In this game about under-powered superheroes, you play as Improv, leader of the Frenetic Five. You use common objects in surprisingly useful ways. Bob, your contact at Supertemps, hires your team for a new job: defeat the melodramatic supervillains Sturm und Drang who have holed up in the abandoned flange mill at the waterfront.
This solution is by David Welbourn, and is based on Version 1.1 (the post-competition release) of the game.
You must ask Newsboy about the flange mill to learn which bus to take; it will be randomized.
If you get on the wrong bus, over the next several turns it will stop at various places like Old City Hall, the Metropolitan Airport, the Convention Center, and the Metropolitan Mall, before returning to where you boarded the bus. You'll have no option but to get off the bus.
Map 2: Abandoned flange mill
Walkthrough
Note that there are some unusual commands in this game:
ASK someone FOR HELP.
FIND something.
FOLD something.
MAKE something.
REACH INTO something.
REFLECT something-shiny AT something-else.
UNFOLD something.
VAULT something.
Living room
You get nine free turns before there's knocking on the front door.
> x me.(You're Brett, aka Improv.)
> i. x ID card. x bus token.
> x sofa.
> x TV.(It's MacGyver.)
> search sofa.
> x TV. g.
Someone pounds on the front door yelling "Extra! Extra!"
> stand.(Lexicon and Pastiche rush in.)
> SPACE
The game banner text is displayed.
> open front door.(Newsboy enters.)
> ask Newsboy about news.(Sturm und Drang have returned.)
> ask Newsboy about Sturm und Drang.
> look. turn off tv.
The phone rings. Loudly. It's Bob from Supertemps with a job offer. Just listen to him; he doesn't respond to questions.
> answer phone. z. z.(Bob hangs up.)
> drop phone.
Bob said the villains are in an abandoned flange mill.
> ask Newsboy about flange mill.(Note both the direction and bus number. They're random.)
> ask Lexicon about flange.(He's not an encyclopedia.)
> x Newsboy. x Pastiche. x Lexicon.
> x armchair. take tape.
> x desk. search papers.
> open drawer. read schedule.(it's out of date.)
> e.
Kitchen
> x glassware. search it.(You take a shard.)
> x shard. x sink. x dishes. x fork. take fork.
> x screen door. s.
Backyard
> x appliances. x bedsheet. x socks. x clothesline.
> untie clothesline. take it.
> take bedsheet.(You're carrying too much.)
> fold it. take it.(so it's less bulky to carry)
> n. w. u. w.
Bathroom
> x schedule. x mildew. x toilet.
> e. s.
The Clapper's room
Feel free to pet Tractor, Clapper's cat, if she makes an appearance.
> x mess. x Clapper. x bed.
> wake Clapper.(The Clapper is now following you.)
> n. d. n.
Sidewalk
> x house. x roof.
> e —or— w.(You won't leave without locking the front door.)
> s.
Living room
> Clapper, find key.(Beeping from armchair.)
> look in hole.(You find the keys!)
> n.
Sidewalk
> close door. lock door.
Go the correct way:
> w.(if you want bus route 14, 22, or 83)
> e.(if you want bus route 2, 61, or 97)
Maine Street or Main Street
> read sign.(note the emphasized WAIT)
Enter the correct stop:
> enter northbound stop.(if going north)
> enter southbound stop.(if going south)
> z.(Wait repeatedly until your bus stops.)
> enter NUMBER bus.
On a bus, by the driver.
> put token in farebox.(Clapper, Lexicon, and Newsboy do the same.)
> Pastiche, take token.
> Pastiche, put token in fare box.(if she doesn't do it herself)
> sit on seats —or— step behind yellow line.
On a bus, on a bench
After a long ride, you disembark at the abandoned flange mill.
The wrong side of the tracks
CAUTION: Don't put anything on the tracks.
> look. x pole. x tracks.
> ask Newsboy about tracks.(The rails are all electrified.)
> take pole. vault tracks.(The team does likewise.)
The Wharves
> x pier. x structure. n.
Pier
> x pile. search pile. x harbor. catch fish.
> z.(Wait until Lexicon finds a magazine.)
> x magazine.
While Lexicon has the magazine, he will periodically comment on an article he's reading. These comments are more oblique hints on how to solve some of the puzzles.
> sw.
Mill Square
> n.
Mill entrance
After you hear three clues from the doors, ask Lexicon about the password. The clues and password will be randomized.
This puzzle may have been inspired by the television game show Password.
> open doors. g. g.
> ask Lexicon about password.(He's too engrossed in the magazine.)
> take magazine.
> ask Lexicon about password.(He guesses it; the doors open.)
> give magazine to Lexicon.
> n.
Darkness
The steel doors shut automatically! One-by-one, your teammates will be knocked unconscious, ending with you also being knocked out. You cannot prevent it, nor can you do anything useful in the dark, so just wait for it to happen.
> z.(Repeat until you're knocked out.)
You wake in...
Your bedroom, in bed
This isn't really your bedroom. This is your personal la-la-land inside your head while you nap. Listen to what the lobster says; there may be hints hidden inside the nonsense he's saying.
But it doesn't really matter what you do here, and if you like, as long as you've seen the lobster, you can just z repeatedly until you wake up.
> stand.(can't)
> x bed. x desk. x computer. x photo.(Something's wrong.)
> look. x lobster. x chair. x cigarette.
> yell.(The lobster speaks.)
> ask lobster about lobster.(Claims to be Bob in disguise.)
> ask lobster about me.
> ask lobster about mission.
> ask lobster about sturm and drang.
> ask lobster about cigarette.
> ask lobster about photo.
> ask lobster about noise.
> z.(Repeat waiting until you open your eyes...)
Inside the Mill
Note: While tied up, you can only carry one item.
> take shard. cut my rope with shard.(It's not sharp enough.)
At some point, Lexicon's glasses will have fallen off. If it hasn't happened yet, wait for that.
> Pastiche, push glasses.(She can't phase through rope.)
> x motes. x skylight.
> z.(Wait until the villains have left.)
I would never have guessed this on my own. I saw "motes", not "light", and "reflect" is hardly a standard command. I also failed to notice that the shard was described as reflective. (If you try this too soon, Sturm will take the glasses away.)
> reflect light at glasses.
You improbably reflect sunlight off the shard and focus it through Lexicon's glasses to burn through his rope. Freed, he quickly unties everybody. Pastiche picks up something gray.
Fun fact: Did you know that focused sunlight hits Lexicon's eyeballs every single day without burning them?
> take all. wear ID.
> x gray. ask Clapper about gray.(What Sturm was using to create his light show.)
> ask Clapper for gray.
> s. s. s.
EvilMart
You can't really do anything here, but still, it's a location you probably want to see. The beer and paperbacks are randomly mentioned if you try going in directions other than north.
> x racks. x commodities. x beer. x paperbacks.
> x youth. ask youth about Sturm.(He can't hear you.)
> n. w.
Dark Alley
> x fence. x fire escape. x crates.
> put fork in crates. tie rope to fork.
> pull rope.(The crates fall and scatter.)
> climb fence. u.
On the roof
When Sturm turns on his melodramaturge, all the local room descriptions change to something more dramatic.
> x box. x controls. x skylight.
CAUTION: If you try to jump over the skylight unassisted by anything inflated, you'll fall into the mill. If you're carrying the unfolded bedsheet, you'll land unharmed, since it will act as a parachute; otherwise, you'll be back in the bedroom with the lobster for several turns until you recover.
Question: How did the villains get up to the roof?
> unfold bedsheet. throw pellet at ground.
You fly across the skylight because the bedsheet billows like a hot air balloon from the pyrotechnics.
> push off button. look.
Sturm is entangled in the sheet and the other three are unconscious.
Weirdly, you can't tie up anyone with the clothesline. Fortunately, you have another option.
> put tape on Sturm.
*** Stay tuned for the further adventures of ... THE FRENETIC FIVE. ***
Extras
Characters
The Frenetic Five:
Improv (Brent). That's you! You're the leader of the Frenetic Five. You solve problems by using common items in unusual ways. Unfortunately, it's completely up to the player to figure out what to do with them.
Pastiche (Antonia). Each of her body parts has a different power, but her only power in this game is an intangible hand that can reach through anything except rope.
Lexicon (Mitchel). He's like a human dictionary. Ask him for a word when you need one.
Newsboy (Pete). He has the power to tell today's headlines. He's far more like an encyclopedia than Lexicon, and has a bit of clairvoyance as well.
The Clapper (Deborah). She can find lost items. Ask her to find something, and she'll clap her hands. If the item is nearby, it will beep.
The bad guys:
Sturm (Hans Sturmwetter) is a movie director who became a supervillain. He loves giving melodramatic monologues.
Drang (Drang Beistand) is Sturm's longtime sidekick and a pain in the neck.
Two goons in Sturm und Drang's employ are busy fighting each other.
Other characters you can see or interact with:
Bob (not his real name) is your contact at Supertemps. He calls you to give you your new mission.
Tractor is the Clapper's cat. It will appear in the Clapper's room a few turns after you enter there. Pet it, if you like.
A bus driver drives the city bus. As long as everyone in your group pays the fare, he'll drive you to where he's going.
A taxi driver drives a taxicab past the bus stops, but doesn't stop if you try to hail it.
A youth is selling evil commodities in EvilMart. He's completely unhelpful to you.
A lobster smoking a cigarette talks cryptically to you when you're in your hallucinatory bedroom.
A fish can leap into your arms if you try to catch a fish at the pier.
Mentioned:
MacGyver as played by Richard Dean Anderson is on the TV. You have a photo of him in your room.
Space Ghost is mentioned if you try to wear the bedsheet.
Captain Eternity is mentioned in the bus ride to the mill.
Anna Mill is who the Mill Square was named after.
Magasin Vingt-Quartre is the evil genius who founded the EvilMart.
John Birch and John Grisham are also mentioned in the EvilMart, represented by beer and paperbacks respectively.
Tetanus Man and fishermen may be mentioned while you're on the pier.
Holmes and Moriarty, Batman and the Joker, Boric Acid Woman and the Roach King are mentioned when you reach the mill's roof.
The Incredible Rubber Ball Man, The Human Paper Airplane, Superman, The Incredible Supervole, and Scooby-Doo may be mentioned while you're on the roof.
The Gang of Four and the Magnificient Seven are mentioned if you try to kiss one of your teammates.
Credits
The response to CREDITS is:
Thanks to:
My beta-testers, Matthew Amster-Burton, Liza Daly, and Rob Daviau, who helped get this out the door.
Adam Cadre, Lelah Conrad, David Dyte, C.E. Forman, David Glasser, Stephen Granade, Eileen Mullin, Dylan O'Donnell, Andrew Ross, Cody Sandifer, and everyone else who helped me fix it when it came back broken.
Gabe Brownstein, for telling me about that role-playing game that first gave me the idea all those years ago, even though I never got to play it.
Ben Edlund and Richard Liebman-Smith, for doing it so much better than I ever could.
This game contains built-in help; if you find yourself stuck, try ASKing your fellow team members FOR HELP. Bug reports and other correspondence may be directed to Neil deMause at email redacted.
Endings
There's only the one ending, the winning ending:
Stay tuned for the further adventures of ... THE FRENETIC FIVE.
You cannot die in this game:
You can never open the broken refrigerator in your backyard.
Your teammates will always stop you from touching or walking over the electrified tracks.
The bad guys only physically assault you once, when you and your team are inside the mill without any light. After that, they're more interested in gloating and fighting each other than attacking you. And there's no death traps.
Jumping over the skylight is never successful, but these failures never kill you. If you're holding an unfolded bedsheet, it acts as a parachute and you land unharmed inside the mill. Without the bedsheet's aid, you land hard and you're back in your hallucinatory bedroom with the lobster again; you wake up inside the mill a few turns later.
But there are ways to make the game unwinnable:
leaving something important back at the house or on the wrong side of the tracks,
putting the duct tape on the bus driver (it's his now),
putting something on the electrified tracks (zap, it's gone),
reflecting light at the glasses when Sturm is in the mill (he takes the glasses away),
using the pellet when you're not on the roof with an unfolded bedsheet.
Inventory
While there are inventory limits, you can get around them by folding the bedsheet so it's less bulky and by not carrying unneeded items. If necessary, you can also give items to your teammates and ask for them back later.
an ID card. You're wearing it.
You can mostly ignore it. After you're untied inside the mill, you should probably wear the card again.
a bus token. You're carrying it.
Once you're on the correct bus, put your bus token into the fare box. Everyone else except Pastiche will do the same with their own bus tokens.
Tell Pastiche to take a token (from the fare box) then tell her to put it back in. This nonsense "pays" for Pastiche's fare, and now you can all sit down and ride to the flange mill.
If you wasted your tokens on the wrong bus, you're not stuck. You can labourously ask Pastiche to get tokens for each of you, give them to her teammates, and ask them to put their tokens into the fare box. Unbelievably, this will work if you previously deposited tokens in the other bus.
a portable phone. It's in the living room; you automatically pick it up when you answer the phone.
After Bob hangs up, you can drop the phone. You don't need it any more.
a strip of duct tape. It's on the armchair in the living room.
Taking the tape exposes a hole in the chair's seat cushion. Look in the hole to find the house keys.
On the far side of the mill roof, after turning off the melodramaturge, put the tape on Sturm to shut him up, finally defeating him and winning the game.
a bus schedule. It's in the desk drawer in the living room.
This schedule is out of date and useless to you. Ask Newsboy about the flange mill to learn what bus you need to take to get there.
a shard of glass. It's in your kitchen.
Although the glass has an cutting edge, it's not really sharp enough to cut anything.
When you're tied up inside the mill and after Lexicon has dropped his glasses and after the villains have left, take the shard and reflect the light at his glasses. The focused light will improbably burn through Lexicon's rope, freeing him.
a fork. It's in your kitchen.
In the dark alley, put the fork in the crates and tie the clothesline to the fork. Then pull the clothesline to safely topple the crates away from the fence.
a bedsheet. It's on the clothesline in your backyard.
Fold the bedsheet to make it more manageable to carry. Otherwise you won't be able to carry as many things at once.
When on the mill's roof, unfold the bedsheet then throw the pellet at the ground. The resulting pyrotechnics will create enough hot air to fill your bedsheet like a hot air balloon, floating you over the skylight to the villains' side of the roof.
The bedsheet is now entangled around Sturm which is quite convenient. Leave it alone.
a length of clothesline. It's in your backyard. Untie it to take it.
In the dark alley, put the fork in the crates and tie the clothesline to the fork. Then pull the clothesline to safely topple the crates away from the fence.
Oddly, you will not be using the rope as part of a grappling hook, nor can you tie up the villains with it after you defeat them.
a set of house keys. They're inside the hole in the seat cushion of the armchair in your living room.
Although the keys have an cutting edge, they're not really sharp enough to cut anything.
Lock your front door with the keys after you leave the house. This is not optional; you can't go east or west from the front door until it's locked.
a copy of the Pier Review. Lexicon may find this magazine if you stay at the pier long enough.
While Lexicon carries the magazine, he will periodically talk about the article he's reading which is usually a vague hint about one of the game's puzzles.
If you need Lexicon's help for the password and he's carrying the magazine, take it away from him and ask again.
The only other time you can take the magazine is when everyone's tied up inside the mill.
You can make no direct use of the magazine yourself. Let Lexicon carry it when you don't need his super-dictionary abilities.
a dishtowel. Pastiche is carrying it.
Pastiche will drop the dishtowel inside the mill when you're all captured. You have no need for the dishtowel. Ignore it.
a pole. It's on the wrong side of the tracks.
With the pole, you (and the rest of your team) can vault over the tracks. The pole will be left behind.
a pellet. The Clapper picks this tiny grey marble inside the mill just after Lexicon unties everyone.
Ask Clapper about the pellet, then ask Clapper for the pellet. The pellet is a combination smoke and fire bomb that Sturm accidentally dropped.
When on the mill's roof, unfold the bedsheet then throw the pellet at the ground. The resulting pyrotechnics will create enough hot air to fill your bedsheet like a hot air balloon, floating you over the skylight to the villains' side of the roof.
Note that dropping the pellet isn't good enough. You must throw it.
Honorable mention:
a fish. Briefly acquire it by trying to catch fish at the pier.
The fish immediately leaps out of your grasp, so you don't hold it long enough to examine it (or do anything else with it).
Score
The only response to SCORE is:
Your mission has not yet succeeded. Evil is still afoot.