JayisGames.com is now available ad-free!
Jay is Games recommends Cheat Happens with 8,000+ games and 35,000+ trainers!

9:05


  • Currently 4.3/5
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
Rating: 4.3/5 (194 votes)
Comments (107) | Views (57,897)

Jay9:059:05, by Adam Cadre, is another snack-sized text adventure that is just right for a casual audience. Even if you're new to the genre and are looking for something short and simple as a primer, do give this one a try.

The game is so short, however, that any description of what happens during the game could be considered a spoiler, and so we'll let you find out about it yourself. Instead, here's a short introduction written by the game's author: "You've screwed up on the job before, but never like this. You've overslept in a major way, and you're in for a world of trouble if you don't act fast."

If you need a little help getting started, just keep in mind that you need to examine items to view a description, and take items to add them to your inventory. Check your inventory with the command inventory. You may also use an item, too. You may even find that you need to drop an item to get rid of it. The command parser is generally pretty good about figuring out what you want to do, but try using fewer words to describe what you want if having trouble.

Analysis: Besides being very short, one of the especially notable qualities of this game is that it encourages replay. After you've played through the game at least once, you'll understand what I mean by this. An enjoyable and surprising game and just right for a casual game audience,

Play 9:05

The links above point to JIG's internally developed Flash-based Z-Machine interpreter (thanks asterick!), with the story files hosted here by kind permission of the game's author, Adam Cadre. That means you can now play these games in your browser rather than having to download and run the game in a standalone interpreter.

If you would rather download the game, you may do so at the Adam Cadre's website. If you choose to download the game, you will need an interpreter to read the z-file, just like most IF games: try Gargoyle for Windows, or Zoom or Splatterlight for Macintosh and Unix.

If you like "9:05," take a look at other Interactive Fiction we have reviewed here at JIG.

Walkthrough Guide


(Please allow page to fully load for spoiler tags to be functional.)

Walkthrough

This game has four endings that I know of, the first three are all pretty similar, and each requires for you to do the same thing with a small change near the end. I suggest that you do the endings in the order I've listed. The fourth ending is a kind of bonus ending, and I'll put it at the end of this walkthrough.

The Morning Routine

You start in the bedroom, on your bed. It's probably obvious, but you have to press a key (any key will do) on the first screen, when '[MORE]' appears at the bottom.
Apparently, the phone is ringing. Answer it if you want by typing 'answer phone' or 'pick up phone'. Someone doesn't sound to happy.
You've just woken up, so you'll probably want to start the day by doing what most people do when they wake up: shower, dress, and eat breakfast. Before you do anything else though, you'll have to get out of bed. 'Get up' or 'stand' should do the trick.

The bathroom is the closest, so you'll want to shower first.
As you're told, the bathroom is to your south. In games like these, you'll often have to walk an a compass direction to get places. Walk forward, turn left, look right won't work. Enter the bathroom by typing 'walk south', 'south', or 's' (short for south). The other directions are similar: 'n' brings you north, 'east' and you go east, 'walk west' and you enter the room west of you. For now though, just type 'south' to enter the bathroom.
If you want (and if you're a third grader) you can use the toilet by typing 'use toilet'. You don't need to use the toilet, though, you need to shower. Go ahead and try to by typing 'take a shower'. In games like these, words like 'a' aren't important, and typing 'take shower' gives you the same result, nothing. You'll have to take your clothes off before showering. How do you find out what you're wearing, though? Try 'inventory' or 'i' to bring up your inventory, or list of stuff you're wearing or holding.
"You have:
some soiled clothing (being worn)
a gold watch (being worn)"
You can't shower while wearing either of these, so you'll have to drop them on the floor. Try 'drop clothes' and 'drop watch' to drop them separately, or 'drop clothes and watch' to drop them both at once. Check your inventory again before taking a shower. It should say: "You are carrying nothing". Once again, take a shower by typing 'take shower'. Step 1, showering, is completed.

Time for step 2, dressing. You can't very well go out in public nude, so you'll have to put some clothes on first. If you remember, you dropped the clothes you had been wearing on the bathroom floor, but those'll hardly do considering you've already warn them. Head north to you bathroom by typing 'n'. There's clothes on the floor in here, too, but they're dirty. Let's try the dresser. Open with 'open dresser' and take the clean clothes with 'take clothing' or 'take clean clothing'.
Enter the command 'i':
"You have:
some clean clothing"
Type 'wear clothes' and 'inventory' again.
"You have:
some clean clothing (being worn)"
Second step, completed.

If you type 'look', the game reminds you of where you are, which is the bedroom in this case. Grab the wallet and keys off the endtable with 'take wallet' and 'take keys'. Again, typing 'take wallet and keys' saves you a couple keystrokes.
From the bedroom, go east (type 'east') and you're in the living room. For this third step you'll need to eat a poptart, which is in the kitchen to the east of the living room. Type 'east' again and you're there. Grab the poptart off the counter ('take poptart') and pop it in the toaster ('put poptart in toaster') to cook it. 'Eat poptart' lets you eat it, and you're done with step three.

Head back west ('west') to the living room and head outside ('south'), just make sure to open the door first ('open front door').
Check your inventory ('i') to make sure that you've got the keys and wallet and jump in the car ('enter car'). Type 'drive' and you're on the open road.
As soon as you start driving, you'll be asked if you want to take the onramp. Whether you type 'yes' or 'no', you'll keep driving straight because the onramp is closed.
To continue driving, type 'look' or 'drive car'.
This is where the game starts to branch off into the different endings. If you answer 'yes', you'll eventually get the first ending, if you answer 'no' you'll get either the second or third ending, depending on another branch along the road.

Ending 1

Type 'yes' when the game asks if you want to go to Loungent Technologies. To get inside, you'll have to have an ID card. Check you inventory ('i'). I wonder what's in that wallet. 'Open wallet' should open it, revealing that you have an ID card inside. 'Remove ID card from wallet' or 'take ID card' will put the card in your hand, and 'insert ID card in slot' will get you in the building.
'Enter cubicle' brings you inside the cubicle and 'take form and pen and note' adds all three things to your inventory. If you type 'examine note', you're told your next step, you have to sign the form by typing 'sign form'. As soon as you do, someone enters Bowman's room. Exit the cubicle ('exit') and follow him in with the command 'west'. Press any key and the game's over. Congratulations, you've gotten the first of four endings.

Ending 2

First off, I want to say that this ending may get a bit confusing if you haven't done the first ending yet. I'd suggest that you do that first. Now, at the choice to go to the office building say 'no'. 'Drive car' or 'look' let's you continue driving past the building to another onramp. At this one say 'yes' and you've found the second ending.

Ending 3

Like with ending 2, say 'no' to going to the office building, say 'drive car' or 'look' to continue driving and arrive at the turnoff for the onramp. Congrats, thats ending three.

Ending 4 and Bonuses

Now, if you've already gotten the first ending, there's a couple bonuses back at the house for you. You can get them before you get the first ending, but they may spoil it.

When you're in the bedroom, type 'look under bed' and after that type 'examine corpse'.

When you're in the driveway, type 'examine trunk' (as in, the car's trunk).

In the top right corner of the game, there is a time display. You start the game at 9:05. Different actions increase your time in different ways. For example, walking somewhere (such as 'west') takes one minute, the examine and look commands also take one minute, and showering takes six minutes. Once the clock reaches 12:46 pm, ending four is reached. The easiest way to do this is just type in 'z' over and over again. Each time you do so one minute passes. Sure, you'll have to do it 191 times, but that's the fastest way.

107 Comments

Patreon Crew SonicLover June 11, 2008 1:22 PM

Isn't that the Dashboard clock in the picture?

Reply
Patreon Crew SonicLover June 11, 2008 1:38 PM

So I've heard...

Oh, by the way, first.

Reply
ThemePark June 11, 2008 1:39 PM

Dashboard clock?

Oh well, brilliant game. :-) Definitely worth a replay.

Reply

Jay, can you help me? Ok, so i have :

Driver's Licence, ID card, pop-tart, some keys, gold watch (being worn) and some soiled clothing,

what should i do now?

Reply

Okay, so I went through the game once doing what you'd expect.

And I got the news ending, much to my surprise. VERY neat ending, changes the whole game.

So naturally, I wanted to play it again. Did much of the same.

So I signed the form, but then what? I just left it there and then got in the car and took the second ramp, which said I "vanished". Is that it? Or was that also not a good ending?

Reply

Did you look under the bed and in the trunk?

Reply

Yeah, I did. I got slightly more story but that's it.

Reply

very surprising ending.

Reply
Fredzorz June 11, 2008 2:29 PM

I loved this game. I really like IF, but most are too long for me. This was perfect. And the surprise ending was really good.

I got the ending where you find out you're a murderer, then I replayed and got the "You have left Las Mesas" ending.

Have I missed anything?

Reply

Help I'm new to this genre. Can't figure out how to get dressed, have gotten clean clothing out of dresser

Reply
ThemePark June 11, 2008 2:38 PM

Fredzorz:

Try not taking the second freeway.

Other than that, I don't think there are any more endings. I've only come across the 3 mentioned.

Reply

That helped, but it still won't recognise my instructions.

Reply

This is my first text adventure. Like ever. Pretty fun, except I kept forgetting what direction everything eas in :P

Is the news ending the main ending? I'm in the same boat as frikazoyd.

Reply

That was great. I really didn't see it coming.

Reply
ThemePark June 11, 2008 2:51 PM

Oh btw Jay, you may want to change the acadre tag to arcade.

Reply
helloooo June 11, 2008 3:00 PM

theres a third ending

you dont take the second onramp and die in a crash

Reply

oh i loved this one! just the right length to spend a few minutes messing about, and i loved the twist at the end!

thanks for bringing this one to our attention!

Reply
mixedmetaphor June 11, 2008 3:23 PM

great game! i was a little bummed when it wouldn't let me leave the house naked.

did anyone get an ending other than

being on the news

dying in a crash

or

getting the heck out of dodge

?

Reply

Did I hit a bug or is this an ending?

I got in car and started engine

Now I can't do anything, just stopped. Tried return, backspace, arrows, etc.

Reply
GeerBox June 11, 2008 3:55 PM

Ha ha ha ha ha!

You can steal the cubicle (and attached desk) from the office. Not that it gets you anything, though.

@sigalt:

What does one normally do in a car?

DRIVE

Reply

Haha, I never thought I'd play another text-adventure game after Police Quest (Those were the days...)

slgalt:

did you try "drive car"?

For those of you stuck in the bedroom, try your normal morning activities (some of the things can be done at night too).

Also, I think I found a bug; I had done everything correctly, gotten to the living room, and when I typed in "leave front door", it told me a wasn't "in anything at the moment". But when I tried again saying "leave south", it let me. Oddly enough, I checked my inventory before trying again, and it said my clothes were on. Could this be due to the "leave" function being only accessible with cardinal directions, and something wasn't fully programmed in? Adam, you might have a comparison that is either checking for the wrong variable, always turning out true/false, or are completely missing a comparison statement overall.

Reply

Neat premise but a little bit limited. I had a few quibbles:

1. Having to "get off of bed" at the beginning is annoying. The game will not accept 'leave bed' 'get out of bed', etc, which are more natural to me. Also, wanting to get out of bed is implied in wanting to go south, open dresser etc.

2. The fun of experimentation is limited by the fact that you must follow a pretty fixed routine to accomplish anything. For example, it would be fun to try going to work naked and dirty, or not eating breakfast and then passing out from hunger.
Forcing the player to do the right thing is less rewarding than letting them use common sense and a bit of trial and error. You could always add a prompt like 'leave the house naked?' to help first-time players.

3. In the driving sequence, the gameplay is choppy. When you say 'yes' or 'no' to the first on-ramp prompt, you have to enter 'drive' or 'look' to proceed. One would assume that you are still driving afterwards, so it would make sense for the next event to happen automatically.

4. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, there should be more ways to get arrested, especially for those who are playing again and want to do it intentionally.
For example, driving past the second on-ramp could lead to you getting busted, instead of the arbitrary car crash. After all, you are driving the car of a man who you recently murdered, in his own neighborhood.
Also, if you decided to linger in the house (to sleep in, perhaps?), the cops could come. Getting arrested would also be a good ending if you went outside naked.

Reply

It wouldn't let me enter any text after that. So I assume it's a bug.

Reply

Has anyone looked under the bed when you're in the bedroom?

Reply
Helmaroc June 11, 2008 5:31 PM

I love the ending. You never expect things like that.

Reply
winster June 11, 2008 5:54 PM

I got the exact same problem as slgalt, the game compleatly stopped responding


[Edit: It would help if we had exact steps to reproduce the problem. -Jay]

Reply
joe9415 June 11, 2008 6:16 PM

Some interesting things...

The ID card and driver's license addresses are different. Perhaps Mr. Hadley moved?

You can take the car (weird), put it in your wallet (ludicrous), and then proceed to drive it (lolwut?).

Reply

When I try to take a shower, it won't let me. Why?

Reply
Anonymous June 11, 2008 6:44 PM

EMDF: technically, "leave" is a verb that is used when you are in something. Being "in" something has a special meaning and must be programmed as such in Inform (the language this game is written in). For example, if there is a big box in a room somewhere and you'd climb in it, the "leave" command would get you out of it. The 'correct' way to leave the house is just "south".

It's a bit of an oversight on Adam's part, combined with the technicalities of Inform and background knowledge of interactive fiction that makes games have these little glitches that people new to the genre aren't really used to.

Jay: I'm not sure it was posted here before, but Photopia is another interesting game for new players. Check it out.

Reply

Parsh:

you're probably still wearing a gold watch. Try "remove watch" or "drop watch" or "drop all."

Reply

Hey guys! i need help! everytime i type save it just says creating save and it doesnt ever save! and theres this thing called new save which i cant click! please help!

Reply

Ok, i figured that out, but now i can't take the clean clothes. Every time I say "take clothes" it takes the soiled ones

Reply

joe9415 - The ID card has the office address

Great bit of IF! Agree it could be developed further with more allowed situations though.

I said 'get up' and left the bed first time :)

Reply

I love to tell newbies about this game because it's so short. And interesting.

Reply

Oh and Jay, re: the picture... It's been awhile since I've brushed up on my copyright laws, but Adam Cadre has "cover pictures" posted to go with all of his games on his website. Could you use those? Granted they're all pretty simple: the one for 9:05 is just a picture of an old-style alarm clock showing 9:05.

Reply
The Commenter! June 11, 2008 8:21 PM

when I try to take a shower, I am told that I can't go in the shower with my possessions. How can I tell what my "possessions" are to take them off?

Reply
winster June 11, 2008 8:31 PM

tried again made the bug again
I think the problem is the text I left un spoiler'd
I'm using the "leaflet" interpreter

get up
take keys
answer phone
e
open door
open front door
take car (didn't work)
s
take car
(too much of a mess to leave)
e
take poptart
put poptart in toaster
eat poptart
w
w
open dresser
drop clothes
take clean clothes
wear clothes
(failed)
e
w
s
drop clothes
drop kes
drop keys
drop watch
take shower
take clothes
wear clothes
take keys
take watch
use toilet
n
w (failed)
e
s

take car
drive
drive car
get in car
....
failure to respond

Reply

That was a great little game, I wasn't expecting that AT ALL.




It does bug me though with Text-adventure games, that they figure out what you want to "use ID card" on, (etc), yet it makes you say "get out of bed".

Reply
danield June 11, 2008 8:36 PM

Nice work on the Z-Machine! I always like to see people playing text games, and it's great to make it so convenient.

Reply

After I'd gotten three different endings, I also managed to get the game to freeze when starting the car engine:

However, it was after getting the car, putting the car in the wallet and then getting in the car; so that might have had something to do with it. Myself, in a car, in a wallet, which I was carrying.

Reply
Leamony June 11, 2008 9:11 PM

I've also hit the glitch when you get in the car and it stops taking commands.

The entry field in the screen is black, no arrow or flashing cursor. But previous text is still showing on the screen.
I was doing some odd things beforehand, so they might have had something to do with it. I had opened my wallet and put my keys and the car in there. I then took the keys back out, unlocked the car, and got in. That's when the game glitched.

This sort of thing seems to have been my own fault, but hopefully this helps a bit. C:

Reply

Does anyone know of a good program that is free to download that is used to create text adventures?

Reply
Helmaroc June 11, 2008 9:23 PM

Haha, try putting everything in the wallet. Let me find my credit card...pop-tart, nope...car, nope...a corpse...uh, just bill me.

Reply
Danielle June 11, 2008 10:11 PM

I'm a longtime player of IF, and it's great to see you reviewing these gems that I played so long ago. 9:05 is one of my personal favorites, because... well, you know why.

Thanks for sharing these with a larger audience! Will you/have you ever reviewed Plotkins' SHADE? I think that's one of the best examples of the genre, because it wouldn't have the same impact as either a book or a point-and-click adventure game...it's perfect in IF though.

Reply

but i keep on dieng and stuff and i hate doing the dang shower stuff

Reply

Ok, i now know that im hopeless at these game. I

Got up removed my clothes, removed my watch and took a shower.

Now how do i get the clean cothes out of the dresser?

Reply
TaToRSaLaD June 11, 2008 10:33 PM

Anyone know how to use the dang ID card? I've tried tons of stuff:(

Reply

@Scot:
Inform 7 is free and pretty nifty.
It's an attempt to make IF that is programable using "natural language" and it's a pretty darn good attempt, I'd say. Unlike most programing languages, when I read a block of Inform 7 code, I've got a good idea what is going on.
I keep meaning to spend more time learning it, but I'm easily distracted. One of these days, though, I fully intend to make my own IF game.
http://www.inform-fiction.org/

Reply
FlyingHigh June 11, 2008 10:44 PM

Ugh. Text adventures. I'm horrible at them. I'm a visual, so about 30 seconds into the game and I'm almost screaming for pictures.

Reply

oh, also for anyone who decides to take a look at I7... this page: http://www.inform-fiction.org/I7/Worked%20Examples.html has a bunch off example games and their source code. one by I7's creator, Graham Nelson, and the rest by the excellent Emily Short who has, I believe, both reviewed and been reviewed here.

Reply
Sooze Winter June 11, 2008 11:19 PM

Why am I only getting text? No one else seems to be having this problem.

Reply

For those of you that are stuck, the following commands might help:

- inventory (lists everything you are holding/wearing)
- look (searches room)
- search (searches object)
- get (gets object)
- instead of clothes, try clean/soiled clothes
- put on

Note: "inventory" is good for knowing what you have on, and "drop " should drop it

Reply

ok I think I know the problem

DON'T EVER TAKE THE CAR

Reply
zbeeblebrox June 11, 2008 11:54 PM

Hahaha! You can 'take' your car! When I first played, I did this just out of habit of 'take'ing things. So then I was apparently carrying my car, which I then got inside - even though I'm still carrying it - and turned it on. Totally froze up the poor game.

I guess this counts as a fourth ending, perhaps? :D

Reply

Lol... one more new ending:

I used "z" to wait for a long time (until 12:45)
at that point you get the message:
"You suddenly drop dead due to internal injuries. Looks like last night was even tougher than you remembered."

pretty funny, but even that ending could have been spruced up a bit more.

Reply

Snooze Winter - Interactive Fiction only has text. A few games may have a static picture, such as a map, but the majority are pure text. :)

Reply
GameKitty June 12, 2008 12:26 AM

I got another ending.

If you go to work and wait for a few hours, you will die of internal injuries due to a supposed "rough night."

I also found a typo...

Try to put the form in the toilet and it says "You have to reason to do this."

Reply

Ya. I'm pretty sure I said take car too. But I was able to then open and get in and start before the game locked up.

Reply

By the way, the game also accepts "get up" to get out of the bed at the beginning. I didn't run into any problems there, because it was the first thing I tried.

Reply

slgalt, that's exactly right. I got the message about starting the car engine, and that's the point when the game froze.

Oh, and to get out of bed at the beginning, I just use "stand".

Reply

@Parsh, to get clean clothes out of the dresser:

open dresser

take clean clothes

@TaToRSaLaD, to use the ID card:

open wallet

take card

put card in slot

Reply

Hehe, you can take the car? Funny. I like 9:05, it's a good short text adventure. It's a bit buggy trough, i found multiply problems while playing, most from limited text capabilities, with are understandable and usually produce funny results anyway.

A bigger issue was that when i first saw the cubicle, i thought of it as a small thing like a rubic cube, and picked it up. Wasn't until i found a desk inside of it in my inventory that i realized something was wrong :)

Didn't crash the game yet, but saveing doesn't seem to be working either.

Reply

I enjoyed the end thoroughly...

this plays like one of those jokes that is entirely pointless and last 5 minutes and leads to a 2 second punchline...genius

Reply

YAY! Always delighted to see IF featured on here. Can't wait to play this one.

Reply

I've always wanted to like games like this, but find them endlessly frustrating. I'm currently being told I have items in my possession but have no clue what they are or how to drop them.

Reply

Okay, I figured it out. The Commenter, you were having the same problem.

Turns out you're wearing a watch that you need to drop.

How the hell was I suppose to know I was wearing a watch?

Reply
Architectonic June 12, 2008 10:20 AM

Danielle - Shade has already been reviewed here. I agree, it's a great one.

I liked this one, although there were some parts that just didn't make sense.

I'd got to work and tried to enter the office, where it told me that I needed a form. What form? I searched high and low for one, out in the car, in the office, everywhere.
I was about to give up when I tried "get form" on the off chance. Lo and behold, it worked!
Magically appearing items do not make for a good IF.

Reply

apparently there's a fourth ending (noted by two others):

If you wait around long enough (doing anything, i guess), you die of internal injuries

also, you can drive other objects. And apparently anything you can take can be put into the wallet, but not used if it's in there. This may be causing some of the problems others had with driving the car

Reply

9:05 is good, but Lock and Key is even better (same author). It has a twist beginning rather than a twist ending, and after that it takes the form of a Goldbergian extended puzzle - I can't really say more without spoiling it! Varicella is also very good.

Reply

I tried walking or running away, but, while it prompts you to give it a compass direction, it tells you there is no way to go in any of the directions you name. I was hoping to find a fifth ending. DARN!

I agree, though, for those of us who don't play these because of the unwritten rules--it would have been nice to know about "inventory." I almost stopped playing when I couldn't get in the damn shower because I had no idea I was wearing a watch and there were no directions on how to figure that out. I had to come back here to the discussion to figure it out. That's not good design.

Reply
Slanzinger June 12, 2008 3:27 PM

Thankfully my instinctive "Drop all" seemed to work - although I had to do it more than once.
Interesting ending, but veery limited, and makes you do every menial step (when you ask to take a shower, most would normally automatically drop clothes and such - same with front door) - and very limiting in what you're allowed to do (What if I don't want to wear clothes today?)

Reply
Anonymous June 12, 2008 5:12 PM

try kissing and looking at myself

or you can try kissing the corpse
although it doesn't do anything xcept for a comment

Reply

Chris:

Typing "get up" will get you out of bed.

Reply

This game would be much improved by better inference, better plausibility checking, and some help in-game. It seems odd to me that this is written in Inform, as those are all things Inform makes fairly easy.

While it might otherwise make a lovely introduction to IF, as it stands it seems to me to serve only to
1 deliver its little 5-minute story
2 amuse experienced players with its plausibility failures
3 frustrate newer players
and 2 and 3 seem to me to get entirely in the way of 1.

Could be pretty nice with a spot more polish; I'm off to play one of Mr. Cadre's newer works, in hopes of finding fewer quirks.

Reply

This game was horrible for me. No need for spoilers here. This was posted earlier:"For those of you stuck in the bedroom, try your normal morning activities (some of the things can be done at night too)."

Brush teeth [That verb is not recognized]

Take shower Use shower get shower get in shower [That object is either not here or not important]

The only thing I was able to do: Answer phone remove clothes - found hint above.

Quit game [That was understood only as far as wanting to quit]

Shutup [That verb is not recognized]

Shut up That is not something you can close.

Quit Are you sure you want to quit?

ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

Discovered that you have to put in "directions" - north south east west, you have to not be in bed when you go a direction. do not pick up possessions before --going to bathroom, even if you put them back down, the game still thinks you have them. to much experimental typing. And this is a short game??? Only because I quit.

Reply
Lambert June 13, 2008 7:42 PM

Hello all

Im throwing a little support for the developer

It was my first text adventure, but i found it quite motivating

Most of it is logical, you are not going to take a shower with a wallet, etc! I immediately found the inventory, maybe i was lucky?

And stop complaining that it's too short, i'm sure its not as easy as it seems to write a game like that. and the scenario is short but oh-so clever :)

A pleasant experience, thanks Jay

Camille

Noticed you can drop and then enter the cubicle anywhere, including in the house?

PS to the guy who was asking why he was only getting text.. in a text adventure? ;)

Reply
Lambert June 13, 2008 8:07 PM

funny you can take the cubilc eand drop it anywhere, say in the house, and it stays there. You sen it in the description of the room, can enter it.. lol

Useless verbs :
think
jump
lock
kill
kill myself
kiss
eat (except pop-tart)
drink
sleep

Reply

Text games are like Dungeons and Dragons, or radio plays: it helps if you imagine the scene as if there were graphics, which involves reading carefully and thinking about the information revealed to you.

They tend to be more rewarding in the ways that pencil-and-paper RPGs are over console and computer ones: One, you get rewarded or treated for doing little silly things you wouldn't do normally; and Two, you never have to complain about bad graphics and how ugly or improbable the rooms look.

Sadly, the thing around which the game hinges that you don't get revealed was blown for me before I played this, which made me disappointed when leaving the city sounded like a GAME OVERish ending.

All you need to do is "Look Under Bed"...

Reply
Brightjess June 14, 2008 12:54 PM

I just wanted to say that I really liked this game but I did have the exact same problem I've seen others having where the game froze on me after the car started. The text bar disappears and the only thing you can do is start all over. I don't know if it matters or if it affected anything but I typed 'take car' just out of curiousity and it let me, then I typed 'get in car' and it told me I unlocked the door, got in and started the car and that's when it froze. xD

Reply

I was hoping there'd be a grue, or at least a lantern!

Anyway...

Shortcuts for the new:

i is for inventory

x is for examine

l is for look

n, s, e, w for compass directions (in some games u or d...)

verbose = will give you full descriptions of each room without looking.

wait = works when driving and makes time pass

stand = will get you outta bed.

Reply

That was my first text-adventure game, and it was a refreshing change of pace from the old point-and-click routine.

To whoever asked if anyone looked under the bed -

I restarted the game and did that. Yikes! That was cool!

Reply
Pauline June 15, 2008 8:53 PM

Can someone PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE make a FULL walkthrough? I want to like this game, but the commands are impossible to figure out.

Reply

Oh, erk...

I use "pronouns" a lot in IF, then when I used it here, it spoils you.

On a side, but related, note, clean clothes should be referred to as "them", not "it".

Reply
froggerrrrrr June 19, 2008 3:16 PM

it's a pretty interesting game...although it lacks any real gameplay. really good twist at the end especially if you didn't think to look under your bed or in the trunk or put two and two together when it said there was no t.v.

Reply
bertie242 June 20, 2008 2:27 PM

I feel smart now, because I

looked under the bed

before doing pretty much anything else.

Reply

I'm old enough to remember getting excited over text adventures as high-tech alternatives to Choose-your-own-adventures. After spending many years playing RTS, RPG's, FPS's, I'm excited to replay Zork with my girlfriend. Text adventures offer a distinctive mood, tone, intimacy.
Well, the twist is fantastic, and the game is nice for a bite-sized diversion, but it is quite unpolished.

Architectonic/Jay -

I found the ending scene rough for the same reason as Architectonic (Kant ref?). Once you sit at the cubicle, the form, pen, and note appear. But,
(1) you can't sit in/on/at the desk, only the cubicle
(2) you can look at the desk if you're not sitting down, but there's no mention of the items on top of it
(3) you can take the form, pen, note without sitting down, hence without being able to see them.
So, I also had the experience of having items appear out of thin air. My searching around gave me the impression that the desk was bare.
On a side note, it's amusing that trying to take the desk returns, "That's not portable", but I can take the cubicle with desk attached (and put it in my wallet, etc.)

Reply

Walkthrough:

pick up phone

stand

take wallet, keys

s

use toilet

drop all

drop watch, clothes

use shower

take all

n

open dresser

wear clean clothes

e

e

eat pop tart

w

open front door

s

enter car

drive

yes

l

Here is where you choose which ending you will have. So far, I've only seen 3.
1. Get on the news and get arrested

yes

open wallet

take ID

insert ID in slot

enter cubicle

x note

x form

take pen, note, form

sign form

leave cubicle

w

2. Die in a car crash

no

l

no

3. Leave Las Mesas

no

l

yes

And for fun, when you're in the bedroom, you can:

look under bed
x guy

Reply

>take car
Taken
>sit in car
You unlock the car door, climb inside, and start the engine.

Game freezes.

So everyone, there's a lesson to be learned here: Do not carry your car and and get in at the same time. Not that that's even possible. Or, do not ever try to get into something you're carrying. Then again, never try to carry your car in the first place.

What a plot twist! I wish there were more commands - like, "Slide form under door", or, "Knock on door," or, "Call police". That would have been great... Oooh, or "Burn house", or "eat corpse" or "Walk to work"... Oh, or "Dress corpse", "bar door"... "Take house..." Put *metal object* in toaster...

Reply

Walkthrough

This game has four endings that I know of, the first three are all pretty similar, and each requires for you to do the same thing with a small change near the end. I suggest that you do the endings in the order I've listed. The fourth ending is a kind of bonus ending, and I'll put it at the end of this walkthrough.

The Morning Routine

You start in the bedroom, on your bed. It's probably obvious, but you have to press a key (any key will do) on the first screen, when '[MORE]' appears at the bottom.
Apparently, the phone is ringing. Answer it if you want by typing 'answer phone' or 'pick up phone'. Someone doesn't sound to happy.
You've just woken up, so you'll probably want to start the day by doing what most people do when they wake up: shower, dress, and eat breakfast. Before you do anything else though, you'll have to get out of bed. 'Get up' or 'stand' should do the trick.

The bathroom is the closest, so you'll want to shower first.
As you're told, the bathroom is to your south. In games like these, you'll often have to walk an a compass direction to get places. Walk forward, turn left, look right won't work. Enter the bathroom by typing 'walk south', 'south', or 's' (short for south). The other directions are similar: 'n' brings you north, 'east' and you go east, 'walk west' and you enter the room west of you. For now though, just type 'south' to enter the bathroom.
If you want (and if you're a third grader) you can use the toilet by typing 'use toilet'. You don't need to use the toilet, though, you need to shower. Go ahead and try to by typing 'take a shower'. In games like these, words like 'a' aren't important, and typing 'take shower' gives you the same result, nothing. You'll have to take your clothes off before showering. How do you find out what you're wearing, though? Try 'inventory' or 'i' to bring up your inventory, or list of stuff you're wearing or holding.
"You have:
some soiled clothing (being worn)
a gold watch (being worn)"
You can't shower while wearing either of these, so you'll have to drop them on the floor. Try 'drop clothes' and 'drop watch' to drop them separately, or 'drop clothes and watch' to drop them both at once. Check your inventory again before taking a shower. It should say: "You are carrying nothing". Once again, take a shower by typing 'take shower'. Step 1, showering, is completed.

Time for step 2, dressing. You can't very well go out in public nude, so you'll have to put some clothes on first. If you remember, you dropped the clothes you had been wearing on the bathroom floor, but those'll hardly do considering you've already warn them. Head north to you bathroom by typing 'n'. There's clothes on the floor in here, too, but they're dirty. Let's try the dresser. Open with 'open dresser' and take the clean clothes with 'take clothing' or 'take clean clothing'.
Enter the command 'i':
"You have:
some clean clothing"
Type 'wear clothes' and 'inventory' again.
"You have:
some clean clothing (being worn)"
Second step, completed.

If you type 'look', the game reminds you of where you are, which is the bedroom in this case. Grab the wallet and keys off the endtable with 'take wallet' and 'take keys'. Again, typing 'take wallet and keys' saves you a couple keystrokes.
From the bedroom, go east (type 'east') and you're in the living room. For this third step you'll need to eat a poptart, which is in the kitchen to the east of the living room. Type 'east' again and you're there. Grab the poptart off the counter ('take poptart') and pop it in the toaster ('put poptart in toaster') to cook it. 'Eat poptart' lets you eat it, and you're done with step three.

Head back west ('west') to the living room and head outside ('south'), just make sure to open the door first ('open front door').
Check your inventory ('i') to make sure that you've got the keys and wallet and jump in the car ('enter car'). Type 'drive' and you're on the open road.
As soon as you start driving, you'll be asked if you want to take the onramp. Whether you type 'yes' or 'no', you'll keep driving straight because the onramp is closed.
To continue driving, type 'look' or 'drive car'.
This is where the game starts to branch off into the different endings. If you answer 'yes', you'll eventually get the first ending, if you answer 'no' you'll get either the second or third ending, depending on another branch along the road.

Ending 1

Type 'yes' when the game asks if you want to go to Loungent Technologies. To get inside, you'll have to have an ID card. Check you inventory ('i'). I wonder what's in that wallet. 'Open wallet' should open it, revealing that you have an ID card inside. 'Remove ID card from wallet' or 'take ID card' will put the card in your hand, and 'insert ID card in slot' will get you in the building.
'Enter cubicle' brings you inside the cubicle and 'take form and pen and note' adds all three things to your inventory. If you type 'examine note', you're told your next step, you have to sign the form by typing 'sign form'. As soon as you do, someone enters Bowman's room. Exit the cubicle ('exit') and follow him in with the command 'west'. Press any key and the game's over. Congratulations, you've gotten the first of four endings.

Ending 2

First off, I want to say that this ending may get a bit confusing if you haven't done the first ending yet. I'd suggest that you do that first. Now, at the choice to go to the office building say 'no'. 'Drive car' or 'look' let's you continue driving past the building to another onramp. At this one say 'yes' and you've found the second ending.

Ending 3

Like with ending 2, say 'no' to going to the office building, say 'drive car' or 'look' to continue driving and arrive at the turnoff for the onramp. Congrats, thats ending three.

Ending 4 and Bonuses

Now, if you've already gotten the first ending, there's a couple bonuses back at the house for you. You can get them before you get the first ending, but they may spoil it.

When you're in the bedroom, type 'look under bed' and after that type 'examine corpse'.

When you're in the driveway, type 'examine trunk' (as in, the car's trunk).

In the top right corner of the game, there is a time display. You start the game at 9:05. Different actions increase your time in different ways. For example, walking somewhere (such as 'west') takes one minute, the examine and look commands also take one minute, and showering takes six minutes. Once the clock reaches 12:46 pm, ending four is reached. The easiest way to do this is just type in 'z' over and over again. Each time you do so one minute passes. Sure, you'll have to do it 191 times, but that's the fastest way.

Reply

Did anyone notice that you can walk in any direction when you get outside?

Reply

this is hilarious i had a car, keys, watch,and cubicle(which had the desk and everything else in it); i then got in the car and the game blew up. lol

Reply
Anonymous June 16, 2009 12:27 PM

I really like the fact that this game is "snack-sized", it's perfect for when you want to relax and play some IF without having to deal with a longer/more complex game. However, I do have one complaint...

The game kind of led me to believe that my character was Hadley, saying things like "the familiar Loungent building", or when I examined the driver's license "The picture looks a lot better than you do now."

Reply
Duchess March 7, 2010 9:48 AM

Thanks for posting this - I remember it from back when I started playing IF. It's short and fun and doesn't involve much puzzling skills (And who wuold have thought I'd forgotten to look under bed on my first attempt? EVERY IF veteran knows something has to be under the bed.)

Talking about Cadre (He and Emily Short are my favourites), his "I-0" is great fun too, though it can get sleazy at times.
And of course, Narcolepsy is a famous and totally fun game.

These two games, like many of Cadre's, have multiple and equally fun endings.

Reply

Lol...

Went to the cubicle, took the form, the pen, and the note, went back to the living room, then signed the form. It STILL said I looked up just in time to see someone go in Bowman's room. xDDDDD

Reply
ojasvichandel July 2, 2012 7:51 AM

I can 't get out of the house I even tried to type in "leave south " as I read in the comments but it still won't go. I 've tried nearly all of the things it still isn't working can any one help me?

Reply

This is a fun little text game because it is not too long and not too hard. The ending sure surprised me too.

The parser is decent and usually figures out what you want. I am surprised by how many people had trouble with it.

It is missing some catch cases. For example

pick up car
open wall
put car in wallet

is valid

Reply
jayisgamed November 22, 2014 4:12 PM

Wow, I broke the game! In the beginning, if you 'take car' and then 'get in car' it just gets hung up.

Reply

I think I found a mistake in the guide. The guide says "Head back west ('west') to the living room". However the game says: "A bathroom lies to the south, while a door to the east leads to the living room."
See the mistake?

Reply

Ok, I have a problem while driving, which is driving me mad (no pun intended)

the game says:

As you cruise down the road, you notice a freeway onramp approaching. Would you like to get on? >>

I say "yes", the game says [That verb is not recognized.]
i say "no", same as above

what should I do? any help please?

Reply

^ Scroll Up | Homepage >

Leave a comment [top of page]

Please consider creating a Casual Gameplay account if you're a regular visitor here, as it will allow us to create an even better experience for you. Sign-up here!
  • PLEASE UNDERSTAND SITE POLICIES BEFORE POSTING COMMENTS
  • You may use limited HTML tags for style:
    (a href, b, br/, strong, em, ul, ol, li, code, spoiler)
    HTML tags begin with a less-than sign: < and end with a greater-than sign: >. Always. No exceptions.
  • To post spoilers, please use spoiler tags: <spoiler> example </spoiler>
    If you need help understanding spoiler tags, read the spoiler help.
  • Please Preview your comment before posting, especially when using spoilers!
  • No link dropping, no domains as names; do not spam, and do not advertise! (rel="nofollow" in use)
jayisgames.com Fortnite is a popular battle royale game where you play with up to 100 people in a match, facing enemies competing for the win. The title has two main modes: one requires you to build, and the other is...  ...
jayisgames.com If you love mobile games, then you will love the electrifying world of Golden Buffalo, where adrenaline-pumping action and high stakes await you at every turn. Our definitive review -- which helps you gain some understanding of what to...  ...
jayisgames.com The great thing about crypto is that it revolutionized our world. An even better aspect of crypto is that it keeps doing so. Not each year, but each month, we can see more and more crypto tech and options...  ...
jayisgames.com The world of gaming is impressive and huge. Companies continuously produce hundreds of video games and improve existing ones. However, there is a thought that gaming can become an issue for students. Some research proves that gaming can make...  ...

HELP Jayisgames.com

Recent Comments

 

Display 5 more comments
Limit to the last 5 comments

Game of the week


Dark Romance: Vampire Origins Collector's Edition

Your Favorite Games edit

add
Save links to your favorite games here. Use the Favorites editor.

Monthly Archives