges produces the ticket when you push its button.

Give the ticket to the crane in the craneyard. It will now let you past.

a blue lettuce. It's in the frame in the greenhouse.

Open the frame, take the lettuce, and eat it to win the game.

Score

The response to SCORE is:

You have tried number out of 8 tasty magical plants in the garden.

The 8 magical plants that count towards your score when you eat them are:

The tumble mint in Your Burrow.
The bell gourd at the Dock.
The lily that floats to the Dock when the gourd rings.
The lotus that floats up in the Canal when you drop the penny.
The trumpet flower that grows on the trunk of the vines.
The pink sky berry that grows on a thorny stem at the top of the vines.
The squash dragon that is sleeping in the field.
The blue lettuce in the greenhouse's frame.

Interestingly, NOTIFY ON claims there's no score in this story.

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.

Ko-Fi is a way to send me small one-time donations. Every little bit helps, and thank you!

Key & Compass presents: The Blue Lettuce by Caleb Wilson

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