Castle Ralf is a MS-DOS interactive fiction game written with (to be determined) and is © 1987-1992 Douglas Associates, Inc. It was written by Doug Clutter and Steve Vance. Castle Ralf (tm) was distributed as Shareware.
In this puzzle-filled escape game, you play as someone who was trying to drive to Hat City, but you got lost, then lost a tire, then got trapped inside Castle Ralf when the drawbridge collapsed into splinters behind you. The noted inventor, Bellefleur Q. Izgotcha III, isn't home, but watch out for the chihuahua and the alligators.
This solution is by David Welbourn, and is based on Release 4-2 of the game. I played this game in 2024 using DosBox.
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.
⬜ = unlocked door.
⬛ = locked door (or equivalent) that you can eventually open.
🟥 = locked door that you can never open.
♨️ = radiator location.
Some opening notes before we begin:
Got all that? Let's begin!
There's something about an "Escape Castle Ralf" contest, but it expired in December 1993. Don't worry about it.
>> N
At the Drawbridge (AtDra)
> cogitate. (like THINK in other games)
> examine woods. examine moat. smell it.
> examine drawbridge.
> n.
Outside Castle (at portcullis)
> examine portcullis.
> examine door. open it. (locked)
> examine lever. (push to lower the drawbridge; pull to raise)
> e.
Outside Castle (at portal)
> examine portal. open portal. (nope)
> w.
Outside Castle (at portcullis)
> pull lever.
Both drawbridge and portcullis go up. The portcullis locks in place, but the drawbridge falls and splitters into bits. Congratulations. You're now trapped and need to escape the castle.
> n.
Entryway
> take note. examine note.
> open door. n.
Great Hall (GHall)
You don't need the boots.
> drop note. examine boots. examine machine.
> examine bridge. examine balconies.
> e.
Armor Check South (ACSou)
You don't need the tags. The opener isn't portable.
> examine opener. (like a can opener)
> examine radiator. (cold)
> examine red tag. examine purple tag.
> examine maize tag. (groan)
> n.
Armor Check North
You don't need the lance or gauntlet.
> examine lance. examine gauntlet.
> examine plunger. take it.
> w. n.
Empty Room
I first thought this was an elevator, but it's not.
> push button. (no: already pushed)
> pull button.
Short Corridor
Be brave. Don't let the descriptions of churning water and a thrashing green thing scare you. Get back in there, champ.
> n.
Hot Tub Room (was Empty Room)
> take green thing. (+10)
> s. s.
Great Hall
The celery will be useful much later in the game. The Great Hall will be our main cache location.
> examine celery. drop celery.
> w.
Service Area (SArea)
> examine counter. (cupboard found)
> open cupboard. take knife. examine it.
> examine archway. examine block.
CAUTION: Taking the block is fatal.
> w.
1st Floor Landing
This is the main stairwell, but explore the rest of this floor first.
> e. n.
Kitchen
The pizza is too big to take, and too burnt to cut or eat.
> examine oven. examine pizza. ("HAPPY BIRTHDAY!")
> n. w.
Pantry
> examine shelves. examine goods.
> examine peas. examine beans. examine soup.
> examine applesauce. examine corn. examine tomatoes.
Nothing stands out as noteworthy, but you need the peas and beans.
> take peas. take beans.
> e. s. s. e. e.
Armor Check South
The armor opener opens cans too.
> open peas. open beans. w.
Great Hall
> drop peas. drop beans.
> w. n. n. e.
Laundry
You don't need the towels.
> examine dryer. examine towels.
> examine washer. open washer. (empty)
> e.
Linen Closet
You don't need anything from here either.
> examine shelves.
> examine washcloth. examine sheet.
> w. w. n. w.
Cheese Room
> examine sign. ("LEAVE THE CHEESE ALONE!")
> examine cheese.
If you cut the cheese (with your knife), the resulting stench pushes you out of the room. The odor dissipates over several turns before vanishing and restoring the room's status quo.
> e. n.
Electrical Room
CAUTION: Touching the fuses in any way while standing in water is fatal!
> examine wiring. examine fusebox.
> examine red fuse. (unscrewed a little)
> examine black fuse. (unscrewed a little)
> examine green fuse. (unscrewd a little)
> examine water. (just water)
> w.
Broom Closet
The stepladder is very bulky. Come back for it later.
> examine stepladder. (tied to wall with twine)
> cut twine. drop knife.
> examine broom. take it.
> e.
Electrical Room
> use broom. (fail)
> e.
Drain Room
> examine drain. use plunger. drop it.
> w.
Electrical Room
> use broom. drop it.
There's no way to learn what the fuses do except by seeing what changed in the entire castle, so I'm just going to tell you what they do.
> turn green fuse. (This turns on the basement lights.)
> turn red fuse. (This turns on all the EXIT signs in the castle.)
> turn black fuse. (This turns on a desk fan and a security alarm system on the 2nd floor.)
> e. s.
Privy
> examine fixture. s.
Sauna
You can only spend two turns in the sauna before you're forced by the heat to leave.
> examine showerhead. use it.
Privy
> s.
Sauna
> examine bench. examine rocks.
Privy
> n. e.
Game Room
Don't take the token just yet. I want your hands free for the stepladder soon.
And definitely don't waste using it on the video game; you need tokens for the vending machine in the Great Hall.
> examine token.
> examine chest. (empty)
> examine video game. ("Chiwarwars!")
> use video game. (You need to use a token.)
> s.
Library
Remember that the brown book was about 3 inventors. Associate 3 with brown.
> examine books.
> examine blue book. open it.
> examine red book. open it.
> examine brown book. open it.
> examine grey book. open it.
> examine green book. open it.
> n. e.
Sitting Room
This is a very strange room. You automatically sit in one of four seats: the leather easy chair, the wooden rocker, the plaid couch, or the brown recliner. After two or three turns on a seat, you change seats.
Note that you can only examine the seat you're in and only its components.
You can force which seat you want with the USE command. I'll use this to make this room a bit less random. However, the game may still opt to move you to another seat; if that happens, USE your chosen seat again to get back there.
> examine chairs.
> use couch. examine couch.
> use recliner. examine recliner. examine button.
> use recliner. examine lever. pull lever.
> use rocker. examine rocker. examine cushion.
> use chair. examine chair. examine cushions.
> s.
Chapel
You don't need the drawstrings, and what an odd thing to leave lying about.
> examine pews. examine altar.
> examine drawstrings.
> n. e.
Elevator Lobby (1st floor)
The elevator is stuck on the 2nd floor; you can't use it now.
> examine iron door. open it. (locked)
> cogitate. (You remember a great aunt hiding keys behind canned goods.)
Take the stepladder to the pantry:
> w. w. w. w. w.
Broom Closet
> take stepladder. e. s. s. w.
Pantry
> drop stepladder. climb it. (A key falls.)
> take key. examine it.
> e. n. n. e. e. e. e.
Elevator Lobby (1st floor)
> unlock iron door. (with iron key)
CAUTION: The key is still in the lock.
> open iron door. take key.
> s. (The door auto-shuts and locks behind you.)
Patio
> examine east wall. s. s.
Flower Garden (south end)
> examine plants.
> examine fountain. examine pen.
> examine water. (inky)
So... it's a fountain pen joke?
> s. s.
Stables
CAUTION: DON'T light the hay! If you do, the stables burn down and the location can no longer be entered, which blocks you from leaving the courtyard region this way.
> examine stalls. examine hay.
> examine portal. move bar. open portal.
> n. w.
Blacksmith Shop
Both the key and torch are bulky. You can't carry both.
> examine torch. (closed)
> drop key. take torch. (+25)
> n.
Dog Pens
CAUTION: The chihuahua is extremely dangerous. Don't open his pen! Don't wake him!
> examine pens. (sleeping Chihuahua)
> examine chihuahua.
> n.
Flower Garden (west end)
You can climb the rope up to the roof and back down again, but you don't need to. There's nothing interesting there.
> examine roses. smell roses. examine vines.
> examine rope. examine hedge. examine plaque.
The hedge is your clue to associate 2 with green.
> e. s. s. s. s. w. n. n.
Great Hall
> drop torch.
Stairs next.
> w. w. n.
2nd Floor Landing
While this door can be cut open with the torch, I don't recommend it because you need the torch to get through a metal wall much much later in the game, and you don't always have enough gas available for both tasks.
> examine door. ("Made in USA")
> open door. (locked)
> n.
3rd Floor Landing
> examine door. ("Authorized Inventors Only")
> examine levers. (black, brown, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet, grey, white, silver, and gold)
You've seen two mentions of "inventors" already: the brown book in the library and the hedge in the flower garden. Brown is third, and green is second, but you've yet to see what's first.
> n. n. n. n.
Lookout Tower
Nothing obvious to do here. And there's no binoculars in the game either. The northeast tower, as seen from here, houses the castle's elevator.
Try exploring the basement next.
> s. s. s. s. s. s. s.
Basement Landing
> e. e.
Alligator Pens
You're not ready for the alligators yet, but you need to know they're here.
> examine alligators. examine cave.
> examine mosses. examine muck. examine bars.
> examine door. examine pool.
> w. n. n. w.
North End of Wine Cellar
> examine racks. s.
South End of Wine Cellar
You can't examine the bottles properly when they're in the rack.
> examine racks. (pink and purple bottles)
> take pink bottle. examine it. ("Peptic Bismarche")
> open it. drink pink liquid. (optional)
> drop pink bottle. (It shatters.)
> look. examine pink glass.
> take purple bottle. examine it. (empty, "ACME Grape Soda...The FIRST choice of inventors for centuries.")
Therefore, purple is first. (Except, there isn't a purple lever, so really, violet is first.)
💜 💜 💜
Do you need a moment? I know, I know. Purple isn't the same as violet. I understand. It's okay. There, there.
💜 💜 💜
> drop bottle. (This one doesn't break.)
> n. e. n. n.
Basement Room (northwesternmost corner)
That's odd. The EXIT sign is pointing at the west wall.
> examine west wall. (default message)
There is an exit there, but it's very well hidden. You need more help to find it.
> e. s. e. n.
Basement Room (at crate)
> examine crate. examine door. open it.
A hamster pops out, performs a little, then sulks back inside his crate... because of your response? You weren't given a turn to do anything!
Most animals in text adventures do respond to food, so you might be able to guess that if you're carrying the right food, the hamster will respond differently. I'll tell you in advance that this hamster likes green foods, because nothing I've seen in the game tells you this.
> s. e.
Basement Room (at button)
CAUTION: The room to the east, "Dead End", is a death trap. If you stay in there to do anything at all except go back west, you die. If you must see what's in there (mossy skeleton, bloody sign, dead herring), SAVE first.
CAUTION: I have no idea what this button does. I'm inclined to believe it's dead as advertised, meaning it doesn't work or actually do anything.
> examine button. ("Dead Button")
> n.
Elevator Lobby (basement)
Not much you can do here yet.
> s. s.
Dungeon
> examine ghost. examine chains.
> examine skeleton. take it. (The ghost stops you.)
> look. (Note how the ghost is looking north.)
> examine north wall. (find braided cord)
> pull cord.
The manacles open. The skeleton crumbles to dust. The ghost thanks you silently, then leaves.
> look. (chains and skeleton dust)
> n. w. s. w. s.
Basement Room (at big box)
> examine big box. (slot with small box)
> examine small box. ("ACME Elevator Music")
CAUTION: Don't take or pull the small box! The small box is essentially a cassette tape, and if you pull it out, the tape becomes a tangled mess.
> push small box. (music starts playing)
> e.
Basement Room (at glass door)
The glass door to the east can never be opened, but it's showing movies about the kids who live here. You don't need any of this backstory, but it's quite bizarre and interesting to see just how obsessed with hats these children are.
> e. (glass door in way)
> examine door.
> examine door.
> examine door.
> examine door.
> examine door.
> examine door.
> examine door.
> examine door.
> s. e. e.
Cobweb Room
> examine plaques. examine machine.
> examine phial. (quarter full of goop)
> examine dial. ("THICKNESS"; set to Medium)
> examine chute. examine crank.
Don't touch that dial! The other two settings are Heavy and Light, but you want Medium.
> turn crank. (grey package ejected)
> take package. examine it.
> examine phial. (empty)
Be very careful not to drop the package anywhere except in the Great Hall. There's no way to know you want to deploy a medium web there except by trial and error.
> n.
Pump Room
> examine pipes. examine tanks. examine pumps.
> n.
Boiler Room
Don't try to turn on the boiler just yet.
> examine boiler. (cold)
> examine gas line. (closed)
Head back to the northwest corner of the basement.
> s. s. w. w. n. w.
> n. e. n. w. n. w.
Basement Room (northwest corner)
Every now and then, the ghost you freed will wander here and point out a hidden panel on the west wall. You can only interact with the panel when the ghost is actively pointing it out.
When the ghost wanders off, you forget where the panel is. Wait for him to return, if necessary.
> z. (Repeat waiting until the ghost points out the hidden panel.)
> push panel. (The ghost leaves the castle forever.)
> w.
Gate Room
This is the true exit from the castle, but you need a gold key to unlock this gate. Getting that gold key will be... difficult.
> examine gate. (golden)
> open gate. (locked)
Head back to the Great Hall:
> e. s. s. s. s. w. n. e. e.
Great Hall
> drop package. (cobweb on the west wall)
> examine cobweb. (sturdy, grey, to west balcony)
> climb cobweb.
West 2nd Floor Balcony
> examine doors. (locked from inside)
> strike doors. (no)
> examine adjoining room.
Yes, there's a lot going on in there. The desk fan is on because you screwed in the black fuse earlier. Also, that circular device near the conveyer is a magnet. We'll go over this "adjoining room" in more depth later.
Return to the alligator pens:
> climb cobweb. w. w. s. e. e.
Alligator Pens
Surprise! When the music is playing, it's amplified here to make the alligators sleep. The door is unlocked, but is on a strong spring so it immediately closes when you walk through.
> open door. e. e.
Domed Cave
> examine north wall. (family in tuxedos and ball caps)
> examine cutlass. take it. (+30)
> w. w. w. w. n. n. n.
3rd Floor Landing
Items in the castle that specifially refer to both numbers and inventors are the key to opening this door. Violet is first, because of the purple bottle in the wine cellar. Green is second, because of the 2-shaped hedge. Brown is third, because of what the brown book in the library says.
> pull violet lever.
> pull green lever.
> pull brown lever. (The door opens.)
> e. e.
South Gallery Hall
> examine window. e. e.
Cyclotron Room
Remember, the note you found in the entryway already told you the cyclotron was broken. Nothing here can help you.
> examine cyclotron. examine particles.
> w. n. e.
Electronics Room
> examine cabinet. open it. (locked)
> examine resistor. (violet, green, and brown stripes)
> examine certificate.
> examine opening. (You could squeeze through it, if you could reach it.)
> w. n. e.
Carnival Room
> take control. examine it. examine mural.
> examine slide. climb slide. (no)
> use remote control. (no effect here)
> examine sawdust.
> cogitate. (There might be stairs.)
If you keep going west, you find the steps you entered in, but they flatten as you get to the top. You need to instead keep going south to exit via that opening you saw in the Electronics Room.
> s. (repeat until you're out)
Electronics Room
Cross the rope bridge while the bridge is still there.
> w. w. w. w. w.
Trap Door Room
This is another complicated room. Just look at stuff for now. Don't touch.
> examine button.
> examine black box. (skeet shooter)
> examine cage. (gold key inside)
> examine horn. (pointed at a southwestern hole)
> examine crossbow. (arrow pointed at ceiling)
> examine bag. (out of reach and over the horn)
> examine pail. (over horn, connected to cage with chain)
> w.
Trough Room
> examine trough. (The trough is currently lined up with the south holes.)
> pull lever. (Now the trough is lined up with the north holes.)
> push lever. (The trough moves to the south holes.)
> examine west wall. examine east wall.
The south holes are bevelled, implying that the north holes are unbevelled. A rolling ball can enter a bevelled hole with ease.
> w.
Rounded Room
> examine east wall. (Northeast hole is bevelled.)
> e. n.
Slanted Room
> examine floor. (slopes east)
> examine east wall. (mouse hole near base)
> n.
Another Room
> examine west wall. e.
Junk Room
> examine junk. e.
West Gallery Hall (north end)
The door here is a one-way exit onto the roof. Without the elevator working, the only way off the roof is to climb the rope down to the flower garden.
> examine door. ("Fire Escape")
> s.
West Gallery Hall (at bridge)
> cut bridge. (with cutlass)
> drop cutlass.
> s. e. e. n.
East Gallery Hall (at bridge)
You can now access the 2nd floor by climbing down this vertical bridge.
> climb bridge.
East 2nd Floor Balcony
I have no idea why "open curtain" and "pull curtain" fail here. You need to "move curtain".
> examine curtain. move curtain. e.
Tiny Master Bedroom
You can never open the treasure vault, but honestly, knowing this family, there's nothing but hats in there.
> examine bones. examine bed.
> examine door. examine dial.
> s.
Hydrant Room
The game doesn't spell it out, but this hydrant is corroded and smells because of dog pee.
> examine hydrant. smell it.
> examine door. examine peephole.
> open door.
> s.
Long Dark Hallway (east end)
> w. w.
Long Dark Hallway (west end)
CAREFUL. If you go west from here, you go through the steel door, which is unlocked on this side.
> n.
Wardrobe (east end)
Feel free to examine or ignore all these clothing items if you like, but you probably remember them as stuff the kids were wearing in those movies you saw in the basement.
> open door. (locked)
> w.
Wardrobe (west end)
> examine sweaters.
> smell sweaters. (like burnt pizza)
> move sweaters. (find panel in north wall)
> examine panel.
> push panel. (You go through to...)
Training Room
> examine barbells. examine treadmill.
> examine bag. examine beam.
> cogitate. (A small animal could use this stuff.)
> examine south wall. (The panel is still there.)
> open door. (It has an auto-closing spring.)
> n.
Chicago Room
It's not obvious, but this room is sort of like an airlock. This will be relevant later.
> examine carved door. open it. (locked)
> examine hole. (near floor)
> examine radiator. (shot up)
> n.
Phoenix Room
> examine weeds. take weeds. (nope)
> examine hammock. use it.
> examine cactuses. examine floor.
> n.
Shaggy Guest Room
> examine furniture. examine hair.
> examine north wall.
> e.
Guest Kennel
> examine cages.
> w. n.
Boston Room
> examine crates. open crates. (nope)
> examine aquarium.
> examine crabs. (tea party)
> examine water. (tea)
> examine broken crate.
> n.
El Ayy Room
"El Ayy" means Los Angelos. The trembling floor just alludes to the earthquakes there.
> examine machine. use machine. (no)
> e.
Orlando Room
"Dizzy World" is a Disneyworld ref.
> examine pamphlet. e.
> s.
Topeka Room
The slipper is a Wizard of Oz ref.
> examine slipper.
> n. e.
Guest Gift Shoppe
IMPORTANT! Don't take anything from here. Not yet! You'll make the game unwinnable if you take anything here at this time! There's a security system in this room and you do not want to activate it yet.
> examine mirror. examine shampoo.
> examine toothpaste. examine syrup.
> examine aspirin. examine shoelaces.
> examine deodorant.
> e. e. e.
Inside Elevator (2nd floor)
> examine buttons.
> pull red button. (alarm stops)
You saw a brown button on the recliner in the sitting room.
> push 1. w. w.
Sitting Room
> use recliner. take button. (Taken.)
> push it. (It is pushable!)
> e. e.
Inside Elevator (1st floor)
Reminder to SAVE often.
> save
> push M. (You're dumped into...)
Room in Maze
Don't bother trying to map this maze. It's really just this one room, and its only prize is the copper token that's right here.
> take token. (+10)
> examine it.
> push brown button. (The elevator scoops you up.)
Inside Elevator (basement)
Go to the game room and get that other token.
> push 1. w. w. w.
Game Room
> take aluminum token. (+5)
Return to the Great Hall:
> w. w. s. s. s. s. e.
Great Hall
> drop button.
Buy the ball and pin from the vending machine.
> use aluminum token.
> pull left knob. examine ball.
> use copper token.
> pull middle knob. examine pin.
> climb cobweb.
West 2nd Floor Balcony
Use the remote control to turn the circular device (the magnet) in the adjoining room, on or off. When the device is on, it's "slightly vibrating".
The magnet controls the cup's position. It's initially UNDER the rail, but you want it ABOVE the rail.
The position of the cup matters because the gold key in the Trap Door Room is going to fall through a trap door into this room. When the cup is above the rail, the key falls into the cup, which is good. But otherwise, the key falls onto the floor, which is bad.
> examine adjoining room. (The cup is under the rail.)
> use control.
> examine adjoining room. (The cup is above the rail.)
> save
> drop control. (You'll need it here later.)
> climb cobweb.
Grand Hall
> take ball. (+20)
> w. w. n. n. e. n. w.
Trap Door Room
The sandy button controls the pail's position. The pail is currently directly above the arrow. Push the button to move it out of the arrow's path.
> push button. examine pail. (to verify position)
> w.
Trough Room
You want the trough aligned with the north holes.
> pull lever. examine trough. (to verify position)
> n.
Slanted Room
SAVE first. This is a critical timed sequence.
> save
> drop ball. s.
Trough Room
The ball only travels easily through beveled holes, which is why you must move the trough when the ball is traveling through it.
> z. (The ball arrives via the northeast hole.)
> push lever. (The trough moves to the southern holes. The ball goes through the southwest hole.)
> pull lever. (The trough moves to the northern holes.)
> z. z. (The ball arrives via the northwest hole.)
> push lever. (The trough moves to the southern holes. The ball goes through the southeast hole.)
> e.
Trap Door Room
The ball enters the French horn and there's an ominous click.
> z. (The horn shoots an arrow at the burlap bag and sand begins to pour out.)
> push button. (The pail moves back under the bag and gets the rest of the sand. It lowers and the cage is raised.)
> save.
> take key. (+25. Your weight on a floor board triggers a trap door to open. The key falls to the "adjoining room" on the second floor.)
Return to the balcony and double-check that the gold key indeed fell into the cup.
> e. s. w. s. s.
> e. e. climb cobweb.
West 2nd Floor Balcony
> examine adjoining room.
After verifying that the key is indeed in the cup, the next step is to use the remote control to move the key into the bucket.
> take control. use control.
> examine adjoining room.
You won't be able to see if the key is in the bucket. You just won't see the key anywhere now.
But now you need to use the control just one more time to prevent the magnet from catching the key when it falls out of the bucket.
> use control.
> examine adjoining room.
The circular device should be slightly vibrating again. You want the magnet to be on so it won't catch the gold key when it falls out of the bucket.
🧲 🧲 🧲
I know how crazy that sounds, but trust me. Presumably, the magnet attracts iron things when it's on, but when off, it attracts gold keys instead. That's my explanation for how the magnet works. If you have a better explanation, I'd love to hear it.
🧲 🧲 🧲
> save
> drop control. climb cobweb.
Great Hall
Did you notice the fishline attached to the bottle? It's secretly attached to the treadmill in the training room, but unfortunately, you can't use the treadmill yourself because your legs are too long. You need to lure the hamster from the basement all the way there to use the treadmill.
If the hamster uses the treadmill when the desk fan is on, the papers on the board are blown off, the weight of the fan pushes the other end of the board up, and the garage door opener is turned on. This tips the bucket. Assuming the magnet is on, the key falls from the bucket onto the conveyer.
🎣 🎣 🎣
How are you supposed to know that the fishline in the "adjoining room" is connected to the treadmill in the Training Room, you ask? Well... the line has to go to some adjacent room, yes? And the way the treadmill is bolted up close to the Training Room's east wall makes it suspicious.
🎣 🎣 🎣
To appease the hamster, you need the celery, the open can of peas, and the open can of beans.
> take peas. take beans. take celery.
Okay. Go to the crate in the basement, via the elevator.
> w. n. n. n. n.
> e. e. e. e. e.
> push B. w. s. w. n.
Basement Room (at crate)
Lead the hamster to the training room via the elevator, gift shoppe, and Chicago Room. You cannot bring him there via the 3rd floor because the hamster heeds the "Inventors Only" sign and the fire escape only goes out, not in.
Note that the black fuse needs to be screwed in for the fan to work, but since the black fuse also includes the security alarm, it's vital that you have not stolen anything from the gift shoppe, else you won't be able to lead the hamster through there.
Furthermore, since your route goes through the Chicago Room, it's vital that the boiler and radiators aren't on. The Chicago Room becomes a death trap when its radiator is hot, but more about that soon enough.
> open door. (Because the hamster sees you with celery, he follows you now.)
> s. e. n. e. push 2.
> w. w. w. w. w.
> s. s. s. s. s.
Training Room
The hamster uses the barbells. Your response?
> drop peas.
The hamster uses the beam. Your response?
> drop beans.
The hamster uses the treadmill. Your response?
> drop celery.
The hamster leaves. Head back to the balcony:
> push panel. e. s. w. s.
1st Floor Landing
> e. e. climb cobweb.
West 2nd Floor Balcony
> examine adjoining room.
Is the gold key on the conveyor now? Good! Save!
> save
The only way to get the conveyor working is by turning on the boiler and waiting many many turns until the 2nd floor radiators are hot.
The broken radiator in the Chicago room fills up with heat and steam, becoming a death trap if you dare enter there. Some of the steam goes through a hole into the Seattle Room, which fills up with fog.
The fog in the Seattle Room isn't harmful, but it stops you from seeing anything in there. But the fog also turns on a dehumidifer which is connected to the other end of the conveyor.
In short, when the dehumidifer is on, the conveyor is on, and the gold key falls into the Seattle Room.
♨️ ♨️ ♨️
Okay, I know you haven't seen a Seattle Room in the game yet, but things have to be done in this order if you want to win. Look at the 2nd floor map to see where it is; it's on the east side of the Chicago Room's carved door.
♨️ ♨️ ♨️
So..., go turn on that boiler.
> climb cobweb.
> w. n. n. n. n.
> e. e. e. e.
> push button. e.
> push B. w. s. w. s. w. s.
> e. s. e. e. n. n.
Boiler Room
> examine boiler. (stone cold)
Turning on the boiler takes two simple steps.
> open gas line. light boiler.
Now wait many turns for the boiler to heat up.
Incidentally, if you only open the gas line and don't light the boiler, the castle fills with gas and eventually explodes.
> z. z. z. z. z.
> z. z. z. z. z.
> z. z. z. z. z.
> examine boiler. (a little warm)
> z. z. z. z. z.
> z. z. z. z. z.
> examine boiler. (quite hot)
There's a radiator in the game room. Go check how it's doing.
> s. s. w. w. n. w.
> n. e. n. e. n. e.
> push 1. w. w. w.
Game Room
> examine radiator. (a little warm)
> z. z. z. z. z.
> examine radiator. (hot)
Head for the balcony; see if the gold key moved.
> w. w. s. s. s. s. e. climb cobweb.
West 2nd Floor Balcony
> examine adjoining room. (The key should be gone.)
> examine key. (double-checking it's not there)
> save
> climb cobweb.
Great Hall
The next step is to turn the boiler off. To save yourself a bit of walking later on, grab the hinge pin first.
> take pin. (+20)
> w. n. n. n. n.
> e. e. e. e. e.
> push B.
> w. s. w. s. w. s.
> e. s. e. e. n. n.
Boiler Room
> close gas line.
Everything takes as long to cool down as it did to heat up, but you don't need to wait here. Head up to the gift shoppe:
> s. s. w. w. n. w.
> n. e. n. e. n. e.
> push 2. w. w. w.
Guest Gift Shoppe
> drop pin. take aspirin. (+15)
Taking anything here, like the aspirin, sets off the alarm blaring, forcing you into the Orlando Room. But notice also that a secret opening south opened up.
Orlando Room
There's a radiator in the Boston Room. Wait there until that radiator is merely warm. You don't dare enter the Chicago Room until then.
> w. s.
Boston Room
> examine radiator. (still hot)
> z. z. z. z. z.
> z. z. z. z. z.
> examine radiator. (little warm)
Okay, the Chicago Room should be safe enough. Head back to the Great Hall via the stairs.
> s. s. s. s. push panel.
> e. s. w. s. e. e.
Great Hall
You need the torch to cut through a metal wall. I hope you haven't wasted the torch's gas!
> drop aspirin. take torch.
> w. n. n. n. n.
Electrical Room
> turn black fuse. (The alarm is silenced.)
> e. e. e. e. push button. e.
> push 2. w. w. w. s.
Security Office
> examine mirror. examine south wall.
Finally, you get to use the torch!
> open torch. light torch.
> use torch. use torch. use torch.
> use torch. use torch. close torch.
> drop torch. look. examine plate.
> n.
Guest Gift Shoppe
> take pin. s. s.
Hat Room
> examine hooks. s.
Coat Room
I'm not sure how we know this is a coat room. Maybe there's rods with empty hangers on them, and they're just not mentioned or implemented. And wouldn't a coat room be located a lot closer to an entrance?
> examine door. (missing a hinge pin)
> use pin.
> open door. w. s.
Seattle Room
> take gold key. (+75)
> examine it.
> examine apple. take it. eat it.
> examine dehumidifier. (bolted to conveyor; not running)
> examine conveyer. (One end goes through south wall.)
> examine door. examine hole.
I assume you can guess what's next.
> n. e. n. n. n.
> e. e. e. push B.
> w. s. w. w. n. w. w.
Gate Room
> unlock gate. (using the gold key)
> open gate. w. (+35)
You escape! You win! Yay! Congrats!
Found dead:
Seen in images:
Mentioned in print:
Mentioned by the old gentleman:
Mentioned in losing endings:
The introduction screen flashes info-cards with the following text:
The bottom of the introduction screen reads:
(c) Copyright Douglas Associates, Inc. 1987-92. All Rights Reserved. Portions (c) Copyright Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
From Help Page 3:
The story of Castle Ralf:
Steve and I had played nearly every Infocom game published, and we, of course,
thought we could do better. Stuart just smiled. We took that as a challenge.
Honestly, CR began as an exercise to stump Stuart. When the dust had settled
Stuart wasn't stumped, but he seemed entertained. Steve suggested putting
CR out as Shareware. So, here it is. We sure hope you like it.
Doug Clutter
These are the losing endings I found; there may be others:
And this is the winning ending:
Unfortunately, there's no secret winning ending where the castle explodes after you escape. Quelled damage.
Note also: there are several ways you can make the game unwinnable. Save often.
There are some carrying restrictions based on either weight or bulk or both, but I don't know the exact mechanics. Drop excess things you want to find again in a central location, like the Great Hall. If you think you won't need an item again, just drop it anywhere.
The response to SCORE is:
Current Score is N out of a possible 300.
Points are awarded as follows:
Note that the game doesn't notify you when you earn points, and the score isn't displayed in the status line.
This walkthrough was funded via Patreon with
Ko-Fi is a way to send me small one-time donations. Every little bit helps, and thank you!