Where is canary in zork

So to find out that there isn't a smarter way just makes me think it's a terrible puzzle design. CPLX on Dec 3, root parent next [—].

I solved it with a pencil and paper when I was 12 years old or so, and I'm pretty sure lots of other people did too. I agree it's a little tedious by modern standards but it's really not that complicated. If I recall correctly you can represent the entire thing with about boxes connected by a couple lines between them plus a bunch of little loops where the player remains in the same place.

It's a succinct area of the map. Perhaps you should try again with a fresh perspective. Here's an example of a map like that [0] I made a while ago for an online game.

Each room, uniquely identified by an arbitrary item bagel, lantern, longsword, loaf of bread, etc , is drawn separately with lines in each of the four cardinal indicating where those exits end up. Some are indicated as one-way passages, while others are bent to indicate some sort of spatial relationship when it's reasonable to show though the entire maze has no coherent planar form. Of course, this is a cleaned up version once I had discovered all the connections; while mapping, each passage would be drawns as a straight one-way connection until bi-directional relationships were discovered.

The chart on the bottom shows the same maze in the form of an adjacency matrix, showing which rooms are connected to which, and by which direction. Again, the rooms are banded by number of steps from the exit. Note that pairs of rooms with bi-directional connections can be discovered by noticing filled cells whose positions are symmetrical about the diagonal of the chart. The 3 x 3 square in the upper corner is a sort of simple compass I came up with for navigating the maze; it tells you which way to go based on the "shape" i.

Even though not all room shapes are unique, if you follow those directions you are guaranteed to get out relatively quickly. It is terrible puzzle design. Zork is old. You have to save the game state, play the slot machine, and if you win you save game state again.

If you lose, you restore form the last save point, and repeat as necessary until you get enough money. So there is no way to get past that puzzle without "breaking the 4th wall", so to speak. DonHopkins on Dec 3, parent prev next [—]. The problem with trying to map Zork by dropping objects around, is that the damn thief comes along and picks them up.

Think of the thief as an incremental garbage collector, but not conservative because he also steals objects from your inventory that are still in use! You may not have noticed that he robbed you blind first. Once you retrieve the opened egg from his lair, take the canary to the tree and wind it, and you will receive a beautiful brass bauble!

The egg is covered with fine gold inlay, and ornamented in lapis lazuli and mother-of-pearl. Unlike most eggs, this one is hinged and has a delicate looking clasp holding it closed. The egg appears extremely fragile.

It has ruby eyes and a silver beak. Through a crystal window below its left wing you can see intricate machinery inside. It appears to have wound down.

The egg is now open. From out of the greenery flies a lovely songbird. It perches on a limb just over your head and opens its beak to sing. As it does so a beautiful brass bauble drops from its mouth, bounces off the top of your head, and lands glimmering in the grass.

As the canary winds down, the songbird flies away. Zork was a flattering rip-off of Colossal Cave Adventure. Go play that instead. Still has the maze s and yes, you have to map them out tediously.

But try to remember we had no graphics back then. Text console was fairly new. It was awesome at the time. One of these stamps was part of the Treasures of Zork. To the west and south can be seen an immense forest, stretching for miles around. A path leads northwest. It is possible to climb down into the canyon from here. You are on a ledge about halfway up the wall of the river canyon. You can see from here that the main flow from Aragain Falls twists along a passage which it is impossible for you to enter.

Below you is the canyon bottom. Above you is more cliff, which appears climbable. You are beneath the walls of the river canyon which may be climbable here. The lesser part of the runoff of Aragain Falls flows by below. To the north is a narrow path. You are on a small, rocky beach on the continuation of the Frigid River past the Falls. The beach is narrow due to the presence of the White Cliffs. The river canyon opens here and sunlight shines in from above. A rainbow crosses over the falls to the east and a narrow path continues to the southwest.

A sceptre, possibly that of ancient Egypt itself, is in the coffin. The sceptre is ornamented with colored enamel, and tapers to a sharp point. Suddenly, the rainbow appears to become solid and, I venture, walkable I think the giveaway was the stairs and bannister.

A quantity of water. A chasm runs southwest to northeast and the path follows it. You are on the south side of the chasm, where a crack opens into a passage. You are in a long room on the south shore of a large lake, far too deep and wide for crossing.

There is a path along the stream to the east or west, a steep pathway climbing southwest along the edge of a chasm, and a path leading into a canyon to the southeast.

You are standing on the top of the Flood Control Dam 3, which was quite a tourist attraction in times far distant. There are paths to the north, south, and west, and a scramble down. The sluice gates on the dam are closed.

Behind the dam, there can be seen a wide reservoir. Water is pouring over the top of the now abandoned dam. There is a control panel here, on which a large metal bolt is mounted. Directly above the bolt is a small green plastic bubble. This room appears to have been the waiting room for groups touring the dam. There are open doorways here to the north and east marked "Private", and there is a path leading south over the top of the dam.

Some guidebooks entitled "Flood Control Dam 3" are on the reception desk. This is what appears to have been the maintenance room for Flood Control Dam 3.

Apparently, this room has been ransacked recently, for most of the valuable equipment is gone. On the wall in front of you is a group of buttons colored blue, yellow, brown, and red. There are doorways to the west and south. Directly above the bolt is a small green plastic bubble which is glowing serenely. You are on the south edge of a deep canyon. Passages lead off to the east, northwest and southwest. A stairway leads down.

You can hear a loud roaring sound, like that of rushing water, from below. This is a large room with a ceiling which cannot be detected from the ground. There is a narrow passage from east to west and a stone stairway leading upward. The room is deafeningly loud with an undetermined rushing sound. The sound seems to reverberate from all of the walls, making it difficult even to think.

It is unbearably loud here, with an ear-splitting roar seeming to come from all around you. There is a pounding in your head which won't stop. With a tremendous effort, you scramble out of the room. This is a tiny cave with entrances west and north, and a dark, forbidding staircase leading down.

Abandon every hope all ye who enter here! The gate is open; through it you can see a desolation, with a pile of mangled bodies in one corner.

Thousands of voices, lamenting some hideous fate, can be heard. The way through the gate is barred by evil spirits, who jeer at your attempts to pass. The bell suddenly becomes red hot and falls to the ground. The wraiths, as if paralyzed, stop their jeering and slowly turn to face you. On their ashen faces, the expression of a long-forgotten terror takes shape. The flames flicker wildly and appear to dance.

The earth beneath your feet trembles, and your legs nearly buckle beneath you. The spirits cower at your unearthly power. Each word of the prayer reverberates through the hall in a deafening confusion. As the last word fades, a voice, loud and commanding, speaks: "Begone, fiends! You have entered the Land of the Living Dead. Thousands of lost souls can be heard weeping and moaning. In the corner are stacked the remains of dozens of previous adventurers less fortunate than yourself.

A passage exits to the north. Lying in one corner of the room is a beautifully carved crystal skull. It appears to be grinning at you rather nastily. You are in a large square room with tall ceilings. On the south wall is an enormous mirror which fills the entire wall. There are exits on the other three sides of the room.

This is a cold and damp corridor where a long east-west passageway turns into a southward path. This is a small chamber, which appears to have been part of a coal mine.

On the south wall of the chamber the letters "Granite Wall" are etched in the rock. To the east is a long passage, and there is a steep metal slide twisting downward.

To the north is a small opening. You are standing at the entrance of what might have been a coal mine. The shaft enters the west wall, and there is another exit on the south end of the room. You are in a small room. Strange squeaky sounds may be heard coming from the passage at the north end.

You may also escape to the east. In the corner of the room on the ceiling is a large vampire bat who is obviously deranged and holding his nose. This is a large room, in the middle of which is a small shaft descending through the floor into darkness below. To the west and the north are exits from this room. Constructed over the top of the shaft is a metal framework to which a heavy iron chain is attached.

This is a small non-descript room. However, from the direction of a small descending staircase a foul odor can be detected. To the south is a narrow tunnel. This is a small room which smells strongly of coal gas. There is a short climb up some stairs and a narrow tunnel leading east.

This is a very small room. In the corner is a rickety wooden ladder, leading downward. It might be safe to descend. There is also a staircase leading upward. This is a rather wide room. On one side is the bottom of a narrow wooden ladder. To the west and the south are passages leaving the room. This is a long and narrow passage, which is cluttered with broken timbers. A wide passage comes from the east and turns at the west end of the room into a very narrow passageway.

From the west comes a strong draft. This is a small drafty room in which is the bottom of a long shaft. To the south is a passageway and to the east a very narrow passage. In the shaft can be seen a heavy iron chain. This is a large, cold room whose sole exit is to the north. In one corner there is a machine which is reminiscent of a clothes dryer.

On the front of the machine is a large lid, which is closed. The machine comes to life figuratively with a dazzling display of colored lights and bizarre noises. After a few moments, the excitement abates. Move the large oriental rug, then open the newly revealed trap door. Drop the jewel-encrusted egg on the floor, then go down and light the lantern. You're now in the GUE! Turn the lantern off in order to save battery power, then go to the living room.

Get the sword and jewel-encrusted egg, then open the trophy case and put the painting into it. Return to the kitchen and go up to the dark attic. Turn the lantern on, type GET ALL to get the rope and nasty knife, then turn the lantern off and go back down to the kitchen.

Go back to the living room and open the trap door again. Go down and turn the lantern on, then save your game before going north to the troll room. Attack the troll with the sword until one of you is dead. If it's you, restore your save and try again. If it's the troll, save your game again before moving on. Drop the sword, then go east twice to get to the round room.

Go southeast to the engravings cave and east to the dome room. Tie your rope to the railing, then climb down the rope in order to reach the torch room. Turn the lantern off and get the ivory torch, then go south and drop the lantern in the temple area.

Go east to the Egyptian room and take the coffin, then open the coffin and take the sceptre from inside it. Killing the thief now is possible, but you'll usually get killed and have to restore your save. This presumably works because of the granite walls.

First, give the jewel-encrusted egg, ivory torch, gold coffin, and sceptre to the thief. If so, wait until you're mostly or fully healed before continuing. Pick up the lantern and turn it on since the treasure room sometimes mysteriously goes dark , then save your game again. Return to the treasure room and attack the thief with the nasty knife until he or you are dead. Hopefully, you'll be able to win in only a few tries. Then get the torch, chalice, egg, and sceptre. You can now go east twice from the cyclops room to reach the living room.

Get the golden clockwork canary from the egg, then put the egg, canary, sceptre, and chalice into the trophy case. Drop the lantern, reopen the trap door, then go back west to the cyclops room. From there, go northwest, south, west, and then down to reach the dead adventurer's room.

Get the bag of coins, then go north, west, south, and east to get back to the troll room. From there, you can go south and then up to return to the living room. Put the bag of coins in the trophy case.

Go back to the cyclops room, then up to the treasure room. Take the coffin if you can. If not, wait until your injuries are healed, then take it. Return to the living room and put the coffin into the trophy case. Return to the living room and go down to the cellar, then north to the troll room.

Go east three times to get to the loud room, where you'll need to type ECHO before getting the platinum bar. Go up and then east to reach Flood Control Dam 3.