Trizbort map - You begin at the Hilltop, outlined in green. Some rooms and connections are accessible only in daytime Festeron (in light blue) and others only at night in Witchville (in red). Objects in parentheses only appear in Witchville. As on Infocom maps, dotted lines indicate equipment or problem-solving is needed to pass.
Notes on this walkthrough
This is a near-minimalist approach to the game, which ignores many takeable items. I did it this way mainly because the inventory limit is pretty strict, and because most of the skipped items are used to make the various wishes in the story, none of which are necessary.
The items used to make the wishes are:
The horseshoe (at Lookout Hill), to wish for luck
The glasses (Inside Theater, nighttime only), to wish for foresight
The conch shell (Tidal Pool, the beach location south of the pelican, daytime only), to wish for advice
The umbrella (in the Twilight Glen), to wish for rain
The bottle of grue's milk (in the refrigerator in the Grue's Nest), to wish for darkness
The chocolate (in the Police Station, daytime only), to wish for freedom
The broom (in the Round Chamber of the Dark Tower, nighttime only), to wish for flight.
The wishes for luck, foresight, and advice are harmless (possibly helpful, if playing the game normally) and have no effect on your point total. The wishes for rain, darkness, and freedom provide some alternate puzzle solutions that do not yield full points. The wish for flight is a red herring and leads to a game over.
You will pick up the glasses and the broom anyway because they have other uses. Besides the other five wish items, you'll also bypass the candle (in the Church at night), which is just a light source, and the leaflet (in the mailbox at West of House), which is just an Easter egg.
Festeron
Go south into the Post Office. Wait. Take the envelope that Mr. Crisp hands you and leave. Go west twice to Creepy Corner, answering yes when the game asks if you really want to go into the cemetery. Go north to Spooky Copse. Wait. Show the envelope to the gravedigger. Wait another turn for the gravedigger to leave. Enter the grave and get the bone. Go up out of the grave. Return south and east to Outside Cemetery.
Go east twice more to Outside Cottage. Make sure you've done everything you want to do in the cemetery and Post Office, because you won't be able to come back this way for a while. Give the bone to the poodle. Go north to Rotary South. Wait one turn for Miss Voss to give you a violet note. Take it from her. Go north to the Park. Search the fountain. Take the coin. Go east three times to Wharf's End. Pick up the seahorse and throw it into the water.
Return west onto the Pleasure Wharf, north twice and west twice to South of Bridge, north twice and east to Cliff Bottom. Climb the mountain by going up, west, north, up, east, south, and up to Cliff Edge. Open the door of the Magick Shoppe and go in. Wait two turns for the old woman to come out from behind the curtain, then give her the envelope. Open it and read the letter to her. Wait one turn. Take the can she offers you. Wait twice, until you are outside the shop again. From Cliff Edge, go back down the mountain by going down, north, west, down, south, east, and down to Cliff Bottom. Break the tree branch, then get it.
Go west to North of Bridge. Hmm, a nasty troll has appeared to guard the bridge! Open the can; the (live!) snake inside will scare off the troll. Get the can again and squeeze it. Get the stone (Wishbringer) and drop the can. Open the gate and go south. Read the sign. (Uh-oh.)
For Your Amusement:
Examine the Wanted poster in the Post Office.
Attack Mr. Crisp.
Give Mr. Crisp an order (anything will do, e.g. Crisp, take poster).
Open the violet note that Miss Voss gives you.
Go east from the Park to Rotary East and read the theater marquee.
Examine the game in the Video Arcade (south from Pleasure Wharf).
Go north from the Pleasure Wharf to the Tidal Pool, pick up the conch shell, and listen to it.
Off Rotary North, enter the Church and try to take the candle.
Examine the grandfather clock in the Magick Shoppe both before
and after the old woman appears. (And did you notice anything about the clock in the status line?)
Examine the naughty birthday cards in the Magick Shoppe.
Enter the curtain in the Magick Shoppe.
Don't give the envelope to the woman; or, give it to her and read the letter, but then wait around without taking the can she offers you. (save first)
Open the can inside the Magick Shoppe.
Regarding the Boot Patrol
In Witchville, as the sign warned you, you must avoid the Boot Patrol. If they are "coming this way", immediately leave in some direction other than the one they are coming from. (Wishing for luck will not protect you from being caught.) If you only "hear the tramp of marching boots" in a certain direction, you are safe for the moment, and can move in a different direction or listen and wait for them to pass.
If you get captured, the first time you can escape by moving the bunk in the Jail Cell, going down the hole, and making your way up to the stump, although the hole under the bunk has an inventory limit. (Going to the Open Grave and up into the cemetery is also possible, but not recommended because eldritch vapors will steal all your items and scatter them across the map.) The second time, you can wish for freedom if you have the chocolate; otherwise you'll be stuck waiting for the Boot to come fetch you and take you to the Evil One. Whether you survive a third capture depends on whether you saved the seahorse (see the second paragraph under "Festeron" above); if not, you'll lose immediately. If you escape three times, however, the Police Station will close and you won't have to worry about the Boot Patrol anymore.
Witchville
Go south, west, and south to Lake Edge. Examine the pit. Put the branch in the pit, then get the branch again. Drop the branch. Dig in the sand. Get the whistle. Examine it. Blow the whistle. Go west from the Misty Island into the castle Throne Room. Wait one turn. Take the hat the King offers you. Wait one more turn. Blow the whistle again to return to the Lake Edge.
Go north, then up to Lookout Hill. Examine the stump, then open it. Go in to the Underground. Go south and east. Go up, move the bunk, then go up again to the Jail Cell. Get the blanket and go back down. Go north and east. Cover the grue with the blanket. Open the refrigerator and get the worm. Close the refrigerator. Return west twice and up to Lookout Hill. Close the stump.
Go down, east, and south twice to the Park. Examine the fountain. Put the worm in the fountain and get the token. Go north twice and east twice to the Lighthouse. Give the hat to the pelican and take note of the Magick word you are shown. (This word changes each game, taken from a limited selection: KALUZE, FRATTO...)
Go west twice, south twice, and east to Rotary East. (You can't go to the Tidal Pool location after dark, because the tide has risen.) Read the schedule and marquee. Buy a ticket. Go in to the Theater Lobby. Give the ticket to the gravedigger. Go in again to Inside Theater. (Interesting that this "inverted" movie theater is not only clean with comfortable seats, ha ha, but "clear of smoke"!) Look under the seats and take the 3D glasses. Put them on and wait five turns, watching the movie. When the screen goes black, remove the glasses. Go out twice to leave the theater, answering yes when the game asks whether you really want to leave.
Go east and south into the Video Arcade. Examine the machine. Put the token in the slot. Examine the screen and examine the star. It's on square E-3, which is where you are now. Push the joystick west twice, then south twice. Examine the star again and make sure it's on C-5, which is the square with the Tower/Post Office. Push the red button. Answer yes twice.
For Your Amusement:
When you are lost in the fog after visitng the Magick Shoppe, open the umbrella and wish for rain. (Get the umbrella from the cemetery before giving the bone to the poodle, because the poodle won't let you go back that way.)
Give the coin to the troll. Try the same after first picking up the horseshoe from Lookout Hill and saying wish for luck.
Wait around instead of taking the hat from King Anatinus. (save first)
Put something in the wizard's hat, and then look in the display case in the Museum at the end of the game.
Wake the baby grue. (save first)
Examine the Wanted poster in the Police Station.
Go to West of House (south from Rocky Path, along the shimmering trail), wait for the little mailbox to wake up, then pet it.
Feed the big mailbox the leaflet found inside the little mailbox. (If you have trouble with the mailboxes meeting before the big one starts demanding MAIL! from you, try going back and forth between Rotary East and Pleasure Wharf; the way the little mailbox trails one room behind you means they won't be in the same room at the same time. Or, wake up the big mailbox first before going to West of House; it will follow you to Rocky Path, but not down the trail, giving you one turn to feed it before the little mailbox catches up with you when you go back north from West of House.)
Let the big mailbox and the little mailbox meet, then notice what appears in the Museum at the end of the game.
In the Video Arcade, kill the stunted humanoids.
The Dark Tower and Library
To lower the drawbridge, type in the Magick word the pelican showed you. Go south to the tower Vestibule. You can't do anything to help Princess Tasmania at the moment, so try to go south... and you'll be captured by Mr. Crisp and taken to the Torture Chamber. Give Mr. Crisp the violet note and he will leave. Get the lab coat. Look in the pocket. Get the rusty key. Unlock your chains with the key. Pull (do not push!) the lever. Drop the key and lab coat. Get the violet note and read it. Open the hatch and go up the ladder twice to a room called "Fuzziness". Hmm, now where else recently was everything blurred and fuzzy...? Wear the glasses and you will find you're in a Laboratory. Examine the panel. Examine the first switch and the second switch. Turn off the second switch. Get the broom.
Go down and remove the glasses. In the Round Chamber, examine the paintings. Move a painting and you will find a crank. Turn the crank to open the drawbridge. Go north twice and east to Outside Cottage. Type Alexis, heel. (Feel free to pet the hellhound now, if you like.) Open the door and go in to the Cottage. Get the steel key. Leave the cottage and go north to Rotary South. Unlock the library door with the steel key. Go in, then south. Locked in? Oh, well - just go south again to the Museum. Examine the sculpture in the display case. Break the case with the broom and take the sculpture. (I chose the broom mainly because of its convenient location, but you can also break the case with the umbrella, conch shell, horseshoe, bottle of grue's milk, or dead branch, if you have any of them with you.) Put the stone into the sculpture. Answer yes twice when prompted. When you are transported to the Cliff Edge, examine the cat. Aha! The right one. Knock on the door. Congratulations, Adventurer!
For Your Amusement:
Wish for freedom while Mr. Crisp is present.
Push the lever on the torture machine up instead of pulling it down. (Perhaps save first, since you lose points; and be warned that the result is rather gruesome, even for a text adventure.)
Put the black cat from the Laboratory in the torture machine while the Princess is still in it.
Put inanimate objects (such as the lab coat) into the torture machine and push the lever up. (Possibly save first, because the object is destroyed.)
Wake the black cat (such as by petting it) and then pour out the grue's milk.
Read the message in the dust in the Cottage.
Break open the display case without first turning off the alarm switch in the Laboratory. (save first)
Break case without specifying any object to use.
Put the stone in the sculpture, answer no when asked whether you really want to, then put on the glasses.
Give the stone to the old woman in the Museum. (save first)
Attack the old woman.
Pour out the grue's milk next to Chaos, then knock on the door of the Magick Shoppe. (save first)
For Your Amusement at various times:
Swear repeatedly. (There are three different responses.)
Wish for rain outside while another character is present.
Drop the candle into the bay, lake, or river.
Get captured by the Boot Patrol and just wait around in the jail cell. (save first)
Escape the Jail Cell twice, then get captured again, both with and without having saved the seahorse. (save first for without)
Extras
For further entertainment, you may be interested in:
Lists of bugs in Wishbringer: Nathan Simpson, Graeme Cree, XyzzyNews
Posts about this game at The Digital Antiquarian, The Adventure Gamer, and SPAG
Source code , and for the Solid Gold version
Points
| Action | Points | Action | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Festeron | Witchville cont'd. | ||
| Enter post office | 1 | Get token from fountain | 3 |
| Take envelope | 5 | Give hat to pelican | 5 |
| Get bone from grave | 1 | Buy theater ticket | 3 |
| Give bone to poodle | 3 | Take 3D glasses | 3 |
| Take violet note | 3 | Put token in game slot | 1 |
| Get coin from fountain | 1 | Teleport to Dark Tower | 5 |
| Arrive at Cliff Edge | 1 | ||
| Give envelope to old woman | 5 | The Dark Tower and Library | |
| Read letter to old woman | 1 | Lower drawbridge | 3 |
| Take can | 3 | Get rusty key | 3 |
| Unlock your chains | 1 | ||
| Witchville | Read violet note | 3 | |
| Scare troll | 3 | Turn crank/open drawbridge | 1 |
| Find Magick stone | 5 | Turn off second switch | 3 |
| Rescue platypus from pit | 5 | "Alexis, heel" | 5 |
| Find whistle | 3 | Get steel key | 3 |
| Take hat | 1 | Unlock Library door | 3 |
| Get blanket | 3 | Put stone in sculpture | 5 |
| Cover grue with blanket | 3 | ||
| Get worm | 3 | Total | 100 |
How to lose points:
Besides using the wishes for rain, darkness, or freedom, you will also lose 10 points if you:
Don't take the violet note
Disturb the pile of leaves at Lake Edge
Give the stone to the vulture
Give the stone to the pelican
Torture the Princess by pushing the lever up
Torture the black cat
Give the grue's milk to Chaos
Last updated: 4/28/2021