Fish Bowl is a Z-machine interactive fiction game written with Inform 7 and is © 2012 by Ethan Rupp and Joshua Rupp. It was an entry in IF Comp 2012 where it took 12th place.
In this tiny horror game, you play as Larry Wyndham, the drunk beachcomber. Your skin is sweating. You live a simple life in this shack. Everything you need, the sea will provide. Eventually. But when did you get a fish bowl?
This solution is by David Welbourn, and is based on the competition release 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.
Shack
You're not allowed to check inventory until you get out of bed.
> x me. (Larry Wyndam)
> stand. i. x clothes. x sneakers.
> x cot. x door.
> x dresser. open drawer.
> x book. take it. read it.
> x bowl. take it. (no, you should not)
> open door. out. out.
The Beach
> x boots. x bucket. x shovel.
> x glass. x grass. (Smell from large clump.)
> search grass. (You find a dead cat.)
> take shovel. dig hole. g.
> x grave. x insects.
> bury cat. drop shovel.
Because you won't wear your sneakers into the ocean, you should put on your boots now. The boots go over your sneakers.
> wear boots.
> n.
The Shore
> x fish. x water. x bottle. x foam.
> n.
The Shore (in the ocean)
You can't actually reach the bottle, but you must try a few times.
> take bottle. g. g.
> s. (You lose the book.)
The Shore
> take fish. g. (success)
> s. in.
Shack
> x book. read book.
> x table. x machine. play machine.
> put fish in bowl. (Does it need water?)
> out.
The Beach
> take bucket. n. n.
The Shore (in the ocean)
> fill bucket. s. s. in.
Shack
> pour bucket in bowl. (More water needed.)
> out. n. n.
The Shore (in the ocean)
> fill bucket. s. s. in.
Shack
> pour bucket in bowl. x fish.
You're exhausted and the fish isn't dead at all.
> remove boots. drop boots. drop bucket.
> lie on cot.
The Shelter
This shelter is what the "shack" really looks like. You've been hallucinating for a long time.
> stand. x mirror. (You're more fish-like.)
> play machine. (You weren't drunk. You were infected.)
> x bowl. take bowl. (It breaks; the fish is Janice?)
> x Janice. take Janice. (no)
After experiencing the three traumas of the mirror, machine, and fish bowl, you may leave the shelter.
> x helmet. (This is what your "bucket" actually was.)
> w.
The Beach
> x sleeve. ("Gabriel")
> dig. (no: hands are too bloody)
> x me. i. remove clothes. x clothes.
> n.
The Shore
> x figure.
> n.
You wade into the ocean. The figure is with you. Your footprints on the beach don't last a day.
*** The End ***
Found dead:
Mentioned:
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