In this short one-room game inspired by Eyezmaze's GROW games, you play as a homeowner with a new X-Maton machine. It has six buttons to help you prepare your house for Christmas, but what order should you press them in before your family returns home?
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.
The serving robot won't appear at all unless Chef has completely cooked the meal. Since Chef needs all the time you can give it, "roast" has to be the first button and "plate" has to be the last.
Spider needs four turns to do all the decorating, so "candle" is either second or third but if you summon Rosie after Spider, she'll rip down Spider's wall decorations. Therefore, "vacuum" is second and "candle" is third.
That leaves just "nativity" and "tree" for the fourth and fifth slots. And it turns out, it doesn't matter which is which for these two:
Joseph needs two turns to build the Nativity Scene and his only conflict is with Rosie. If Joseph is summoned before Rosie is, he'll trip on a book and put himself out of commission. But we already have Rosie at second, so it doesn't matter if Joseph is fourth or fifth.
The tree stand robot only needs one turn to do its job, and it just has to be summoned no later than two turns after Spider is summoned. With Spider at third, the tree stand has to be fifth or earlier.
Also note:
The buttons can only be pushed once each.
Only button-pushing advances the game time. Looking around, examining the robots, reading the manual, and even waiting are all free actions that don't advance the plot in any way.
Extras
Characters
A Cleaning Robot modeled after Rosie from The Jetsons cartoon starts cleaning everything when you push the vacuum button.
A Joseph Robot starts constructing the nativity scene when you push the nativity button.
A Chef Robot is a large French robot who starts cooking a big meal in your kitchen when you push the roast button.
A Spider Robot starts decorating your house when you push the candle button.
A Serving Robot will bring the completed meal from the kitchen to the table when you push the plate button.
Note that if the meal isn't finished, pushing the plate button does nothing.
A Tree Stand Robot picks up your tree and erects it when you push the tree button.
Your family arrives after you've pushed all six buttons on the X-maton. Your wife is mentioned while the Spider Robot starts decorating.
Endings
Aww, just try again, wontcha?
if you fail to complete all your preparation by the time your family arrives.
You managed to get everything done! Happy Holidays!
if you succeed to complete all your preparations by the time your family arrives.
Inventory
an User Manual. You're carrying it.
You can read it and look up the buttons on the X-maton in it, but that's totally optional.
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