In this strange little game, it's the night before Christmas Eve, and you hate that Santa keeps breaking into your home every year to leave a present. You're gonna set some traps and capture that fat man once and for all. But first, you need to get out of helping your friend Matt decorate the clubhouse for a Christmas party.
This solution is by David Welbourn, and is based on Release 1 of the work.
SPOILERS AHEAD. Reading a walkthrough prematurely can sometimes diminish one's enjoyment of a work of interactive fiction. Please make an honest effort to play the work before reading this walkthrough.
> x Matt.(Gets angry easily. You don't dare leave without a really good excuse.)
> x phone.(Only has Matt's number and the police.)
> x streamers. x banners. x tables.
> w.
Bathrooms
> x urinals. x sinks. x grating. x stalls.
> x dryer. use dryer.(It turns on and stays on.)
> e.
Main Hall
> ask Matt about odor.("I'll get rid of the bo- uh, smell.. later.")
> s.
Hallway
> x banners.
> s. w.
Dining Hall
> take key. x it.
> w.
Kitchen
> take all from counter.
> x counter. x knife. x oil. x lighter.
> x oven. open it.(nothing inside)
> x refrigerator. open it. x hot sauce. take it.
> e. e. n. w.
Activity Room
> x note. x lamp. x small table. x armchair. x foosball.
> x bookcase.(Hear loud humming.)
> open bookcase.(locked)
> unlock bookcase with key.
> w.
hidden room
> x corpse. x maggots. x can.
> take maggots. take can.
> e. e. n.
Main Hall
CAUTION: If you ask Matt about the corpse or try to call the police, he kills you.
There are two ways to get Matt's golden key:
> drink oil. ask Matt about leaving.(He gives you the key.)
> kill Matt with knife.(You take the key from his body.)
> s. s.
Coat Room
> unlock white door with golden key.
> e.
Living Room
You're now in your emptied, boarded-up, barricaded house. Paranoid much?
> take journal. read it.
> x windows. x door.
> e.
Dining Room
> x table. x cookies. x milk.
> x fir. x fur. x fireplace. x logs.
> s.
Barren Kitchen
Nothing in here.
> n. n.
Small Hallway
> x net. take it. x bed.
> s.
Dining Room
Time to set up all the traps. The required syntax for some of these actions is a bit wonky; you need to pay attention to how suggestions are worded when examining things. (Also, you had an entire year to plan for this, and these are the best traps you could come up with? Dude.)
> use fireplace.(You use the lighter and gasoline to light the logs on fire. The fireplace is now a trap.)
> put maggots on table.(The cookies are now a trap.)
> mix milk with hot sauce.(The milk is now a trap.)
> put net on fir.(The fir tree is now a trap.)
> n.
Small Hallway
> enter bed.
Santa arrives and falls for all your traps. Yay! But when you see how badly you've hurt him, you're a little sad. Santa gives you a present and it's pure happiness. Santa leaves. Your barricade doesn't stop him at all.
*** You have won. (Hint: This is the best ending, but there are others.) ***
Extras
Characters
Matt is a friend tasked with decorating the clubhouse for a party. He killed a guy who pissed him off too much, and he'll kill you if you ask him about the corpse or if you try to call the police. Meanwhile, you may be willing to kill him just to get his key! Are you sure you two are friends?
Santa is a "fat man" who breaks into your home every Christmas Eve to leave you a present. You hate that so much.
A rotting corpse is in the hidden room. Oddly, the protagonist doesn't seem to recognize who it is, even though it's very likely another club member.
The operator at the police station tells you that the police can't get there any time soon because of the bad road conditions, if you call the police after killing Matt.
Mentioned:
Another friend will remove the barricade blocking your front door to let you out of your house on Christmas.
Endings
You have died
if you ask Matt about the body.
if you call the police while Matt is alive.
if you drink the bottle of hot sauce.
You have failed to catch the fat man. You lose. (Hint: There are better endings, obviously. Did you set all four traps?)
if you enter your bed without setting any traps.
You beat the crap out of him, and as he begs you for forgiveness, you break his sorry neck. Don't look at me like that, you made the choice! YOU WIN! YAY! (Hint: This is not the "perfect" ending. Did you set all four traps?)
if you capture Santa with one to three traps, then NO, you don't let him go.
You teach him a lesson about how much you like favors, and you let him escape with a warning. YOU WIN! YAY! (Hint: This is not the "perfect" ending. Did you set all four traps?)
if you capture Santa with one to three traps, then YES, you let him go.
You have won. (Hint: This is the best ending, but there are others.)
if you capture Santa using all four traps.
Note that killing Matt or calling the police after killing Matt doesn't factor into any of the endings.
Inventory
In the order you find them in this walkthrough:
a small key. It's in the dining hall.
It unlocks the bookcase in the activity room. The bookcase is a secret door that opens and leads west into the hidden room.
a butchers knife. It's on the kitchen counter.
You may kill Matt with it. If you do, you automatically take his golden key.
a bottle of oil. It's on the kitchen counter.
It's olive oil. If you drink it, you get a stomach ache and you can now ASK MATT ABOUT LEAVING. Matt calls you a moron, but hands over his golden key.
a lighter. It's on the kitchen counter.
In your dining room, if you have both the lighter and the gasoline can, and if the logs are in the fireplace, you can USE FIREPLACE to light the logs. This counts as one of the traps for Santa.
a bottle of hot sauce. It's in the kitchen's refrigerator.
In your dining room, mix the milk with the hot sauce. The glass of milk is now spicy and counts as one of the traps for Santa.
a small note. It's on the armchair in the activity room.
Read it; it's Matt's to-do list. You can ask Matt about the note, if you like.
some maggots. They're in the hidden room, near the corpse.
Put the maggots on your dining room table, where the cookies are. If the cookies and maggots are both on the table, this counts as one of the traps for Santa.
a gasoline can. It's in the hidden room.
In your dining room, if you have both the lighter and the gasoline can, and if the logs are in the fireplace, you can USE FIREPLACE to light the logs. This counts as one of the traps for Santa.
a golden key. Matt is carrying it.
One way to obtain the golden key is to kill Matt with the butchers knife.
The other way to obtain the golden key is to first drink the bottle of oil (to get a stomach ache), then ask Matt about leaving. He calls you a moron but also gives you his key.
The golden key unlocks the white door in the coat room. This is the only way to leave the clubhouse building and go home.
a brown journal. It's in your living room.
Read it. It outlines what you expect Santa to do: enter your home via the fireplace, eat your cookies, drink your milk, and put a present under your fir tree. This is a hint to tell you where you need to put your traps.
some cookies. They're on your dining room table.
Put the maggots on your dining room table, where the cookies are. If the cookies and maggots are both on the table, this counts as one of the traps for Santa.
You can eat the cookies instead, if you really want to, making it impossible to set that trap.
a glass of (spicy) milk. It's on your dining room table.
In your dining room, mix the milk with the hot sauce. The glass of milk is now spicy and counts as one of the traps for Santa.
You can drink the milk instead, if you really want to, making it impossible to set that trap.
some (burning) logs. They're in the dining room's fireplace.
The logs shouldn't be portable. Leave them in the fireplace.
In your dining room, if you have both the lighter and the gasoline can, and if the logs are in the fireplace, you can USE FIREPLACE to light the logs. This counts as one of the traps for Santa.
a fur. It's on the fir tree in your dining room.
Ignore it. I think it's just there to be a pun of the word "fir".
a net. It's in your small hallway.
In your dining room, put the net on the fir tree. This counts as one of the traps for Santa.
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