Key & Compass presents:
The Time Machine
by Brian Howarth

• Maps
  • Map 1: Moors Maze and Dr Potter's House
  • Map 2: Mary Celeste
  • Map 3: Ancient Egypt
  • Map 4: Prehistoric Era
  • Map 5: Future Era
  • Map 6: By Police Box
• Walkthrough
• Extras
  • Characters, Credits, Endings, Inventory
• Thank You to my Patreon supporters
• Support me on Ko-Fi
• External links:
  • This game at IFDB, and IFWiki.
  • Tweet about this walkthrough on Twitter.

Maps

Map 1: Moors Maze and Dr Potter's House

Map 2: Mary Celeste

Map 3: Ancient Egypt

Map 4: Prehistoric Era

Map 5: Future Era

• All cardinal directions from Grassy Plain don't go anywhere; you stay in Grassy Plain.

Map 6: By Police Box

Walkthrough

> C (Show credits)

> I (Info about playing)

> S (Start the game)

Moors (three locations)

> n. w. s.

House to the North

> n.

Doorway

> get gloves. ring bell. w.

Window

> open window. (won't budge)

> wear gloves. break window. (new: Broken Glass)

> enter window —or— go window.

Study

> exam painting. (new: Key)

> get key. open drawer.

> exam drawer. (new: Pistol, Crowbar)

> get pistol. get crowbar.

> e.

Hallway

> open door.

> enter door —or— go door.

Cellar

> get flashlight.

> exam cassette.

> play cassette. ("Find the 3 Prisms that control my Machine. Rescue me!")

> enter machine —or— go machine.

In Machine

I suggest dropping items here for easy retrieval later. Keep the crowbar for now.

> remove gloves. drop gloves. drop key.

> drop flashlight. drop pistol.

> exam buttons. ("FOR" and "REV")

> push rev. leave machine.

Because the time machine is broken, every time you travel, you end up in one of five random settings. You want to see "I'm on a sailing Brig" which means you're on the Marie Celeste; see map 2. There's lots of items to grab there that you need in the other time periods.

If you're not at Brig, return to the machine and try again:

• > go portal. push rev. leave machine.

You may have to do this sequence several times until you get to where and when you want to be.

Brig

> n.

Foremast

> get rope. get sail. s. s.

By Rigging

Even though there's no "rigging" object to examine:

> climb rigging.

On Rigging

> get pouch. exam pouch. (A prism falls out.)

> drop pouch. get prism.

> d. n. go portal.

In Machine

> drop rope. drop sail.

> insert prism. (A socket disappears.)

> leave machine. e.

By Deckhouse

It's not obvious that you need the crowbar to open this door.

> open door. go door.

In Deckhouse

> s.

Captain's Cabin

> get needle.

> exam log. ("MA.Y .EL.STE .OV 18.1")

> n. w.

Ship's Pantry

> get beef. get biscuits.

> e. e.

Cabin

It's not obvious that you need the crowbar to open the chest.

> open chest. (Find a hammer.)

> get hammer.

> w. u. w. go portal.

In Machine

Drop everything but the beef, and take the flashlight. You now want to visit a sphinx in ancient Egypt.

> drop needle. drop biscuits.

> drop hammer. drop crowbar.

> get flashlight.

> push rev. leave machine.

Again, if the machine didn't take you to the sphinx, re-enter the machine and try try again until you succeed.

• > go portal. push rev. leave machine.

By Ancient Sphinx

> get shovel.

> exam stone. push stone. (new: Dark Opening)

> go portal.

In Machine

> drop shovel. leave machine.

By Ancient Sphinx

> light flashlight.

> go opening.

Passage

> get rock.

> n.

Stone Wall

A dead end?

> s. s.

Weapon Room

> get spear. pull lever. (You hear a grinding noise.)

> jam lever. (using the rock)

> n. n.

Stone Wall

Because you jammed the lever, a secret door here is open.

> go door.

Temple

> exam statue. climb statue.

Top of Statue

> get prism. (You hear snarling below.)

> d.

Temple

> exam dog. feed dog. (Dog is now eating the beef.)

> go opening.

Tunnel

> s.

By Ancient Sphinx

By the way, south from here is just empty desert.

> go portal.

In Machine

> unlight flashlight.

> drop flashlight. drop spear.

> insert prism. (A socket disappears.)

You're now heading for a prehistoric era that begins with a swamp. You need the biscuits, rope, sail, needle, and shovel.

> get biscuits. get rope. get sail.

> get needle. get shovel.

> push rev. leave machine.

If you're not in the swamp, re-enter the machine and try try again until you succeed.

• > go portal. push rev. leave machine.

Swamp (three locations)

> n. n. e.

By Lake

> exam bronto. feed bronto. (using the biscuits)

> go causeway.

Causeway

> exam boat. fix boat. (using needle, sail, rope)

> go boat.

Island

> dig. (Using the shovel, you find a prism.)

> get prism.

> go boat. w. w. s. s. go portal.

In Machine

> insert prism. (Last socket disappears.)

In theory, the time machine is now fixed and more predicable.

> drop shovel. take crowbar. take hammer.

> push for. (now in ancient Egypt)

> push for. (now on Marie Celeste)

> push for. (now in present day)

> push for. (now in future)

> leave machine.

Grassy Plain

I couldn't guess the verb here; neither of these commands are standard:

> lever plate —or— crowbar plate. (shaft opened)

> go shaft.

Corridor

> exam robot. w.

Generator Room

> break generator. (using the hammer)

> e.

Corridor

The robot guard is now defunct.

> go archway.

Potter's Room

> exam Potter. get Potter.

BRILLIANT! You rescued the Doctor! CONGRATULATIONS HERO!
This adventure is over. Do you want to try this adventure again?

Extras

Characters

• A Savage Dog enters the temple when you take the prism from the top of the statue.
• A Brontosaurus blocks your way to the causeway by the prehistoric lake.
• A Robot Guard in a corridor blocks your way to the doctor.
• Doctor Potter, who created the time machine, is doing nothing in an otherwise empty room in the future. Take this human mcguffin to win the game.

Credits

The credits may be read by typing C from the opening menu:

Credits

'ADVENTURE 2' was translated to Inform by Scott2Zip, version 1.00, and subsequently compiled with Inform v1502.

The original version was probably written by either Scott Adams or Brian Howarth, in the the "Scott Adams format". If written by Scott Adams, it is still under copyright and this translated version can only be used by the legal owner of the original adventure; it must not be given away or distributed on the Net.

For help to understand the TRS-80 format, thanks to Paul David Doherty, who wrote the decompiler ScottDec, and to Alan Cox, who wrote the game driver ScottFree.

Thanks to Graham Nelson, for creating Inform, and for documenting the Z-machine.

Thanks to Graham Nelson and Gareth Rees, for suggesting how word-wrapping in the upper window could be done.

Endings

• AARRGGHH!! I'm drowned in Quicksand!
• if you spend three turns in the quagmire.
• O.K. AARRGGHH!! I cut myself and bled to death!
• if you try to break the window when not wearing the gloves.
• BRILLIANT! You rescued the Doctor! CONGRATULATIONS HERO!
• when you get Doctor Potter.

Also:

• If you enter the sphinx without the flashlight, you're stuck because it's too dangerous to move in the dark. The game is now unwinnable.
• If you eat the biscuits, the game is unwinnable because you can no longer feed the brontosaurus.
• The dog, brontosaurus, and robot guard only block your way. They never kill you.

Inventory

You have a carrying limit of six items, including the gloves when wearing them.

• Gloves. It's at the Doorway.
• At the Window, wear the gloves then break the window. Now you can enter the window.
• Broken Glass. It's by the Window after you break it.
• You don't need any broken glass except maybe for maze mapping.
• Key. Find it in the Study by examining the painting; it falls out.
• It unlocks the drawer that's also in the Study.
• It also unlocks the door in the Hallway east of the Study.
• Pistol. It's in the locked drawer in the Study. You need the key to open the drawer.
• In the Temple, you can shoot the dog (with the pistol), but see salt beef for another way of dealing with the dog.
• Note that the pistol has no effect on the brontosaurus.
• Crowbar. It's in the locked drawer in the Study. You need the key to open the drawer.
• When by the Deckhouse, you need the crowbar to open the door.
• When in the Cabin, you need the crowbar to open the chest and find the hammer.
• In the Grassy Plains, LEVER PLATE or CROWBAR PLATE to open the plate and reveal a shaft downwards.
• Flashlight. It's in the Cellar.
• In ancient Egypt, LIGHT FLASHLIGHT to turn it on so you can see in the dark areas inside the sphinx.
• When you're done with the sphinx, you can UNLIGHT FLASHLIGHT to turn it off.
• Salt Beef. It's in the Ship's Pantry.
• In the Temple, feed the dog (with the beef) to distract the dog. Now you can enter the opening.
• Note that you cannot feed beef to the brontosaurus; it's a vegetarian.
• Sea Biscuits. They're in the Ship's Pantry.
• At the prehistoric Lake, feed the bronto (with the biscuits). The bronto leaves, and you can now enter the causeway unopposed.
• Needle & Thread. It's in the Captain's Cabin.
• On the Causeway, you can FIX BOAT if you have the needle, sail, and rope.
• Ship's Log. It's in the Captain's Cabin.
• Read it to learn which ship you're on and approximately when. You don't need the log.
• Hammer. It's in the chest in the Cabin.
• You need the hammer to break the generator in the Generator Room.
• Rope. It's at the Foremast.
• On the Causeway, you can FIX BOAT if you have the needle, sail, and rope.
• Torn Sail. It's at the Foremast.
• On the Causeway, you can FIX BOAT if you have the needle, sail, and rope.
• Shovel. It's by the Ancient Sphinx.
• On the prehistoric Island, DIG while holding the shovel. You unearth a glass prism.
• Rock. It's in the Passage when you enter the sphinx.
• In the Weapon Room, first pull the lever, then jam the lever (using the rock). This will keep the door open at the Stone Wall.
• Spear. It's in the Weapon Room.
• If you have the spear, you can kill the dog.
• The game doesn't understand "fling spear" or "throw spear" or "stab dog".
• Pouch. It's up on the rigging.
• Examine the pouch: a glass prism falls out. You don't need the pouch itself.
• three Glass Prisms.
• One prism is in the pouch on the ship's Rigging. Examine the pouch to make its prism fall out.
• One prism is on top of the Statue in the Temple.
• One prism is buried on the prehistoric Island; see shovel.
• In the Time Machine, insert all three prisms (into the three sockets). When all three prisms have been placed, the Machine can take you to the future Grassy Plain.

Thank You to my Patreon supporters

This walkthrough was funded via Patreon with

• the support of Robin Johnson, Ville Lavonius, Andrew Schultz, Kenneth Hon, Carl Muckenhoupt, Mark Musante, Phil Tatro, Mitch, and Peter Berman;
• the generous support of Janice M Eisen, Matthew Foxley, Thomas Insel, and Marius Müller;
• the very generous support of Karl Ove Hufthammer, Lance Campbell, and DrkStarr;
• the extremely generous support of Emily Short, Allen Garvin, Jesse McGrew, Jacqueline Ashwell, Jennifer Rexrode, and Durafen;
• and the invisible support of several anonymous patrons.

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