Key & Compass presents:
The Day I mauled Mao!
by Taleslinger

The Day I mauled Mao! is a Z-machine interactive fiction game written with Inform 7 and is © 2008 by Taleslinger. It was a participant in the New New Year's Speed IF event. It is also the second installment in the Alex and Paul series, following The Day I shot Hitler!

In this game, you once again play as Alex, a young gay man attending another New Year's Eve party at your boyfriend Paul's. Paul keeps having unexpected problems at his parties, like this Thompson's gazelle from the zoo lapping up all the champagne. Fortunately for Paul, the police never caught you and you're good at solving problems.

This solution is by David Welbourn, and is based on Release 1 of the game.

Map
Walkthrough
Extras
- Characters, Endings, Inventory
Thank You to my Patreon supporters
External links:
- This game at IFDB, IFWiki, and ifwizz.
- Tweet about this walkthrough on Twitter.

Map

Walkthrough

hallway

> verbose. x me. i. (nothing)

> x carpet.

> x drawers. open it. x sticker. take it.

> x door. x front door. open it.

> x small door. open it.

Sugar glider nuclear shelter

This is supposed to be The Potter Room.

> x shelter. open it. look in it. (empty)

> x box. x tools. search tools.

> out. w.

Living Room

> x people. x couches. x heap.

> x tv. look under tv. x UPC.

> s.

Kitchen

> x benches. x food. x people. x laptop.

> x battery. take it.

> s.

Garden Area

> x gazelle. x people. x glass. x wall.

> put sticker on gazelle. (She's taken away.)

After two turns, Paul appears and tells you about some guy with a bomb in the living room.

> x undergrowth. search it. x chainsaw.

> n. n.

Living Room

> x Mao. x bomb. take bomb. (Can't.)

> talk to Mao. g. g. g. g.

> attach UPC to chainsaw.

> attach battery to chainsaw.

> maul Mao. (You hide the body and chainsaw, then pick up the bomb.)

> e. in.

Sugar glider nuclear shelter

> put bomb in shelter. close shelter. (muffled boom)

> open shelter. look in it. (It's empty.)

Paul appears. You tell him that Mihanda split. He tells you that a UFO crashed his party.

> take box.

> out. w. s. s.

Garden Area

Until the UFO arrives, the pool is too hot to swim in.

> x ufo. x pool.

> drop all. swim.

In the Swimming Pool (swimming)

> take bag. (Can't reach it.)

> dive. (Not enough air.)

> take breath. dive. (You get the bag.)

> out.

Gardne Area

> wear bag. take box. put box in bag.

> climb wall. e.

Hilltop

> x cart. ne.

Entrance Gate

> x gate. x plank. take it.

> sw. w.

Golf course

> drop plank. (You make a ramp.)

> e.

Hilltop

> enter cart.

> take box. put box in cart.

> w.

In the Air

By the way, if you're still carrying the box, you'll drop it automatically and still win.

> out.

*** Happy New Year 2009! You have won! ***

Extras

Characters

Paul is your boyfriend and the host of this party. He only seems to show up when he needs you to solve a new problem.
Several groups of people are at the party.
A Thompson's gazelle is drinking champagne in the garden area. How rude!
Mihanda is a Sri Lankan exchange student who's dressed as Mao.

Mentioned:

The police, the disappeared German, and Paul's parents are referred to in the blog post that serves as the game's opening text. This is all a reference to the events of the previous game in the series.
Wally is Paul's uncle. His name and address are already written on the sticker. Wally will become the antagonist in the next game in the series, The Day I stabbed Stalin.
Artists playing on kitchen laptop include Ace of Base, Beethoven, David Welbourn, Jaw, P!nk, and The Streets.
The aliens that are invading all over the planet.

Endings

Happy New Year 2009! You have won!

if you deliver the box of fireworks to the UFO via flying golf cart express delivery.

By the way, the easter egg death ending that's hinted at doesn't exist. The author even let me look at the source code to verify this. Possibly the idea was to actually wait out the bomb until the timer ran out, but that wasn't implemented.

Inventory

a sticker. It's in the chest of drawers in the hallway. Put it on the gazelle in the garden area.
an UPC. Acquire it by looking under the tv in the living room. Attach it to the chainsaw.
a battery. It's in the laptop in the kitchen. Attach it to the chainsaw.
a chainsaw. Acquire it by searching the undergrowth in the garden area. Attach the UPC and battery to the chainsaw to give it power, then maul Mao with it.
a plank. It's at the entrance gate. Drop it at "Golf course" to make a ramp.
a bomb. Acquire it by mauling Mao; see chainsaw. Take it to the Potter Room. Open the shelter. Put the bomb in the shelter. Close the shelter. The bomb will safely explode inside.
a box of fireworks. They're in the Potter Room. You can only take them after Paul tells you that there's a UFO in the garden. Put the box in the shoulder-bag and wear the bag so you can climb the south wall of the garden area with it. Make sure you have box anywhere within the golf cart when you finally drive it west and up the ramp.
a shoulder-bag. It's in the swimming pool, but the pool is too hot. You'll have to wait until the UFO arrives so its shade will cool the pool. Drop everything and enter the pool. In the pool, take a breath and dive to grab the bag. Once outside the pool, wear the bag and put the box of fireworks in it.

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.

Key & Compass presents: The Day I mauled Mao! by Taleslinger