THE UPGRADED, CONSOLIDATED, INFOCOM BUGS LIST by Graeme Cree

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THE UPGRADED, CONSOLIDATED, INFOCOM BUGS LIST by Graeme Cree
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
[email protected]
Revision 4, Serial Number 001126
(Based on earlier lists by C.E. Forman)

"Last version was better," says Floyd. "More bugs. Bugs make game fun."
-FLOYD's response to the VERSION command in all non-Solid Gold
versions of Planetfall.

During the 1980's, Infocom published 31 all-text and 4 illustrated text
adventure games. Though they published other items: role-playing games,
interactive comic books, a Clue-like strategy game and a corporate database,
their text games are what they are primarily remembered for today.
Although these games were remarkably well constructed, the occasional
programming glitch did creep in here and there, and this list is an attempt
to show all known bugs in these 35 games (plus a couple of others). Since
many of them were corrected when the game was updated, this list also shows
you exactly which versions of each game the bugs do and do not appear in.
Each bug is given a number. At the beginning of each game's description
is a chart, showing all known versions of the game, cross-referenced with a
column for each bug. The column will show a "Y" if the bug appears in that
version, and an "N" if it doesn't appear.
The versions are listed in the format [Release #/Serial #]. For
example, 10/880531 is Release 10, Serial Number 880531. The serial number
is actually the date that the datafile was compiled. Versions that appear in
the IBM version of Lost Treasures of Infocom or The Infocom Masterpieces
Collection are preceded with an asterisk. This is usually the most recent
version of the game, but not always. Commands that are to be entered into
the actual game to produce the bug are shown in all caps.
If anyone has any corrections, or comments, you may contact me at
at [email protected]. Datafiles that do not appear on this list are of
especial interest.

NOTE: Chris Forman's earlier lists originally appeared in several
different installments in XYZZY News, an online magazine devoted to text
adventures (http://www.xyzzynews.com). This list is said to be "upgraded" in
the sense that it has had many new bugs added since then, (and because it
tells you which versions of the game do and do not have the bug), and
"consolidated" in the sense that it's now all available in one place.

BUGS THAT ARE NEW TO VERSION 4 OF THIS LIST
When new bugs are added to the list, they are not always just stuck on
to the end. Generally I try to arrange bugs for each game in order from
least frequently occurring to most frequently, which may mean renumbering
them. The discoverer of each bug is listed, when known. These are the bugs
that are new to Version 4 of this list:

Arthur: #1, #2, #3
Border Zone: #1
Beyond Zork: #7, #8
Enchanter: #6, #11, #12
Hitchhiker's Guide: #3
Infidel: #6
Leather Goddesses: #3
Lurking Horror: #8
Planetfall: #5, #8, #9, #10
Plundered Hearts: #7
Quarterstaff: #2, #3
Shogun: #1
Sorcerer: #4, #6
Spellbreaker: #4
Trinity: #6, #7
Wishbringer: #2
The Witness: #2
Zork 1: #12, #15, #16, #17, #18, #19, #20, #24, #25, #28
Zork 2: #4, #7, #8, #9, #10
Zork 3: #12
Zork: TUU: #1
Generic: #1, #2, #3, #4

Nord and Bert Unconfirmed: 11-24-00

A REMINDER: The Zork 1 Invisiclues book contains this question and answer:

Q: Where do I find a machete?
A: There is none. The game must have _some_ limitations. You can't
expect to walk to the nearest airport and fly to London to see the
British Museum...

It is important to keep this in mind while perusing the list. Some of the
bugs herein are legitimate (and amusing) problems, but others are things
that would only have been found by enthusiastic players stretching the game
beyond reasonable limits, and reflect no discredit on Infocom, Inc.
Regardless, all bugs are presented here because a) they're fun and
amount to unintentional Easter Eggs, and b) they may provide guidance to
authors of shareware text adventures about what kinds of problems to look
out for when writing their own games. These are things that not only got
past the pros, but got past the _best_ of the pros.

NOTE: The labeling for the list has been changed slightly. The old
3.1, 3.2, labeling format was getting impractical, since tiny changes in this
list may be made at any time, sometimes frequently. As a result, the list is
now labeled like an Infocom game, with a revision number and a serial number.
The serial number is the date that the list was last updated. The revision
number will increase by one every time I create a new update of The Ultimate
Infocom Collection (i.e., next time I make a new version, the list will
be changed to Revision 4).
The Ultimate Infocom Collection (or TUIC) is my own personal archival
backup of Infocom games that I created with a CD burner in 1995, and which I
use for checking out new bugs (extreme overuse of the word "Ultimate" in the
computer game world has made me regret the title, but it's too late to change
it now). It has every Infocom game except Quarterstaff, (including
Cornerstone, Fooblitzky, the Infocomics, et cetera), and all the various
versions of the games, indexed with a series of batch file driven menus.
For example, if I just want to play Zork 1, I can pop the CD in, type
ZORK1 at a prompt, and go immediately into the Solid Gold version of the
game. If I need to go bug hunting, the command ZORK1 ? gives a menu of all
known versions of Zork 1, and lets you can push F1 to play Version 5, F2 to
play Version 15, F3 to play Version 23, and so on.
Little improvements are frequently made to the collection. When
Infocom Masterpieces was released, I put all of its Adobe Acrobat
documentation files into the next version. Now that I've gotten a colour
scanner, I mean to scan in all the original Infocom documentation for a
future version.
I've been asked if I could distribute this, and of course I couldn't
since it was all copyrighted material, but there may be hope on the horizon.
There is a new program at ftp.gmd.de that lets you create a patch to turn one
version of an Infocom game into another, provided that you first have the
necessary legal copy of the game. With this program, I can upload patch
files to GMD that would allow legal owners of a game access to any other
version of the game. From that point, I could simply upload just the
batch files and directory structure of the collection, and allow people to
plug in the datafiles and create their own version.
I've also thought of giving a copy to Activision in the hopes that they
may use it as a giveaway with their next Zork graphic adventure, or something
like that.

=======================================
A Mind Forever Voyaging
=======================================
VERSION BUG
1 2 3 4
*77/850814 Y Y Y Y
79/851122 Y Y Y Y

1. THE BEER BUG: The command PUT [noun] ON COUNTER (in the post office
or a bar) will be interpreted by the game as PUT BEER ON COUNTER. For
example, if you type PUT KEY ON COUNTER (in the Post Office when you are not
holding a beer), the response is "That's easy for you to say since you don't
even have the mug of beer." -- Torbjrn Andersson

2. Spending too many turns in Library Mode without exiting to
Communications Mode, causes the game to crash and drop you to the DOS prompt.
With Infocom's interpreter, there is no error message at all. With Frotz,
you get "Fatal error: Stack overflow."
When using Infocom's interpreter, the crash will occur after about 105
turns. With Frotz, it may take anywhere from 140 to 200 turns, but milage
may vary from system to system.
Apparently the stack is released upon leaving Library Mode, because
if you time it so that you leave Library Mode just before the crash, the
game will continue to operate normally. Since there only a few messages to
read in Library Mode, nobody should have any reason to stay there nearly
long enough to cause a problem. -- Torbjrn Andersson

3. In any version, if you stay in Simulation Mode long enough, you will
find that the year does not advance, and the months keep going past December.
The day after 12/31/2041 for example, is 13/1/2041. The 13th month has 31
days, but all succeeding months have 30.
In addition, although Perelman explicitly tells you that the simulation
takes place in real time, and that a minute in the sim equals a minute in the
outside world, he never tries to reboot you or lose patience in any other
way, no matter how many long you spend in Simulation Mode. -- Edan Harel
NOTE: Let's not be too hard on Infocom on this or the previous bug. It
may behoove us to recall the words of the Zork 1 Invisiclues Book that the
games must have some limitations, and that you can't (in Zork 1) expect to go
to the nearest airport and fly to London to visit the British Museum.
Although both of these bugs could be fixed, Infocom would most likely have
regarded them as examples of stretching the game beyond its reasonable
limitations. -- GC

4. FUNNY RESPONSES: These work in any version (in Simulation Mode):

>ENTER WALLET
You see nothing unusual about your head.

>ENTER HEAD
You hit your head against your head as you attempt this feat.

You must be holding your wallet in the first example for this to
work. -- Steve McKinney

=======================================
Arthur: The Quest for Excalibur
=======================================
VERSION BUG
1 2 3
54/890606 Y Y Y (Amiga/Macintosh Version)
63/890622 Y Y Y (Apple ][ Version)
74/890714 Y Y Y (IBM Version)

1. THE UBIQUITOUS IDIOT: Although the idiot is in Town Square, you can
fully interact with him (i.e. talk to him, trade with him), not only from the
Churchyard, but also from Behind Gravestone. This works in all
versions. -- Steven Marsh

2. THE PAPIER-MACHE IDIOT: On the first turn of the game (or any turn
when the idiot is in sight, try this command (in any version):

>POKE IDIOT
The idiot is powerless to stop your attack, and you slay him
mercilessly. Merlin appears before you and says sadly, "I see you have
learned nothing, Arthur. I'm afraid my time with you has been wasted."

Merlin says sadly, "You have failed in your quest, Arthur. Dark days lie
ahead for all England."

Sonafagun! What a wuss! But almost any "attack", however slight, will
do the same thing; PUSH IDIOT, HIT IDIOT WITH DEAD MOUSE, SLAP IDIOT, et
cetera. You can even kill him THROUGH the gate (i.e. from Churchyard, or
Behind Gravestone)!
At least TOUCH IDIOT won't kill him. Neither will LICK IDIOT, though
the response, "You gnaw briefly on the idiot's leg, but quit when he begins
to put salt and pepper on your arm." is more like what one would expect from
BITE IDIOT. -- Steven Marsh

3. In all versions, trying to TELL the Kraken about anything (i.e. TELL
KRAKEN ABOUT ME) gives the response "You can't talk the giant kraken. You
are an eel."
Not only is the word "to" missing from the sentence, the statement is
also incorrect. You CAN talk to the kraken with verbs other than TELL.
For example: ASK KRAKEN ABOUT ME, or KRAKEN, GO NORTHEAST. -- Alex Hoffer

=======================================
Ballyhoo
=======================================
BUG
VERSION 1 2
*97/851218 Y Y

1. If you say RIMSHAW, FEEL MY HEAD in his presence, then the "put"
command will no longer work with either the bucket or the dress-suit
combination.
PUT MASK IN BUCKET or PUT VEIL IN POCKET (of the dress-suit)
will both work before issuing this command, but if you try it afterwards
you get messages about how useless the command is.
Using the put command to wear something (i.e. PUT MASK ON) will still
work. If you say RIMSHAW, FEEL MY BUMPS, instead of FEEL MY HEAD, then the
put command will still work normally afterwards. -- Torbjrn Andersson

2. If you put on the clown mask, and then try to wear the veil over the
mask, you will be told "It won't fit over the veil." -- Duncan Stevens

=======================================
Beyond Zork
=======================================
BUG
VERSION 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
47/870915 Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
49/870917 Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
51/870923 Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
*57/871221 N N Y Y Y Y Y Y

1. In versions 47, 49, and 51, you can take the hurdy-gurdy away from
the Monkey Grinder without killing him, by using the levitation wand. He'll
still be able to use it against you though, even if you leave and return
without it.
If you get rid of him by giving him the chest, the hurdy-gurdy will
appear in the same area (Outside Guild Hall) regardless of where you left
it.
In version 57, the levitation wand doesn't work on the hurdy-gurdy. If
you try it, the grinder grabs the hurdy-gurdy before it floats away and says
"Cute."

2. BUTTERFLY BUG: In Versions 47, 49, and 51 if you have the butterfly
on the rim of your goblet you can sell it in any of the shops with the
command GIVE BUTTERFLY TO WOMAN (SELL BUTTERFLY will not work). A few turns
later the butterfly will fly out of the case and land on your goblet again,
allowing you to sell it repeatedly.
You get 5 zorkmids the first time you sell it, with the value doubling
on each succeeding sale (10, 20, 40, 80, 160, et cetera). It is even
possible to win the game without obtaining the Crocodile's Tear by doing
this. Selling the butterfly when you have more than 20,000 zorkmids, will
make your balance go crazy, giving you something like -30,000 zorkmids.
In Version 57, it is impossible to sell the butterfly at all. If you
try, you get the message "You'd have to take the butterfly out of the goblet
first.", and if you do take it, you can't hold onto it.

3. If you go to the Pool of Radiance, then type DIP ME IN POOL (as
opposed to GET IN THE POOL), it will say that you see yourself in the pool,
even though you really aren't there. However, you will now be unable to
interact with yourself (EXAMINE ME, POINT WAND AT ME, etc.) for the remainder
of the game, unless you are at the pool. There is no way to get "yourself"
back out of the pool once you "put" yourself in. This works in any version.

4. If you read the scroll of recall while at the snowy clearing, you
will be able to magically return to the lava and inscribe the glyph without
obtaining the Ring of Shielding. This works in all versions.

5. In any version, typing THANKS, will generate the response "There's no
need to thank the [string of garbage]."
With Frotz, the string of garbage will merely be "ac" ("bc" in version
47). With the original Infocom interpreter it will be somewhat longer,
varying depending on the version of the game.

6. The hourglass and arch, combined with the chest, can cause the
game to lock up on you if used together, if you haven't opened the
chest previously.
Use the hourglass to travel anywhere in the Plaza's past or future.
Wait until the sands have stopped falling, and then EXIT the arch. Then drop
the chest and open it. You will go through the scene at the Fields of
Transinfinite Splendor, but when the unicorns send you back, you will be in
a room called simply "Darkness," and are told that you may be eaten by a
grue, just like when you are inside the idol. However, apparently you are
still in the vicinity of the arch, because your magic items (including the
Scroll of Recall) still fail with the same error message you get when you
are in the past or future, about how a nearby influence is blocking its
magic. You can still feel the wind changing direction occasionally,
indicating that you are outside.
However, you cannot enter or exit the arch. If you try to go NE, SW, or
W, nothing happens and you go to the next turn. If you go another direction,
you are told "There's no exit that way." (even if your direction was ENTER!).
If you turn on the lamp to see where you are, the status window will
say "There's [your name] here. Inside [your name] you see [a list of your
inventory]," your location will change to gibberish ("bc" in Version 47,
"jc iindyysgvxc" in Version 57) and the game will immediately
crash.
This bug was probably not discovered during playtesting because of the
great difficulty in getting to the ruins without the rose, combined with the
fact that you cannot obtain the rose without first opening the chest. This
bug is present in all versions. -- Chris D. Lang

7. THE RUG BUG: In all versions, you can move in a blocked direction
simply by standing on the rug first.
For example, on the first turn of the game, go NW (to "Edge of Storms")
and then WEST, and you will be told:

Kerblam! Forks of lightning dance across your path, and the clouds
boom with laughter.

However, bring the rug to the Edge of Storms, DROP RUG, STAND ON RUG,
and then go WEST, and you will be able to get past without having the
goblet.
This bug can be used in several other ways. You can use it to get past
the warning nymph into the Guild Hall, to get past the Christmas Tree
Monsters without the caterpillar, to get past the wall of corbies to the
rosebush in the Gray Grotto without the proper key, and to get past a
hostile monster. This last can be very useful in escaping from a superior
foe who is blocking the only exit. -- Paul Hart

8. In all versions, it is impossible to interact with the crocodile
when you are in the same location as the idol, because of the similarity of
their names. For example, if you try to ATTACK CROCODILE, you are told
"Which crocodile do you mean, the idol or the crocodile?" Answering
THE CROCODILE repeats the process. (NOTE: There are similar bugs in
Deadline and Zork 2.) -- Mike Schiraldi

=======================================
Border Zone
=======================================
BUG
VERSION 1
*9/871008 Y

1. OFF IN HIS OWN LITTLE WORLD: In Part 2, the owner of the hut can be
most inattentive. Try this; leave your exploding pen on his front doorstep,
set to go off at about 5 minutes after six, and then go to the north side of
the house and watch. When the pen explodes, EXAMINE HUT will tell you
"There's not much to tell; the entire wooden structure is now engulfed in
flames, and the heat and smoke make it hard to get much closer."
Does this disconcert our hero? Not a bit of it. If you keep waiting,
you will soon seen him get up from his easy chair, and go to the back of the
hut. He will then come back (still not noticing the fire), count the logs by
his wood stove, and head out to the shed to get some more (to fuel the
fire?). Only when he comes back from the shed will it dawn on him that his
house is on fire, and you will be told "The man, carrying a pile of wood,
walks into the clearing and seeing that his hut is on fire, runs off into the
forest to the northeast." -- Dave Moderski

=======================================
Bureaucracy
=======================================
BUG
VERSION 1
86/870212 Y
*116/870602 Y

1. In both versions of Bureaucracy, if you leave the Foyer of the
camouflagued house by going NORTH, the gate will close and lock behind you,
preventing your return. However, if you leave using the GO TO command (i.e.
GO TO BANK), this will not happen. - Torbjrn Andersson

=======================================
Cutthroats
=======================================
[No Known Bugs]
VERSION
*23/840809

=======================================
Deadline
=======================================
BUG
VERSION 1 2 3 4 5 6
18/820311 N N Y Y Y Y
19/820427 Y N Y Y Y Y
21/820512 N N Y Y Y Y
22/820809 N Y Y Y Y Y
26/821108 N Y Y Y Y Y
*27/831005 N Y Y Y Y Y

1. In Version 19/820427 (only), the bathroom door on the first floor
is impossible to open. OPEN DOOR generates the response, "Which door
do you mean, the door or the south closet door?" Answering THE DOOR will
start the process all over again.
In earlier versions, the south closet door is visible from the hallway,
but cannot be interacted with unless you are inside the closet itself, and
so the game regards the bathroom door as the only one in the room. In later
versions, it is called THE BATHROOM DOOR, rather than just THE DOOR, thus
fixing the problem.
However, not until Version 27/831005 is it possible to close the closet
door from the hallway. Trying to CLOSE THE CLOSET DOOR generates the same
"Which door do you mean" loop as trying to open the bathroom door in
Version 19. -- New Zork Times

2. You can give objects to characters by putting the objects inside
them, using the command PUT [object] IN [character]. For example if you
PUT BOOK IN MS. DUNBAR, and then LOOK, you get the message:

Ms. Dunbar is holding:
a book.

In Versions 18, 19, and 21, this is merely an oddity rather than a true bug,
since the book can be given to the character anyway. But in Versions 22, 26
and 27, you can STILL give her the book by putting it inside her, although
she will now refuse it if you try to give it to her in the normal fashion
(i.e. GIVE BOOK TO MS. DUNBAR). -- Chris D. Lang

3. MR. ROBNER'S GHOST: Mr. Robner's ghosts haunts the estate, and can
be interacted with if you phrase the commands properly. You can SAY TO MR.
ROBNER "WHERE IS GEORGE", and get a response like "I haven't seen him today."
or "I last saw him a few minutes ago. I don't know where he went, though."
Mr. Robner's ghost will report seeing other characters at the same time you
last saw them, as if you had asked the game WHERE IS GEORGE?
On the other hand, if you phrase the command as ASK MR. ROBNER ABOUT
GEORGE, you get the response "Mr. Robner can't hear you."
Finally, you can even get this sequence:

>KILL MR. ROBNER
With a lethal blow of your hand, Mr. Robner falls dead.

You must put a period after the "r" in Mr. for this to work. Since Mr.
Robner is already dead before the game begins, this is a clear-cut case of
overkill. To add insult to injury, the game then gives a description of your
remorse and arrest for killing someone who's already dead.
This bug appears in all versions of the game. -- Chris D. Lang

4. In all versions, Sergeant Duffy will always show up immediately if
you try to arrest someone (or something!), even if he is away at the lab
awaiting analysis results. Interestingly, in The Witness (all versions) this
error is corrected, and you won't be able to arrest anyone in that game until
Duffy returns. -- Chris D. Lang

5. No versions recognize the player as being in the room when he's
sitting on a piece of furniture. For example, sitting on the couch and
typing, BAXTER, TELL ME ABOUT ROBNER would respond with "You can't see any
me here." -- New Zork Times

6. The six-letter recognition system used by Infocom's early parser
often creates problems. LISTEN TO THE GARDENER generates a reply of
"The roses make no sound." in all versions. The game, looking at the first
six letters, considers "GARDEN" and "GARDENer" to be the same word. -- New
Zork Times

=======================================
Enchanter
=======================================
BUG
1 1 1
VERSION 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2
10/830810 Y Y Y Y Y Y N Y Y Y Y Y
15/831107 Y Y Y Y Y Y N Y Y Y Y Y
16/831118 Y Y Y Y Y Y N Y Y Y Y Y
24/851118 N N N N N N Y Y Y Y Y Y
*29/860820 N N N N N N Y Y Y Y Y Y

1. THE JUG BUG: A well-documented bug in versions 10, 15, and 16 allows
the player to fill the jug anywhere in the game simply by typing FILL JUG
WITH WATER, provided that there is at least a small quantity of water
already in it. If you try this in Versions 24 or 29 when there is no
external water source present, you are told "The only water here is in the
jug." -- New Zork Times
NOTE: Both Chris Forman and I mistakenly claimed in earlier lists that
this bug was corrected before Version 10, because the New Zork Times report
listed the incorrect command: FILL JUG. However, Hekan Huss discovered
the correct command, FILL JUG WITH WATER, and relayed it to me.
All versions of Enchanter which contain The Jug Bug also contain The It
Bug. See the discussion of this in the Generic Bugs section to learn how it
affects this one - GC

2. In versions 10, 15, and 16, sending the turtle into the temple is
interpreted by the game as though you'd gone in instead, and you are the one
that is killed. This is also true if the turtle encounters the hideous
shapes that roam near the Banquet Hall and Library. In later versions, the
turtle is unaffected. -- New Zork Times

3. In versions 10, 15, and 16, casting Guncho on the rope around the
jewelled box will work, but the box will be empty, and typing LOOK while the
box is on the ground nearby will show you the rope, even though it isn't
really there. In later versions, casting Guncho on the rope makes the
box disappear as well.

4. In versions 10, 15, and 16, the lighted portrait in the gallery
disappears one turn after you take it.
The only way to get it is to TAKE it two turns in a row, and then
immediately leave the Gallery with it. The first time you take it, the
description says that you place it on the ground. The second time, it is
added to your inventory. On the next turn, any command except an INVENTORY,
or a directional command which takes you out of the Gallery, will result in
the portrait being removed from the game permanently. In addition, it will
also be removed from the game if you ever bring it BACK to the Gallery.
Interestingly, in all versions of the game, even after this bug was
fixed, the portrait continues to be called a "lighted portrait" even after
you take it away from the candle. -- Alan Franzman

5. In versions 10, 15, and 16, if the turtle dies from walking into a
dark space, his death is reported as though it were yours, like so:

>TURTLE, GO NORTH
The rainbow turtle, ever the good friend, leaves you.
Oh, no! Something slithered alongside you and feasted on your person!

*** The rainbow turtle has died ***

In later versions, the turtle could survive the darkness. This is
similar to what happens when you send the turtle into the temple in Versions
10, 15, and 16, but with this one, the turtle really is the one killed, not
you. -- Graeme Cree

6. THE PHANTOM BLOCK BUG: In Versions 10, 15, and 16 the block of stone
in the cell remains in the room description even after you've taken it. The
block itself is invisible if taken and/or moved, and it can be made to
teleport back into the cell.
When you first enter the cell, the room description reads:

This is a damp and unhealthy dungeon cell with writing on the walls. The
rusty door of the cell is open.

There are two ways that this description can change. One is by closing
the door. The other is by taking the square block of stone (which can be
seen by examining the walls). The first time you do this, the block is
dropped in the room rather than added to your inventory, and an extra
sentence is added to the end of the room description which reads: "A square
block sits beside a passage in the eastern wall."
However, if you TAKE BLOCK (again, this time putting it in your
inventory), you will still be able to see it in the cell when you LOOK. You
can take it anywhere, but it will be invisible both in your inventory and in
LOOK commands (if you should drop it somewhere else and then LOOK). You will
be able to EXAMINE it however.
If you drop the block somewhere else, return to the cell, and then
type TAKE BLOCK, the block will be teleported away from wherever you
left it, and back into your inventory.
In versions 24 and 29 this bug was fixed by making the block too heavy
to lift. -- Allen Garvin

7. Here's one of those rare bugs that occurs only in later versions of a
game. In Enchanter, you can "unfrotz" any glowing item except yourself with
the command EXTINGUISH [tem], (EXTINGUISH SPELL BOOK, for example)
generating the response "The [item] is now off."
However, in the last two versions (24 and 29), this will be followed
by: "It is now pitch black," regardless of whether you are now in the dark
or not. -- Graeme Cree

8. Normally, if the player continues to wander around without sleep for
long enough, he'll drop from exhaustion. If you happen to be near the Engine
Room when this occurs, however, you won't be able to sleep because of the
noise. After you drop, try typing DIAGNOSE, and you'll see garbage for the
description of how rested you are. Repeat this several times, and eventually
you'll start seeing the Rainbow Turtle's dialogue mixed in. This one works
in all versions.

9. Here's a bug that erases the entire contents of your spell book. At
the Landing, enter the following sequence: MEMORIZE BLORB. EAST. KULCAD THE
STAIRS. CAST BLORB ON ME. When Belboz restores you to life, your spell
book will be empty when you try to read it! You can do this in any version.

10. In all versions, it is possible to obtain the Kulcad scroll without
the help of the turtle, by the following method. Empty the jug, and use the
exex spell to go to the control room yourself. Then type the following
four commands: TAKE SCROLL. PUT SCROLL IN JUG. THROW JUG AT HAMMER. NW.
When you are brought back to life, the jug with the scroll still in it will
be nearby. If you try to walk out of the room without throwing the jug at
the hammer the (empty) jug will be at your feet when you are resurrected, but
not the scroll.
The THROW JUG AT HAMMER command is responsible for a slight bug all of
its own. In versions 10, 15, and 16, you get the odd response: "The jug
shatters into innumerable pieces. You're not carrying the jug." In versions
24 and 29, the second sentence is deleted. After you've thrown the jug at
the hammer, but before you've been killed, the scroll is nowhere to be seen,
of course. -- Asad A. Zaidi

11. TURTLE EGRESS BUG: If you are Inside Gate with the turtle, and
say TURTLE, WEST (ordering him to leave the castle), he will refuse,
explaining:

"Uh, no thanks. I prefer to stay near my beach. I don't see much yummy
seaweed out that way."

But you can get around this simply by saying TURTLE, OUT. He will obey
this command (which has exactly the same effect as TURTLE, WEST) and may
then be ordered around normally once outside. This works in all
versions. -- Allen Garvin

12. THE GATE BUG: A minor bug, present in all versions of the game.
Every time you Rezrov the gate to Largoneth Castle, you get this same
message:

>REZROV GATE
The chains of the iron gate fly into the air and vanish. The gate flies
open and a blast of cold air fills your lungs.

Even though the gate is already open (and the chains gone) after the first
Rezrov, and can never be closed again. Interestingly, this bug is not
there in the case of the Cell Door. If you try to Rezrov the Cell Door when
it is already open, you get the natural response, "It's open already. Why
bother?" -- Graeme Cree

=======================================
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
=======================================
BUG
VERSION 1 2 3 4
47/840914 Y Y Y Y
56/841221 N N N Y
58/851002 N N N N
59/851108 N N N N
(SG) *31/871119 N N N N

1. In Version 47, you can block the robot panel with almost anything
(even the panel itself!) including unmovable items, by using the command
BLOCK PANEL WITH [noun]. The only item this doesn't work with is "no tea."
You can block the panel with Ford Prefect, the door, the display case, the
switch, the keyboard, the fish dispenser, even the atomic vector plotter.
This last will remove the plotter from the case, letting you obtain it
without having to solve the babel fish puzzle!
If you block the panel with an untakable item, there will be no way
to move it again, which will make the game unwinnable if you haven't gotten
the fish and plotter yet. Pseudo-items like the underwear, the mattress,
and the cups will not work, of course.
In later versions, you have to be carrying something before you can
block the panel with it. -- Chris D. Lang

2. THE FLYING BODY PARTS BUG: In Version 47 (only), it is possible to
detach parts of your own body, by placing them on top of the satchel in the
Vogon Hold. For example, you can PUT HEAD ON SATCHEL (or eyes, ears, or
hand), and you will see the part lying there.
If you push the button, the body part will fly through the air, and be
carried away by the cleaning robot, never to be seen again (assuming that the
other parts of the puzzle are taken care of). You can lose your head this
way, but still have your eyes and ears.
Once removed, body parts are not takable. You can get them off the
satchel, only by taking the satchel, in which case you will see them lying
on the floor. Examining your head (or eyes or ears) while they are on the
floor gives the same message as if they were attached (i.e. "That would
involve quite a contortion"). The only way to move them after removing them
is by pushing the button, picking up the satchel, or using the BLOCK PANEL
WITH... bug. You can also MOVE EARS away from the panel, without picking
them up.
If you lose any body parts this way, you will, of course, be unable to
interact with them for the rest of the game (for example, you won't be able
to cover your ears during the Vogon Poetry reading if you have lost them).
Otherwise, losing your head is no big loss.
Later versions of the game tell you that you have gone insane if you
even think about putting any body parts on the satchel. -- Linards Ticmanis

3. In Version 47, trying to SEARCH BED before GETting UP (at the
beginning of the game) will cause the game to return no output at all, and go
on to the next turn. In later versions it says "It's empty (not counting
you)." -- Steven Marsh

4. In versions 47 and 56, you get 25 points each time you open the
plotter case in the Vogon Hold. As there is time to open it twice before
being put into the airlock, you can finish the game with 425 points out of a
possible 400. In versions 58, 59, and 31, you only get the 25 points the
first time you open the case. -- Matthew Russotto

=======================================
Hollywood Hijinx
=======================================
BUG
VERSION 1 2
*37/861215 Y Y

1. You can empty the bucket while swimming underwater with it. -- Edan
Harel

2. You can type JUMP from the Cannon Emplacement, and end up in the
ocean inlet, thus providing an alternative to the gap in the stairs puzzle.
You won't get the ten points, however. -- Chris D. Lang

=======================================
Infidel
=======================================
BUG
VERSION 1 2 3 4 5 6
*22/830916 Y Y Y Y Y Y

1. The wooden mast of the Royal Barge is responsible for multiple
problems in this game. According to the hint book, you're supposed to need
both hands free to take the beam, which means you have to put the torch in
the knothole. However, if you remove the shim, then go back up to Center of
Barge, you'll be able to TAKE BEAM no matter what you're holding. So you
never have to put the torch in the knothole. -- New Zork Times

2. THE BOOMERANG BEAM BUG: The beam also has the power of
teleportation. It will always return to Center of Barge whenever you do,
making it harder to get rid of than the Thing Your Aunt Gave You in The
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
Try leaving it any place you like, other than in the niches. You can
even throw it into the Nile and let it float away. Or burn it with the
torch. No matter. When you return to Center of Barge, it will instantly be
moved there with you from wherever it was before.
If you put the beam in the niches, and return to Center of Barge, the
beam is in limbo, so to speak. It will not be visible to LOOK commands, but
it will still have been teleported there. You will be able to EXAMINE it
and (if you didn't break the plaster) TAKE it. After you TAKE it, it will
be completely visible again. However, if you don't take it, and go back to
the west end of Narrow Passageway, it will still (?) be there in the niches,
despite the fact that you saw it in Center of Barge and left it there.
If you put the beam in the niches, DO break the plaster, return to
Center of Barge, and TAKE the beam, you will fall into the pit of rats, just
as if you had been standing on the beam in the Narrow Passageway at the
time that you took it.
If you return to Center of Barge with the beam in your possession, it
will be teleported out of your inventory and onto the floor of the
room!
It is important to note that this bug will ONLY work if you used the
PREVIOUS bug to take the beam without putting the torch in the knothole.
Apparently lifting the beam up through the Hole in West End of Hold sets off
some kind of flag in the program. If that flag is not set off, the program
thinks the beam should be in Center of Barge and keeps transporting it back
there every time you return. -- New Zork Times

3. You can LIGHT THE TORCH WITH THE MATCH anywhere in the game,
regardless of whether or not the torch is present.
If you leave the torch on the Royal Barge, move somewhere else, and
light it from a distance, the Barge will not be destroyed. But for that
matter, the Barge also won't be destroyed if you drop the UNLIT Torch on
the Barge and light it while you're in the same room. (This provides yet
another unintended solution to the Mast puzzle). Only dropping the Torch
while it's already lit will destroy the Barge. -- New Zork Times

4. If you FILL THE SILVER CHALICE WITH WATER when it's already full,
you get the contradictory response, "Okay. The silver chalice has been
filled, but the silver chalice is now empty." (Sort of like "tea" and "no
tea"?). This only works when there is not another full container present
that you could have poured from.
This does not work if the canteen is full. If the canteen is present
and open, you will be told that the canteen is now empty, not the chalice.
If the canteen is closed or absent or both, you will be told that the silver
chalice is already full. This also works with the golden chalice -- New Zork
Times

5. The container bug from Starcross and Zork I is also here, this
time involving the knapsack and either the Cigarette Pack, the Silver
Chalice, the Gold Chalice, the Matchbook, the Ancient Map, or the Pink Jar.
If you first put the knapsack into one of these items, and then put that item
in the knapsack, both will disappear.
The Matchbook, Cigarette Pack, and Pink Jar, must be open for this to
work with them. Although you CAN put the Knapsack into them while they're
closed (!), you cannot then see the knapsack, in order to put the item
into it. -- New Zork Times

6. As with many games, there are some items in Infidel that have an
initial description when you first see them, and a secondary description
after you've picked them up. For example, the first time you see the Opal
Cluster, the line description says "An opal cluster, glistening with the
light of a thousand fires, lies on the floor." If you pick it up and then
drop it again, the line description will say simply "There is an opal cluster
here."
If you put one of these items inside the ancient map, fold the map, and
then unfold it again, you will get the (now completely inappropriate) initial
description. For example:

>PUT THE NOTE IN THE MAP
Done.

>FOLD THE MAP
Okay. The map has been folded.

>UNFOLD THE MAP
The ancient map opens.
Tacked up to the inside of one of the tent flaps is a note.

The last line SHOULD simply say "Unfolding the ancient map reveals a
small spatula." (or whatever the item is).
This bug works with the Cigarette Pack, the Shovel, the Matchbook, the
Farewell Note, the Knapsack, the Bronze Torch, the Golden Cluster, the
Diamond Cluster, the Ruby Cluster, the Emerald Cluster, the Opal Cluster, the
Silver Chalice, and the Papyrus Scroll.
This bug does NOT work with the Blackened Rock, Rope, Broken Lock,
Sticker, Stone Cube, Jewelled Ring, Golden Chalice, Wooden Shim, Wooden Beam,
or Small Spatula.
It also does not work with the Pick Axe, Canteen, Crate, Navigation Box,
Pink Jar, Broken Head, or Ancient Book, for the simple reason that these
items won't fit inside the map.
This bug works with closable items other than the map. For example,
PUT THE KNAPSACK IN THE MATCHBOOK. CLOSE MATCHBOOK. OPEN MATCHBOOK., gives
you the same effect. -- David J. Wildstrom

=======================================
Journey
=======================================
BUG
VERSION 1 2 3 4
26/890316 Y Y Y Y (Macintosh version)
30/890322 Y Y Y Y (Amiga version)
77/890616 Y Y Y Y (Apple ][ version)
83/890706 Y Y Y Y (IBM version)

1. While looking for the White Stone (after having already found the
Dwarf, Nymph, and Elf Stones), Bergon is wounded in a fight with the Orcs.
It is possible to cure him. If however, you leave him to die, then later
when you have left the caves and are trapped by the half-sentient trees, the
game will give you this line:
"I have seen these trees before," Bergon said darkly, "in
the forest, where Minar was stricken by the Nightfang. We
must find some other way, for there is no escape for us if
we are caught in their grasp!"
-- Torbjrn Andersson

2. Trying to drop the rope, generates the following message:

Trying to lighten my load, I started to drop the rope on
the ground. "Tag!" Praxix called out loudly, startling me.
"What on earth are you doing with that rope? Dropping it
here, of all places! How do you know we won't be needing
such things? Now make yourself useful before I turn you
into a toad!"

This message even appears at the end of the game when Praxix has been knocked
unconscious! -- Torbjrn Andersson

3. At the end of the game, if you haven't discovered the proper
direction to the Misty Isle when you cast the Wind spell to get there, you
will be asked if you really want to cast the spell. If you do, you will get
lost. If you don't you will use up one unit of air essence, even though no
spell has been cast. -- Torbjrn Andersson

4. On using the 'wind' spell to successfully get to the Misty Isle,
Praxix is struck unconscious. In all versions, if this spell used up the
last of the air essence, he will be sure to mention it, while out cold,
like so:

... knocked Praxix to the ground, unconscious. "I have no time
for parlor magicians," he said mockingly.

Praxix now turned his thoughts to his magical powders, since his
last spell had used up all his air. "Let us hope we shall not be
needing it," he said, resignedly.

"We know who you are, and we know what you seek," the demon
continued, "but you will be needing a lesson in manners."
-- Torbjrn Andersson

=======================================
Leather Goddesses of Phobos
=======================================
BUG
VERSION 1 2 3
50/860711 N Y Y
59/860730 N Y Y
59/861114 N Y Y
(SG) 4/880405 Y Y Y

1. At any point in the game, you can examine or push the purple and
orange buttons on the barge, even when you're not in the same place as the
barge. For example:

>EXAMINE THE PURPLE BUTTON
You can't see any purple button.
The huge purple button reads: Go With The Flow.

This one is only present in the Solid Gold release (4/880405).

2. This isn't exactly a bug, but is sort of an excessively long way to
go to avoid having to add another feature to the game: The software refuses
to let you take the portable circle into the mad scientist's house on Venus.
He will ask you to "leaf your tube outsite,", claiming that he's allergic,
and will make you drop it before dragging you inside, even if it is hidden
inside something else, like the basket. -- John Payson

3. THE BOBBIT BUG: In all versions of Leather Goddesses of Phobos, it
is possible to detach parts of your body by putting them on one of the black
circles. However, unlike a similar bug in Hitchhiker's Guide, this one only
works with your "naughty bits."
You have three "naughty bits," all three of which ARE referred to as
"naughty bits" by the game, and each of which can be placed on a circle
separately. One represents the male genitalia, one the female genitalia, and
the third represents the mammalian glands. You have the same three "naughty
bits" regardless of whether you are playing the game as a male or a female!
(If you REALLY want to know all the synonyms the game uses for these, you can
either use the infodump.exe utility to list the game's vocabulary, or look at
the raw HTML file of this page, and look for a comment tag. I'm not
mentioning them here as this list is staying G-string rated...Ack! G-rated!!).
If you put a naughty bit on a circle, it will disappear just like any
other item. For example:

>PUT BOSOM ON CIRCLE
You get all cross-eyed trying to follow the non-dimensional
journey of your naughty bits into the black circle. When you get
your eyeballs untangled again, your naughty bits is gone.

Ouch! Just like any other item placed on the circle, it will be waiting
for you at the other end when you teleport through the circle, and will be
listed on the item line after the room description. For example after the
room description it might say "You can see your naughty bits here.", or "You
can see your naughty bits and a blanket here." If you put all three on the
same circle and then teleport through, you will be told "You can see your
naughty bits, your naughty bits and your naughty bits here."
However, you will be unable to interact with said bit or bits for the
rest of the game. Any attempt to do so (when they are in the same room with
you) gives the standard reply "You don't need to refer to your naughty bits
to complete LEATHER GODDESSES OF PHOBOS." A generic TAKE ALL command will
not work either.
Once you have left your naughty bits behind (no pun intended), you will
be unable to interact with them for the rest of the game. If you try to
EXAMINE BOSOM (for example) after leaving it behind, you will be told "You
can't see any bosom here!" (rather than the generic message about not needing
to refer to it).
As mentioned, trying to do this with any other body part does not work,
and gives you insulting messages (like "It's the looney bin for you!") if you
try. After fixing a similar bug in the first release of The Hitchhiker's
Guide to the Galaxy, Infocom presumably was on the lookout for such things in
the future, but forgot to do so when a game came along with body parts not
included in previous games. -- Scott Lindsay

=======================================
Lurking Horror
=======================================
BUG
VERSION 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
*203/870506 Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
219/870912 Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
221/870918 Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y

1. When you encounter the rats in the steam tunnels, try escaping them
by climbing on the coaxial cables above you. Eventually the rats will swarm
up and start to bite you, making you fall. But if you try letting go of the
cables before they do this, you'll get two descriptions of your death -- one
saying that you let go of the cables, and the other saying that the rats bit
you and made you fall.

2. If you ask the hacker about the keyring or a single key, the response
goes like this: "I've accumulated a few keys over the years. I'm a licensed
locksmith, which helps. I can get into any room at Tech. He pulls the
keyring out on its chain, and *shows off a key you hadn't noticed before*."
This happens every time you repeat the question, even if you already do know
about the master key.

3. You are able to go through the login procedure on the PC more than
once. If you enter the wrong values while the PC is already up
and running, the response goes as usual: "Invalid Login, Login Please".
EXAMINE PC on the other hand, shows that the computer still executes its
current task.

4. The behavior of the PC after your returning from the 'stone-scene'
isn't consistent. The command EXAMINE SCREEN produces the reasonable reply
"There's nothing recognizable on the screen", but EXAMINE PC still answers
"On the screen you see a menu box." In addition, the help key doesn't
recognize that the pc has crashed and works as before.

5. When the hacker sits in the plastic chair during the debugging
sequence, go south and then return north to the terminal room. The room
description says that the hacker is sitting in the plastic chair, while
the output from EXAMINE HACKER claims that he is sitting in his own office
chair. -- Martin Braun

6. Go to the Chemistry Building without finding or reading the suicide
note. Knock on the door, WAIT and you will be admitted to the Alchemy Lab.
Read the sign-up sheet, then WAIT three times and you will remember that the
student on the sheet had jumped off the tallest building on campus. Then
READ SHEET again, and you will realize that the student was also the author
of the suicide note that you haven't seen yet. -- Cable Hicks

7. The command ASK HACKER ABOUT KEYS will automatically teleport the
master key into the hacker's hands no matter where it is, even if you have
lost it in a place where it cannot be recovered (for example, if you have
dropped it in the pit beside the altar).
When you first get the key, go south to the second floor and drop it.
Then go NORTH, ASK HACKER ABOUT KEYS, SOUTH, LOOK. The key will be gone.
Go NORTH again, and ASK HACKER FOR MASTER, and he will give it to you again.
This works in any version.

8. If you leave items lying around, the urchin may pass by, and pick
them up (similar to the thief in Zork 1). But any time the urchin is in the
room with you, you can take any of your items that he has simply by typing
TAKE [item].
You will not be able to see an item in his possession first, but you
can deduce that he has it if you know that it isn't where you left it lying.
This only works with items of yours that he has picked up, not with the
bolt cutter, or any items mentioned in his description (i.e. parka, hat,
shoes). This works in all versions. -- Jeffrey Scott Nuttall

=======================================
Mini-Zork I
=======================================
NOTE: This game was never released commercially. It was
an abridged version of Zork I released as a demo for the
Amiga in 1987.

BUG
VERSION 1
34/871124 Y

1. The lunch can be eaten an infinite number of times. If you eat it,
you get a message saying that it was yummy, but it will still be in your
inventory. This is likely a bug and not a "feature" because a) it doesn't
work this way in the full-size version of Zork I, and b) the lunch is not
necessary to win the game. -- Graeme Cree

=======================================
Moonmist
=======================================
BUG
VERSION 1
4/860918 Y
*9/861022 Y

1. On a certain turn, Bolitho will always ask if you are the famous
young detective, even if he has already told you so on a previous turn, or
the same turn! As a result, this odd exchange can be generated:

>ASK BOLITHO ABOUT ME
"You're [your name], the famous young detective. Bolitho coughs
diffidently, and asks [your name]? Am I right in assuming that you are the
well-known young American detective?

To be fair though, I discussed this with Stu Gally via e-mail once, and
he said that even if they had noticed this that they might very well have
left it in deliberately because in an introductory game, it's more important
to make sure that the players know who they are, especially if they didn't
read the documentation well. -- Graeme Cree

==============================================
Nord and Bert Couldn't Make Head or Tail of It
==============================================
[No Known Bugs]
VERSION
*19/870722

=======================================
Planetfall
=======================================
BUG
1
VERSION 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
20/830708 Y Y Y Y N Y Y Y N Y
26/831014 N Y Y Y N Y Y Y N Y
29/840118 N N Y Y N Y Y Y N Y
*37/851003 N N N Y Y Y Y Y N Y
(SG) 10/880531 N N N N N Y Y Y Y Y

1. In version 20, pushing the elevator button more than once will make
it restart its descent, with no ill effects. In later releases, pressing the
button again has no effect while you're on the way down. But if you press
the button after reaching the bottom, you get this result:

>PUSH BUTTON
Stunning. After days of surviving on a hostile, plague-ridden planet,
solving several of Infocom's toughest puzzles, and coming within one
move of completing Planetfall, you blow it all in one amazingly dumb input.

The doors close and the elevator rises quickly to the top of the shaft. The
doors open, and the mutants, which were waiting impatiently in the ProjCon
Office for just such an occurence, happily saunter in and begin munching.

**** You have died ****

2. In Versions 20 and 26, taking the fused bedistor, then dropping it,
will make it impossible to pick up again without the pliers, since the game
thinks it is still fused to the socket. -- New Zork Times

3. In Versions 20, 26 and 29, you can get Floyd to bring you the shiny
fromitz board repeatedly, with FLOYD, GET BOARD, after you have first
obtained it, but before you have installed it in the socket. However, if you
type AGAIN, after FLOYD, GET BOARD, it will say "You already have it." In
later versions, Floyd tells you that he already did that if you ask him to
get the board a second time. -- New Zork Times

4. THE WEBBING BUG: In all versions except the Solid Gold, the safety
webbing is responsible for a slight bug. Ordinarily, it is impossible to
take items in the escape pod while you are in the webbing, as you will be
told "You can't reach it from here," and LOOK will say that the item is
outside the safety webbing. However, you can get around this by trying to
WEAR the item (i.e. WEAR TOWEL). This will generate the response:

(Taken)
They're out of fashion, and besides, it wouldn't fit.

In the Solid Gold Version, this bug was fixed, but not, as one might
expect, by making it impossible to take items by trying to wear them.
Instead, the restriction on taking items while you are in the web was
dropped completely, and "(taken)" was changed to "Taking the [item]
first." -- Jim Bakman
NOTE: There is a similar bug in all versions of the game (even the
Solid Gold), that allows you to TAKE the brochure while you are in bed, by
READing it. -- GC

5. In Version 37 (only), you cannot open or close containers (such as
the canteen or the survival kit) while in bed. If you try, you are told
"You can't reach it from here."
In previous and later versions, there is no problem doing this,
provided of course that you are holding them at the time. -- David J.
Wildstrom

6. It's more of a style error than a bug, but all versions of the game
consider Blather and Br'gun-te'elkner-ipg'nun to be sexless. If you try to
SHOOT BLATHER or SHOOT AMBASSADOR, you will be told "You have nothing to
shoot it with." -- Matthew Russotto

7. If you turn Floyd off in any room with a door, you can
generate this response:

>POINT AT DOOR
"You go first," says Floyd.

Similiarly, pointing at any other object in the room causes the
deactivated Floyd to give you a confused look. This works in all
versions. -- Chris D. Lang

8. THE TIDE BUG: The rising ocean bypasses the Winding Stair in all
versions of the game. At the beginning of the game, there are four locations
arranged vertically; the Crag, the Balcony, the Winding Stair, and the
Courtyard.
On Day 2 the Crag will be underwater (this can be seen from the
Balcony). On Day 3 the waters will be lapping at the base of the Balcony. On
Day 4 the Balcony will be underwater, and you will hear lapping water from
the Winding Stair. On Day 5 you will see ocean water splashing against the
steps of the Winding Stair.
So far so good, but now it gets weird. On Day 6, the Winding Stair
reverts back to its original description, with no sight or sound of ocean.
Meanwhile, you'll now be able to hear the sound of surf from the Courtyard
(the top level). On Day 7, nothing changes. On Day 8, ocean water will be
washing against the top steps of the Courtyard. The Winding Stair MUST be
submerged by now, right? Wrong, you can still go there safely and see no
signs of the ocean, just like on Days 1-3.
Another problem: the Invisiclues book specifically states that the
rising ocean is caused by melting polar ice caps. However, repairing
Planetary Course Control has no effect on the ocean level, despite the fact
that we get the "Course Diversions Minimizing" message after making the
repair. We can explain the failure of the waters to _recede_ by arguing that
repairing the planet's course is a much slower process than its deterioration
was. But why should the water continue to rise? Perhaps the process must
first slow to a stop before reversing?
There is a final problem with the tides. If you fall asleep on the Crag
the first night, you will be drowned by the rising water. No problem there.
However, if you fall asleep in the Pod the first night, and then reach the
Crag for the first time on Day 2, it will look completely normal. If you
then climb up to the Balcony, you will get the Day 2 description about how
the Crag is underwater today. -- Graeme Cree

9. THE DOOR BUG: In the Solid Gold Version (only), you can open the
door to the pod while still in the webbing, and get the response "The
bulkhead opens and cold ocean water rushes in."
Of course this is wrong. The pod is still on the Crag, and does not fall
into the ocean until after you've gotten out of the webbing. The phantom
"water" has no effect (the game doesn't even know the word "water"). Nothing
will happen, and the pod will not flood if you wait around. There is still
no danger until you get out of the webbing, and the pod really falls into the
ocean.
This bug only appears in the Solid Gold version because in previous
versions, it was impossible to open the door while inside the webbing.
Various restrictions on actions you could perform from inside the web were
removed in this version. In so doing, they fixed the Webbing Bug (ibid) but
created this one. -- Graeme Cree

10. THE ESPNIS/GIRGOL IN SPACE BUG: There is a major glitch in
Planetfall's treatment of time-based events (e.g. elevators, shuttlecars,
bio-lock, rad-lock, the entire endgame from Station 384 on, Floyd's initial
awakening, hunger, et cetera), namely that they are put on hold when you fall
asleep.
For example: at 5000 chrons or so you can move the shuttle car
out of the station and wait around until you get sleepy. (You can't do it
any later because you can't activate the shuttlecar in the evening). Then
when you're about to drop from fatigue you set the lever on +. You'd think
that you whould die in your sleep, after ramming into a concrete wall at 60
or so MPH. Nope.... when you wake up, only one turn has passed
from the point of view of the shuttle... if the car was going 25 when you
drop, it's 30 when you wake, and you've only moved one location.
You can sleep in the rad-lock without dying of rad-poisoning (although
you still die 3 turns AFTER you wake up). You can sleep in the bio-lock
with the door open, if you time it right.
You can also sleep after you close the door behind Floyd and leave him
to fight the mutants for the Miniaturization Card (although timing is
critical...). Despite the fact that Floyd is not in the room, when you wake
up he will comment that you look silly sleeping on the floor. And of course,
he does not die in the lab because you were sleeping when you should have
been letting him out. You can let him out just as if you'd never slept at
all.
If you summon an elevator and fall asleep, it arrives after you wake up.
If you take a trip on an elevator, it will end after you've woken. If you
activate Floyd for the first time and fall asleep, he will wake up after
you do.
Station 384 will not reactivate in your sleep, nor will the laser
completely cool, if it's been fired. If you're fighting the microbe when
you fall asleep, he won't kill you, though you will have to pick up the
laser when you wake up, since you drop everything when you fall asleep.
And of course, you can fall asleep with the mutants chasing you, or
in the ride on the Cryo Elevator. No problem. Again, the rest of the world
will just have to wait while you have your little nap.
You won't die of hunger in your sleep, but you will be reminded of it
as soon as you wake up. This last taken by itself would not be considered
a bug, though. You sleep so long, that you could easily go to sleep not
hungry, and die of starvation anyway, if every turn that passed while you
were asleep counted normally. We can simply chalk that one up to lowered
metabolism while asleep. -- David J. Wildstrom

=======================================
Plundered Hearts
=======================================
BUG
VERSION 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
*26/870730 Y Y Y Y Y Y Y

1. Although the game normally makes you drop Lafond's hat if you try to
leave the library with it, you can remove it from the Library by first
taking it, and then throwing it out the window. It isn't particularly
useful elsewhere, though. Lafond has no interest in it, even if you point it
out to him. If you return to the library with it, you will have to go
through the same procedure to remove it again. -- Chris D. Lang

2. THE BEWIGGED MAN: Lafond is present everywhere you go, in a
manner of speaking. If you refer to him as "bewigged man" (a synonym
suggested to the player in the ballroom dance scene) and not as
"Lafond", "man" or anything else, you'll get responses from Lafond
whether he is present or not. If you say EXAMINE BEWIGGED MAN,
you'll get a description of Lafond. If you speak to him, (i.e. BEWIGGED
MAN, TELL ME ABOUT THE RING), you'll generally get the response "He fails
to notice you've spoken."
Attacking the "bewigged man" anywhere except the Ballroom or the
Balcony will get you Lafond's, "Consider this a warning, my love,"
reaction the first time, and will get you killed the second time. If you
ATTACK THE BEWIGGED MAN at the Balcony, you'll be told "You can't
reach Lafond." If you ATTACK THE BEWIGGED MAN at the Ballroom,
you'll get Lafond's humorous reply, about how you shouldn't try to kill him
at the ball for fear of what the guests would think.
Lafond is apparently the only character in the game who has a
"double." -- Chris D. Lang

3. THE FIRE BUG. If you try to burn something you are holding when
there is no fire present, you get a double message; one saying that you
don't have any fire, and another telling you that you need to drop it first.
For example:

>BURN INVITATION
You have no source of fire.
You'll have to drop the invitation first.

If you drop the item, and then try again, you get another double
message, one saying that there is no fire, and another saying that the item
won't burn anyway. Like so:

>BURN BANKNOTE
You have no source of fire.
You can't burn a banknote!

If you try to burn something you're wearing, you are told there is no
fire, and then told to remove the item for your own protection. i.e.:

>BURN BALL GOWN
You have no source of fire.
Unless you relish a fiery death, you had better remove the beautiful
ball gown.

If you try to burn anything in a room that DOES have a fire source
(for example a torch or fireplace), you'll be told "Ladies do not play with
fire." -- Chris D. Lang

4. Whenever you read the invitation to the ball, you get the message
afterwards, that says "A ball! You haven't been to a ball in months!" as
though you were just hearing about it for the first time. You can even take
the invitation back from the butler and get this same message while you're AT
the ball. (This is more of a stylistic error than a bug). -- Graeme Cree

5. When you enter the Dungeon to rescue Jamison from Crulley, the game
output immediately switches to Brief mode. -- Torbjrn Andersson
NOTE: Torbjrn disassembled the datafile and showed me a page from the
code, that showed how Brief mode was called when you entered the room. There
may have been some programming reason why this was included, since it seems
completely arbritrary otherwise. - GC

6. THE LOVE BUG: When Jamison is trapped in the manacles, an alternate
way of rescuing him is to tell him that you love Lafond, which makes him walk
away in disgust. Unfortunately, the game will now be unwinnable, since he
never shows up again.
If you tell him you love Lafond abord the Helena Louise (before you
could possibly have met Lafond), he will tell you not to make jokes. If you
tell him at the Folly or the Ball, he will walk away in disgust, but will
show up later. If you try to tell him just before Crulley shoots him to
save him, he will be unable to hear you over the waves. -- Brian Almquist

7. In the hold of the Helena Louise, you can PUT or THROW HAND THROUGH
GAP. If the fuse is still burning, you get the response: "You throw your
hand into the ammunition area. It skids into the darkness, over the burning
end of the fuse. The fuse falters, spits and resumes burning. If the fuse
is not burning, the message will just read: "You throw your hand into the
ammunition area. It skids into the darkness."
As with similar body part bugs in other games, you will still be able
to move and pick up things normally, but will no longer be able to interact
with your hand. Trying to LOOK, TOUCH, SMELL, et cetera, your hand will meet
with the response, "You can't see any hand here!" -- Michael Cuffaro

=======================================
Quarterstaff
=======================================
NOTE: This was a role-playing game purchased and
rewritten by Infocom in 1988.

BUG
VERSION 1 2 3
2.0c (Macintosh) Y Y Y
2.0e (Macintosh) Y Y Y

1. You've tried to burn something and your machine crashed, right? Or
you walked into a particular location and your Mac froze up for an eternity?
You've had the privilege of encountering the dreaded BURN bug in
QUARTERSTAFF. To avoid the crash, NEVER burn anything that has a sub-menu
(for instance, any creature carrying an item or any item that acts as a
container). Stick to burning torches and doors. When you get to the
Charred Room, don't linger there. The room is so hot it will set your
party on fire and, eventually, crash your machine. So, go through in just
one turn. (The only item in the room is a BRONZE SEAL. Once you get the
BRONZE SEAL KEY, send one party member back to unlock it. That will
eliminate problems there). Finally, on the second level of the dungeon,
the region with areas A1 through A5, etc., contains land mines which will
also set your party on fire. If you stick to the D's and the 5's, you'll
avoid the mines and the crashes. -- Quoted from The Status Line

2. It's picky and obnoxious to mention it, but what the heck, it's an
excuse for a screen capture (in the HTML version of this list, at least).
The colour graphic for both known versions of Quarterstaff describe the huge
spider as a "Hige Spider". -- Graeme Cree

3. In Quarterstaff, tapping on a wall with a secret room behind it will
yield a hollow sound, while tapping on other walls gives a solid thud. So
far, so good. However, if you tap on a wall that has a NON-secret room
behind it, you ALSO get the solid thud. -- Graeme Cree

=======================================
Seastalker
=======================================
BUG
VERSION 1
15/840501 Y
15/840522 Y
16/850515 Y
*16/850603 Y

1. If you try to use the words RESTART, RESTORE, VERSION, or $VERIFY as
either your first or last name, the program will regard them as commands, not
names, and react accordingly. This can be very interesting with VERSION,
since the player's name is a part of the game's title. If you try to use
VERSION as your last name (i.e. JOE VERSION), the output from the version
command will list the games title as "SEASTALKER: JOE --- AND THE
ULTRAMARINE BIOCEPTOR". If you try to use VERSION as your first name, the
title is "SEASTALKER: --- --- AND THE ULTRAMARINE BIOCEPTOR." -- Graeme Cree

=======================================
Sherlock
=======================================
BUG
VERSION 1 2 3
*21/871214 Y Y Y
26/880127 Y Y Y

1. In all versions, it is possible to travel on foot through the
darkened streets of London without the lamp if you know where you're going,
and can arrange for a light to be there waiting for you. On the first turn
(for example), typing GO NORTH will generate the response:

You start off into the fog, but think better of it when you realize you have
no light to guide your way.

However, try the following commands at the start of the game: BLOW
WHISTLE. BLOW WHISTLE. DRIVER, GO TO YORK PLACE. NORTH.
The driver will go to York Place without a passenger in the cab, and the
game will let you walk there without the lamp on the next turn because there
is a light at the destination (all cabs have lights, even though they aren't
mentioned in the description). As a result, you can go anywhere in town
without the lamp simply by sending the cab on ahead.
You must have an accurate map, however. In the preceding example, you
must type DRIVER, GO TO YORK PLACE, because DRIVER, GO NORTH will not work.
Incidentally, speaking of light sources, there is one exterior location
where it is never dark: outside Holmes residence, where there is a gas
light, the only one in the game. Apparently Holmes' importance to the
nation was so great that he was the first person in London to get one
installed. -- Graeme Cree

2. It's possible to get rid of Wiggins forever. At Threadneedle Street,
first type WIGGINS, FOLLOW ME. Then, call a cab and enter it. When inside,
type WIGGINS, STAY. Then exit the cab, and let it drive off with Wiggins
inside. You'll see the cab (or A cab) again, but Wiggins is gone for good.
Apparently, the cab drops him off somewhere outside of the game, then returns
without him. You can only do this AFTER Holmes has been kidnapped, since
Wiggins will not follow you anywhere before then. -- Chris D. Lang

3. If you type THANKS or THANK HOLMES in Holmes Study before he learns
about the jewel robbery you will be told "[There's nobody here to thank.]"
-- Graeme Cree

=======================================
Shogun
=======================================
BUG
VERSION 1
292/890314 Y (Macintosh Version)
295/890321 Y (Amiga Version)
311/890510 Y (Apple ][ Version)
322/890706 Y (IBM Version)

1. In Chapter 6, Voyage to Osaka, after Rodrigues has been swept
overboard, there are two things you can do about it. You can either swim
after him during the storm, leaving the ship in danger, or you get the ship
to safety first, row the skiff to shore, and search for him along the cliffs.
If you take the second course of action but, when you enter the
skiff, type ROW TO RODRIGUES, instead of ROW EAST (to get to shore), you will
get the descriptions you would have gotten from the first course of action.
You will be told how you are swimming towards him (even though you are
rowing), and he will criticize you for leaving the ship in danger (even
though it isn't). You will be unable to rescue him, and the other samurai
in the skiff with you will be no help.
The problem is caused by the fact that Rodrigues is not moved to the
cliff area until AFTER the player goes ashore, and so the Implementors did
not count on the player being able to reach him in the skiff. It could have
been fixed by moving Rodrigues to the cliffs as soon as the ship reached the
bay, and adding messages about being unable to row to him. -- Alan Franzman

=======================================
Sorcerer
=======================================
BUG
VERSION 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
4/840131 Y Y Y Y Y Y Y N
6/840508 N Y Y Y Y Y Y N
13/851021 N N N N Y Y Y N
*15/851108 N N N N Y Y Y N
18/860904 N N N N Y Y Y Y

1. In Version 4, you can TAKE any spell scroll except VARDIK and
AIMFIZ at any point in the game, no matter where it is, as long as
you are not in bed (awake), and the spell has not yet geen gnustoed. If you
are in bed, you will be told you can't reach it.
If you try to TAKE VARDIK, you are told that your twin refuses to part
with the smelly scroll. AIMFIZ can only be taken after the chest is opened,
and you can get a second AIMFIZ scroll this way.
If you try to TAKE SWANZO, the glass maze rearranges, and you get the
normal message about turning around and seeing it happen, no matter where you
are.
If you TAKE GOLMAC and cast it on yourself outside the mine, the game
says "You are surrounded by a puff of smoke and feel disoriented for a
moment. When the smoke clears, nothing seems to have changed." In most
cases, this is a reasonable response if all that has happened is that you've
gone back in time a couple of minutes. Golmac can be Gnustoed, but casting
it on yourself twice in the same game will make you cease to exist.
Trying to take a scroll that has already been gnustoed will give you one
of several different error messages, claiming that it's impossible.
Apparently, to the game the scroll no longer exists to be taken after it has
been gnustoed, but does still exist if it has only been used. If you take
and gnusto the MALYON spell, then play and win the Hawker's game (which
should make him give you the no-longer-existing MALYON Scroll), he will
seemingly give you the glittering scroll, and you will be able to see it in
your inventory, but any attempt to interact with it (i.e. read, examine,
drop, gnusto, et cetera) produces the response "Bug #72." Although the
scroll doesn't exist any more, the fact that it is listed in your inventory
will make the game think that you are encumbered, and you will be unable to
stop in the Slanted Room when you go down the chute.
If you TAKE YONK, and then go to the cannon and look in the barrel, you
will see the pile of identical scrolls. This is supposed to represent the
Yonk scroll that you have plus the Yipples imitating it, but the game
considers the Identical scrolls to be a separate item). If you then put the
guano in the cannon, the yipples will leave the cannon, and the yonk scroll
will be moved from wherever it is (even if it is in your inventory),
and put into the cannon in place of the Identical Scrolls. Since the Yonk
spell cannot be gnustoed, there is no way to create a "Bug #72" error, like
the one in the preceding paragraph.
If you frotz a scroll, use it (without gnustoing it), and then take it
again, it will still be frotzed.
If you take a scroll while dreaming at the beginning of the game, you
will still have it when you wake up. Apparently the implementors never
considered the possibility that you might acquire an item while
asleep. -- New Zork Times

2. In versions 4 and 6, Belboz's journal can be opened with the key, but
cannot be closed. If you try to close it, you get a message saying "It's
already open." -- Graeme Cree

3. In versions 4 and 6, the Spell Book is ruined by water, but scrolls
are not. -- Graeme Cree

4. In versions 4 and 6 you cannot drop items down the lower coal chute
in the Coal Bin Room. -- Matthew T. Russotto

5. Trying to fill a vial with water causes a warning nymph to appear and
warn you against damaging the vial this way, even if you are underwater with
the vial already open when you do it. -- Graeme Cree

6. THE VILE VIAL BUG: Vials and water don't mix in Sorcerer. In all
versions of the game, if you try to open a vial full of potion in the Lagoon
(either at Surface of Lagoon, or Lagoon Floor), you get the message "As you
open the vial it fills with water, washing away the potion. A moment later a
fish swims by, acting very strangely." However, the vial ISN'T opened at all.
It is in fact impossible to open a vial at either of those locations.
Furthermore, in versions 4 and 6 (only) just TRYING to do this will make
it impossible to interact with the white door, making the game unwinnable.
Okay, well what about if the vial is opened BEFORE you enter the lagoon?
Well, in every version except Version 18, taking an opened vial full of
potion with you into the lagoon has no effect on the potion at all. You don't
lose it, and in fact, can even drink it underwater! In Version 18, opening
the (already opened!) vial will cause you to lose the potion, though there
is no message telling you that this has happened. -- Matthew Russotto

7. If you die while in the presence of your older self and get
resurrected, the game continues to report his exploits, even though you
cannot see them. Go to the Sooty Room and have the Vilstu and Blort potions
handy. Then Gaspar yourself, and from the Sooty Room, type the following
commands: EAST. DRINK ORANGE POTION (your older self will now appear).
DRINK AMBER POTION (being under the effects of both potions at once will kill
you). You will die and reappear at the West End of the Midway. After the
room description, it will say "From the NEXT room you glimpse someone gasping
for air." At the end of the next turn's output it will say: "Someone in the
coal bin room dives into the lower chute." Strange.
You will be unable to enter the Coal Bin Room again, as it has been
permanently blocked by a cave in. Therefore, your older self should have
ceased to exist. This works in all versions, but was apparently never
spotted before owing to the difficulty of finding a way to die after
drinking the Vilstu potion. -- Graeme Cree

8. There have been numerous rumours of problematic responses in version
18 of Sorcerer. Here are a couple of examples. From the beginning of the
game, input the following commands in sequence: Z, GET UP, WEST. Then, you
can get the following responses:

>LOOK AT THE SORCERER
You see nothing special about the Servants' Quarters.

>LOOK AT THE SERVANT
Someone must have cast the frotz spell on the River Bed, because it is
glowing brightly.

In all previous versions of the game, you get a normal response telling
you that those things aren't there. -- Linards Ticmanis

=======================================
Spellbreaker
=======================================
BUG
VERSION 1 2 3 4
63/850916 Y Y Y Y
*87/860904 N N N Y

1. In Version 63, if you try using the knife to cut up the magic carpet
while you are sitting on it, the game will still consider that you are
sitting on the carpet, even though it was destroyed (you will be told that
you need to get up first if you try to move). If you then get off the
carpet, the status line will show garbage, and you will find yourself in a
location with no description and no exits. The only way out of this area is
via blorple. If you destroy the carpet while in one of the blorple areas,
(i.e. when one of the cubes is missing) and blorple a second time to escape
the jumbled area, only the second cube will materialize in your hand when
you leave the Blorple area. The first is gone forever.
NOTE: This bug may behave differently, under different interpreters.
When playing the Apple ][ version, the game hangs when you try to leave the
jumbled area. -- GC

2. Also in Version 63, typing THANKS gives you the response, "How do
you do that with a [string of garbage]?" Weird, considering Infocom usually
handled Q&A and rhetorical replies pretty well. Version 87 responds with
"You're welcome, I guess."

3. GIRGOL/BLORPLE BUG: Finally, Version 63 also has the famous
Girgol/Blorple bug that caused quite a commotion in the rec.games.int-fiction
newsgroup a while back.
Normally, if you try to get by the ogre by casting Girgol, the scroll
and gold box will be frozen in time and you won't be able to take them until
the spell wears off, at which point the ogre will come in and kill you. But
casting the Blorple spell on a non-magical object, and then waiting in the
Nondescript Room until Girgol wears off, allows you to exit and take the
Espnis spell and gold box without being killed by the ogre. There was
considerable disagreement as to whether or not this was really a bug, until
it was discovered that, in the second release (version 87/860909), included
with LTOI, the Girgol/Blorple solution to the ogre's cave does not work.
Apparently the folks at Infocom decided that it was in fact a bug and removed
it from the game.

4. In all versions of Spellbreaker, if the bottle is full, using the
command TINSOT WATER on any body of water (except the water in the
Oubliette), will affect the bottle, wherever it is, rather than the water you
cast the spell on.
For example, fill the bottle with water, and drop it in Hall of Stone.
Go SOUTH to Ruins Room, and TINSOT WATER to try to freeze the water in the
channel. You will get the response, "The water and bottle freeze and shatter
into a million pieces!" Go back NORTH, and the bottle will be gone.
Another minor problem. Freezing the water in the bottle will always
shatter the bottle, regardless of whether the bottle is open or closed,
although realistically, the bottle should not shatter if it is
open. -- Paul Rizzo

=======================================
Starcross
=======================================
BUG
VERSION 1 2 3 4 5 6
15/820901 Y Y Y Y Y Y
*17/821021 N N Y Y Y Y

1. In version 15, you are able to get the red rod from the rat's nest
by typing NEST, DROP RED ROD. -- New Zork Times

2. In version 15, you can turn off the beam of energy in the Laboratory
by typing BEAM, GO WEST, generating the reply "The beam leaves the
room." -- Graeme Cree

3. In versions 15 and 17, you can put the red disk on the blue disk,
then put the blue disk on the red disk. This causes them both to disappear,
along with anything else that was on either of them. Similar bugs appear in
early versions of a few other games (such as Zork I and Infidel) that have
items acting as containers.

4. Climbing the tree and typing THROW HANDS results in, "The
pair of hands sails away, drifting in a long arc towards the ground."

5. The bunk on the Starcross is not openable, yet if you try to PUT THE
TAPE LIBRARY IN THE BUNK, you will get the response "The bunk isn't open."
-- Graeme Cree

6. Here's an odd case where a bug got worse instead of better in later
versions. In Version 17, if you ENTER VIEWPORT on the bridge of the
Starcross, and drop an item, then it is gone forever. However, in the older
Version 15, the item is only gone forever, if you leave the viewport after
dropping it, and then return. If you drop it and then try to pick it up
again without leaving, you will be able to. -- Graeme Cree

=======================================
Stationfall
=======================================
BUG
VERSION 1
*107/870430 Y

1. On any turn, the command HAND HAND HANDS will generate the response
"I don't think the c uuoyseems even has hands."
This is most likely due to unitialized memory in the interpreter. It
occurs in both Frotz and the original Infocom interpreter, but Linux zip just
gives blank spaces instead of the garbage. -- Bernd Schmidt

=======================================
Suspect
=======================================
BUG
VERSION 1
*14/841005 Y

1. It is possible to get to Veronica's office before her murder occurs.
At the beginning of the game, you have to get to the office by going west 3
times, south 6 times, west twice, and then north twice. This will get you to
the office at 9:13 P.M., where you will see the fairy mask, but not the
description of Veronica's body. Although Veronica actually reaches the
office at 9:11, two minutes earlier (which can be confirmed by playing the
game using the ZIP or FROTZ interpreter with the -o switch active), her
description doesn't turn up until 9:14. Typing LOOK the turn after you
enter the office will cause time to pass, making it 9:14, and Veronica's
body will suddenly appear out of nowhere. -- Paul David Doherty

=======================================
Suspended
=======================================
BUG
1 1
VERSION 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
5/830222 Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
7/830419 N Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
8/830521 N N Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
*8/840521 N N Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y

1. In the earliest version (5/830222), there is no way to determine
which of Iris' shorted chips needs to be repaired.

2. THE CARBON UNITS BUG: In versions 5 and 7, it is possible to
establish a cryolink to the humans in charge of deactivating you. At any
point in the game, even before they arrive (except when they are sleeping),
you can give the command HUMANS, KILL HUMANS, (or SELF) and get the response:

FC: Cryolink established to People.
HUMANS: They're shutting me off!

FC: So much for that robot. Too bad.

There is no way of reactivating them again (obviously). If you try to
contact them, after deactivation, you will be told: "FC: Humans is no
longer functional." Robots in the same room will be able to detect the
deactivated humans.
The humans have a name for everything, just as the robots do, but they
were never intended to be seen by the player. HUMANS, EXAMINE ME, for
example, will give the response "That's difficult unless the HOME has been
opened."
With other orders the humans will take no notice of you, and you will
be told simply "They don't respond." Once you get a "They don't respond,"
you will be unable to break the cryolink, or contact any of the robots. Even
the suicide order and the RESTART command will give you a "They don't
respond," although QUIT works normally.
In both Version 8's of the game (Version 8/Serial #830521, and Version
8/Serial #840521), attempts to contact the intruders will be met with
"FC: You can't talk to the humans!" -- Fredrick Ramsberg

3. You don't need to use two robots to move Fred from the cabinet. In
all versions, you can cheat and use just one by typing BOTH SENSA AND
SENSA, MOVE FRED.

4. In any release, you can CONFIGURE the game on the second move, not
just the first. This means you can make one move (most likely picking up an
object) and then re-configure the game to put the robot with the object in a
better position. This can be a great time-saver if used correctly.

5. There's also an error with the map that was never fixed. Referring
to the southeastern (blue) section:
Alpha FC
/ |
/ Primary Channel
/ |
--- Cavernous Room --- East End --- Beta FC
\ |
\ Secondary Channel
\ |
Gamma FC

While you can walk northeast from East End to the Alpha FC, there is no
direct route back from Alpha FC to East End using compass directions, and no
indication that this is a one-way corridor. Any attempt to backtrack by
typing SOUTHWEST results in a standard "You can't go that way" message
(slightly different for each robot), despite the fact that it directly
contradicts the map. However, if a robot in Alpha FC is ordered [ROBOT], GO
TO EAST END, he can make it in one turn, which could only be achieved by
going Southwest.

6. Have Waldo get the four-inch cable and be incapacitated. Have Poet
drag him to Alpha Repair to be fixed, and send them both back to the Primary
Channel, this time letting Waldo get zapped. If Poet LOOKs, he will see a
non-functional Waldo in the room, while Waldo will see a non-functional
Poet. This works in all versions. -- Graeme Cree

7. Setting robots to follow each other in a chain doesn't work in any
version. From the beginning of the game, try this sequence:

>IRIS, GO TO CENTRAL CHAMBER
>SENSA, FOLLOW IRIS
>POET, FOLLOW SENSA
>IRIS, GO TO WEATHER MONITORS
>WAIT
>IRIS, SENSA, POET, REPORT

The report will show you that Sensa followed Iris, but Poet did not
follow Sensa, and remained behind in the Central Chamber. -- Jim Bakman

8. Another Cryolink bug, but this one was never fixed. It is possible
to establish a cryolink to most inanimate objects in the game, by first
establishing a link to a robot in the same room, and then ordering both
the robot and the inanimate object to do something, all with a single
command line. This can be used to win the game faster, or just to produce
amusing results. For example, if Sensa is in the Small Supply Room, you
can get the following sequence:

>SENSA, HI. SENSA, HOLDER, GIVE CUTTER TO SENSA
FC: Cryolink established to Sensa.
SENSA: Hello.

FC: Cryolink already established to Sensa.
SENSA: I don't have the metal tool.

FC: Cryolink established to top shelf.
FC for both robots: Given.

and Sensa gets the cutter without having to use the step. Here's
another example: what would happen if you tried to use this bug to
get Iris's panel to open by itself? Put Iris and Waldo together and try
this:

>WALDO, HI. WALDO, PANEL, OPEN PANEL.
FC: Cryolink established to Waldo.
WALDO: Hello.

FC: Cryolink already established to Waldo.
WALDO: It's too delicate for my normal extensions.

FC: Cryolink established to panel.
FC for both robots: I'm not equipped to do that to the MP1.

The last line will repeat until the game crashes to DOS with a
"Fatal Error: Stack Overflow" error (in Frotz; no error message with the
original Infocom Interpreter).
There are far too many possibilities to mention them all here, as
different objects cause different results though moving from one room to
another usually causes a crash. A whole book could probably be written
about the effects of this bug and experimentation can be quite
amusing. -- Jim Bakman

9. WHERE'S THE BLT?: In any version, Whiz can see the motorized
walkway, or BLT, until he has to interact with it. Send Whiz and another
robot (Waldo, for instance) to Alpha Repair, and you can get this sequence:

>WHIZ, EXAMINE BLT
FC: Cryolink established to Whiz.
WHIZ: There is nothing on the BLT.

>WHIZ, DRAG WALDO TO BLT
FC: Cryolink already established to Whiz.
You'll have to tell me where the BLT is.

Either this is a bug, or Whiz won't carry out your orders until you
get him a bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich. -- Jim Bakman

10. THE GHOST OF IRIS: Iris is supposed to be confined to 7 areas at
the southwest corner of the map. To ensure this, the designer made it
impossible for her to be dragged by any of the other robots, and made her
refuse to follow them outside of the area. However, it is possible to get
her into the other areas of the map by having her "ghost" follow another
robot. Just follow these steps:

1. Have a robot take the Dense Wedge (or W1) from the Sub Supply
Room to Alpha Repair and put it on the step there.
2. Have Waldo Fix Iris' visual circuits.
3. Have Waldo Fix the machine in the Main Supply Room.
4. Push the button in the Main Supply Room to expose the wires.
5. Have Iris follow Waldo.
6. Have Iris try to take the wire in Main Supply, shorting herself out.
7. Send Waldo to Alpha Repair. (You'll get a message that he can't go
from one of the rooms to the next, but he'll make it anyway. Iif you tell
him to LOOK while he's in motion, you'll be told "In the room with me is a
non-functional Iris." The ghost of Iris is following him.)
8. Once in Alpha Repair, say WALDO, PUSH IRIS ONTO BLT
9. Wait a few turns until you get the message: "IRIS INTERRUPT: It's
great to be back."

Iris can now be moved throughout the complex using either compass
directions or GO TO commands, though if she enters her old perimeter,
she will be "stuck" again. -- Jim Bakman

11. THE MOBILE-CAM BUG: The TV camera beams images to Iris, but can
only be plugged in at the Primary or Secondary Channels. When a robot
carrying a plugged-in camera leaves either of these areas he/she
automatically unplugs the camera first...unless! Unless that is, the robot
left the area as an indirect result of a follow command, instead of a direct
order. Try this: Give the camera to Whiz, and send Whiz and Sensa to the
Primary Channel. Then enter the following commands:

>WHIZ, FOLLOW SENSA
>WHIZ, PLUG IN TV1
>SENSA, SOUTH
>WHIZ, POINT CAMERA AT SENSA

When Sensa moves, there will be no mention of the camera being
unplugged, and when Whiz points it at her, Iris will receive the
transmission, even though there is no place at Beta FC (their new location)
to plug it in. In fact the camera will now work anywhere. This bug is
present in all versions. -- Jim Bakman

=======================================
Trinity
=======================================
BUG
VERSION 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
11/860509 Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
*12/860926 Y Y Y Y Y Y Y

1. The Book of Hours is not reversed after passing through the Pergola
in any version of the game. This could be considered more of a design flaw
than an actual bug. (Or perhaps the book doesn't change because it
represents time, which, unlike directions, cannot be reversed.)

2. When you're on the paper bird above Nagasaki, and you hear the plane
approaching, type LISTEN. You'll die, but the message will be the same as
if you'd still been on the ground rather than flying on the paper bird.

3. Saying ROADRUNNER, DROP ME results in "The roadrunner drops
yourself at your feet." The room description then says "There's yourself
here." Leaving the location and coming back does not change the situation.
And strangely, referring to the dropped "yourself" is interpreted by the
game as an attempt to interact with the roadrunner. The roadrunner will
only drop "you" once -- trying it again causes the game to say "The
roadrunner doesn't have that."

4. Carrying the splinter into the bottom of the reservoir also reveals a
small blooper. The room description talks about the lantern's beam, even
if you are carrying the splinter instead of the lantern. Evidently the
author never considered the possibility of someone going to the Trinity
site without solving all the other puzzles first.

5. Typing THANKS gives the reply "There's no need to thank the b ."
-- Graeme Cree

6. You can prevent the origami bird from being damaged in the pram ride
by storing it in the bag of crumbs after emptying it. Thus, you never need
to give it to the little girl to refold it. This works in both
releases. -- Allen Garvin

7. No matter where you are in the game, the command FIND LONDON gives
the response "You're already in London.". FIND NAGASAKI on the other hand
works correctly, and gives the response "You'll have to do that yourself."
if you are elsewhere. <I>-- Zach Matley</I>

=======================================
Wishbringer
=======================================
BUG
VERSION 1 2
68/850501 Y N
*69/850920 N N
(SG) 23/880706 N Y

1. THE GOLD BUG: In Version 68, you can take the gold coin back from
Miss Voss after buying a movie ticket, enabling you to repeat the action and
earn an infinite number of points. This version was included in the
Macintosh version of LTOI2, but not the IBM version.

2. THE CAT BUG: Try the command FOLLOW CAT, from anywhere in the game,
(except when you're in the tower with the black cat, or at the end when you
have Chaos but haven't removed him from the display case.
In Version 68 you get the response "But the black cat is nowhere to be
seen!". In Version 69 you get the slightly less revealing response "You
can't see any cat here!". But in the Solid Gold Version you get the buggy
response "You can't reach inside the closed display case." even though the
display case isn't there. -- Benjamin Anderson

=======================================
The Witness
=======================================
BUG
VERSION 1 2 3 4 5
13/830524 Y Y Y Y Y
18/830910 N N Y Y Y
20/831119 N N Y Y Y
21/831208 N N Y Y Y
*22/840924 N N Y Y Y

1. In Version 13, a player can become trapped in the shower or broken
window by typing GET IN WINDOW or GET IN SHOWER (ENTERing the tub or shower
will not work). If you try to leave, the game will think you are sitting in
the chair and tell you that you need to stand up first. However, if you try
this you will be told that you are already standing up.
In later versions, GET IN [shower or window] produces the same failure
message as ENTER [shower or window]. - New Zork Times

2. In Version 13, you can GET IN CLOCK, but you will be unable to get
out of it again. Furthermore, almost every command you give from then on,
will respond "You can't see any clock here!", including QUIT, RESTORE, and
RESTART. -- Mike Cuffaro

3. You can GET A DRINK anywhere in the game. This is present in all
versions. -- New Zork Times

4. THE PHREAKY PHONG BUG, or THERE'S A PHONG US AMONG US: Any time
after Phong goes to his room (about 11:45), if you drop the mystery book
you will get the message, "Phong picks up the book and starts to read,"
even if he isn't in the room with you.
If he is in the room, you get the same message. Anytime you drop the
book in his room in his presence, he will pick it up and read, but he will
let you take it back from him without argument. What an agreeable fellow.
-- Laurie M.

5. THE GUN BUG: If you open the clock and put the hidden handgun back
inside (after retrieving it from Monica), you will be unable to interact with
it for the rest of the game. If you LOOK IN CLOCK, you will see it, but if
you try to take it or interact with it in any other way, you will be told
that you cannot see it. -- Edan Harel

=======================================
Zork Zero
=======================================
BUG
VERSION 1 2 3
296/881019 N Y Y (Macintosh Version)
366/890323 N Y Y (Amiga Version)
383/890602 Y Y Y (Apple ][ Version)
*393/890714 Y Y Y (IBM Version)

1. In the IBM and Apple ][ versions there is a slight bug, based on the
fact that Y and YES are synonymous that allows you to get credit for
incorrectly answering a riddle.
When you try to TAKE THE KEY in the Solar, the Jester will ask the
following: "You can find me at the beginning of youth, in the center of
every eye, and at the end of eternity. What am I?"
The answer is Y, but if you say YES, you will get the key all the same,
since the game thinks that Y and YES are the same thing. Note that you must
say only YES. Variations, such as ANSWER YES, ANSWER "YES", and the like
will not work.
In the Macintosh and Amiga versions, saying YES draws the response "You
sound rather positive," and you do not get the key. -- Brock Kevin Nambo

2. After you put John Paul Flathead's spyglass in the cauldron of
Megaboz, you can go back to the Frigid River Valley and ask Otto for it
again, and put it in the cauldron repeatedly. You can't get infinite points
this way, because you can never put more than 24 Flathead items into the
cauldron. Trying to put in a 25th, gives you the message: "As though there
were now an invisible bubble around the cauldron, the [item] slides away
from it and lands on the floor." Putting in ANY 24 Flathead items, even 24
spyglasses will let you say the magic word and activate the curse, so
technically, this is the only item you need to win the game. There is no way
to get two spyglasses at the same time this way, as getting a second spyglass
will make the first one disappear.

3. Any chess piece on the plain can be duplicated by use of the
teleportation pigeon and the perch. Take the perch and pigeon, and wear the
cloak to get to the plain. Drop the pigeon in an empty square, then go to a
square with a piece, and order the piece into the square where the pigeon is.
The piece will leave, pick up the perch, and then rematerialize in your
square. However, if you go to the square where the pigeon is, an exact
duplicate of the piece will still be there, holding the pigeon. -- Admiral
Jota

=======================================
Zork I
=======================================
BUG
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2
VERSION 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
2/AS000C Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y N N Y Y Y Y N Y N Y Y Y N Y N N Y Y
5/ N N Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y N Y Y Y
15/UG3AU5 N N N N N N N N N N N N Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y N Y Y Y
20/ N N N N N N N N N N N N N Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y N Y Y Y
23/820428 N N N N N N N N N N N N N Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y N Y Y Y
25/820515 N N N N N N N N N N N N N Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y N Y Y Y
26/820803 N N N N N N N N N N N N N Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y N Y Y Y
28/821013 N N N N N N N N N N N N N Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y N Y Y Y
30/830330 N N N N N N N N N N N N N N Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y N Y Y Y
75/830929 N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
76/840509 N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N Y N Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
*88/840726 N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
(SG) 52/871125 N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N Y Y Y

Mini-Zork 1
34/871124 N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N Y N N Y Y N N

1. Many commands which produce strange output in later versions, give
no response at all in Version 2, and the game simply goes on to the next
turn. For example, the commands READ MAILBOX, and EAT ME give no response
at all in Version 2, but in the next version (Version 5), you get "How can
I read a mailbox?" and "I don't think that the you would agree with you."
-- Alan Franzman

2. THE SLIDE BUG: In Version 2, when you drop items down the slide, the
game first tells you that it's done, then tells you it can't be done, and
then removes the item from the game entirely. For example:

>DROP TRIDENT IN SLIDE
The crystal trident falls through the slide and is gone.
I can't do that.

The trident is now out of the game. -- Alan Franzman

3. The earliest releases of Zork I (Versions 2 and 5) can become very
confused if you nest objects too deeply in your inventory, such as putting
the lunch in the sack, then the sack in the coffin. You may get very
spurious output from the INVENTORY command like "Such language in a
high-class establishment like this!" messages, with other random junk
interspersed in it. This can also lead to the object hierarchy getting
screwed up, in such a way that an INVENTORY might claim that you are
carrying a bunch of rooms around!
ADDITIONAL: Technically this bug is present in all versions of the
game. In Versions 2 and 5 it occurs when three objects are nested (i.e.
canary in egg in sack). In later versions it only occurs when 7 objects are
nested, which is difficult but not impossible to create. Take the canary,
egg, sack, buoy, coffin, and (inflated) boat to the Shaft Room, and issue the
following commands: PUT EGG IN SACK. PUT CANARY IN EGG. PUT SACK IN BUOY.
PUT BUOY IN COFFIN. PUT BOAT IN BASKET. PUT COFFIN IN BOAT. LOOK. (As
everything can't be carried simultaneously, some TAKE and DROP commands may
need to be interspersed here.) When you LOOK, a random phrase from
somewhere else in the game may be mixed with the output. In the Solid
Gold version, the phrase "up to your ankles" (from when the water is rising
in the Maintenance Room) will be before the description of the canary. In
other versions there are different effects, some random phrases, and some
gibberish. -- Michael the Great

4. In Versions 2 and 5, commands such as GO DOOR or GO TREE can send
players into random locations. -- New Zork Times

5. In Version 5, the command HIT MIRROR WITH SWORD will generate
combat responses, such as "The mirror parries", or "The mirror dies in a
cloud of sinister black fog." In Version 2, you miss the mirror and the
game crashes with a Stack Overflow error. -- Graeme Cree

6. In Versions 2 and 5, the command GIVE AXE TO TROLL will generate a
response like:

"The troll accepts your gift, and not having the most discriminating
taste, eats it.
The troll, dismarmed, is cowering and begging for forgiveness in the
gutteral language of the trolls."

(In Version 2, he GLEEFULLY eats it. Picky, picky.) Though the troll can
no longer attack you, he still blocks the exits and parries, while continuing
to beg for forgiveness. -- Graeme Cree

7. In Versions 2 and 5, if you give the troll to himself, he eats
himself and disappears. He still bars you from leaving the room though,
only now he can't be attacked. -- Graeme Cree
NOTE: In fact, as Ethan Dicks has pointed out, virtually anything can
be given to the troll (or thief) in this version: your hands, your eyes, the
eastern wall, a compass direction, even "ME". The troll will then eat them
and you will be unable to interact with them for the rest of the game
(although you can still go "east" if you give "east" to the troll). The
thief of course will leave them lying around instead of eating them.

8. In Versions 2 and 5, if you give the troll to the thief, the thief
puts the troll in his bag, but the troll still blocks the exits. If the
thief is killed, the troll reappears. -- Graeme Cree

9. In all versions after Version 5, if you try to use a compass
direction while in the boat, the game will (reasonably) tell you that you
can't go that way in a magic boat. In Versions 2 and 5, it will tell you
that you can't go that way in a tan label. -- Graeme Cree

10. In all versions after Version 5, when you reach the portion of the
river where the buoy is, the description will tell you that the buoy is
"(outside the magic boat)". Versions 2 and 5, tells you that the buoy is
"(in the room)"! -- Graeme Cree

11. If you try to GET OUT OF THE BOAT while floating down the river, all
versions of the game tell you that you realize "just in time" that such a
course would be suicidal. In all versions before and after Version 5, the
game prevents you from leaving the boat. In Version 5, it lets you leave and
kills you, despite having told you that you had realized not to do
it. -- Graeme Cree

12. THE FLOODGATES BUG: In version 5, if the nest is not taken at
location "Up a Tree", the room description eventually changes to a
torrential flood of output, several screens long, containing a mishmash
of fragments of room, noun, and action descriptions that you see whenever
you enter the room (except in superbrief mode), or do a LOOK.
It isn't clear precisely what causes it, but it happens every time if
you go down into the GUE, through the maze, grab the bag, come out through
the Cyclops Room into the Living Room, and outside to the tree. It might be
triggered by a certain point level, or something else.
If you try to TAKE the nest after the bug has triggered, the game will
lock up. Taking the egg before or after has no effect. -- Graeme Cree

13. In Versions 2, 5 and 15, shaking an open container that isn't empty
may crash the game. This works with the sack, but not the
bottle. -- New Zork Times

14. In Versions 2, 5, 15, 23, 25, 26, and 28, you can bump your head on
things such as the river by trying to enter them. -- New Zork Times

15. THE WIMPY PHANTOM THIEF BUG: You know, that thief is really tough
in combat. Why not fight his phantom instead? He doesn't fight back.

In Versions 2, 5, 15, 23, 25, 26, 38, and 30, engage the thief in combat
(outside of his lair). Wait until he robs you and leaves; you will see this
message:

The other occupant just left, still carrying his large bag. You may not have
noticed that he robbed you blind first.

At this point, continue to attack the thief, using the AGAIN command.
You will continue to attack the no-longer-present thief, but he will not
fight back, and eventually you can do enough damage to kill him.

A couple of points; this won't work if you attack the thief with the
sword, since when he "robs you blind", he takes the sword as well as your
treasures. You must use the axe or nasty-looking knife. Also this only
works with the AGAIN command, (with AGAIN representing ATTACK THIEF WITH AXE,
or something like that) not by attacking him directly. Thirdly, it may take
several tries to get this to work, since the thief does not always rob you
in the middle of a fight. Sometimes he stays and fights (and kills you).

Killing the phantom thief kills the real one as well, and you can now
explore the game without interference from him, even when you find his lair.
Sound great? Well, there is one SLIGHT hitch. Remember the things the thief
took when he robbed you blind? He never had a chance to stow them in his
lair, and they are nowhere to be found when you kill the phantom (his
stiletto is left behind, but not his bag). This means any treasures that he
took are out of the game, and the game may be unwinnable. Therefore, the only way to use this bug to your profit is to engage the thief in combat when you are carrying no treasures (except the sword, which he will take). -- Kevin ([email protected])

16. In Versions 2, 5, 15, 23, 25, 26, 28, and 30, you can take the torch
into the Gas Room without setting off an explosion, provided that it is
inside the Raft or the Coffin (open or closed). -- Allen Garvin

17. In versions 5, 15, 23, 25, 26, 28, and 30, the single-line
description of the torch and candles stays unchanged after they have been
removed from their initial locations.
For example, put the torch into the gold coffin, close it, then open it
again. You will see:

>OPEN COFFIN
The gold coffin opens.
Sitting on the pedestal is a flaming torch, made of ivory.

OR:

>OPEN COFFIN
The gold coffin opens.
On the two ends of the altar are burning candles.

In versions 75, 76, 88, and 52, this is fixed, and you get these
responses:

>OPEN COFFIN
Opening the gold coffin reveals a torch.

>OPEN COFFIN
Opening the gold coffin reveals a pair of candles.

This doesn't seem to work in Version 2, if only because in that one, the
coffin is so much smaller, and can't contain either the torch or candles.
-- Graeme Cree

18. In Versions 2, 5, 15, 20, 23, 25, 26, 28, and 30 you can take the
boat while already in it.
Drop the (inflated) boat in the living room. Then GET IN BOAT,
PUT BOAT IN CASE, and then GET ALL FROM CASE. The game will respond:

magic boat: Taken.
nail: It's not in that!

At this point you will be both occupying and carrying the boat. A
LOOK command (and attempting to move) will tell you that you are in the
boat, but it will not show up in an INVENTORY command. Once you get out
of the boat, it will be placed in your inventory.
This assumes that you are playing the game from the original Infocom
interpreter. Frotz 2.32 will put up with none of this nonsense, and will
crash the game when you try to GET ALL FROM CASE.
In versions 75, 76, 88, and 52 this does not work, because you are
prohibited from PUTting things unless you TAKE them first. But the lack
of such a prohibition in earlier versions may be responsible for
numerous bugs. For example in versions 30 and earlier, you can take
the raft to the Treasure Room, and PUT CHALICE IN RAFT without first
defeating the Thief in combat. -- Allen Garvin

19. THE PICKUP BUG: In games like Planetfall and Enchanter, people have
reported situations where one could exceed normal weight limits, and carry
something that they could not pick up themself, simply by having someone hand
it to them. I have never regarded these as bugs, reasoning that if you're
holding an armload of equipment it's easier to take something that someone
gives you than bending over and picking it up.
I can't defend this bug, though. In all versions up to Version 30,
(except perhaps Version 2 again, where the containers are so much smaller)
you can pick up items that you normally couldn't, simply by putting them into
something else that you're already carrying.
For example, try this: 1) Put the bell and axe (nothing else) into the
gold coffin, and leave it open. 2) Have only the lunch, garlic and coffin
(loaded with bell and axe) in your inventory, with the empty sack at your
feet. If you then try to PICK UP SACK you will be told "Your load is too
heavy.", but if you PUT SACK IN COFFIN it works, and you're told "Done."
You can signifigantly exceed your weight limits this way if you pick up
items by putting them in the coffin and then take them out of the coffin to
make room for new items, but there are limits. Eventually things will start
slipping from your fingers and falling to the ground when you try to take
them out of the coffin.
In versions 75 and later, you cannot put something into something else
unless you already have it in your inventory when you issue the command.
--Fredrik Ekman

20. THE PHANTOM BOAT: In Versions 2, 5, 15, 20, 23, 25, 26, 28, 30, 75
and 76, you may continue to occupy the boat after you've destroyed it.
Inflate the boat, and drop it. GET IN BOAT, then CUT BOAT WITH SWORD.
The game will reply: "Your skillful swordsmanship slices the magic boat into
innumerable slivers which evaporate instantaneously."
However, you will still be considered to be in the boat for all
locational purposes, save that you will not be able to refer to it. If you
were in the water when you destroyed the boat, you will still be afloat.
Unfortunately, in most versions you will not be able to get out of the boat,
(such as by saying DISEMBARK BOAT) not being able to refer to it, nor will
you be able to give it directional commands (if you are in the river), which
means that you are trapped, and the game is unwinnable.
In versions 75 and 76, you will at least be able to escape the
phantom boat by typing STAND, a command that exits the boat without directly
referring to it. Earlier versions do not know this word.
The same thing will happen if, instead of destroying the boat, you
give it to the thief while inside it, and he leaves with it. -- Allen Garvin

21. If you knock the thief unconscious and try to take his stiletto, the
game says that it is "white hot," and that you drop it -- obviously some sort
of protective magic. However, in Versions 2, 5, 15, 23, 25, 26, 28, 30, and
75, if you try to PUT STILETTO IN SACK (for example) it will let you, but
when the thief wakes up, he continues to attack you with the stiletto, even
if you have moved it to a different room! In later versions, it refuses to
let you put it in the sack at all, saying that you don't have the
stiletto. -- B.J. Parker

22. BIRTHDAY CANDLES BUG: In all versions except the Solid Gold (and
Mini-Zork), Zork 1 apparently uses trick relighting candles.
The first time you go to the Temple, type BLOW OUT CANDLES, *without*
taking them, then type LOOK. The description will say "On the two ends of
the altar are burning candles.", but if you examine them, it will say that
they are out. If you try to light them, you will be told "The candles are
lit," instead of "already lit" which is what it says when they are burning.
If you do an INVENTORY command, the candles will not say "(providing light)".
However, the room description is correct, and all of the other
indicators are wrong. The candles *are* still lit and will quickly become
too small to use unless you put them out for real, by taking them and either
dropping them, or lighting and blowing them out again.
The only reliable way to blow out the candles is to hold them while you
do it. This bug drove me, well, buggy, until I tracked it down, trying to
figure out why my candles were being destroyed even though I knew I had
blown them out. -- Graeme Cree

23. Here's a variation on the Starcross disk bug. If the sack and the
bottle are both empty, it's possible to put the sack in the bottle, then put
the bottle in the sack, causing both to vanish. This exists in all versions
except the Solid Gold, Mini-Zork, and Version 2 (because the bottle is too
small to hold the sack in that one). -- New Zork Times

24. BOTTLE BUG: In all versions except the Solid Gold and MinniZork,
you can POUR WATER regardless of whether the bottle is open or
closed. -- Graeme Cree

25. TRAPDOOR BUG: In versions 75, 76 and 88, there is a way to open the
trapdoor from the inside. At the beginning of the game, enter the following
commands: n. e. open window. w. w. take lamp. move rug. light. open
trapdoor. d. n. g.
When you enter the G (or AGAIN) command, you will be told "The trap door
opens." You can then return to the Living Room, and the trapdoor will not be
barred behind you when you descend to the Cellar later.
The order of the commands matters. If you reverse the order of LIGHT,
and OPEN TRAPDOOR, then you will be told "It is already on" when you type
AGAIN. For some reason the AGAIN command thinks you are referring to the
lamp.
It isn't clear if this is a bug or a playtesting device that Infocom
forgot to remove. -- Allen Garvin
NOTE: Matthew Russotto suggests that this bug is a combination of
another bug wherein AGAIN did not check to see if the object referred to was
still present, and a deliberate change that made AGAIN ignore directional
commands. The Phantom Thief Bug was another manifestation of this, but that
bug was patched separately, rather than fixing the underlying problem.
Therefore, AGAIN in this case refers to your opening of the trapdoor three
moves ago, because all commands in between have been directional.
He points out that similar tricks can be used to disarm the troll, and
to attack him when he is not present (a la, the Phantom Thief Bug).
From the Troll Room, the commands TAKE AXE, S, AGAIN, will let you take
the axe while you are in the cellar, even though it will be invisible to
LOOK and INVENTORY commands.
Also from the Troll Room, the commands, ATTACK TROLL WITH SWORD, S,
AGAIN, gives you the Phantom Troll Effect (similar to the Phantom Thief),
allowing you to attack the Troll while he isn't present, and can't fight
back.

26. Another container bug, but this one is in all versions, even the
Solid Gold edition (EXCEPT for Version 2, with its notoriously small
containers again). If you put the (inflated) raft in the coffin, then the
coffin in the raft, both will disappear. This does not work the other way
around, however. If you put the coffin in the raft first, then the raft in
the coffin, you get a message saying that there is no room. In Mini-Zork,
this bug not only appears, but the game locks up to boot (no pun
intended). -- Graeme Cree

27. THE RAFT OF HOLDING: When you put objects in the raft and then
deflate it, they effectively cease to exist, allowing you to carry as much
weight and as many objects as the raft will hold (it won't hold the gold
coffin, unfortunately, and of course sharp objects are out). This is because
the game handles the pile of plastic and the raft as two separate objects,
and there's no provision for handling any objects inside the raft when the
switch is made. -- Stu Galley in The New Zork Times

28. TEETH OVERBOARD: All versions of the game (except Mini-Zork) have
an odd problem synonyming the word "overboard" (which really shouldn't be
a noun at all, should it?). In versions 2-28, "overboard" is a synonym
for "object 212", in version 30 "object189", and in versions 75 onward as
"teeth" (!), as can be seen by typing EXAMINE OVERBOARD on the first turn
of the game. -- Gunther Schmidl

=======================================
Zork II
=======================================
BUG
1 1
VERSION 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
7/UG3AU5 Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
15/820308 N Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y N Y
17/820427 N Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y N Y
18/820512 N Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y N Y
19/820721 N Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y N Y
22/830331 N Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
23/830411 N Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
*48/840904 N N N N Y Y Y Y Y Y Y

1. In version 7, you are able to give commands to some inanimate
objects. Contrary to the report in XyzzyNews #2, you cannot use the standard
Infocom command syntax (such as AQUARIUM, GO EAST, which generates the reply
"You must supply a verb"), but must use the same types of commands that you
use to direct the robot. For example, you could say TELL AQUARIUM "GO EAST",
and the game will say "The aquarium has left the room." TELL AQUARIUM "GO
EAST THEN GO EAST" results in a message saying that you have been killed by a
grue, but in reality it is the aquarium that has "died," as the next line
informs you.
ADDITIONAL: Besides, the aquarium, you can also do this to the Glacier,
the Pool of Tears, and the dead Dragon. The most useful application of this
bug is to wait until the wizard appears and stays long enough for you to
react. Normally, the wizard appears, casts a spell, and leaves before you
have a chance to do anything, but occasionally, you get this sequence:

A strange little man in a long cloak appears suddenly in the room. He is
wearing a high pointed hat embroidered with astrological signs. He has a
long, stringy, and unkempt beard.
The Wizard draws forth his wand and waves it in your direction. It begins to
glow with a faint blue glow.
The Wizard seems about to say something, but thinks better of it, and peers
at you from under his bushy eyebrows.

When this happens, the wizard is still there on your turn, and if one
of these four objects is present, you can order it to take his wand, then
order it to drop the wand, then take it yourself (i.e. TELL GLACIER
"TAKE WAND", TELL GLACIER "DROP WAND", TAKE WAND). You can win the game
with an absurdly low score this way.
Oddly, when you take the wand by this method, it will be invisible.
It will not show up in either LOOK or INVENTORY commands, though you can
EXAMINE it, and use it normally.
The Dragon will not react to the Glacier anywhere except in the Ice
Room. If you order the Glacier into the Dragon's Lair, and then wake him up,
he won't even notice it. Conversely, if you move the Glacier OUT of the Ice
Room, before leading the Dragon there, he will still see it, and react
accordingly.
Although this bug only appears in Version 7, you can GIVE items to these
four inanimate objects in every version except Version 48, although this has
no real effect on game play. For example if you GIVE SWORD TO GLACIER, it
will say "given", but if you LOOK, the sword will be lying on the floor in
the room (whereas if you order the glacier to take it, it will be in the
Glacier's "inventory" until you tell him (her? it?) to drop it. -- Allen
Garvin

2. There is a parser bug in Versions 7, 17, 18, 19, 22, and 23 that
stems from having two objects of the same color in the same room (such as the
blue label and the blue sphere), and then referring to the object simply by
its color when trying to take it. For example:

>TAKE THE BLUE
Which [several lines of garbage] do you mean?

In the LTOI version (48/840904) the parser bug has been fixed, and the reply
"There seems to be a noun missing in that sentence" replaces the garbage.
(Early parser versions of other Infocom games may have similar bugs.)

3. In versions 7, 17, 18, 19, 22, and 23, you could take immovable
objects by reading them. For instance, READ UNICORN will (provided the
unicorn is actually present in the first place) reply:

Taken. How can you read a unicorn?

Another example: Reading the stands on the Wizard's workbench will let you
take them, even though the game claims they are firmly bolted to the table.
However, since the text about the stands is a part of the room description,
they remain attached to the table, even if you're carrying them, and even if
you drop them elsewhere, though the table itself doesn't move along with
them.

4. KILL, KILL, KILL: In every version except version 48, you can die an
unlimited number of times simply by typing KILL repeatedly. Ordinarily,
the game ends the 4th time that you die, but the game doesn't count the third
death if you die in one of the mist rooms (i.e. when you're ALREADY dead),
though it will count the second one. Eventually the game will overflow and
crash when your score gets low enough.
In version 48, this does not work. If you try to KILL yourself, you are
told "Suicide is not the answer." -- Allen Garvin
NOTE: Allen says that long ago he wrote a C program (on a 386) that
kept inputting the KILL command until finally the game crashed, after a
couple of hours. This was presumably done with the original Infocom
interpreter. I tried it with Frotz 2.32, using the Alt-P command, and rather
than crashing, when the score got to -32760, the next KILL command changed
the score to (positive) 32766. - GC

5. When the wizard appears before you, but doesn't cast any spell, you
will see the following text:

The Wizard seems about to say something, but thinks better of it, and peers
at you from under his bushy eyebrows.

If you type KILL THE WIZARD, you will get the following reply:

The Wizard retreats, waving his wand and chanting. He says, "Fear!" Nothing
happens! With a terrified glance at the demon, the Wizard runs past you and
out of the room.

This text clearly belongs much later in the game, after you've freed the
demon and ordered him to kill the wizard. This works in all versions.

6. In all versions, if your sword is "filched" by the Wizard, filching
it back with the Wizard's wand may be a little confusing, since there are
nicked swords of other adventurers in the room also. If you try to POINT
WAND AT SWORD, you will be asked "Which sword do you mean, the sword, or the
nicked swords?" Saying "the sword" will not work and starts the process
over again. Fortunately, this can be gotten around if you have the sense to
say "the Elvish sword". -- Graeme Cree

7. In all versions, you can get the dragon to follow you into and
through the mist rooms, into the barrow (when you are brought back to life),
and almost anywhere else in the game.
Simply find the dragon and type ATTACK DRAGON WITH SWORD until he kills
you. Once in the Room of Red Mist, simply type G (or AGAIN), and the dragon
will appear in the room with you. You can get him to follow you through the
blue, white, and black mist rooms into the barrow, by following the same
procedure you normally use to lead him to the glacier (i.e. attacking him
once with the AGAIN command, then moving to the next room). This procedure
shouldn't work, for two reasons: a) you no longer have the sword, and
b) when you go west to the blue mist room, the AGAIN command should make you
move west again, not attack the dragon again.
However, it does work. After you die from the command ATTACK DRAGON
WITH SWORD, the AGAIN command will automatically refer to and successfully
implement that command thereafter, regardless of whether or not you have the
sword, or whether the dragon is in the room with you. In fact, you can even
try this sequence: ATTACK DRAGON WITH SWORD (getting yourself killed), WEST,
WEST, WEST, AGAIN. After the third WEST, you will be back in the barrow, and
the AGAIN command will attack the dragon (with the sword that you no longer
have), bringing him into the barrow with you. The AGAIN command seems to
return to normal functioning by issuing a WAIT (Z) command.
No matter what room you are with the dragon in, typing LOOK will give
the standard description of him: "A huge red dragon is lying here, blocking
the entrance to a tunnel leading north. Smoke curls from his nostrils and
out between his teeth." The designers did not believe it possible to take
the dragon into a room where there was not a tunnel leading north. The
dragon can kill you while you're already dead (i.e. in one of the Mist
Rooms). -- Brian Uri

8. Since it doesn't affect gameplay, this is a style error, rather than
a bug. But in all versions of Zork 2, the description of the Marble Hall
says: "To the south the hall opens into a large room. There is rather
[sic] annoying whirring sound coming from that room.", regardless of whether
or not the Carousel is still in motion. A little picky to mention it, I know,
but Infocom changed room descriptions for things such as this on many
occasions.
There is a similar problem in the Crypt. If you are there without a lit
lantern, the room description will say:

It is dark, but on the south wall is a faint outline of a rectangle,
as though light were shining around a doorway. You can also make out
a faintly glowing letter in the center of this area. It might be an "F".

regardless of whether the secret door is open or not. Conversely, if you are
there with a lit lantern (after the secret door has been discovered), then
this will be appended to the normal room description:

Looking closely at the south wall, you can see the dim outline of a
secret door labelled with the letter "F".

regardless of whether or not the door has been opened. -- Graeme Cree

9. THE BUCKET BUG: In all versions, you can ENTER or EXIT the bucket
regardless of whether it is open or closed. However you can only LOOK IN
BUCKET when it is open. If it is closed, you can't look inside, even if you
ARE inside!
For example, when you first enter the Circular Room, enter these
commands:

>CLOSE BUCKET
Closed.

>ENTER BUCKET
You are now in the wooden bucket.

>OPEN BUCKET
Opening the wooden bucket reveals a cretin.

>EXAMINE CRETIN
That's difficult unless your eyes are prehensile.

"Cretin" is a synonym for the player in Zork 1, 2, and 3. But
the talk about revealing a cretin makes no sense. You were already in the
bucket with a light source, so you could already see yourself before you
were "revealed." However at least the game maintains a weird consistency
because you can't LOOK IN THE BUCKET while it is closed either, even if you
are in it. -- Justin Edwards

10. There is a bug in versions 22, 23, and 48 that results from saying
TELL GENIE "MOVE MENHIR" (or any other command that results in the Genie
leaving, but the Wizard staying).
Once the Genie has left, type ATTACK WIZARD WITH SWORD. The Wizard will
cast a Fear spell on you, chasing you back to the Wizard's Workroom. At this
point, immediately go SOUTH to return to the Pentagram Room, and WAIT five
times, and you will get this message:

Suddenly the Wizard materializes in the room. He is astonished by what he
sees: his servant in deep conversation with a common adventurer! He draws
forth his wand, waves it frantically, and incants "Frobizz! Frobozzle!
Frobnoid!" The demon laughs heartily. "You no longer control the Black
Crystal, hedge-wizard! Your wand is powerless! Your doom is sealed!" The
demon turns to you, expectantly.

Whoops! This is a repeat of the text you saw when the Wizard first
appeared while you were bribing the genie! In earlier versions (Versions
15, 17, 18, and 19), this bug does not work (although in Version 7, the game
crashes for some unknown reason when you attack the wizard after telling the
genie to move the menhir). In those versions, when you attack the Wizard, he
does TRY to cast Fear on you, but it fails, and he runs away.
So, why does this appear only in later versions and not earlier ones?
Well, in the early versions, when you attack the Wizard, he tries to cast
Fear on you, fails, runs away, and is never seen again. In the later
versions however, the Wizard returns to the Pentagram Room after a few turns,
if he still has his wand, and remains there the rest of the game. If you
LOOK, you will see a line saying, "A dejected and fearful Wizard watches from
the corner." He will continue to cast Fear on you every time you try to
attack him, but won't leave.
Apparently, when the game mechanics were changed to make him return to
the Pentagram Room, there was no special message written to describe his
appearance if you happened to be watching at the time, so the game defaulted
back to a previous message. -- Duncan Stevens

11. THE WINGED GRUE BUG: Those pesky Grues are EVERYWHERE! It's a
judgment call as to whether this is a bug or cheesy game mechanics, but even
if you are in the balloon, in flight, turning the lights off will make those
naughty Grues slither into the "room" and kill you. This works in all
versions. -- Graeme Cree

=======================================
Zork III
=======================================
BUG
1 1 1
VERSION 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2
10/820818 Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
12/821025 N N Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
15/830331 N N N N Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
16/830410 N N N N Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
15/840518 N N N N Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
*17/840727 N N N N Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y

1. THE CHEST BUG: In version 10, the chest is too big and can contain
items that normally aren't supposed to fit. The most notable is the wooden
staff, which, if put safely inside, will not get broken if the player fights
and kills the man at the cliff ledge. Thus a player can get the treasure and
keep the staff intact as well.
Another interesting use of this bug involves using the chest to
transport the lamp or torch across the lake, eliminating the need for the
grue repellent and viewing table. This allows the player to win with only 6
of the 7 possible points.
If you enter the Dark Room with a light source, the grues won't attack
or even be mentioned, but the room is still called the Dark Room, and there
is no room description. Typing LOOK generates no response at all, and sends
you to the next turn.
In later versions, the _unbroken_ staff and lamp won't fit in the
chest. It's incredibly difficult to find a version with this bug still
intact. -- New Zork Times
SUBJECTIVE COMMENTARY: IMHO, the solution created a bug rather than
fixed one. Since the old man took the staff out of the chest, what is the
sense in saying that it doesn't fit if the player tries to put it back? And
if the staff fits, the lamp should also.
One person wrote me and suggested that perhaps the DM didn't get the
staff out of the chest at all, and we merely assumed it. I went back and
checked the game text, which confirms that he did:

"He hands you a plain wooden staff from the bottom of the chest and
begins examining his valuables."

On the other hand, A. Franzman points out that if you shake the chest
before opening it (in any version of the game), you get the unequivocal
response "There's nothing in the chest." This message may be an error, or
perhaps the DM put the items in the chest while he was off getting the rope
(though this still doesn't explain why the staff can't be put back).
I would have fixed the bug in the following two ways: 1) Make the
chest leak, thus preventing the lamp or torch from surviving the trip across
the lake, and 2) Allow the player to get both the staff and the treasure in
this way, but have the Dungeon Master reject him as an unworthy candidate at
the end of the game. - GC

2. At the very end of Version 10, the sword is often a source of
trouble. If the player happens to be holding it when he/she is in cell #4,
the game will crash when the player asks the Dungeon Master to push the
button. This is because there are two different possible exits to
the north, and the sword routine gets confused when it checks the adjacent
rooms to see whether or not the sword should glow. Infocom's testers didn't
find this originally, because they'd been leaving the sword behind to block
the beam of light. -- New Zork Times

3. In Version 10, it's possible to get the Dungeon Master to follow you
beyond the Dungeon area, if you get past the door, drop one of the items
you need, then knock on the door again, from the INSIDE! It's even possible
to get the DM stuck in the area from Zork I. -- New Zork Times

4. If you use the previous bug (in Version 10 only) to go to the Zork I
area with the Dungeon Master, you may occasionally (but not always) be able
to produce the following exchange:

>dungeon master, go east
"I prefer to stay where I am, thank you."
You suddenly find yourself back in the viewing room!
The dungeon master leaves the room.

Very strange. The Dungeon Master leaves the room after refusing to do
so. Also, not only are you not really back in the viewing room, you and
the DM will be stuck in the Zork I area permanently. (The Zork 1 area is
only 3 or 4 areas large, and you cannot move beyond them, even in directions
where Zork 1 really did have passages). -- Graeme Cree

5. After you've climbed down the rope to the cliff ledge, you can't
climb back up again with the chest. However, typing CLIMB THE ROPE (as
opposed to CLIMB UP THE ROPE) or even DOWN, will make you climb DOWN the rope
to the cliff base, even though the rope ends a few feet above the cliff
ledge. (The long description of the room even comments on the fact that
you might be able to climb down).
You can escape with the chest this way, however, nobody except the old
man can open it, so you can't get the staff (or the treasure) out of it
unless you let the old man "rescue" you. Very odd, since the text makes it
clear that you are supposed to be stuck whether you have the chest or not.
This one's present in all versions.

6. When you get to the Dungeon area, try this (in any version):

>DUNGEON MASTER, KILL ME WITH THE STAFF
"If you wish," he replies.
If you insist... Poof, you're dead!

**** The dungeon master has died ****

The dungeon master follows you.
Your sword has begun to glow very brightly.

7. Or this:

>DUNGEON MASTER, KILL DUNGEON MASTER WITH STAFF
"If you wish," he replies.
"If you wish," he replies.
You aren't even holding the staff!

The last message appears even though you ARE holding the staff! Very
surreal.

8. This bug is not only in all versions of Zork III, it also exists in
most Dungeon/Zork ports. While you're shoving blocks around to solve the
Royal Puzzle, drop the book in the slot to open the door, then move a block
in front of the door and leave the usual way (via the ladder). Walk around
to the side door and you'll find it's not blocked! If you re-enter the
puzzle via the side door, the sandstone block will be gone. If you move away
from the door (without exiting the puzzle) the sandstone block will reappear
in the area as soon as you leave. This bug was reported to Infocom many
years ago, but it doesn't seem to have ever been fixed. -- Dave Newkirk

9. Interacting with the pedestal in the Jewel Room is always difficult.
In all versions after Version 10, if you try to TAKE PEDESTAL, you get the
response "You can't reach it through the cage", even if the cage is not
present (i.e. you travelled back to a time before it was installed). In
Version 10, it says "You can't see any pedestal here.", even though it is
mentioned in the room description. Thus, in all versions, if you take one of
the crown jewels other than the ring, and realize your mistake, there is no
way to put it back on the pedestal. -- Graeme Cree

10. When you reach the Zork I area, go east and south. It will say:

"You have come to a dead end in the mine.
There is a small pile of coal here."

However, the coal is not really there and cannot be interacted with. In
fact the game doesn't even know the word "coal." "Pseudo-items" frequently
appear in room descriptions, but not on separate lines of their own. This
bug is present in all versions, but is hard to find because of the difficulty
of staying in the Zork I area long enough. -- Graeme Cree

11. THE KLEPTO BUG: In the Jewel Room, you can retrieve not only the
ring, but also the sceptre or knife without traveling back in time, by use of
the command UNLOCK CAGE WITH <NOUN>. For example:

>UNLOCK CAGE WITH RING
(Taken).
It doesn't seem to work.

You can take them all at once with UNLOCK CAGE WITH ALL. You will then
get a message that says something like "You can't use multiple indirect
objects with "unlock". (the exact message varies slightly from version to
version), but you will take them all the same.
Once taken, the items will not be listed in your inventory, though you
will be able to examine them. If you try to wear the ring you will be told
you are already wearing it. They will still be listed in the room
description, even if you leave them someplace else and return.
If you drop them, then you will not be able to see them with a LOOK
command, but may still EXAMINE them. If you try to take them again, you will
be told that they are in the locked cage, and there will be no way to pick
them up again unless you are still in the Jewel Room and can repeat the whole
process. This works in any version. -- J. Smith

12. THE HELLO SAILOR BUG: At the Flathead Ocean, if you say you say
HELLO SAILOR before the Viking ship arrives you are told "Nothing happens
yet." and if you say it after it has left, you are told "Nothing happens any
more."
This can cause a minor bug in that there is sometimes a 1-turn window
after you get the vial, but before the ship has gone, in which you are told
"Nothing happens yet." even though it already has. For example:

>WAIT
Time passes...
Passing alongside the shore now is an old boat, reminiscent of an ancient
Viking ship. Standing on the prow of the ship is an old and crusty sailor,
peering out over the misty ocean.

>HELLO SAILOR
The seaman looks up and maneuvers the boat toward shore. He cries out "I
have waited three ages for someone to say those words and save me from
sailing this endless ocean. Please accept this gift. You may find it
useful!" He throws something which falls near you in the sand, then sails
off toward the west, singing a lively, but somewhat uncouth, sailor song.

>AGAIN
Nothing happens yet.
The boat sails silently through the mist and out of sight.

>AGAIN
Nothing happens anymore.

For some odd reason, if you say something other than WAIT on the turn
the ship arrives, this doesn't work. The ship will give you the vial, and
leave, all on the same turn. In this case, the message that says "The boat
sails silently through the mist and out of sight." is added on to the end of
the previous turn's output. -- Alan Franzman

===================================
Zork: The Undiscovered Underground
===================================
NOTE: This game was never released commercially. It was
provided by Activision as a promotional freebie for their
Zork: Grand Inquisitor graphic adventure game in 1997.
BUG
VERSION 1
16/970828 Y

1. If you THROW any object (other than the lamp or sword), the room you
are in will be plunged into darkness, despite the fact that an INVENTORY
command may show that your lamp is still burning. As long as your lamp is
lit, you will not be killed by a grue, despite the fact that you are told
that it is pitch black.
There are two ways to be able to see again. Either leave the room you
are in (it will be normal when you return), or throw an object again (again,
other than the lamp or sword, but you can throw the same object you threw
before, since it will still be in your inventory). -- Ted McManus

=======================================
Generic Bugs
=======================================

1. There is a curious feature in several of the .z3 games. If you type
EXAMINE, the game responds "What do you want to examine?" If you type
EXAMINE again, the game responds "What do you want to examin?" (with the
"e" at the end truncated).
Apparently this has something to do with the fact that all of these
games examine only the first 6 letters of any inputted word, but there is no
easily detectable pattern. It does not appear in the earliest games, but
many games respond differently after the second EXAMINE command (such as with
"There seems to be a noun missing in that sentence").
These are the games that this bug appears in: The Hitchhiker's Guide
to the Galaxy (all versions except Solid Gold), The Lurking Horror (all
versions), The first 4-in-1 Infocom Sampler (all versions), Stationfall,
Suspect, Wishbringer (all versions except Solid Gold).
Interestingly, all of the demos featured in the 4-in-1 Sampler feature
this bug, even if the full versions of the game did not. -- Steven Marsh

2. THE "IT" BUG: There is a bug that occurs in all known versions of
Zork 2 and 3, in versions 5, 15, and 20 of Zork 1, and in versions 10, 15,
16, and 20 of Enchanter. When the noun IT is used, the game does not check
to see if the noun that it refers to is still present before executing the
command.
Here's an example. At the very beginning of Zork 2, issue these
commands: TAKE LAMP. THROW LAMP AT SWORD. TAKE IT. At this point, there
will be two lamps: a broken one on the ground, and the unbroken one in your
inventory. Throwing the lamp at the sword smashed it, but when you said to
take "IT", the game took the (no-longer existing) normal lamp instead of
the smashed one on the ground.
In Zork 3, you can do the same thing by throwing the lamp at the
embedded sword, the duct in Aqueduct View, or any number of other things. In
Zork 1, you can throw it at the door in the Living Room, or any number of
other things.
Referring to the working lamp when both exist in the same place may be
difficult. TURN OFF LAMP gets you the reply, "Which lamp do you mean, the
lamp or the broken brass lantern?" Saying "the lamp" starts the process over
again (There are similar problems with the bathroom door in Deadline, and
the sword/nicked swords in Zork 2).
In Zork 3, if you die when both lamps exist, it is the Broken Lantern
that will be waiting for you at Endless Stair, and the working lamp that
will be sent to a random location. As the Grand Inquisitor would say, this
is generally a Bad Thing. In Zork 1 and 2, it's the other way around; the
good lamp is waiting for you, and the bad one is scattered.
This bug works with items other than the lamp. For example, in
versions 5, 15, and 20 of Zork 1, you can EAT LUNCH, and then TAKE IT to
get it back. World hunger solved, courtesy of Infocom.
In Enchanter, you can eat the last of the bread and then TAKE IT. (For
some reason after you do this, the command EXAMINE BREAD will produce
gibberish). Or POUR WATER, getting a message about how it evaporates, and
then TAKE IT to get it back. (See The Jug Bug for more on this)
Side Note: Some versions of Enchanter contain The Jug Bug, a similar
bug which allows one to fill a partially filled jug with water in places
where there is no other source. All versions of Enchanter which contain The
Jug Bug also contain this one. Version 24 is interesting however, because in
that one, The Jug Bug has been fixed, but The It Bug has not. In Version 24,
if you drink the last of the water, then type TAKE IT, the response is "The
only water here is in the jug". This response was created to fix The Jug
Bug, but is not correct in this case, as there is no water present, not even
in the jug.
It is not known what other games, if any, this might appear in. It
does not appear in Infidel, and so probably does not appear in any games
made after that. In Infidel, if you BREAK LOCK, then TAKE IT, you take the
Broken Lock, not the unbroken one, which is gone for good. -- The Redneck

3. THE LAMP BUGS: The lamp itself is responsible for two small bugs,
that are present in Zork 1, 2, and 3.
In all versions of Zork 2 and 3, and in versions 5, 15, 20, 23, 25, 26,
28, and 30 of Zork 1, if you smash the (lit) lamp in an otherwise dark
area, the area will remain lit until you leave and come back, even if you no
longer have a light source.
For example, at the beginning of Zork 3, enter these moves: TAKE LAMP.
LIGHT. SOUTH. THROW LIGHT AT SWORD. The lamp will smash, but the room
will still be lit, for all purposes. Then try the commands NORTH. SOUTH.
When you return, the room will be dark, as it should be.
The second bug is a mere quibble. In all versions of Zork 1, 2, and 3,
when you THROW LAMP AT SWORD (or whatever), and break it, the response reads,
"The lamp has smashed into the floor, and the light has gone out.",
regardless of whether or not the lamp was lit when you broke
it. -- Graeme Cree

4. Some miscellaneous parser quirks that may appear in many games:
a) In Sorcerer the IT command may become confused, like so:
>OPEN VIAL
Opening the orange vial reveals orange potion.
>CLOSE IT
You must tell me how to do that to orange potion.
-- Graeme Cree

b) In Leather Goddesses of Phobos, you can get the following sequence:

>EXAMINE
[What do you want to examine?]
>EXAMINE TIFFANY
You can't see examine tiffany here.
-- Matthew Auger

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UNCONFIRMED BUGS

These are bugs that have been reported to me, or appeared in Chris
Forman's bug list that I have been unable to make work. There may be one of
4 explanations for this: 1) The bug was reported in error, and doesn't
really exist; 2) The bug was a part not of the game, but of Infocom's
interpreter. Since I used zip.exe or frotz.exe to check out all of the bugs,
I would not discover problems like this; 3) No one has ever published a
complete list of all the different versions of every Infocom game ever
published, and the bug may appear in a version that I don't know about;
4) The bug exists, but the reported description of how to produce it was in
error.

A MIND FOREVER VOYAGING: The right side of the screen is truncated in
Library Mode using the original Infocom interpreter in Version 79, but not in
Version 77 or when using Frotz. As an interpreter problem, this strictly
does not fall under the scope of this list, but is still worth noting.
-- Linards Ticmanis

BEYOND ZORK: According to Chris Forman's version of the bug list, the
potion of forgetfulness doesn't erase your map in Version 57 (the LTOI
version), but does in all of the others, and he wondered whether it was a bug
or an act of kindness on the part of Infocom. I could not make this one
work. In every version, my map was erased. There may be some special
circumstance which will protect the map from the potion's effects, but I
couldn't find it. - GC

BEYOND ZORK: There is supposedly a bug similar to the "Dip me in Pool"
bug. Typing "Hang me in Tree" in a location that has one one results in "the
yourself" sliding out of the tree, onto the ground, never to
be reclaimed. Re-entering the area later results in the statement "There's
yourself here." -- Kris Raney
NOTE: I tried several commands, but was unable to climb the tree at
all. - GC

BUREAUCRACY: According to Chris Forman's list, there is a bug in
Bureaucracy whereby typing RING THE DOORBELL in front of your house produces
the same message that you get when typing it in front of the mansion.
However, in both known versions of the game typing RING THE DOORBELL in front
of my house produced the message "You can't see any doorbell here."

DEADLINE: According to the New Zork Times, after the murder of Ms.
Dunbar, two Dunbars may sometimes be present; one living and the other dead!
It says that the bug is present in Version 18, but gone by Version 26. I
was unable to reproduce this bug myself, and thus don't know when it happens
or whether it occurs in Versions 19, 21 or 22.

ENCHANTER: An error similar to the Jug Bug reportedly allows the player
to obtain any spell he wants simply by typing GNUSTO [spell name]. It isn't
clear if this works with KULCAD, GUNCHO, or FILFRE. This one was corrected
by Version 10.

HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY: Typing SEARCH BED after getting up in
the first scene, gives no response at all. This doesn't work in the 5
versions that I know about.

THE LURKING HORROR: GIVE THE FUNNY BONES TO THE HACKER, and he will
swallow them. However, the Bones remain in your inventory, closed and
untouched.
NOTE: I couldn't get this to work in any version. When I tried, they
left my inventory, but they still existed in the room. They couldn't be
spotted by examining the room or the hacker, but when I tried to take them
again, the hacker responded "Hey, no snarfage, loser,", which the game tells
you means "Stop". -- GC

THE LURKING HORROR: I haven't checked this out yet because it's a
hit or miss proposition to make it happen. It is impossible for the player
to carry the axe, flask or vat northwest from Sub-Basement to Tomb because
they are too large to fit through the passageway. The only way to get them
into the Steam Tunnel is to go the long way through the elevator shaft, which
necessitates opening the padlock and trapdoor in the Tomb first.
But Jeffrey Scott Nuttall reports that if the urchin steals any of these
things, HE can carry them into the Tomb, and if you can encounter him there
after he has stolen the Flask from you, you can take it back from him and
get the Flask into the Tomb without opening the padlock and trapdoor first.
Nuttall reports that when he did this, he tried pouring the liquid on
the Padlock in the Tomb to see what would happen. It gave the regular
message about the liquid shattering the lock due to the cold. After this,
the lock continued to appear in the room description, even though it was
gone.

MOONMIST: If you give another character a sequence of commands, ending
with a request that the character follow you, the character will instantly
appear at your side, no matter where he or she is. For example, lead a
character to the first-floor gallery. Now type: "[character], GO DOWN THEN
GO WEST THEN GO NORTH THEN GO WEST THEN GO DOWN THEN FOLLOW ME." (You may
have to abbreviate the directions to fit all of them into one command,
depending on what interpreter you are using). The character should now be
in the kitchen, but if you go east, into your room, he or she will instantly
reappear at your side. This works in both versions of the game, but will
only work after you have left the room in the dinner scene, as characters
will not follow you until then.
NOTE: Based on further information from Chris Forman, I have now gotten
this to work, but I am not convinced that it is a bug. Movement in Moonmist,
for both the player and the non-player characters seems to be much faster
than in other Infocom games. For example, in the situation listed above, the
player can him/herself get to the kitchen from the gallery in one turn (and
one minute!) with the command GO TO KITCHEN, rather than having to enter all
5 directions, which would take 5 minutes, regardless of whether they were
entered one command at a time, or with all 5 directions on one line. In
fact, the player can go almost anyplace in one turn with the GO TO command,
so it's not surprising that the NPC's can go there and back again. Perhaps
it shouldn't have been done that way, but it appears to be deliberate.

NORD AND BERT COULDN'T MAKE HEAD OR TAIL OF IT: Although he couldn't
recall details, Chris Forman once got the game into an unsolvable state by
performing several actions out of sequence, with the skeleton in the bathtub
in the "Meet the Mayor" scene. He remembers being unable to interact with
the skeleton, despite the fact that the room description said it was still
there.
Len Pitre confirms that this is accomplished simply by Throwing The
Baby Out With The Bathwater before Deep Sixing The Skeleton. Throwing the
baby out empties the tub (which disappears and can't be refilled) even though
you still need it to be able to Deep Six the Skeleton. It's not clear if
this is a bug or not. If not, it's certainly a design weakness, as there's
no indication that you should hold off on emptying the tub unless you
happened to look in the closet first. And most people would assume that an
emptied tub could just be refilled later if necessary.

PLANETFALL: Ordering Floyd to take an item is interpreted by the game
as if the player typed TAKE FLOYD. -- New Zork Times
NOTE: I could not get this one to work. In all four known versions,
asking Floyd to take something just made him say "Enough talking! Let's play
Hider-and-Seeker!" (...good old Floyd.) -- GC

SORCERER: In earlier versions, it is possible to get and GNUSTO the
Golmac spell. Trying to leave with the Golmac scroll causes a paradox, and
you lose your grip on the rope if you try to enter the room with the spell
book. However, if you cast the GASPAR spell on yourself, and then leave the
room without picking up the scroll, you'll reappear in the room after you're
resurrected. When this happens, all your possessions will be intact, and
you'll be able to take the scroll and GNUSTO GOLMAC. Unfortunately, the
Infocom programmers never planned for this, so casting it elsewhere in the
game doesn't accomplish anything. Interesting trick, though.
NOTE: I couldn't get this to work in any version. In the early
versions, you didn't reappear with all your possessions, and in the later
versions, you didn't reappear with the golmac scroll. Either I did something
wrong, or there is another version of Sorcerer not on the above list where
this trick works. The Golmac spell can be Gnustoed in Version 4 of course,
by using the "Take any Scroll" bug. -- GC

SORCERER: In an early version, you could open the trunk with a Rezrov
spell, although you would fail to gain points by doing so, and thus be unable
to finish with a perfect score. I can't find a version that this works in,
not even Version 67 (a beta-test datafile that is outside the scope of this
list), however it was reported in the New Zork Times, so it must exist
somewhere. -- Graeme Cree

SPELLBREAKER: In Version 63, it's impossible to offer the merchant an
exact number of zorkmids in exchange for the magic carpet (for example, you
can't OFFER 250 ZORKMIDS). All you can do is offer him the opal or the
coin.
NOTE: I had no problem offering an exact number of zorkmids. Either
OFFER 250 or OFFER 250 ZORKMIDS worked. If it were impossible to offer a
specific number of zorkmids, there would be no way to haggle the price down
to 500. -- GC

STARCROSS: You can climb into the viewport of the Starcross or the
alien ship, but can't climb back out. You get the response "Super-brief
descriptions", as if you had typed the SUPERBRIEF command. There is
apparently no way out other than restarting or restoring... -- Chris D.
Lang
NOTE: I couldn't make this work in either Versions 15 or 17. - GC

STARCROSS: Trying to shake an object puts the game into an infinite
loop.
NOTE: I couldn't get this to work either. - GC

TRINITY: THE SHINING BUG - This involves getting a string of garbage
from shining the splinter without specifying an object. It is not present in
the LTOI version. Earlier versions should have it, though. -- C.E. Forman
NOTE: I couldn't get this to work in either version 11 or 12. -- GC

THE WITNESS: In Version 13, you can trap Phong in the following way (or
something like it). Take the keys from Phong. Go outside to the front door
and ring the bell (although Phong has to be far from the door when you do
this, I think), and then unlock the door and go inside and wait for Phong to
go out the door to let you in, close the door and lock it. Phong will be
both inside and outside the door. I'm not sure if this is the exact way to
do it, as I've only managed to get him trapped once, and the following times
it didn't seem to work, so maybe there's more to it than that. -- Edan Harel

ZORK I: Ethan Dicks refers to a review of Zork I which stated "In one
of the original versions of Zork I, it was possible to be killed by a random
caving in of rocks. However, due to a bug in the scheduling system, this
could happen when you were outside in the forest. Meteors, no doubt."
I've never seen this happen in version 5. Perhaps the review refers to
one of the mainframe versions of Zork.

ZORK I: The Two Boats Bug. In all versions up to at least version 23,
it is possible to create a situation where there are two boats in play, the
inflated boat, and the pile of plastic. I have a saved game showing this
phenomenon, but have been unable to discover yet how to deliberately create
it. -- Graeme Cree

ZORK I: Alan Franzman reports a situation where the thief spares you,
then thinks better of it, like so.
>ATTACK THIEF WITH KNIFE
Your stroke lands, but it was only the flat of the blade.
Shifting in the midst of a thrust, the thief knocks you unconscious
with the haft of his stiletto.
The thief, a man of good breeding, refrains from attacking a helpless
opponent.
The thief, forgetting his essentially genteel upbringing, cuts your throat.
It appears that that last blow was too much for you. I'm afraid you are dead.

*** You have died ***

ZORK II: If you look into one of the three spheres when they are all in
the same place, the game will recursively describe the room as seen through
each sphere, which will overflow the interpreter stack.
NOTE: I couldn't get this to work in any version. If I looked into a
sphere while holding all three, I saw only darkness. If I dropped them all
and looked into one, the room was described normally, with no crash.
However, one of the two spheres that I didn't look into was always missing
from the room description. -- GC

ZORK II: Another minor parser bug: Start the game, and try using a
pronoun in your first command, such as EXAMINE IT. You should get the reply:
There's nothing special about the <short string of garbage>. This happens in
other games running early versions of the Infocom parser. In games where the
problem has been corrected, it will say "There's nothing special about the ."
NOTE: This is in fact a parser bug, and not a bug in the actual game.
It also occurs in both the IBM and Apple ][ original interpreters in
Deadline, Infidel, and most of the early games. With frotz, you will always
get "There's nothing special about the ." -- GC

ZORK II: If you time it right, you can blow up the base of the volcano
while in the balloon. This requires dropping the bomb on the ground and
lighting it, then crawling into the basket before it explodes. If you do it
right, the computer should tell you that the balloon settles to the
ground, followed by "You can't go that way." -- John Payson

ZORK II: I made this work before, but somehow it doesn't work for me
now. In Zork 2 (and probably other early games), using the word IT more
than twice in a row would make the game forget what "IT" was. For example,
the third time I tried to EXAMINE IT, the game said "I see nothing special
about the random object."

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BETA-TEST DATAFILES

Betatest datafiles are not considered in this list, as they were never
intended to be seen by the general public, and because betatest programs are
"supposed" to have bugs in them. Nevertheless, there are a couple of
beta versions of Infocom games known to be floating around, whose existence
is worth noting:

GAME VERSION
Seastalker 86/840320
Sorcerer 67/000000
Zork 1: Das Grosse Unterweltreich 3/880113