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= THE DETECTIVE GAME =
* COMMODORE 64 *
= FAQ / WALKTHROUGH =
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Author: Sashanan
Date: 9 December 2009
Version: 1.2
DISCLAIMER
This document is a copyright of Peter "Sashanan" Butter, 2005. All
rights reserved.
You are granted permission to make copies of this FAQ (electronical or
physical) for your own, personal use. Furthermore, non-commercial, freely
accessible websites are allowed to upload a copy of this FAQ as long as it is
posted in its full, original form (including this disclaimer) and credited
to Sashanan.
You are not authorized to upload this FAQ on a commercial website and/or
charge for its viewing, or make money off it in any other imaginable way,
without my explicit written permission. Furthermore, you are not allowed to
edit this guide in any way, use it as a basis for your own guide, or publish it
without giving proper credit.
===============================================================================
TABLE OF CONTENTS
===============================================================================
[1] Introduction
[2] Overview
[3] Hints (Q&A, spoilerless)
[4] Full walkthrough (includes spoilers)
[5] Plot analysis (includes spoilers)
[6] House layout (includes secret rooms)
[7] Odds and ends
[8] Revision history
[9] Final words
===============================================================================
[1] INTRODUCTION
===============================================================================
It's old, it's primitive by today's standards, but man was it fun. The
Detective Game for the Commodore 64 is a full blown graphical adventure, in
which you are called upon to find the murderer in a classic British mansion
setting. The lord of the house is dead, his guests are scattered throughout
the house, and one of them is the murderer; and they're far from done.
Though The Detective Game doesn't have the most elaborate plot you'll ever see,
it does have its tricky spots, and I'm not ashamed to admit that I've been
stuck on this game for a good many years. But with a little outside help I was
eventually able to solve it, and this FAQ is my way of giving something back
to the gaming community.
If you're looking for help on specific aspects of the game without having the
game spoiled for you - presumably you want to find out for yourself who the
murderer is! - check only section 3, which is mostly spoilerless and won't
reveal the murderer's identity. If that section doesn't help you, or if you
don't care about the plot, section 4 is a full walkthrough. Section 5, the
plot analysis, is specifically geared at players who have already finished the
game, but still have unanswered questions about the plot (or just want to see
my take on it).
The remaining sections wrap up the various odds and ends, and consist of the
layout of the house (including all secret rooms, so this is not spoiler free),
and whatever semi-interesting trivia I managed to pick up.
I'm confident that this document should be able to answer whatever questions
you may have about The Detective Game, but if it doesn't, please feel free to
drop me a mail.
===============================================================================
[2] OVERVIEW
===============================================================================
Goodly old Mr McFungus has been murdered. Goodly old Mr McFungus was also
incredibly rich. Scotland Yard dispatches Inspector Snide to the mansion where
it happened, instructing him to question the guests, look for evidence and find
out what happened here.
But the murderer is not just still at large, they are also still active. Not
long after Snide arrives, the solicitor Dingle gets murdered as well, removing
the only person who might have been able to offer insight into McFungus' will,
which may well be central to the entire case. And as you, taking the role of
Snide, explore the mansion further and begin to gather evidence, every new
piece you unravel seems to point at somebody else, and the only thing
shortening the list of suspects is several more killings taking place in short
succession. And soon it becomes apparent that the killer is after Snide, as
well; and solving the case has quite literally become a matter of life and
death.
You control the good Inspector with the joystick, moving him around in four
directions (no diagonals for him). You walk a good deal faster than any of the
other characters, which comes in handy when trying to follow one or catching
up to question them. Various options are available in a menu of icons when you
press the fire button, as follows:
- The first icon, of an opened box, lets you check a certain area for items.
This is only of any use if you're touching a container like a cabinet, a
closet, a bed or whatever. The border of the screen briefly flashes blue
whenever you touch a container or door, giving you a visual clue when it's
worth exploring. Any items you find can be taken, but you can carry only five
of them.
- The second icon, of a magnifying glass, allows you to examine an area more
closely. If you're touching an object the game will tell you what it is. If
you're touching a wall, Snide will check for secret doors, of which there are
a fair few in the mansion.
- The third icon, of an alarm clock, will pause the game and tell you the
in-game time. Snide's investigation starts at 9:10, and you have until 11:30
to catch the killer. The game runs in real time for as long as you don't have
it paused, giving you two hours and twenty minutes of real time to solve the
case.
- The fourth icon, of a list, will call up your inventory. You can select one
of the items you're carrying and do various things with it; open it (if it's
a container), examine it, drop it (if you're touching a container in the room
you can drop it in), put it inside another item you're carrying, or do various
other things depending on what it is (reading a letter, eating pills, etc.).
- The fifth icon, of a plus sign, allows you to use one item or another. First
you pick the item to be used, then you select an action (out of Open, Break,
Cut and Examine), then finally the item to use it on. You won't use this much,
but you need the option a couple of times.
- The sixth icon, showing handcuffs, lets you arrest the murderer once you've
identified them. You need to have gathered ten evidence items and put them all
in the Padded Envelopes you'll find in your room before you have enough of a
case.
- The seventh icon, showing the letter Q, lets you question any of the other
guests if they're in the room at the time. You can ask them about Mr McFungus,
about an item you're currently carrying, or about any of other guests.
- If you are near a door, most icons are gone; you have an icon to open or
close the door instead, and you retain your inventory icon (just in case you
need a key to unlock the door).
===============================================================================
[3] HINTS (Q&A, SPOILERLESS)
===============================================================================
This section contains hints about specific parts of the game you might get
stuck at. The answers are designed such that A) they will not give away the
game's plot and B) they will not always tell you immediately what to do. The
idea is as follows: if you're stuck at a specific part of the game, look up
the hint question that sounds like your problem, then see if the answers helps
you out. If you are stuck even after that, check out section 4, the full
walkthrough, which will let you know exactly what to do; but do so carefully
as that section contains spoilers. Knowing the identity of the murderer takes
away a fair bit of the game's suspense, therefore I recommend you stick with
this spoilerless section unless it doesn't answer your question.
WARNING: the last few hints in this section contain some minor spoilers, though
nothing as significant as giving away the murderer's identity. These hints have
been marked as such. You may want to refrain from reading beyond the spoiler
warning until you absolutely must.
Q: Who is the murderer?
A: That's the big one, isn't it? But I said no spoilers in this section. This
question and any others about the story are answered in section 5, 'plot
analysis'.
Q: I can't seem to carry enough items around. Is there any way to have more
than 5, or some other way to keep my items safe?
A: Item management is part of the game's challenge; you will have to
carefully decide what to take along when. There are a few ways to get around
it, however:
- The Black Bag (found in the Doctor's room) can hold several smaller items.
Take it along and put things inside to effectively have more item storage
space. You do have to take items out of there before you can do anything with
them though.
- The Padded Envelopes (found in your room) hold as many as ten items. While
they are intended to put in the various pieces of evidence you find during the
game, you *can* just use them temporarily for storage. But like the Doctor's
Bag, they can only hold small(ish) items.
- Most rooms have containers in them that can hold a number of items, like
cabinets and closets. You only have to make sure you do not leave items in a
room you can't easily reenter.
Q: Which rooms should I *not* leave any items in that I may need later?
A: Dingle's room is locked up at some point, so that one's a no-no. You can
lose items permanently there. Apart from that, it's probably convenient not to
store anything in other rooms that can lock, like the Study and the Butler's
room. It's by far easiest just to stock unnecessary items in your own room.
The cabinet and your bed can hold five items each.
Q: I've run into several locked doors. Where can I find a key?
A: Who among the characters would you expect to have a key? They won't give it
up willingly but if you follow them you might be able to get what you need...
Q: I've been locked inside a room!
A: This can only happen in one room, and the key to get yourself out is
actually inside there. If you've already taken that out, don't have it on you
and subsequently get yourself locked inside, I hope you're patient. You'll
have to wait for the room's owner to return and unlock the door again.
Q: A fellow guest was murdered. Did I do something wrong?
A: No. All murders that take place during the game are part of the storyline
(and they're not random either, though the pattern may elude you at first).
You are here to solve the murder of Mr McFungus, which took place before the
start of the game, but the murders that take place right under your nose are
related.
Q: So I can't prevent any of the murders?
A: No. Only temporarily, as they never take place when you're nearby. But all
of them must happen before the game can be finished.
Q: I think I know who I want to arrest, but whoever I choose, the game
responds that I don't have enough evidence. What's wrong?
A: Before you are allowed to accuse, you must find ten pieces of evidence and
place them all in the Padded Envelopes you'll find in your room. Only when you
have gathered all of them can you accuse the murderer (and even then it will
only work if you actually pick the right one).
Q: But I *did* put ten items in my Padded Envelopes!
A: It has to be the *correct* ten items :)
Q: So how do I know which items are evidence?
A: Many of them are marked with a little "E" symbol at the end of the item
name to give away to you that they're important. However, some of the evidence
items aren't marked at all, and you yourself must realize their importance to
the murder case.
Q: Can you at least give a hint on what kind of items (apart from the marked
ones) would be evidence?
A: Any documents that seem to explain (part of) the reason of what's
happening, and anything else that seems suspicious or out of place. If you
really can't figure it out, a full list of evidence items is available at the
end of this section.
Q: Is there a time limit?
A: Yes, in two ways. First, there's an actual time limit of 140 minutes of game
time (the game runs in real time except when paused), at the end of which your
character is shot by the murderer. You must catch them before that happens.
Additionally, there are one or two other timed events where you must react
quickly enough in order to bring the game to a proper ending. You'll see.
Q: Are there any secret doors I must find to win the game?
A: There are several secret passages in the house, one of which you *must*
find in order to get to a new room. To find them, examine the bottom of the
screen in various rooms. Secret doors are, for some reason, all in the south
wall.
Q: I must enter a combination code to open the safe. Where do I find it?
A: As the Professor will tell you if you question him, Mr McFungus had a
terrible memory for numbers. It will have to be a number that had significance
to him, something he would be able to remember. A thorough search for, and
examination of, items might give you the clue you need.
Q: I have no clue where to start looking for the combination to the safe. Any
more hints?
A: Try the kitchen. Search thoroughly. Examine the items you pick up.
Q: I think I have a pretty good idea of what the safe's combination must be,
but how exactly do I enter the code? The game lets me put letters and
everything.
A: The safe's combination is a six digit number without letters or special
characters.
Q: I read the hints about the safe before even knowing there was one. Where is
it?
A: Check the drawing room closely. It's hidden in a rather classic way.
Q: Most guests don't appear willing to answer many questions and sometimes I
get downright goofy answers. What's up?
A: Many of the characters are eccentric in their own way. They all have
something to say about McFungus (though most comments aren't particularly
useful), but they have very little to say on nearly all items and only a few
are willing to gossip about the other guests. Find somebody with a big mouth
for the best information.
Q: When I try to find a book in the library, I'm supposed to enter a title.
How do I know what to look for?
A: The Professor might have an idea, if you can find something that will break
through his absentmindedness and remind him. His room would be a good place to
search.
Q: Where is the Professor's room, then?
A: First floor, right next to the Major's. You'll find it is locked, however,
and the key is in a rather out of the way place, hidden inside another item.
It'll take a show of force to find it.
Q: Should I randomly eat pills and drink from bottles that I find?
A: Would you do this in real life? It might not be such a stellar idea here
either. Sometimes the effect is merely cosmetic, but drinking from a bottle
that's marked as dangerous is asking for it...
Q: Are any items dangerous to carry around?
A: To carry around, no. One or two are dangerous to tamper with, however.
Q: The storyline seems to have stopped advancing. Do I need to do something to
get it going again?
A: Count the murders that took place so far. If there were less than four,
wander around the house, switching floors from time to time, and the rest will
occur eventually (they always happen when you're on the other floor, excepting
the first murder). If there have been four murders already, that's all of them,
and now it's up to you to collect all evidence and unmask the killer.
Q: I've gathered evidence all over the place from various murders and still
can't begin to guess who did all this. What's the missing piece of the puzzle?
A: Several pieces of evidence point toward the killer (and several do not,
although you must collect them as well). The single most important piece is
found on the body of the final victim, but it must be pried open before it's
of any use to you. Look for the means to do this in the cellar.
Q: Cellar? I've found no cellar.
A: It's the one room that you must find the secret entrance to in order to win
the game. Check for secret doors in the south wall of the rooms on the ground
floor. There are two ways inside the cellar.
Q: In exploring the house, I seem to have found two documents which both claim
to be the will of Mr McFungus, but they are quite different. Which is right?
A: This is central to the plot of the game. Figuring out which is right, which
is wrong and what that means for the motives of the murderer is for you to
figure out. It'll fall in place when you've collected all the evidence.
***SPOILER WARNING: THE FOLLOWING HINTS CONTAIN MINOR SPOILERS***
Q: I'm pretty sure I've identified the killer, but I don't have ten pieces of
evidence, apparently. Can you just list already which non-marked items I need?
A: Okay, here goes. Explanations of how these items serve as evidence are in
section 5, the plot analysis, by the way.
In addition to the items marked as evidence, you need to include the Small
Bottle, the Wad of Notes, the Bomb and the Open Locket.
Q: I have exposed the murderer, but when I do this, they kill me. How do I
defend myself?
A: You must deprive them of their means to kill you beforehand. As the game
mentions, a revolver is used; you may remember seeing a way to thwart this in
advance.
Q: How do I keep the murderer from using their revolver? I've never even seen
that thing during the game!
A: But you *have* seen its ammunition in the Study...
Q: Okay, I get that, but even if I take away the Bullets, I still get shot.
A: Evidently they have replacements. Perhaps switching items is a better
approach than just taking them away, here. Don't let them suspect something is
up.
Q: I want to switch the Bullets, but they're already gone!
A: You're too late; the murderer already took them. This is one of the things
you must do before time runs out. The Bullets disappear some time after the
final murder, I'm not sure exactly when; the safe option is to make the swap
before the final murder occurs.
Q: I've successfully kept the murderer from killing me, but they manage to
escape from me instead. How do I arrest the culprit?
A: Come armed yourself. If you explore the house thoroughly you'll find just
the thing. At gunpoint, the murderer will not be so quick to get away from
you.
===============================================================================
[4] FULL WALKTHROUGH (INCLUDES SPOILERS)
===============================================================================
WARNING: this full walkthrough is designed to get you through the game
entirely. Unlike with the hints in section 3, I've made no effort here to
avoid spoilers. In other words, READING THIS SECTION WILL REVEAL THE
MURDERER TO YOU. If you don't want that, stop reading now and back up to
section 3 to get hints about individual aspects of the game without having
anything spoiled for you.
------------
STARTING OUT
------------
You'll start in the entryway. Bentley the Butler offers to take you to your
room. Follow him there (or, if you've played before and already know the way,
go ahead and rush to your room ahead of him). In your room, take the Padded
Envelopes from the cabinet.
After Bentley has taken you to your room, he'll head to his own; follow him
there (you can easily catch up). He'll unlock his room, head in and stay there
for a short while; go in after him, and grab his Jacket from the closet. If
Bentley leaves the room before you do he'll lock the door behind him, but no
worries. In the Jacket you'll find a Bunch of Keys, with which you can unlock
his door.
The Bunch of Keys also allows you to enter the Study, which is what we need
the item for in the first place. Ditch the Jacket somewhere, and unlock the
Study. You don't need the Bunch of Keys after this anymore, so you can drop
those off in your room next time you're there, or anywhere else really.
Inside the Study, explore thoroughly and take the Paperweight. Examine it to
find out it's made of china, and thus fragile. You'll also find bullets for
a revolver here; leave them be for now but remember them. Finally, you find
Mr McFungus' diary, but it's a red herring. Nothing significant in there.
At some point while you're doing all this, the Doctor will find you to inform
you there's been a murder. Follow him to Dingle's room. (If he doesn't come
yet, go ahead and do some of the other things mentioned under 'first murder'
first.)
------------
FIRST MURDER
------------
You'll discover Dingle in his room, strangled. Examine his body to find the
Cravate that the deed was done with. This is your first piece of evidence. It
looks as if it belongs to the Major, which is of course circumstantial
evidence at best; the Major's completely mad and anybody could have taken it.
Put the Cravate in your Padded Envelopes, nonetheless. Nine pieces of evidence
to go. You'll also find a Small Key on Dingle's body, take this as well. Now
examine the cabinet next to him to find his Briefcase. It's locked, but the
Small Key will open it. (You need to choose the "Use" command for this,
which is the icon with the plus sign on it.) Inside the Briefcase, you'll find
a typed note which is the second piece of evidence. "10000 is a small fraction
of a million, you'll never hear from me again." This looks like it may be
referring to the will that Dingle came here to read. It'll be worth it to
track it down. Put the Note in the Padded Envelopes as well and leave the room.
CAUTION: after you leave the hallway, Dingle's door will become locked and
stay locked throughout the game. Do NOT leave any items you need in Dingle's
room, and do not leave that room until you've collected both pieces of
evidence.
The second murder will not take place until you are downstairs and run around
there for a couple of minutes. Nonetheless, let's head down there. Head to
the kitchen and explore the cabinets thoroughly. In the eastern part of the
room you will find a silver tray, inscribed on which is McFungus' date of
birth, March 21th 1919. You can discard the tray again after seeing this. In
the west part of the room you'll find a Hammer. Pick it up.
Remember that fragile paperweight we picked up? With the "use" command, much
like we used the Small Key to open the Briefcase, use the Hammer this time
to break the Paperweight, and an Old Key comes out. Hang on to this, then
discard the Hammer. (You can, if you like, pick up the Dirty Plates and break
them with the Hammer for fun. This has no practical use, however.)
From the Kitchen, go to the Library, where you'll likely find the Professor
wandering (he will occasionally go to the hallway instead, and to the Study if
it's unlocked, but he will mostly be here). Ask him about Mr McFungus and he
will tell you that McFungus always had a bad memory for numbers. Head to the
drawing room next.
That picture next to the fireplace looks far too tempting. Pick it up, and sure
enough, there's a safe behind it. You'll need to enter a combination; bearing
in mind what the Professor has told you, it'll have to be a number McFungus
could remember easily, such as his birthdate. Enter 210319 and the safe will
open. The Will is inside.
Before stuffing the Will into your Padded Envelopes, read it. It appears that
only small amounts of money go to charities - odd because multiple guests will
tell you that McFungus was always generous in his donations to the church -
and only minute amounts go to Bentley, the Cook and the Professor, who *was*
a good friend. Everything else goes, oddly enough, to the maid Gabriel. A sum
of about one million pounds. If you think this is suspicious, you are
absolutely right. Put the Will in your Padded Envelopes.
Just about now you'll have heard a scream from the landing. Head there to
find...
-------------
SECOND MURDER
-------------
Cynthia, daughter of the Major, crushed by a piano. It's certainly stylish.
Where the murderer *got* the piano we'll never know, but she's dead, and
there's no evidence around her body whatsoever. Head upstairs.
It's time to explore the Major's room. You'll find an Elephant Gun here which
you should leave for now, as well as Blank Bullets, which you should take.
The room to the left of here is locked, but the Old Key you got from the
Paperweight will open it. You can ditch the key afterwards. This room belongs
to the Professor, and you will find an old book in there. Get it, then head
back downstairs.
Enter the Study again. The revolver bullets belong to the murderer, and you
will find it in your best interest to take them away. However, let's be a
little more clever and not let the murderer know they're gone. Take the
Bullets from the desk, and put the Blank Bullets in their place. The value of
this act will become evident soon enough. Discard the Bullets in a different
room somewhere.
Head back to the Library to meet up with the Professor, and ask him about the
old book found in his room. This will apparently trigger a memory in his messy
brain, and he'll remark that McFungus told him...something...about a book
called '101 Detective Stories'. Search the lefternmost bookcase, and when the
game prompts you for a title to look for, enter 101 Detective Stories. You'll
find the book, and upon examining it, you'll find a Folded Document inside.
Read it.
Interesting - another will! And quite different too. This one looks a tad more
believable, too. It leaves believable amounts to the house staff - and no more
to Gabriel than the other two - generous donations to charity, and the bulk of
the money to his best friend the Professor. It seems safe to assume now that
this is a copy of the real will, made in case foul play occured, and the one
in the safe is false, placed there most likely by the murderer. This certainly
makes Gabriel suspicious, although it's not proof; besides, she doesn't appear
nearly bright enough to cook up such a scheme. Or is that a put on? Put the
Folded Document in your Padded Envelopes.
Head upstairs to your room, and examine your bed for a nasty surprise; somebody
has left you a bomb. Pick it up, examine it if you like but do NOT attempt to
open up. You'll blow yourself to kingdom come if you do. Nervous as carrying a
bomb around may make you, it *is* evidence, and it is harmless so long as you
don't tamper with it. So stuff it in the Padded Envelopes. That's eight out of
ten pieces of evidence already collected and we still have only vague leads.
If, during your last time upstairs, you were informed of a scream downstairs,
the third murder has occured. If not, head upstairs and walk around until it
happens. Then head to the clock room just behind the drawing room and find...
------------
THIRD MURDER
------------
The Doctor, stabbed to death, lying in the corner. The string of murders seems
to make very little sense. There is no evidence on the Doctor's body, but
wander over to the staff wing on the east side of the floor, and into Cook's
room. If it's locked, Cook and Bentley are inside (what they're doing, we
probably don't want to know, particularly not in light of what Gabriel can
tell us about the Cook and what we found in Bentley's Jacket besides the
keys!). If this is the case, wait for the door to open, then check inside and
examine Cook's bed. Surprise, surprise...a Knife, and it's dripping blood at
that. Clearly the weapon the Doctor was murdered with, though neither Bentley
nor Cook has anything to say about how it got there. It may just as easily
have been planted, and that seems consistent with the evidence we gathered so
far. It points to the Major, to Gabriel, now to Cook or to Bentley, and we
still don't have a clue who's framing who. Put the Knife in your Padded
Envelopes, and head back upstairs. We're going to examine the Doctor's room.
The Doctor's Black Bag is in the cabinet, and it's actually a useful item to
store multiple other items in. Not needed if you follow this walkthrough, but
if you're randomly picking up items here and there it may help you. What's of
interest to us now is two of the items *in* the bag, namely the Small Bottle
and the Wad of Notes. Take them both and examine them.
The Small Bottle is marked with a skull and crossbones and this is no joke.
Do NOT drink from it unless you want to end your investigation and your life
prematurely. Doctor or not, carrying a deadly poison is highly suspicious, so
put the Small Bottle in your Padded Envelopes. Then examine the Wad of Notes;
it's 2000 pounds in cash. A sizable sum even nowadays, and in the era in which
this game is set it was even more. Definitely more than you'd expect any old
Doctor to carry around; a suspiciously large sum. Into the Padded Envelopes it
goes.
Two suspicious items in the belongings of the Doctor, though he obviously can't
be the murderer; he's dead, after all. Nonetheless, more may have been going on
with the good man than was readily apparent. Head back downstairs and to
Gabriel's room. If there is nothing to see here, head back upstairs, wander
around a bit and try again. Soon enough...
-------------
FOURTH MURDER
-------------
..you will find Gabriel slumped against her wardrobe, quite dead. So much for
one of our major suspects. Examine her body to find a Locket and a Syringe.
The Syringe drips a brown, sticky poison, which I surmise is meant to be the
same that you found in the Doctor's Small Bottle (though the game doesn't
clear this up). The Syringe is a murder weapon, so put it in the Padded
Envelopes. The Locket is your last hope to get any idea of what's happening
here, but unfortunately, it's locked (heh). You'll need something to pry it
open with. And you'll need it fast, because no more murders will take place.
It's all up to you now to unmask the killer while you still can.
-----------
WRAPPING UP
-----------
In either the Drawing Room or the Kitchen, examine the south wall (using the
Magnifying Glass icon) until you find a secret passage. The one in the Kitchen
is near the southwestern corner of the room - the one in the Drawing Room is
directly south from the picture/safe. The secret door leads into an area that
lets you get from the Drawing Room to the Kitchen, through a third room: the
Cellar. Here you will find the final item you need; a Screwdriver which will
let you pry open the Locket. Do so, and examine the now Open Locket, and all
falls into place; a wedding photo of Gabriel and Dingle. Dingle, having
falsified the will (he, after all, had access to it), is leaving all of
McFungus' money to the dumb and naive Gabriel, intending to kill her off and
claim the money for himself afterwards; which he has already done. But wasn't
Dingle dead? Well, the Doctor said so, but he's dead now too; and the only
other one on the first floor who might have seen something - apart from the
Major who you can't get one coherent sentence out of - is Cynthia, and she too
is conveniently dead.
Head back up to the Major's room and take the Elephant Gun. Make sure you
have all ten pieces of evidence in your Padded Envelopes (the Open Locket is
the final one), and that you have switched the Bullets in the Study with the
Blank Bullets from the Major's room. If you haven't done that yet, hurry up
and do so; if the Bullets are already gone you're too late. Dingle is getting
ready to wrap up his act. If your preparations are all complete, choose the
Arrest option (the handcuffs icon) and accuse Dingle of murdering Mr McFungus.
------------
THE SHOWDOWN
------------
The moment you accuse Dingle of being the murderer, the lights go out and you
are led at gunpoint back to the Cellar. Here, you find your assailant is
indeed Dingle, and wasting few words, he congratulates you for figuring him
out. As it turns out, he paid the Doctor the two thousand pounds you found in
his Black Bag to declare him dead for you, so that he could carry out the rest
of his bloody work (removing Cynthia and the Doctor as witnesses and then
killing Gabriel for her false inheritance) without you suspecting it was him at
work. Now that you found him out, however, he'll have to remove you as well.
Dingle draws his revolver and fires; but since he's using the Blank Bullets you
left in the Study in place of his real ones, the effort is rather useless.
Realizing he's been had, Dingle turns around and prepares to flee from the
cellar. Quickly select the Elephant Gun from your inventory and use the Shoot
icon; Dingle begs you not to shoot and gives himself up to arrest.
-----------------------
OVERVIEW OF VITAL ITEMS
-----------------------
For your convenience, this is a list of all the items that are vital to
completing the game (most aren't), and where they are found. Use it as a quick
overview if you can't seem to find what you need. I've marked evidence items
with an (e), including the ones that the game itself doesn't mark as such.
ITEM LOCATION
101 Detective Stories Library, lefternmost case
Black Bag Doctor's room
Blank Bullets Major's room
Bomb(e) Your room, bed, some time after Cynthia's murder
Briefcase Dingle's room
Bullets Study
Bunch of Keys Bentley's room, inside Jacket
Cravate(e) Dingle's room, Dingle's body
Elephant Gun Major's room
Folded Document(e) Library, inside book '101 Detective Stories'
Hammer Kitchen
Jacket Bentley's room
Knife(e) Cook's room, bed, after Doctor's murder
Locket(e) Gabriel's room, Gabriel's body
Note(e) Dingle's room, inside Briefcase
Old book Professor's room
Old key Study, inside Paperweight
Padded Envelopes Your room
Paperweight Study
Picture Drawing room (take to reveal safe)
Screwdriver Cellar
Silver Tray Kitchen
Small Bottle(e) Doctor's room, inside Black Bag
Small Key Dingle's room, Dingle's body
Syringe(e) Gabriel's room, Gabriel's body
Wad of Notes(e) Doctor's room, inside Black Bag
Will(e) Drawing room, inside safe
A few notes on these items:
- The title of the book 101 Detective Stories and the combination of the safe
are the same in every game. If you already know them you can skip various
items; you don't need to find the Silver Tray for the birthdate, and you don't
have to get into the Professor's room at all, so you won't need the Hammer or
the Paperweight. You will still need to find your way into the study to replace
the Bullets with the Blank Bullets, however.
- The Locket only counts as evidence *after* you've opened it with the
Screwdriver.
- The Black Bag, Briefcase and Jacket have no actual purpose (although you can
use them for item storage); they're only important because of what's inside
them. If you do want to use them as storage containers (won't be necessary if
you follow the walkthrough, I never force you to have more than 5 items), use
the Black Bag. It can hold the most items short of the Padded Envelopes.
===============================================================================
[5] PLOT ANALYSIS (INCLUDES SPOILERS)
===============================================================================
WARNING: this section is intended to run a player who has already finished the
game through the entire story and the motives of the murderer. It goes without
saying that reading this before you've finished the game will ruin the plot for
you. Unless you've finished the game or you are sure you don't mind, don't
read this section!
-------------
WHAT HAPPENED
-------------
(This is my best interpretation of the events that take place before and during
The Detective Game. I've spiced it up a little bit here and there, but this
should be accurate enough.)
One fateful day, the extremely rich but aging Mr Angus McFungus wisely decides
to draw up his will. His choice of solicitor, however, is considerably less
wise. He has his will drawn up by Mr Dingle, whose evil and cunning mind sees
a million pounds and hatches a plan to get them in his possession. Next to
the real will, which leaves most of McFungus' fortune to the church, various
charities and his best friend the Professor, Dingle prepares to draw up a
fake one as well leaving all the money to him instead. Knowing that McFungus is
not the talkative type, he correctly assumes no one else will know what the
real will was.
But as Dingle thinks about how best to switch the false will for the real one,
he realizes that a will leaving millions to the solicitor is suspicious to say
the least. He needs a decoy, and then thinks of McFungus' maid, the rather
naive Gabriel Gasbag. Realizing she is underpaid and easy to influence, he lets
her in on his plan and promises her to share McFungus' wealth with her if she
will marry him. Gabriel is not necessarily an evil woman, but Dingle is far
too clever for her, and she falls right into his trap, not realizing he intends
to kill her as soon as she gets the money. He even manages to get her to keep
the wedding a secret, though he knows full well that with her tendency to
gossip, it won't be secret forever.
Haste is now required before Gabriel spills the beans, and Dingle realizes he
can't wait for McFungus to die naturally. Planning the murder, Dingle figures
he needs as much white noise as he can, and thus waits for a time when McFungus
has a decent number of guests in his house. Dingle hopes to place enough red
herrings to get the attention off of him. But then, his cunning mind comes up
with the best red herring of all; if he can feign his own death and the
inspector who comes to investigate McFungus' murder will believe it, he'll
definitely be in the clear!
In the meantime, McFungus either suspects something might go amiss, or perhaps
he is just suspicious by nature. In a bright moment, he has a copy made of his
will and hides it in his library. He then tells his old friend the Professor
about this, but the poor guy's memory isn't what it used to be, and he forgets
about it almost immediately.
Soon after, Dingle convinces the family doctor to help him with his plan.
Helping him out of his financial troubles with two thousand pounds in cash,
he convinces the rather shortsighted fellow to help him convince the inspector
he has, in fact, been murdered. With this ploy in place, Dingle kills McFungus,
and that's where Inspector Snide comes in.
Dingle's plan works flawlessly initially. Switching the will in the safe with
the fake one leaving almost all of McFungus' money to Gabriel, he then heads up
to his room, destroys the real will, and feigns his own death by strangulation
with a Cravate of the Major's. The Doctor does his part, declaring Dingle dead
to the Inspector. Snide inspects Dingle's "body", but not closely enough to
realize he's not truly dead. As soon as Snide's gone, Dingle locks his room
and gets ready to set about the rest of his business, making sure to stay out
of Snide's sight at all times.
Cynthia proves to be an obstacle. It's not clear if he removes her prematurely
or if she actually accidentally sees him alive. Cynthia bursts in while the
Doctor and the Inspector are checking on Dingle's "death", so it's well
possible that she catches sight of him afterwards, realizes something is up,
and heads down to warn Snide; but not in time to avoid Dingle's piano. At any
rate, after Cynthia's murder, Dingle realizes his red herring pointing at the
Major is effectively shot, and he still has to take care of the Doctor in case
the cowardly fool decides to spill the beans. The second murder might just
make him nervous enough to do so.
Dingle seeks out the Doctor in the quiet, isolated clock room while Snide is
upstairs, and stabs him. He then manages to hide the Knife in Cook's bed,
setting a new red herring. Some time just before or after this, he decides
Snide is becoming far too annoying as well, and hides a bomb in his bed hoping
to take him out with that.
With all witnesses removed, Dingle is at last ready to carry out the final part
of his plan. He visits Gabriel in her room and she's delighted to see her
secret husband, hoping he's ready to take her away to enjoy their newfound
riches. Things do not turn out as Gabriel dreamed, however. Dingle embraces
her, then hastily kills her with a lethal injection. His handiwork finished,
he realizes that all that's left to do is to get out of here; but Snide has
seen too much and must be dealt with as well. Dingle slips into the Study
unnoticed and loads his revolver with the bullets he left there; or so he
thinks, and in his excitement he doesn't realize they're not quite the same
bullets, but rather the blank bullets that Snide has switched them with.
Dingle catches up with Snide just as the inspector stares at Gabriel's open
locket, finding the wedding photo, and realizes just what's going on. Knowing
his goose is cooked, Dingle improvises, turns off the light, and forces Snide
to the Cellar at gunpoint so he he can take care of him quietly there. Once in
the cellar, Dingle gloats over his clever plan as he draws his revolver and
pulls the trigger; to no effect. Realizing by the smug grin on Snide's face
that he's been had, Dingle is overcome by panic for the first time. His plan
has fallen apart by his inability to take out the inspector here and now. He
turns to flee, but a calm "I wouldn't do that..." from Snide causes him to turn
and look right into the muzzle of the Major's elephant gun. Beaten, resigned,
Dingle hangs his head and lets the Inspector take him away to pay for his
crimes.
------------------
CHARACTER BEHAVIOR
------------------
This section describes what each NPC in the game actually does. It's not
terribly important, but may be interesting to completionists.
BUTLER
Bentley the Butler begins the game in the entry hall, where he will invite the
Inspector to follow him to his room. He'll head up the stairs and from there to
the Inspector's room. After that, Bentley returns to his own room, which he'll
leave unlocked for a short time while he's inside. He'll lock the door behind
him when he leaves.
Bentley then stays on the ground floor for the remainder of the game, wandering
around the hallway and sticking his head around the door of the Drawing Room
and the Library sometimes, asking people if everything is satisfactory. Every
so often, he'll slip away to Cook's room, and pace in front of it until she
arrives. They will enter her room together, lock the door, and come out some
time later. Since Gabriel apparently knows Cook is in love and Betnley's
Jacket has a love letter inside it, I think we can take an educated guess at
what they're doing in there. Incidentally, if you're in the room when they
enter it, Bentley will beat a hasty retreat.
Questioning: when asked about Mr McFungus, Bentley will state that he thinks
it's improper for him to discuss his late employer. He will also refuse to
gossip about the other guests and being shown any item, we will either say he
knows nothing about it or make an obvious statement about what it is. His
total lack of helpfulness is not any admission of guilt, though; he's just
stubborn that way. This time, the Butler really did not do it.
COOK
Cook mostly wanders around the kitchen, but occasionally enters the Drawing
Room and sometimes heads back to her own room as well for secret romantic
meetings with Bentley the Butler. If you're in her room when they have one
planned, Bentley will hastily leave, but Cook will just remain in the room
and wait for you to leave her alone. She will, in fact, get strangely stuck in
a corner while doing so.
Questioning: The Cook has very little to say on Mr McFungus, the other guests,
or any items you show her. She's completely irrelevant to the actual plotline
and only serves as a red herring when Dingle hides his knife in her bed.
CYNTHIA
Cynthia sticks exclusively to the top floor, where she will mostly wander the
hallway or spend short periods of time in her room or that of her father the
Major. You may catch her remarking "Tsk...what a mess" if she's in the latter
while you are as well. Occasionally she'll head into the unnamed room with the
window as well.
At some point between Dingle's "murder" and the permanent locking of his room,
Cynthia will go inside there as well and quickly leave, remarking
"Sorry...wrong room." She will then continue her regular wanderings until she
herself is murdered. Cynthia's murder only takes place after Dingle's, and only
if you are downstairs at the time.
Questioning: Cynthia has nothing to say about the fellow guests or any items
you show her. About McFungus, she merely remarks how upset her father was to
learn about his death.
DINGLE
Dingle starts in the Drawing Room. After a short pause, he will leave it,
stopping by the painting and the safe behind it shortly. (It may be that this
is where the game simulates him changing the will, though if you beat him to
the safe at the start of the game, the fake one is already in.) Dingle then
heads to the hallway where he'll pace a bit, then goes upstairs. This will be
around the same time Bentley is heading downstairs after showing you your
room. Dingle then heads straight to his room. If you're inside, he will
repeatedly ask you to leave until you comply. Once you leave the room, the
door locks and stays locked for about a minute, then unlocks. As soon as you go
in now, you find Dingle feigning death.
Dingle's door remains unlocked until the Doctor has had time to go up to the
room, find you, and bring you to his room a second time. After this has
happened, regardless of whether you actually follow the Doctor to find Dingle's
body, the door relocks as soon as you're not in the hallway that leads to it.
After this the door never reopens and you never see Dingle again until the
final showdown.
At the final showdown, Dingle starts next to you and will attempt to shoot you
after telling you his story. If unsuccessful (due to you switching the
bullets), he will flee to the corridor leading back up. If he manages to leave
the Cellar, he escapes and the game ends. You can stop him by using the
elephant gun before he reaches the exit.
Questioning: unsurprisingly, Dingle avoids just about any question you ask him
during the short time he's available for questioning. About Mr McFungus, he'll
merely remark it's a great tragedy and that he is not at liberty to discuss his
business with you. He has no comment on any of the other guests, nor is he
interested in most items you might show him. If you're quick enough to obtain
either the false will from the safe or a copy of the real one from the library,
he will comment on those; unsurprisingly, he'll claim the false one is the true
one and will refer to the folded document as an 'obvious fake'.
DOCTOR
The Doctor starts in the Drawing Room and patrols around there, the Clock Room,
and the unnamed room with the window beyond it. He will occasionally mumble
a few things and frequently ask if somebody has seen his scalpels.
When Dingle is murdered, the Doctor will head upstairs, briefly into his room
(remarking to you that he can't see you right now if you're there at the time),
then into Dingle's room. After he's seen Dingle's "body", he'll come find you
no matter where you are in the house, and tell you that Dingle has been
strangled. He'll then head back to Dingle's room - you are expected to follow
(although you can find Dingle on your own beforehand, if you like). After the
Doctor has been back in Dingle's room, examined the "body" a second time and
said how tragic this all is, he leaves it and goes back to his regular rounds
around the drawing room. He'll remain there until he is murdered. The Doctor's
murder only takes place after Cynthia's, and only while you are upstairs.
Questioning: the Doctor is one of the few guests who has interesting
information to share. He'll confide in you how naive Gabriel is, which is a
distinct clue in the right direction (though it won't fall into place until
you actually obtain and open her locket). He will react to you showing him his
Black Bag or his Scalpels, but this brings up nothing useful (despite the fact
that he's constantly asking if anybody has seen his Scalpels). About Mr
McFungus, he'll remark that whoever was responsible must have known what they
were doing.
GABRIEL
Gabriel starts in the kitchen, and regularly walks around the bottom floor of
the house. She will occasionally head into the library, the drawing room, the
kitchen, her own room and even the study if you've unlocked it. If you haven't,
she'll remark "Odd..." when she tries the door and finds it locked. You can
lock her out of her own room as well with the Bunch of Keys, which will earn
you a "Well!..." when she notices she can't even get in there anymore.
Gabriel keeps going on her regular rounds until she is murdered. This only
happens after the Doctor has been killed (but you don't need to have seen his
body), and while you're upstairs. It takes a few minutes, so unless you spend
a lot of time upstairs or you deliberately don't look in the Clock Room after
the Doctor has died, it's unlikely you'll find Gabriel before you find the
Doctor. Incidentally, locking her out of her room or into the study will not
prevent her murder. She'll teleport to her room at the time of her murder.
Questioning: Gabriel's a gossip queen and has something to say about many of
the other characters. Her instincts serve her right about the Professor (in the
sense that he's harmless) and the Doctor (she doesn't trust him). About Dingle,
she says not a word, intent on keeping their plan secret, at least for the
moment. She does know, and willingly share, that Cook is secretly in love, and
about Mr McFungus she can tell you that he's a generous man who donates
frequently to charity.
MAJOR
The Major is one of the least interactive characters in the game. He'll walk
around his room and the hallway, head into the window room or Cynthia's room
very occasionally, and otherwise do nothing except babble occasional lines
underlining that he's been near one explosion too many during the war.
Questioning: it's next to useless as the Major will only babble in response to
any object shown or guest asked about. The only time he ever says something
coherent is if you ask about Mr McFungus, and then the only thing he has to say
is that his death is a "damn shame".
PROFESSOR
The Professor spends 90% of his time in the library. Very occasionally he
may wander to either the drawing room or the study, but mostly he sticks to his
regular beat. He never once heads to his room upstairs.
Questioning: the Professor has nothing to say about the other guests and only
reacts to one item, albeit significantly: if you bring him the old book from
his room he'll suddenly remember part of what McFungus told him about regarding
the copy of his will; namely the book in which he hid it. He doesn't remember
the significance of said book, but he will tell you the title, letting you find
the book and with it, the real will. Additionally, when asked about McFungus,
the Professor will tell you he always had a bad memory for numbers, which is a
clue that the code of the safe will have to be something obvious (in this case,
McFungus' date of birth).
REVEREND
The Reverend starts out in the Drawing Room and spends most of his time in
there. He occasionally wanders over to the Library, but only for short trips.
Once, fairly early in the game, he'll go up to his room and come back soon
after. He doesn't return there for the remainder of the game.
Questioning: the Reverend will confirm Gabriel's story that McFungus was a
devoted man who was active in the church, further suggesting that the will
found in the safe is false. He has a few interesting opinions on the other
guests, most notably on Dingle ("don't believe a word he says"). Otherwise he
serves no real purpose in the story.
===============================================================================
[6] HOUSE LAYOUT (INCLUDES SECRET ROOMS)
===============================================================================
I'd have happily provided an ASCII map of the house here, if I was any good at
such things. As it is, you're probably better off with a textual description.
I might still do a map for a future version, but no guarantees.
The house of Mr McFungus consists of a ground floor and a first floor
(remember, the setting is British; the floor above the ground floor is
referred to as the first floor rather than the second).
------------
GROUND FLOOR
------------
The ground floor consists of a main corridor with doors along the north and
south sides. The north doors, from left to right, lead to the kitchen, the
entry hall, the study, and Bentley's room. The south doors, from left to right,
lead to the drawing room, the library, and the staff wing.
The staff wing is a short corridor with three doors in the north wall; from left
to right they lead back to the main corridor, to Cook's room, and to Gabriel's
room.
The drawing room, in addition to the door back to the main corridor, has a door
to the clock room, which in turn has a door to a nameless room with a window.
The entryway leads back to the main corridor, and has a staircase going up to
the landing.
The cellar can only be reached through a secret passage (see below).
The other rooms on the ground floor have no other exits.
-----------
FIRST FLOOR
-----------
The first floor consists of a north wing and a (smaller) south wing connected
by a small corridor. The landing leads to the north wing.
The north wing has doors along both sides. The north doors, from left to
right, lead to the Reverend's room, the Doctor's room, Dingle's room,
Cynthia's room, and a nameless room with a window. The south doors, from
left to right, lead back to the landing and to the little corridor connecting
to the south wing.
The south wing has four doors in the north wall, which from left to right lead
to the Professor's room, the Major's room, the connecting corridor and your
room.
------------
LOCKED DOORS
------------
The Professor's room is locked at the beginning of the game and can only be
opened with the old key. The old key is hidden in the paperweight in the
study. You must break the paperweight with the hammer, found in the kitchen,
to get the key.
Dingle's room starts unlocked, but locks when he enters, and unlocks a while
after so you can find his body and search the room. After the Doctor has
informed you Dingle has been strangled and returned there (with or without
you), the door will lock forever as soon as you're not in the north wing
that is directly connected to Dingle's room. Once locked, you cannot open
the door to Dingle's room in any way.
Bentley keeps his room locked, unlocking the door only when he goes in, and
locking it again when he leaves. You can however unlock his door with the
Bunch of Keys once you take them from his room.
The study starts locked, and only you can open it, with the Bunch of Keys
from Bentley's room.
Gabriel's room starts unlocked, but you can lock it with Bentley's Bunch of
Keys.
Cook's room becomes locked when Bentley and her enter it, and you cannot
unlock it.
---------------
SECRET PASSAGES
---------------
There are two sets of secret passages in the house, one on each floor, and
they are directly above each other. The one on the first floor goes
between the rooms of the Major and the Reverend. Find either entrance by
going inside the room and examing the south wall just to the left of the
regular entrance. This will take you to a passage along the outside of the
house. Examine the wall near the end of how far you can go, and you'll find
the door into the other room. This passage is, incidentally, pointless.
The passage on the ground floor is much more interesting. Either go to the
kitchen, face the righternmost part of the counter on the left side of the
room, then head straight south until you hit the wall; or go to the drawing
room, face the painting, and head straight south from there. Examine the
wall in either of these places and you'll find a secret passage. Both of
these passages lead to the cellar. This isn't just an unusual way to get
from the kitchen to the drawing room and vice versa; the cellar has a vital
item (the screwdriver with which you can open Gabriel's locket) and it can't
be reached in any other way.
===============================================================================
[7] ODDS AND ENDS
===============================================================================
This section contains what didn't seem to fit in any of the others, yet seems
interesting enough to mention. Nothing too fancy here, but included for the
sake of completion.
------------
WAYS TO LOSE
------------
There are five ways to lose the game:
- Drinking from the Small Bottle found in the doctor's Black Bag. This will
kill you instantly.
- Attempting to "open" the Bomb found in your bed. You can carry it around all
you like, but this kind of tampering will cause it to blow up and kill you.
- Taking more than two hours and twenty minutes for your investigation. The
game starts at 9:10, and if you still haven't finished by 11:30, the lights go
out and you will be "shot by an unknown assailant".
- Facing the murderer in the final showdown without having swapped his Bullets
for Blank Bullets in the study earlier. After telling you of his plans, he'll
shoot and kill you.
- Allowing the murderer to escape in the final showdown after he unsuccessfully
tries to shoot you. You need to have the Elephant Gun and use it quickly to
prevent this.
------------
WEIRD THINGS
------------
For a Commodore game, The Detective Game is fairly complicated, and thus it's
no surprise that it comes with a fair share of weirdness. Some of these may be
intentional, others may be minor bugs. Make of it what you will.
- There doesn't actually seem to be a door leading outside in the entry hall.
- In the little corridor between the two wings of the top floor, a candle burns
attached to the wall. Later on, this candle is gone and replaced by a black
spot in the wall. This doesn't appear to have any kind of significance,
however.
- Where *does* the piano come from?
- For that matter, the part of the landing staircase that is now broken and the
place where the piano landed in the hall do not match up. It was evidently
thrown from a location to the left of the stairs, but the piano and Cynthia's
body are to the RIGHT. The problem here is that the layout of the two rooms
does not match up. Or perhaps the implication is that the view of the landing
room is mirrored compared to the view of the hall?
- You can put stuff in Dingle's briefcase before unlocking it. You can even
put the small key that opens it inside; and be unable to get it or anything
else out afterwards.
- If you only find the Doctor after you found Gabriel, the "death music"
doesn't play.
- If Cook is in her room, she'll often walk up against the wardrobe in the top
right, and at this point you cannot question her. The game won't let you walk
up close enough to her to do so.
- If there's a murdered character in the room, the "Q" for questioning icon
shows up, but when you try to use it the game will say there's nobody in the
room. If you are truly alone the icon never even shows.
- Virtually nobody reacts to questioning about items, not even about items you
would think they have something to say about, such as their own belongings.
The Doctor's banter about his Black Bag and Scalpels is a notable exception.
- The various secret door placements are architecturally impossible. Most
notably the one in the Major's room is in a wall that's far too thin to
contain an entire secret corridor that even somehow leads outside. Partially
because of this, I never found any of the secret doors until an online FAQ
pointed them out to me; I'd looked, but only in the places where I figured
there could physically be one.
- You can walk off the right of the screen in the Study and disappear into the
darkness.
- You can lock Gabriel in the study, or at least out of her room, but she'll
still be murdered all the same when you go upstairs. Whatever doors you locked
remain locked, she'll just warp to her room.
- If you lock Gabriel or the Professor in the study, they'll attempt to go
out the door and then just get stuck there until you unlock it. Whereas if you
lock Gabriel out of her room, when she fails to get in, she'll just resume her
rounds.
- You can't lock Bentley in or out of his room. He has his own key in addition
to the keys you swipe from his jacket.
- It's not possible to lock or unlock Cook's room. She appears to be the only
one with a key to it.
- Eating the Reverend's pills will turn your character green for the duration
of the game, but has no other effect, and none of the guests will react to
your new appearance. If you blow yourself up with the bomb after eating the
pills, the explosion is green, too.
- You can toss items in the fireplace in the Drawing Room and retrieve them
later without consequence. Even the Bomb.
- The "Use" command looks flexible, letting you use one item on another to
open, break, cut or examine it. However, you only use open twice (Small Key
on Briefcase, and Screwdriver on Locket), and break once (Hammer on
Paperweight). You can optionally break the Dirty Plates with the Hammer as well
just for the laugh, but Cut and Examine are never used.
- Many evidence items are marked as such with an 'E' symbol, but some are not.
Whether or not it's intentional - to make the player do some thinking too - it
is rather annoying. The Wad of Notes being evidence isn't such a stretch, and
the Open Locket is dead obvious, but the Small Bottle and especially the Bomb
don't seem to relate *that* precisely to the case. And if they're evidence
nonetheless, why aren't the Bullets that you find in the Study?
- The fact that the safe combination lets you enter whatever you want,
including letters, has had me confused for a very long time about what to enter
there. Long after I realized it had to be McFungus' date of birth I still
entered it in a hundred different ways before I finally stumbled upon the
right solution (a six digit number, no frills) on the internet. Only then,
more than a decade after first playing the game, could I finish it.
===============================================================================
[8] REVISION HISTORY
===============================================================================
v1.0: (23 Feb '05) First version of the FAQ.
v1.1: (21 Sep '05) Updated contact info.
v1.2: (9 Dec '09) A few minor corrections.
Barring any further corrections, I have no updates planned to this FAQ. It
already reflects the entirety of my knowledge on the game. Nonetheless, if
there's something else you'd like to see in here, please mail me your
suggestion.
===============================================================================
[9] FINAL WORDS
===============================================================================
ABOUT THIS FAQ
Few games have eluded me for as long as The Detective Game has. The time
between first playing it and finally finishing it was more than a decade; the
only game that I had an even longer interval on was Impossible Mission - aptly
named, that one was. At any rate, the problem with The Detective Game was
twofold; not realizing how to properly enter the safe code, and not knowing
where to find the secret doors. Both questions were eventually answered by a
FAQ I found on the net somewhere, but it was a long search; it was on an
obscure site somewhere. The FAQ also was pretty bare bones.
Although I know the chances that there are many people who still remember this
game are minimal, I figured there was a gap to fill here. In writing this FAQ,
and in submitting it to the single best online archive of gaming guides
available, I'm hoping that anybody else who might still struggle with this game
will have an easier time finding his answers than I did. That, and it was fun
to write.
For questions, comments, suggestions, praise and criticism, please contact
the author, Sashanan, at
[email protected]. This e-mail address is for
FAQ feedback only. Whatever you wish to share about this document or The
Detective Game, chances are I'll want to hear it.
If you wish to do anything with this FAQ except for just reading it, check
the Disclaimer section at the top of the FAQ to find out what you can and
can't do. When in doubt, you can always mail me.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Born in Harderwijk in the Netherlands, Sashanan grew up with the Commodore 64
from an early age. While he likes to claim he was a master at all its games,
truth is that The Detective Game took him half a lifetime to see through. While
part of him is nostalgic about the days when it wasn't possible to just look
up a FAQ on the internet, he also hopes to spare his fellow Commodore gamers -
assuming they still exist - the same fate. In the boss' time, Sashanan is a
software engineer specializing in rapid application development for small
companies.
THANKS
The author would like to thank the following people for their help in bringing
about this document:
- René Butter, for the hours spent playing the game together with the author in
his childhood, like the brothers they are;
- Siara79 for providing a willing ear when one is needed, and every other time
as well;
- CJayC and Sailor Bacon for their tireless efforts to keep up GameFAQs as the
best place for any gamer to hang out and find all the information he could
possibly want.
This document is a copyright of Peter "Sashanan" Butter, 2005. All
rights reserved. Disclaimer at top of document.
