Fancy Maze (Case 01)
For today's Weekday Escape we go back in time a bit to a year ago when HILG came out with a fun little room escape that got overlooked in the Halloween rush. Now, for your room escaping pleasure, we proudly present Fancy Maze (Case 01).
Fancy Maze (Case 01) is one of HILG's slighter efforts. Despite that, there are a lot of fun things to discover and puzzles to solve in what looks like a mini-movie theater, probably in an office or some rich person's house. Wander around, pick things up, see if you are up on the latest (and not so latest) technology, and see if you can find the two different endings in this amusing little game. Fortunately, for such an easy game, there is the usual save function so that finding the two ways out is much easier and doesn't require replaying the entire game.
The mini-theater has a screen at one end and a door at the other. Very comfy seating and some nice decorative touches round out this mysterious space, which you appear to be trapped in. It all looks very luxurious, pretty standard with HILG games. Navigation can be tricky, though, partly due to the odd turning angles and partly due to the lack of navigation bars at the edges of the screens. There are little balls instead which show up when you hover your mouse near the edge. However, the balls can sometimes be hard to see against the backgrounds so be prepared for a bit of confusion. And the lack of a changing cursor means that yes, pixel hunting ahead.
Fortunately, as with all of HILG's games, you can use the friendly yellow button at the bottom left of the screen to change to the English version, as well as turn on a hint feature. Unfortunately, Fancy Maze is a throwback to HILG's earlier games, so you can't get into the system to change the language until after you wander through an all Japanese introduction, presumably telling you how you got locked into the mini-theater in the first place.
Despite the flaws, though, Fancy Maze is a fun little time waster. A classic escape the room puzzle wrapped up in a pretty bow, the perfect mid-week break. Sit back, relax, and enjoy some classic simple room escaping.
Walkthrough Guide
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Fancy Maze Walkthrough
Note: you can change the language from Japanese to English (after the intro is done) by clicking the yellow SYS button at the bottom left of the screen.
Another note: I found that second ending, so the walkthrough is complete (at least to my knowledge).
You begin facing a lit-up projector screen.
If you mouse over the projector screen, you'll see a message at the bottom of the game screen telling you the title of the movie is "ALONE in the Tom's tree house". You'll probably want to write this down, making sure to spell everything correctly.
To the far right of the counter in front of you is a tiny switch. Click the switch to zoom in, then click "OFF" to turn off the projector and turn on the lights. Back up.
Now that the lights are on, you can see that the box in the middle of the counter is a VCR, which you can open and close with a button on the bottom left of the front of the VCR. Take the little memo from inside the VCR. We'll deal with that later.
Also notice that if you click just above the VCR there is a hook on the wall there.
On the left side of the counter is a potted plant. Pick up the plant and take the red part from underneath it.
Go right from the counter. You see a big potted plant and a rectangular box behind it. Zoom in on the box. It's a speaker, which you can open with a "thin thing". Zoom out.
Go right. You're facing a corner, with a dark brown door to the right. There's a small panel on the wall in the corner, which you can open revealing a red keyhole. (You won't need this till much later.)
If you click behind the back row of seats, you'll get a view of a toolbox on the ground. There's a padlock on it, but you don't have the clues to the combination yet.
Turn right from the toolbox corner. You're facing a dark brown door, above which is a projector. Zoom in on the projector, then click underneath it to see a compass. Note the square around the N and the figure-eights under the directions.
Turn right from the door. You should see a big sunflower. Click the sunflower to zoom in, then click the bottom of the sunflower pot to see the bottom halves of some numbers. (This again won't come in until much later.)
Zoom out from the bottom of the sunflower, and to the right of the sunflower you see a little cabinet. If you zoom in and try to open it you see that it's locked.
Go right from the sunflower corner. You should see a square clock on the wall. Note that if you hover over the 12 spot, you see a square, and also that there are little figure-eights where the numbers would be.
Back up from the clock. Click on the area between the two chair backs you can see to zoom in on the seats. Take the pamphlet on the middle chair.
Bring up the pamphlet in your inventory. Note that when you open up the pamphlet, the bottom of your screen says the title is "ALOHA in the Sam's true house". Write this down, remembering to spell everything correctly.
Click the pamphlet to open it. Take the memo that was inside it. Click the pamphlet again to see a picture of the ocean. Take the paperclip from the top of the page.
Turn right from the clock on the wall, and you'll see a corner with another speaker in it. Zoom in on the speaker and open it up. Take the green part (near the little navigation ball by the bottom of the screen).
Go to the speaker to the right of the counter, next to the potted plant. Use the paperclip on it to open it up. Take the little iPod from the top hole in the speaker.
If you click the very bottom of the iPod, you see a little slot for a memory card.
The clock/compass puzzle
Go to the clock on the wall. Open up the memo you got from the pamphlet. You should see a bunch of numbers with their middles erased. But if you click the bottom-right corner of the memo, it turns around and you see another clue: "A movie does not tell a lie."
This means:
Remember the title of the movie from the projector screen? Compare that to the title you got from the pamphlet. They're similar, but there are some differences.
ALONE in the Tom's tree house - projector
ALOHA in the Sam's true house - pamphlet
There are five letters different in the titles: N/H, E/A, T/S, O/A, E/U. But only one set of letters is correct. And since the movie can't lie, the letters from the projector screen are the correct set of letters you should be working with: N, E, T, O, E.
There are two compass directions in that set of letters:
NETOE = NE to E
Compare this to the memo you got from the VCR, which says "S to L", S and L referring to the Small and Large hands of the clock. Luckily, you already have these parts in your inventory: the red part and green part are actually clock hands. (Why that L was blue and not green like the corresponding part I have no idea.)
Look back at the clock. It greatly resembles the compass from the bottom of the projector, doesn't it? The 12 position is North, the 3 position is East, etc.
Put the clock hands on the clock in the places indicated by the VCR memo:
Put the Small red hand in the NE position. Put the Large green hand in the East position.
Now push the button at the bottom of the clock. Take the key that pops out from the side.
The toolbox lock puzzle
Go to the toolbox in the corner. If you have both memos, you should now be able to zoom in on the lock.
Keep in mind the set of letters you used earlier: NETOE.
Your first clue is the VCR memo. If you click the bottom-right corner of it, it turns around to show you a padlock outline with some shapes in it. What this means is that you're going to have four pairs of letters that are adjacent to each other:
NETOE breaks up into NE, ET, TO, AND OE
Second, take a look at the memo from the pamphlet, the one with the broken-up numbers in the padlock outline. Think about those numbers for a second: they're missing their MIDDLE parts. Meaning you can only see the FIRST and LAST parts of them.
What this all means:
Look at your pairs of letters: NE, ET, TO, OE. These are spelled-out numbers with their middles missing, so you only have their first and last letters. The numbers are
NinE, EighT, TwO, and OnE.
Put the four-digit number you figured out from the memos into the padlock on the toolbox. The numbers are
9821
Now click the gold part of the padlock to open it, then click again to remove it. Back up once and open the toolbox. Take the screwdriver and the hammer.
Go to the VCR and zoom in on it. Click on the wall to the top-left of the VCR. If you click on the wall, you discover that it sounds kind of funny when you knock on it.
Use the hammer on the wall. You open up a niche with a camera in it. Next to the camera is a remote. Notice that if you hit the ON button on the remote, the camera starts recording.
There is also a little slot on the front of the camera where you can stick something.
Go to the corner with the sunflower in it. Zoom in on the little cabinet behind the sunflower. Use the key you got from the clock to open the cabinet. Take the top-right video there. Click on the top shelf to zoom in and take the small box.
Go to the VCR. Open up the VCR and put the tape in (make sure to take the tape out of its case before you put it in the VCR). Close the VCR's door again.
Flip the ON/OFF switch on the wall on the right side of the counter. Back up and look at the projector screen. Notice the pattern that shows up. Keep that pattern in mind as you flip the switch again, turning the lights back on.
Look around the room again, specifically at the arrangement of the seats. The chairs are in the same pattern that you just saw on the screen. Find the chair indicated by the pattern:
if you're facing the sunflower corner, then it's the chair directly in front of the sunflower.
Get the M-shaped hook from under that chair.
Use the screwdriver to open the small box. Get the memory card.
If you put that memory card in the slot on the bottom of the iPod, you see a broken animation, which is useless. What you need to do is make a useful animation. Remember that camera in the wall? What is the camera facing that you could make a video of?
Go to the camera in the wall. Make sure the camera is off (using the remote in your inventory). Put the memory card in the slot on the bottom-front of the camera.
Bring up the remote in your inventory and hit ON. Now go flip the switch on the wall to lower the projection screen. Hit that same switch again to raise the screen. Now go back to the camera and use the remote to turn it off. Take the memory card back.
Put the memory card into the bottom of the iPod. Hit the button to watch a new animation, and take note of the numbers you see on the back of the projector screen.
Go back to the clock on the wall. Take back the two clock hands.
Remember those numbers you saw on the back of the projector screen? Yep, they were a time. Put the clock hands on the clock at the appropriate time:
4:55
Take the key that pops out.
You can now use that key on the big brown door to escape.
Fancy End
But wait! Don't go through that door just yet! (If you did, there's an option to return to the room, so no worries.) Notice that this key has a red, sun-shaped bit on it.
Go to the panel in that corner to the left of the door and put the key in the red keyhole there. This rotates the sunflower's pot so you see whole numbers. Go inspect the pot and see what the numbers are.
Go to the counter and flip the switch to pull down the projector screen. Back up from the switch and zoom in on the VCR, then use the M-shaped hook on the area above the VCR, attaching the projector screen to the hook behind the VCR. Now go back and flip the wall switch again.
A secret door! Click the secret entrance and you see a door with a keypad on it. Enter the numbers from the sunflower pot into the keypad:
6219
Back up and open the door for the Fancy End. (And for a surprise, click the sunflower.)
Many, many, many thanks to SonicLover for his comment explaining the toolbox puzzle. I had no idea what was going on with that.
[Thank you for compiling this great walkthrough! I've added some list elements to improve its readability a bit, but you did a great job with it to start with. Please send an email to our contact address for a selection of prizes to choose from. :) -Jay]
Posted by: nerdypants
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November 11, 2010 6:53 PM