Adventure walkthrough guides abound on the Internet, so why write a new one?
Over the years Crowther and Wood's Adventure (aka Colossal Cavern) has been ported and adapted and transposed and rewritten for dozens of platforms and programming languages. Many of these variants introduce subtle (and not-so-subtle) changes in command forms or game behavior. For example, some variants implement a teleportation feature whereby one can travel directly to any location simply by typing its name. In some versions you GET objects; other versions prefer TAKE. More modern implementations use full-sentence parsers, others remain more faithful to the original's two-word commands. Occasionally, even the topography of the cavern itself has been altered (e.g., in the Pirate's Maze).
In short, a walkthrough for one version of Adventure may not work for another. The Universal Adventure 350 Walkthrough attempts to navigate the obstacle course of competing versions by using commands and following game behaviors common to all (or as many as possible of) the variants. In cases where this is not possible, you will find version-specific notes in a floating call-out on the right.
Caveat: Adventure also exists in many expanded versions. There's the Dave Platt 550-point version, for example, with more treasures, more locations and more points. Dave Malmberg even has a thousand-point expansion. The Universal Adventure 350 Walkthrough is limited to 350-point variants only. It has been tested with the following Adventure variants:
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ARNA0350 BAGG0350 BALD0350 BLAC0350 CALH0000 CRAY0350 <3rd Exc.> EKMA0350 |
JAEG0350 <1st Exc.> GOET0350 MCGR0350 MSFT0350 LETW0350 NELS0350 |
PALT0350 ODWY0350 <2nd Exc.> RAUS0350 <3rd Exc.> SCBA0350 <2nd Exc.> WITB0000 <incomp> WOOD0350 |
The commands you type are formatted in BOLD MONOSPACED ALL-CAPS. Occasionally, commands will need to be repeated one or more times to work; GO NW, e.g., from the Swiss Cheese Room may or may not take you to the Oriental Room on the first attempt. These commands are postpended with a parenthetical ellipsis: GO NW (...). All other text is commentary or explanation.
The appearances of the dwarves and the pirate are random, and thus this walkthrough cannot account for them precisely, so keep your eyes peeled. The pirate will show up at random moments to steal any treasure you're carrying. Except in cases noted below, just ignore him. You'll get all your treasures back (plus one more) later.
When the first dwarf appears, he will chuck a treechopper at your head. Simply GET AXE. To dispatch subsequent diminutive demons, throw axe (NELS0350: throw axe at dwarf) then get axe repeatedly until the dwarrowdelf-dweller has met his demise. In some variants these dastardly denizens of the dark can be difficult to do in.
Of these, there are fifteen, as follows:
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Golden chain Persian rug Rare coins Rare spices Trident |
Treasure chest Golden eggs Bars of silver Emerald Ming vase |
Gold nugget Diamonds Jewelry Pyramid Pearl |
For those variants which support saving your game, it's a good idea to save frequently, at the end of each excursion at the very least. It's easy, it's free, and you just never know. To help you remember not to forget, we've built a reminder into The Universal Adventure 350 Walkthrough. You can thank us later :-)
Now, on with the adventure!
gold nugget, jewelry, coins, silver bars, Persian rug
You should be carrying the lamp and the keys (get them in the building).
ARNA0350 asks if you want instructions; say yes or no. BAGG0350, CALH0000: Say no to easy game. WITB0000, CALH0000 begin in the building. ARNA0350 allows multiple commands; e.g., e; get keys; get lamp; w.
NELS0350: unlock grate with keys.
BAGG0350: light lamp, turn lamp on. CLAY0350, SCBA0350, RAUS0350, ARNA0350: must turn on lamp now; others can wait one or two more turns. ARNA0350: When only one item is present, you can simply say get.
Leave the rod. We won't use it, and it scares the bird.
The Hall of the Mountain King
Believe it!
BAGG0350: extinguish lamp.
Some variants allow drop all", but remember to get lamp and get axe.
In most variants the bottle already holds water. In BALD0350 the bottle is empty, so GET WATER.
CRAY0350 doesn't allow SAVEing. CALH0000 exits back to CP/M; to restore, use ADVENT -R.
ARNA0350: SCORE: 96 or 121 pts, depending on whether you've gotten the axe.
emerald, trident, Ming vase, pearl, pyramid
You should be carrying the lamp, the axe (if you've gotten it) and the bottle filled with water.
From now on we will enter and exit using the magic commands
Axe: that is, if you droppd it here.
BAGG0350, NELS0350: water plant.
WITB0000 requires a different path: POUR WATER. U. E. E. NE. E. U. E. E. D. GET WATER. U. W. U. S. SW. W. N. D. S. D. POUR WATER.
get water: In some variants fill bottle also works.
Leave the eggs for later. Not carrying them now reduces the chances of the pirate stealing them.
CALH0000 POUR OIL.
In case the pirate steals the trident before we can use it.
BAGG0350, NELS0350, ARNA0350: simply drop all and get all.
Maybe you should think about losing weight....
If the pirate has relieved you of the trident (inventory to check), restore (CALH0000: quit and restart with advent -r; RAUS0350 reboot then restore) last saved position (you did save, right?) and try again.
BAGG0350, NELS0350: open clam with trident.
Make sure you drop the pillow before the vase.
CLAY0350, ARNA0350: 203.
golden eggs, chain, spices, diamonds, pirate's chest
You should be carrying the lamp, axe and food.
If the eggs are not here, FEE, FIE, FOE, FOO recalls them.
If the pirate managed to relieve you of the eggs, return to the Giant Room and do FEE, FIE, FOE, FOO.
In some variants, say give eggs to troll.
In NELS0350 and descendants, the troll is not waiting at the bridge. NE draws him out.
If you wish, you can detour N briefly from the Warm Walls Room to take in the Breath-Taking View. It's quite, umm, breath-taking.
Guess all that growling was coming from the bear's stomach.
In some variants, say give food to bear or even feed food (!) then unlock chain with keys.
Looks like the troll finds your friend un-bear-able.
Hey, you just climbed up a giant beanstalk. You were expecting Andre the Giant, maybe?
If the pirate hasn't yet shown up to relieve you of your treasures, just WAIT repeatedly until he does. Now we can go get our treasures back.
One variant offers a shorter route to the Pirate's chest: s,e,s,n.
Repeat get <treasure> and drop <treasure>once for each treasure (in some variants you can simply say get all). If there are too many treasures to carry, get what you can now. You can return later for the rest.
ARNA0350: Add name for save game, e.g. save excur3.
ARNA0350: 275.
If you've already gotten the pearl and didn't leave any treasures behind in the pirate's maze, you can skip the 4th Excursion entirely, and go directly directly to the End Game below. Otherwise, follow these steps.
Anything you haven't yet gotten.
You should be carrying the lamp and the axe.
Return to the Pirate's Maze
Here's how to return to the Pirate's Maze to get any treasures you've left behind. If you've already got everything from the Pirate's Maze, skip down to Getting the Pearl below.
Getting the Pearl
If you already got the pearl, skip to the End Game below.
None
You should be carrying the lamp and the axe.
Essentially we're just waiting until the cave closes (in some variants you may have to wander a longtime). We'll go get the Last Lousy Point while we do.
The End Game is just totally, unforgivably unfair. There's nae hint nae clue about what should be done. How anyone is supposed to figure out BLAST without peaking at the source code is inexplicable. But there it is.
Just south of the West End of the Long Hall is the entrance to the Battery Maze, that legendary "maze of twisty little passages, all alike". Hidden deep in that maze are fresh batteries for failing lanterns. Ours isn't (or shouldn't be) failing—and in any case we'd have to give up a treasure to get them, making the game unwinnable—so we won't need to venture that way. But it being one of the most famous tourist spots in all of adventure gaming history, the interminably curious will not wish to forego a wander (after you've finished the game, of course!). So, at the well house grab the lantern and the axe and sally forth.
If you're starting from a fresh game, note that in some variants you cannot use magic words to enter the cavern until you've once visited that location in the usual way.
S takes you into the maze. Follow the steps from here carefully, or you'll wind up hopelessly lost.
A quick glance at any Adventure 350 game map will dispel the notion that The Universal Adventure 350 Walkthrough is in any sense an optimized solution. This is an unavoidable consequence of its attempting to be a one-size-fits-all solution: it must accomodate the idiosyncracies of a large number of variations, while not making use of features not common to all.
For example, using the aforementioned teleportation feature, one could shorten the walkthrough considerably. But teleportation is not available in all Adventure 350 variants; consequently, it is not used here. Ditto for get all. EKMA0350 does not support it, so The Universal Adventure 350 Walkthrough doesn't use it.
The order in which treasures are gathered is also affected. Take the pearl: it would by all accounts be more efficient to collect the pearl earlier in the game, when the player is in the vicinity of the Complex Junction. But because in some Adventure 350 variants the pirate can delay his appearance until quite late in the game, we can't be sure the player has the trident until after he has retrieved his treasures from the pirate's maze.