top

Key & Compass presents:
FORK: The Great Underground Dining Room
by Chris Federico

FORK: The Great Underground Dining Room is a Z-machine interactive fiction game written with Inform 6 and is © 2007 by Chris Federico.

In this large puzzle game, you play as someone on vacation who enjoys old video games, especially Atari and Commodore ones. Therefore, you're at a games convention in this odd hotel, looking for adventure. Explore far enough and who knows what you'll find? Maybe you'll even have dinner with some old friends.

CAUTION: Many read-author's-mind moments.

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.


Maps

Map 1: Outside the hotel

BaerBoulevard SewerJunction West ofHotel Front ofHotel East ofHotel Lobby BehindHotel u d

Map 2: Sewers below the boulevard

BaerBoulevard SewerJunction WesternDrainagePipe EasternDrainagePipe End ofSewer River-bank u d

Map 3: Inside the hotel

Front ofHotel SecondFloor FirstFloor Lobby ConventionHall Room255 HotelRestaurant Kitchen SupplyCloset BreakRoom MainframeDungeon u u d d d u (to Room154) (to Room155)

Map 4: Below the break room

BanquetHall BreakRoom Restroom PanamaJoe'sLounge West ofFire Lake East ofFire Lake BountyBob's Bar MainframeDungeon PrototypeVault Under-groundCity Chess-board YarHives JaguarLibrary Frye'sPrison BallyChamber Walk-InCloset Adventure-GameTunnel Dig-Dug'sRoom Mesa ETLandfill Dragons'Lair u climb games d d

Map 5: Underground City maze (simplified)

BountyBob's Bar S U 4 R P 6 10 5 E 9 M switch 8 11 7 A 12 TheHarryResidence N blue key PhoneBooth

The numbers on this map are arbitrary. They're just the numbers I used to tell the rooms apart when I played the game. I started at 4 because I considered rooms S, U, and P to be rooms 1, 2, and 3, respectively.


Map 5b: Underground City maze (detailed)

BountyBob's Bar S BBB U x x x x x x x 4 x x x x S P U x S 4 x x x P U x 6 x x x x 10 x 9 R P U 5 4 x E x x x x x x R P 9 6 x E x M 10 x E x x x R x 8 5 x x x U 4 x E 6 x 7 x P x x x x x x x x 6 R 8 9 11 x x x x x M 10 6 x U x x x 14 8 5 x A x x M 6 x 11 x x x 5 13 E 13 x 7 x THR x x x 11 12 x A x 10 12 x x 10 A x 6 8 N TheHarryResidence x 7 12 x PB x x x N PhoneBooth 13 x x x 7 U x 14 7 x x x x 13 8 x x 14

Map 6: From the Harry residence to the Black Castle

Under-groundCity Catacomb TheHarryResidence Black-CastleEntrance TreasureRoom BountyBob's Bar BlueLabyrinth Garage FriedRoom Warren'sLair Room withLine swing cable (die!)

Walkthrough

Baer Boulevard

> x hotel. x manhole. x signs. ("CAUTION")

Do the sewers first. There's three items to get down there.

> d.

Sewer Junction

> x cable. take it.

> sw. s.

End of Sewer

> listen. (fire, maybe?)

> x shovel. take it.

> n. se.

Riverbank

> x cartridge. take it.

> ne. nw. u. s.

Front of Hotel

Quickly circle around the hotel before entering.

> w.

West of Hotel

> x sticker. ("Atari Age")

> se.

Behind Hotel

> x crowbar. take it. ne.

East of Hotel

> x sticker. ("Orphaned Computers & Game Systems")

> w. s.

Lobby

> x doorway.

Take a quick peek upstairs before heading into the convention hall.

> u.

First Floor

> x northern door. ("154")

> x northern device. (card reader)

> x southern door. ("155")

> x can. take it. (quite sticky)

> u.

Second Floor

> x door. ("255")

> d. d. e.

Convention Hall

> x guy.

> ask guy about convention. ("It's all a rip-off.")

> ask guy about money.

> ask guy about what he's after. ("Leave me alone, will ya?")

> ask guy about game. ("I can't find it.")

> show cartridge to guy. (He takes it and gives you a token.)

> x token. ("One Play")

> s.

Hotel Restaurant

> x menu. e.

Kitchen

> open door. (can't: painted shut)

> pry door with crowbar. (crowbar is too thick)

> break door with crowbar. (this works)

> e.

Supply Closet

> x shelves. x cheese. take it.

> w. se.

Break Room

> x materials. x cement mix. take it. (too heavy)

> move mix. x hole.

> d.

Mainframe Dungeon

> x parts. x mainframe. x slot. x logo. ("ENCOM")

The cheese is sorta like a punchcard, isn't it?

> put cheese in slot. (The east wall opens.)

Hold off on exploring east of here until you get something called a Commodore key.

> s.

Jaguar Library

Don't worry too much about the boxes on the high shelf. You can't get any of them and you don't need any of them.

> x shelves. x highest shelf. x boxes. x lock.

> w.

Yar Hives

> x yars. show can to yars.

> drop can. (All the yars get stuck to it.)

> s.

Adventure-Game Tunnel

> take card. x it. ("255")

Now backtrack back to the second floor of the hotel:

> n. e. n. u. nw. w. n. w. u. u.

Second Floor

> put card in reader. open door. s.

Room 255

> x controllers.

> x bed. ("There's nothing on the bed.")

The game is LYING. There's a pillow. So unfair.

> x pillow. look under pillow. take trackball. x it.

> x junk. (find a Commodore key)

> take key. x it.

Okay, now it's time to see what's east of the mainframe:

> n. d. d. e. s. e. se. d. e.

Prototype Vault

Look at these things and move on. You can't get any of them, nor do they help you solve any puzzles.

> x pedestals. x relics.

> sw.

Chessboard

> x horn. take horn. x fog.

When the fog gets extremely dark, the Commodore key turns into an ex-Commodore key. No, I don't know why.

> z. (Repeat waiting until the key is transformed.)

> i. x ex. (Has scorpion on it now.)

The fog hides the only other exit:

> se.

Bally Chamber

> x keyboard. look under it. type on it.

> x spoon. take it. (can't)

> x base. (See mesa below.)

> x plinth. x paneling. (actually plastic)

Remember the spoon is here.

> nw. ne. w. w.

Bounty Bob's Bar

> x bar. x tiles.

> s.

Underground City ("S")

This is the start of a maze; see map 5. The only way to map it is by dropping objects in different locations to make them distinctive. However, some locations, like this one, have a letter on a wall, so you only need objects for the unlettered parts of the city.

> x letter. (It's a big red "S".)

This walkthrough will assume you saved the game here, mapped the maze, then restored to get your stuff back.

Go to the location of the difficulty switch:

> verbose. s. s. s. s.

Underground City (switch location)

This is room 8 on my map.

> x switch. (flips from A to B. Currently at A.)

> take switch.

Return to the "S":

> w. n.

Underground City ("S")

Head for the phone booth, starting from the "S" and spelling "SUPERMAN" along the way.

> s. s. se. n. ne. se. s. sw. sw. e. se. e.

Phone Booth

> take blue key.

Now visit the Harry Residence:

> w. w. s.

The Harry Residence

CAUTION: Walking into the tar pit is fatal.

> brief. x trunk. x bricks. x tar.

> tie cable to trunk.

> swing cable. (You jump to...)

Treasure Room

> x diamonds. x money. x head.

> take head. (You reveal a plate.)

> x plate. take it.

> s.

Garage

I have no idea how any player is supposed to figure this out, but somehow, the ex-Commodore key sends a signal to open the garage door when the fog at Chessboard is at a particular phase. No really, that's what's happening here. Just wait here with the ex-Commodore key until the door opens.

> z. (Repeat waiting until door opens.)

> s.

Room with Line

> x line. touch line. (can't)

> w. (can't)

I have no idea why inserting a trackball on an animated line should stop it from animating. Is this some reference to some other game?

> put trackball on line.

> w.

Warren's Lair

> x box. (It switches betwen "Game" and "Antenna". Currently set to "Game".)

> take box.

> n.

Blue Labyrinth

Amazingly, the "labyrinth" is just a straight north/south path.

> n.

Black-Castle Entrance

> x castle. x parapets. x gate.

You need another key for this gate. Let's go get it. First, head back to the garage:

> s. s. e. n.

Garage

> e.

Fried Room

The only way out is north.

> n.

Bounty Bob's Bar

> w.

East of Fire Lake

CAUTION: Walking or jumping into the lava is fatal.

> flip switchbox. (A bridge of static appears.)

> x bridge. touch it.

> w. w.

Panama Joe's Lounge

> x sofa. x skulls. x door.

> unlock door with blue key.

> open door. w.

Restroom

> x black key. take it.

> x toiletorx sink.

> n.

Banquet Hall

> x table. x chairs. x screen. (static)

> x rectangle. (Has inch-long vertical slot.)

You're not quite ready for this room yet, but soon. Now that you have the black key, go back to the castle:

> s. e. e. e. e. s.

Underground City ("S")

> s. s. se. sw. s.

The Harry Residence

> swing cable. s. s. w. n. n.

Black-Castle Entrance

> unlock gate with black key.

> open gate. n.

Catacomb

> x fork. take it.

Return to the Adventure-Game Tunnel:

> s. s. s. e. n. e. n. e. s. w. s.

Adventure-Game Tunnel

> sw.

Mesa

> dig bump with shovel. (New hole leading down.)

> d.

ET Landfill

CAUTION: Trying to take one of the game boxes is fatal.

> x boxes. search boxes.

> s.

Dragons' Lair

> x Gretel. x chains. x eye.

I don't know who Gretel is. I don't know who Grundle is. I didn't know the black key belonged to Grundle. But let's assume you know.

> show black key to Gretel. (She strangles herself.)

> x Gretel.

> pry eye with horn. take LED. x it.

> n.

ET Landfill

You can't just go up. You must climb the game boxes.

> climb games. ne. e.

Dig-Dug's Bedroom

> x bed. x pillow.

> ne.

Walk-In Closet

With the LED, you can see in here. Dig-Dug gives you a knife before he vanishes into pixels.

> x knife. look. (empty)

Return to the Jaguar Library:

> sw. w. n. e.

Jaguar Library

The "long tines" of the fork can somehow be used as a lockpicking tool. Well, one tine. The other tines just sorta move out of the way, I assume.

> unlock lock with fork.

> open door. e.

Frye's Prison

> x message. x glass. take it.

Now, um, return to the Hotel Restaurant.

> w. n. u. nw. w.

Hotel Restaurant

Do you remember the jammed spoon in the keyboard in the Bally Chamber? And the difficulty switch that you found in the Underground City maze? Flip that switch from "A" to "B".

> flip switch. look.

The spoon is now here. That spoon puzzle is not so difficult any more, is it?

> take spoon.

Almost done. Return to the banquet hall for the big finale:

> e. se. d. w. w. w. w. w. n.

Banquet Hall

> put plate on table. put glass on table.

> put knife on table. put spoon on table.

> put fork on table. put token in slot.

You and many videogame characters start a banquet. Also, you're a big cursor now. Yay?

*** You have won ***


Extras

Characters

Mentions include:


Credits

Credits appear in the game banner:

FORK: The Great Underground Dining Room
Copyright (C)2007 by Chris Federico. All rights reserved.
Special thanks to Adam Trionfo, Justin Morgan, Roger Firth,
Jim Fisher, Clark Sipsy, Joe Kollar and Rioshin an'Harthen.
Release 1 / Serial number 071205 / Inform v6.31 Library 6/11 S

Considerably more info is available in the response to ABOUT, but it's far too long to reproduce here.


Endings


Inventory

Items are listed in the order acquired in this walkthrough. You have no inventory limits; take everything you can.

The only way to map the maze is to drop a unique item in each room that doesn't have a red letter on the wall.


Score

The response to SCORE is:

This story doesn't need a score. If you'd like a reference point, note the amount of turns you've taken, displayed in the upper-right corner (less is more, in other words).


Thank You to my Patreon supporters

This walkthrough was funded via Patreon with


Support me on Ko-fi

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