Fat Bear is a Z-machine interactive fiction game written with Dialog and is © 2025 by Charles Moore, Jr.. It was an entry in the Text Adventure Literacy Jam (TALP) of 2025, placement to be determined.
In this game, you play as a mature adult North American brown bear, also known as a grizzly. And what does a bear in the woods do? Eat everything he can. After you've eaten twelve meals, there's one last place to explore.
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.
Play with tutorial (y/n)?
>> Y
Bushy Spot
> x me. (adult brown grizzly)
> x cupcake. take it.
> i. eat cupcake. (+1)
> e.
Hilltop
> x trees. n.
Pond Bank
> x pond. x island. x lilies.
> n.
Island
> x berries. eat them. (+1)
> s. s. s. w. nw.
Road @ Campground
> x sign. ("Do Not Feed The Bears")
> n. e.
East Campsite
> x firepit. x tent. enter tent.
Inside The Tent
> x cooler. take it. (portable container)
> out.
East Campsite
> climb birch. (can't support your weight)
> take bag. (just out of reach)
> push tent. (It collapses.)
Unfortunately, you can't take a tent pole to hit the bag with. That's not the intended solution!
> w. n.
North Campsite
You scare two humans into their camper.
> x camper. x firepit. x pickup.
> enter pickup. (The pickup separates from the camper.)
> out.
> look in window. x campers.
> roar. (The couple runs to the pickup truck and drives off, leaving the camper open.)
> in.
In The Camper
> eat ham. (+1)
Every time you eat something or take something, you put the cooler down. Don't forget to take it with you!
> take cooler.
> out. s. w.
West Campsite
> x pipe. x can. look in it.
> x ducky. take ducky. put it in cooler.
> take cooler.
> e. s. w. w. w.
Airstrip South
> x plane.
> n.
Airstrip Center
> x branch.
> pull branch south.
Airstrip South
The plane lands, stopping at the north end.
> pull branch n.
Airstrip Center
Leave the branch here.
> n.
Airstrip North
> x bird. x pilot. (He haasn't seen you yet.)
> growl. (The pilot tries to take off, but hits the branch.)
> s.
Airstrip Center
> x plane. enter plane.
> eat burger. (+1; you eat it)
> x small metal object. (It's a flare gun.)
> put it in cooler. take cooler.
> out. s. e. e. s.
Trace (south of Western Road)
A raccoon should be here.
> drop cooler. take ducky.
> squeeze ducky. (raccoon is delighted)
The raccoon is now following you.
> n. e. n. e.
East Campsite
> drop ducky.
The raccoon gets the bag down from the tree; the bag opens. The raccoon takes the ducky away. The raccoon now wanders around the forest.
> look in bag.
> x puffs. eat puffs. (+1)
> w. s. w. s.
Trace (south of Western Road)
> take cooler. se. s.
Gorge West
> x vultures.
> growl at vultures. (They fly up but not far; a dead fish is behind.)
> x fish. eat fish. (no, too rank)
> put fish in cooler. take cooler.
> n. w.
Hatch Clearing
You can't open the hatch with your claws.
> x hatch. w.
Grate Clearing
> x grate. put fish on grate.
> take cooler. e.
Hatch Clearing
> z.
A man emerges from the hatch gagging, then runs off when he sees you.
> d.
Bunker
> x chair. x table. x appliances.
> w.
Pantry
> x shelves. x cans.
> x sack. open it. (no: sewn shut)
> claw sack. x beans. eat beans. (+1)
> take cooler.
> e. u. e. s. e.
At The Tower
> x tower. u.
Tower Top North and Tower Top South
> s. n. s. n. s.
Go back north and south until the tower falls, leaving you at...
Cliff Top
The fallen tower is now like a log bridge.
> d. d. n. e. e.
Stream East
> eat salmon. (+1)
The sow bear goes west. (She wanders randomly.)
Take the flare gun and abandon the cooler. You no longer need the cooler, and it's simpler to go without it.
> take gun.
> w. w. s. se. s. s.
Shack Front
Although you can open the door and enter, don't just yet. Ma and Pa McCrackey are inside, and Pa owns a rifle.
> sw.
Behind The Shack
> x tub. x mash. x stove. x pipes.
> eat mash. (no: smells bad)
> put gun in stove. ne.
Shack Front
> z. z. (You hear the explosion.)
> open door. s.
In The Shack
> x table. x bowl. eat sugar. (+1)
> n. n. n. nw. u. u. n. e. ne.
Trace @ Bee Tree
> x beehive. take it. (no: out of reach)
> x tree. (can't climb it)
> e. s. e. se.
Path End
Nothing here.
> nw. u.
Rocky Top
This setup is used much later in the game, and you should know it's here in advance.
> x large rock. x small rock.
> d. w. n. ne. e.
Outside Cabin
> x cabin. x store. x ATV.
> u. e.
East Cabin Roof
This side of the roof is weak, but it won't break until you've eaten 12 meals.
> jump. (can't)
> w. d.
Outside Cabin
> push ATV w.
Path Intersection
> push ATV sw.
Trace
> push ATV w.
Trace @ Bee Tree
The way this is supposed to work is that standing on the ATV brings you within reach of the beehive. But at the time of writing, you can't TAKE the beehive either way, but you can EAT the beehive when you're either on or off the ATV.
> stand on ATV. eat beehive. (+1)
> e. ne. n. e. s.
Outside Ranger Station
Sorry, but I'm gonna call the "sheep" a jeep.
> look in window.
> x jeep.
> enter jeep. (black lever found)
> push lever. (You don't actually.)
> save
> push lever. (The jeep starts rolling south.)
> out.
> knock on door —or— growl.
> z. (The rangers see the jeep go and chase after it. The door is open.)
> e.
Inside Ranger Station
> eat donuts. (+1)
> w. n. e. e.
Road @ Filling Station
> x buildings. x station. (see vending machine)
> x pumps. x office.
> n.
Filling Station
> x machine. pull machine.
> take cookies. eat cookies. (+1)
> e.
Outside Service Bay
> x hose. stand on hose. (door opens)
> n.
In The Service Bay
> x lift.
> s. s. e.
Road East
The diners run into the restaurant. Somehow, no food is left on anyone's table? How inconsiderate!
> sw.
Behind the Pizzeria
> x dumpster. (bear-proof lid, leaking hole)
> x hole. (On bottom where you can't reach)
> push dumpster ne.
Road East
> push dumpster w.
Road Through Town
> push dumpster n. g.
In The Service Bay
> push dumpster on lift. push green.
> x hole. search hole. eat pizza. (+1)
By my count, you have eaten 12 meals and have a perfect score. Return to the East Cabin Roof to begin the endgame:
> s. s. w. w. w. w.
> s. e. u. e.
The roof collapses, and you land...
In The Cabin
> x cage. x cub.
> push latch. (The cage opens; the cub now follows you.)
> x heads. x table. x stove. x guns.
> u. w. d. w. sw.
Trace
A hunter with a rifle sees you both!
> s. e. u.
Rocky Top
The hunter is below.
> pull small rock.
With the cub's help, the large boulder falls and knocks the hunter into the gorge.
> d. w. n.
Trace
Cub and sow bear are reunited. You head to your den to hibernate.
*** You have won ***
By the way, you can lead the hunter on quite the merry chase all over the map, and even though the rocky top is the safest place for you, the hunter can get up there if you give him enough time. Waiting for him to go away isn't an option.
Main characters:
Edible characters:
Minor characters (behind windows):
Cameo characters (seen briefly):
Found dead:
Mentioned:
This is the response to CREDITS:
Fat Bear
An interactive fiction by Charles Moore, Jr.
Release 1. Serial number 250503.
Dialog compiler version 0m/03. Library version 0.46.Special thanks to Garry Francis, R.J. Kowalski, and Jake Moore for input and playtesting.
As a bear, you can only hold one item in your mouth, but with the cooler, you can have other objects in it.
Eat all this food. Admittedly, you tend to immediately eat most food items you take, so technically, most of these aren't truly inventory items if you want to be pendantic about it.
These are things you can either push or pull from one location to another.
Please don't push anything onto the cabin roof. You won't break the roof that way. Only bears that are very fat can break the roof.
This is the response to SCORE:
You've eaten N meals out of a maximum of 12.
The meals are:
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