In this odd game, you play as a magician-for-hire the day after a bad gig and a night in the rain. You find your top hat and flip its catch to release Rupert, your rabbit, who immediately attacks you like a demon and starts a reign of terror. You also find a Meta trick that lets you COMPARE things to other things to transform them.
This solution is by David Welbourn, and is based on Release 1.01 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.
When the trapdoor is open, you can see in the Cellar without any other light-source.
Walkthrough
Alley (lying in the dumpster)
> x me. i.(Carrying nothing.)
> x dumpster. out.
> x pipe. x rain. x mud.
> w.
Outside Magic Shop
> take envelope. x it. open it.
> x trick.(+1)
> read letter.
> look through window.
> x door. read inscription.
> w.
Outside Kid's Home
> take hat. x it.
> flip catch.(Rupert the Rabbit attacks you and hops away.)
> take hat. wear it.
> n.
Kid's Home
> take instructions. x it.(It's for mixed drinks.)
> w.
Broom closet
> take screw. x it.
> take mothballs. x it.
> x coats. x hooks. x shelf.
> e. s. e.
Outside Magic Shop
> knock on door.
The tall man takes you into the back room, bandages you, gives you a bean and orange juice.
Back Room
CAUTION: Don't eat the bean. You need it later.
> x bandages. x bean. x juice.
> x chair. x rug. look under rug.
> x hatch. open hatch.(It's locked.)
> w.
The guard escorts you out, but he screams moments after the door locks.
Outside Magic Shop
> e.
Alley
> compare pipe to bean.(It's now a bean stalk.)
> u.(+1)
Magic Shop Roof
> n.
Magic Shop
> x body. search body. x mess.
> take cards. x it.
> x trunk. open it. look in it. x wood.
> sw. s.
Downtown Lapinsburg
> w.
Entryway
> x carpet. x tracks. s.
Control Room
> x board. x left switch.(off)x right switch.(off)
> x left label.(interrogation)x right label.(hallway)
> x red lights. x green lights.
> turn on right switch.(The hallway is now lit.)
> n. w.
Hallway
> x door. s.(It's locked.)
> e. s.
Control Room
For some reason, you can only have either the hallway lit, or the interrogation room lit, but not both.
> turn off right switch.
> turn on left switch.
Rupert attacks you again (he was on a shelf), the window is broken, and you're bleeding again. CAUTION: If you didn't get patched up earlier, this second attack is fatal.
> x shelf. x window. w.
Interrogation Room
> x clear. take it. smell clear.(alcohol)
> mix clear with orange.(+1; screwdriver)
> x mime. get lamp.
> e. n. e. s.
Park North
> x trees. x path. se.
Park East
> x ascetic. a himself. a chapel. a me.
> n.
Chapel
The acolyte fixes you up, but sends you away when he learns a rabbit attacked you.
Park East
Yeah... we weren't done there.
> n.
Chapel
> x tapestries. x rug. x pews. x table.
> x plate. x berries. x coin. x acolyte. x silly hat.
> a bunnies. a tapestries. a plate. a berries.
> a acolyte. a ascetic.
> s. e.
Tent Community
> x tents. x transient.
> a tent. a berries. a chapel.
> compare me to transient.(You now look like him.)
By the way, when you transform to someone else, your old inventory disappears. Your stuff will return when you transform back.
> x me.
> w. n.
Chapel
The acolyte gives the berries to you when you enter as a transient.
> x berries. taste berries.
> s. nw. n. e.
Pet Shop
> x wheel. x hamster. x table.
> show berries to hamster. put berries on table.
The hamster starts running madly.
> x hamster.(The straw has not yet caught fire.)
> meta me.(You and your stuff are back.)
> x rabbits.
> w. nw.
Army Surplus Store
> x grenade. x pin. x pedestal. x Ock. x bat.
> ask Ock about grenade.(Destroy the pet shop and she'll lower the price.)
> se. e.
Pet Shop
> x wheel. x cylinder. x bolt.
> turn bolt. compare bolt to screw.
> turn brass screw.(Need a tool.)
> compare screwdriver to screw.(It's now a Philips screwdriver.)
It's quite difficult to guess the verb here. Surely SCREW or TURN should have been acceptable?
> tighten wheel.(The room is on fire!)
> open hamster cage.(+1)
> w. nw.
Army Surplus Store
> a pet shop.(Ock reduces the grenade price to one gold coin.)
> se.
Downtown Lapinsburg
You can light things with the burning rubble. Cards will burn for four turns before burning up.
Are you suspicious about that trunk in the magic shop and if something can be seen inside it only when you're inside it and it's closed? No? Well, you should be.
I'm assuming you left the magic shop door open, and you also left the trunk open.
> light two of clubs with rubble.
> n. ne. enter trunk.
Magic Shop
> light three of clubs with two of clubs.
> close trunk. look. flip catch.(+1)
Cellar
> light four of clubs with three of clubs.
> u. d.(To get the trapdoor open and external light in here.)
> take coin. x coin. x mattress.
Head back to the chapel:
> u. w. sw. s. s. se. n.
Chapel
> put tin coin in plate.(The acolyte fetches the priest.)
> x priest. talk to priest.
> a bunnies. a priest. a acolyte. a ascetic.
> a hat. a mothballs.(Rabbits are allergic to them!)
> compare me to priest. s.
Park East
The ascetic now follows you, thinking you're another priest.
> e.
Rabbits are destroying the tents! You flee back to Park East.
> nw.
Park North
The wind rips the funny priest hat from your head. No big loss.
> n. nw.
Army Surplus Store
Rupert attacks a third time, but Auntie Ock bats him away.
> meta me.(You're yourself again.)
> compare Ock to ascetic.(She becomes an ascetic!)
> x Ock. ask Ock about grenade.
> take grenade.(+1)
> se. s. se.
Park East
Rupert enters the chapel.
> n.
Chapel
The priest and acolyte tend to Rupert's injuries. You are pushed out. You are no longer welcome in the chapel.
Park East
Hiding, you see Rupert leave the chapel, head east, and then dozens of rabbits follow him down a new path, west.
> e.
Tent Community
> x body. x tents. w. w.
Park Center
> x trees. x hole. x eyes.
> put mothballs on grenade.(+1)
> pull pin. z. z. put grenade in hole.(+1)
*** Congratulations, you have survived the scourge. ***
Extras
Characters
People:
Some horrid children and a mother witness your poorly-received magic act during the prologue.
A guard, also refered to as the tall man, yells "we're closed!" if you knock on the magic shop's door — unless you're bleeding, in which case he lets you in and helps you.
Auntie Ock runs the army surplus store. She wields a baseball bat.
An ascetic, who has given away everything but the robe he wears, sits on the ground outside the chapel.
An acolyte of the chapel will try to answer all your questions..
A priest of the chapel will appear to talk to you if you make an appropriate donation to the collection plate.
A transient sits in his tent in the tent community. He looks painfully thin.
A mime's body is found in the interrogation room.
Animals:
Rupert the Rabbit was your assistant in your magic act, but now he seems possessed and seems determined to kill everyone in town.
A hamster is listlessly running in his wheel in the pet shop. He needs motivation.
Three rabbits in the pet shop glare at you with pure hatred from their cage. They manage to escape from the shop before it collapses.
Dozens of rabbits destroy the tent community.
Mentioned:
Bob Hopeless is the author of the letter to the magic shop.
Read it. You can now COMPARE something to something-else that's similar, transforming the first item to be more like the second. Afterwards, you can META the transformed thing back the way it was and vice-versa.
COMPARE the bolt to the jewelry screw for a brass screw.
COMPARE the drain pipe to the bean for a beanstalk.
COMPARE yourself to the transient to become a transient.
COMPARE yourself to the priest to become a priest.
COMPARE Auntie Ock to the ascetic for an ascetic Auntie Ock.
Note: You can't do magic while bleeding; see bandages.
No other comparisons appear to work other than the ones necessary to win the game. It's a rather unintuitive mechanic. Comparing one card to another card ought to transform the first to look like the second, but that doesn't work at all. Likewise when comparing the top hat to the funny hat, or the tin coin to the silver coin, or yourself to the acolyte. You can't even do reversed comparisons, like comparing the transient to yourself.
You can refer to all 52 individual cards; for example: two of clubs. There are no jokers.
After the pet shop burns down, there's burning rubble downtown. Light one of the cards with the rubble as a light-source for seeing inside the closed trunk in the magic shop. However, a card only burns for four turns. To get a burning card that far, you'll have to light a second card with the first on the way, and a third with the second.
Inside the closed chest, while holding a burning card, you can now see a catch. Flip it to fall into the cellar.
a bottle of clear liquid. It's in the interrogation room.
Smell it: it's alcohol. Specifically, vodka, but the game doesn't let you call it that.
In the pet shop, after transforming the hamster wheel's bolt into a brass screw, TIGHTEN the brass screw (with the Philips screwdriver). If the berries are also on the table, the hamster's efforts will now start a fire and burn the pet shop to the ground!
a tin coin It's in the cellar of the magic shop.
In the chapel, put the tin coin on the plate. The acolyte fetches the priest. You can now ask the priest about several topics, or compare yourself to the priest.
a funny priest hat. You're wearing it when you compare yourself to the priest in the chapel; see tin coin.
It blows off at Park North, but just take it and put it on again. Or ignore it. It doesn't matter.
a grenade. It's in the army surplus store.
In the chapel, compare yourself to the priest so you look like another priest. Now the ascetic follows you when he sees you. Go to the army surplus store, meta yourself, then compare Auntie Ock to the ascetic. Now she'll let you take the grenade for free.
Put the mothballs on the grenade. It is now the H. Lee hand grenade of Auntie Ock.
At Park Center, pull the pin, wait twice, and put the grenade in the hole. The rabbits are destroyed.
Yes, it really helps if you watched Monty Python and the Holy Grail and know all about the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch and that the count must be three.
Honorable mention:
your clothes. You're wearing them.
They're your magician's outfit: a black tuxedo and a white puffy shirt, but not as impressive after spending a night outside in the rain. Ignore them.
some bandages. The magic shop's bandages your wounds you when you knock on the magic shop's door while you're bleeding.
You can also get bandages from the acolyte if you go to the chapel while bleeding. However, he regrets helping you when he learns a "Holy Coney" attacked you.
Since Rupert attacks you twice, you will need to be patched up by both the guard and the acolyte. I don't think the order matters.
The bandages are best left where they are. Ignore them.
Score
The response to SCORE is:
In several moves, you have scored your-score out of a possible 8 points. This makes you ranking.
(To see a detailed accounting of your score, type FULL SCORE.)
Your score consists of:
1 point for learning Meta.
1 point for making your way to the roof of the magic shop.
1 point for making the delicious screwdriver.
Either:
1 point for saving the hamster from the fire.
−1 point for allowing the hamster to die.
1 point for getting into the magic shop cellar.
1 point for getting the grenade.
1 point for creating the H. Lee Hand Grenade of Auntie Ock.
1 point for killing Rupert and saving the town from the scourge.
the support of Robin Johnson, Ville Lavonius, Andrew Schultz, Kenneth Hon, Carl Muckenhoupt, Mark Musante, Phil Tatro, Mitch, Vivienne Dunstan, and Peter Berman;
the generous support of Janice M Eisen, Matthew Foxley, and Thomas Insel;
