Escape Series #3: The Phone Booth
Imagine for a second that you're Superman. You hear a cry of distress with your super-hearing! Quick! Find the nearest phone booth so you can change into your blue and red pajamas! You find one in a local park, and you step inside to make your change.
The problem is, this phone booth was designed by Shawn Tanner.
Escape: The Phone Booth is the third installment in the popular "Escape" series that has you facing off against a phone booth. As usual, there is no plot behind your encasement. All that matters is that you need to escape! The queue of items at your disposal is extremely limited, so you need to make the best of what you can in such a tight space... Ow, my elbow!
This challenge makes good use of the telephone, which brings a new batch of audio puzzles to the point-and-click atmosphere. Unfortunately, this also means that you must be able to hear the audible content to advance within the game (negative points for accessibility).
One running factor in this series is the ticking clock in the corner, which pressures you to escape as quickly as possible. However, I'm not proud to admit that I took over twenty minutes to escape the booth on my first try! Surely, someone can escape faster? (Obviously, escape times beyond your first try don't count.)
So if you're ready to get stuck once again, step inside...
Play the entire Escape Series...
Walkthrough Guide
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Walkthrough:
Go to the phone and click on the "Coin Return" button. You should hear a sound.
Go to the coin slot area. Collect the string, then open the return slot and get the socket. You'll use that later.
Leave the phone and click near the bottom of the screen to look at the floor. Collect the Yellow Page and then click the spot that looks like a flap on the left side to get the quarter.
Combine the string and the quarter and pop the quarter into the slot. Then dial 555-7328.
When they ask for the password, punch in
644485#.
Dial 2, and then when they ask for the location punch in 267-9532. Then press 1.
Put in your wuarter again. Dial 555-5253. When they ask for the password, put in 48747#.
When they ask for your location, put in 2724.
Hang up the phone, and WITHOUT putting in any money, press 5675. Then click the coin return lever twice.
Open the Coin Return Slot below. Get the key.
Go back to the bottom of the booth and use the key on the blue thing's keyhole. Take the screwdriver.
Combine the screwdriver and the socket.
Use the socket/screwdriver on the two bolt things next to the phone. When they're both off, press the red lever.
There's a game behind it. The answer is 'THE TELEPHONE IS INHERENTLY OF NO VALUE TO US'.
Then just turn around and click the latch to get out.
Posted by: Denzel | October 13, 2007 5:53 PM
First Try: 21:16
I'm fairly proud.
I got stuck several times, but here's a walkthrough.
Look down and pick up YELLOWPAGE.
Lift flap on mat and take QUARTER.
Go back up to phone. Look left and take BINOCULARS.
Go left again, and use BINOCULARS on the sign.
Take note of the street name.
Go back to phone.Click on the small shelf underneath it.
Take STRING.
Tie STRING to QUARTER.
Now get ready to dial! (before each dialed number, use QUARTER on slot)
Look on the YELLOW PAGE, and call Phone trace service.
Take note of this phone's number.
267-9532
Call Swain Electric.
Type in the code: NIGHT5 and press pound.
press 2, then type this phone's number. 267-9532
press one, and look up.
Take note of the code.
GUSH7
Call Maus Street Water Company.
Enter the password from the light, and press pound.
Remember the street name?
Arch. Type it, and press pound.
Hang up, and go right.
Use BINOCULARS to view fountain.
do what it says.
Without depositing money, press 5675 and press the coin return twice.
Go down to the coin return.
Take KEY and SOCKET. (SOCKET is available from the beginning.)
Face the floor, and use the KEY on the blue box.
Take SOCKET SCREWDRIVER.
Use it with the SOCKET.
Face phone, and click on right side.
Use SCREWDRIVER on two nuts.
Go back, and click on the red handle.
Click on the screen.
Find the answer to the puzzle.
"The Telephone Is Inherently Of No Value To Us."
Press Return and Quit.
Turn around and press the booth handle. YOU WIN!
It's my first walkthrough, so don't expect it to be worth a million dollars, but It'll get you through the game :P
Posted by: rkr7 | October 13, 2007 5:53 PM
OK, here's a walkthru:
1.)
On the opening screen click anywhere the bottom section of the phone. Take the piece of string. Return to the opening screen by clicking on the bottom of the pic (cursor changes to double arrow).
2.)
You see two green wires coming from the left side of the phone. Click where they meet the bottom of the screen.
You're looking at the floor of the booth. You see a torn piece of yellow phone-book page. Left of it the gray carpet is also torn. Click on the torn part. It "opens" up and reveals a coin. Take it. Then take the torn phone book page. You'll need it later on a lot!
Exit to the opening screen by clicking on the top part of the screen (this time the cursor doesn't change, but don't worry :)
3.)
Select the coin from your inventory (bottom of screen), and move it to the piece of string. Congrats, you combined these two items getting a coin attached to a string... and you're in a phone booth, right? What do you think you'll need it for? :D
Click on the reciever. You get a close-up of the phone. Click on the reciever again to unhook it. It asks you to insert 25 cents. Do so. You'll hear the coin falling and get a dial tone. (The coin+string appears again in your inventory and you can reuse it any time). You can try to call any number but most probably you'll only get an "the called number is unavailable" message.
Hang up the receiver and click on the "coin return" handle. Exit the phone-closeup screen by clicking on the right side of it and you're back at the opening screen once-a-more.
4.)
Click on the bottom part of the phone again. But this time don't continue to the floor but click on the "push for return" lid. You'll find a "socket" in it. Take it. Exit the screen (bottom click) and get back to the opening screen.
5.)
Click on the left side of the screen. You turned 90 degrees to the right. You see a pair of binoculars. Take them. (You also see "Call me 4 help!" scratced into the plexiglass pane, but that's for no use in the game). Turn left again.
Noy you're facing the exit of the booth, but it's closed by some electric lock, so you're not just going to walk away :( There's nothing you can do with the lock until the very end of the game.
Use the binoculars on the blurry blue sign outside the box left of those two wooden benches. You'll see "Arch Street Family Park Est. 1922" written on it. Superb. Exit this screen, and turn left again.
6.)
You see a street lamp and a fountain outside the booth. Use the binoculars on the fountain. As if there was something written there, but way too blurry to read. It can't be written ON the water, right? Maybe behind it? Too bad you can't turn the water off from your confinement, right? :(
Exit this screen and turn left for the third time.
7.)
You're back to square 1, the opening screen with the phone. You've looked down, to the left, behind you and to the right. Only one direction remains - look up. You can see a big scratch left of the phone. Click on its top part and you see the ceiling. Click on the lamp. It informs you that the ceiling lights are off. (Hmm... Doesn't seem like it's dark in here, but OK...). Exit the screen by clicking the bottom part of the screen and you're back... well, you know where...
8.)
OK, it's time to use the booth people normally use it for - to call people.
Click on the torn phone-book page. You see some phone numbers, all different services plus "Night5 is a bright idea!" message handwritten on the left side of the slip. Plus a light bulb... Light bulb... Lamp... OK. What else?
WOW! "Phone trace service" in the upper-left corner of the sheet. What else do you need if you're helplessly stuck in an infernal phone booth than the number of the booth? So, call the phone trace service (555-49-22). It says the number of your phone is 26-79-532. You can see that the number used to be on the wall just in fron of you on a small plaque or sticker but has been ripped off. The first two digits are still visible, though and they match the number given by the phone trace service. Hurray!
Hang up the receiver and click on the torn phone book page again.
9.
Who else can we call? It's hard to read the numbers in such a dark a booth... But the lights are off, what can we do, right?
WOW#2: "Swain Electric"! Seems to be worth a call... So call them (555-73-28).
The answering machine says they are closed, but if you are a technician, just give your authorization code plus a pound-sign. Well, you're not a technician (at least not in this story) and you know no such code :( - or do you? "Night5" plus a light bulb... worth a try. So, enter "night5" (means press the buttons 6-4-4-4-8-5) plus the doubly cross ("pound sign"?).
YOU'RE IN!
You're offered two options, choose the first one (service administration) and so press button 2. You're asked the phone number you're calling from. Enter it (26-79-532). Now you have the options to turn the power for the boot on (button 1) or off (button 2) - but it's off, so you can only turn it on - so press button 1. And God said let there be light!
10.)
OK, now you can examine the lamp, so go back to the lamp screen (opening screen, click on the crack left of the phone). Now it's definitely shinier, but there's more: "GUSH7" it says. Thank you.
There's one more call to make. Why not make it now?
11.)
Select the torn page for one last time.
WOW! "Maus street Water Company!" We were just wondering about turning off the water for that fountain, remember? Well, they probably wont just turn off the water for anybody, but let's give it a try - at least it's free, right? :)
Exit this screen and go to the phone-closeup. lift off the reciever, feed the coin and call the Water company (555-52-53). It says all the operators are busy. Bust... But, it also says: if you're an employee, and you have a code, blabla... Well ,you have something that looks like a code, don't you? So enter GUSH7# (4-8-7-4-7-#).
What luck! You are offered an emergency water shut off, you only have to type in the name of the street - and you know the name, right? "Arch street" the blue sign outside says. So type in Arch# (2-7-2-4-#) and you have closed the water line. Let's forget that all the people having a bath/shower are busy cursing your name right now, let's check that fountain again! Exit the screen, turn right and use the binoculars on the fountain.
"No money. 5675. Return twice."
12.
I guess it's pretty starightforward. Go back to the phone-closeup screen, DON'T inswert the coin, call 5-6-7-5 and click twice on the coin return handle. (It'll keep asking for the quarter dollar while you're dialling, but pay no attention (nor c25 :)
You won't hear anything special, but hang up the receiver, exit the screen and click on the bottom part of the phone. There click on the money return lid.
A golden key is there. Take it. Exit to the opening screen.
13.)
Click on the bottom paert of the screen to go to the floor screen. There you see that small blue door with a keyhole. You've just obtained a key...
Click on the blue door, once it's closeup, use key on the keyhole. You've got a socket screwdriver. Hurray again.
Exit the screen all the way back to the opening screen.
14.)
Click on either of those bolts just left of that "red handle" on the right of the phone that "won't budge" (I'm sure it was the first thing you tried in this game :D) Once the screws are closeup, use the screwdriver on them.
Nothing happens... Sure, because you forgot to attach the socket to the screwdriver! So combine the screwdriver with the socket and try to unscrew those nuts and bolts again! This time I promise the'y come off.
Exit to the opening screen. This time that red handle WILL budge.
15.)
So the red hadle budged and you opened the phone. There's a small grey box inside. Click on it.
It's an electronic "letter drop" game with a touch pen. You can click the instructions to read the rules of the game, but I'd say the instructions are rather vague. Click on "play".
It's rather easy to get the hang of the game (by clicking on any of the empty boxes you are given the letters available for that box) and even solving it takes no ore than a couple of minutes. The solution is:
THE TELEPHONE IS INHERENTLY OF NO VALUE TO US
Once all the letters are put to place the game is completed and you can quit the game (the Letter-drop game, not the Escape the phone booth game :). Do so. Click Return than Quit.
You are back on the opening screen. Turn left or right twice.
You are just like all the calls you made were: free.
Posted by: bioLarzen | October 13, 2007 6:26 PM