Colossal Cave Cheats

Colossal Cave

Cheat Codes:
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Submitted by: David K.

Starter Guide:
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Written by t34_pilot

This guide is a short list of general hints intended to help new players
avoid frustration and get off to a good start exploring the Colossal Cave.
It is not a walkthrough.

-=Suggestions for New Players to Colossal Cave=-
* Answer “yes” to “would you like instructions?” until you have explored 
enough of the cave and have located all the treasures and the Pirate’s Den. 
You can still successfully complete the game with instructions on, will be 
5 points short but will know how many moves you needed (number of moves 
will be displayed along with your score in the Main Office, if you make it 
that far). There is no reason to select “no” to Instructions until you are 
prepared to make a run for the perfect score of 350 points, which you will 
not be until you’ve sufficiently explored the cave and have a plan for 
completing the game in 350 moves or less.

* When asked “Would you like auto-mapping?” I recommend always checking “Yes” 
box and then refer to the maps often (its the upper left button in your 
inventory display). Leave the second box unchecked unless you have a reason 
to clear all the existing maps (e.g. leftover maps from a previous player 
and you want a clean start).

* Advice from the infamous Leisure Suit Larry, save early, save often!

* Do not eat the food, it is needed later to solve a challenge and if you 
eat it then you your only hope for collecting all the treasures is if you 
saved the game before you ate the food and can reload from earlier position.

* Unless you want to set one of your items on the floor or table then “Use” 
items instead of “Drop”, specifically when you need it to interact with 
something else. In some cases if you drop an item expecting to interact 
with something else then it may or may not work depending on how close you 
are to the object. If you select “Use” on the item then the cursor becomes 
the item and will highlight when you’re close enough to use it on the 
target, this works every time.

* When exploring Mazes, it’s really helpful to bring a bunch of items and 
drop one in each room of the maze, they will be displayed on your map and 
you can see the various paths from room to room. If you said “No” to 
Instructions then your lamp batteries will probably die while exploring 
the mazes and the rest of the cave.

* You can drop the Lamp and then look at the map (really helpful in the 
Maze Different) but don’t forget to pick it back up before you leave the 
room. If you leave a room in the cave without the Lamp then you will be 
lost in the darkness and the only option is to reload an early saved game.

* A dwarf will attack you early in the game, it will throw an axe and miss. 
Very important that you pick up the axe, you will need it throughout the 
game when attacked.

* A Pirate will appear one or more times in the game and steal any 
treasures in your inventory. This is not a game-ender and in fact is 
required for successfully completing the game. Just keep playing and try 
to find where the Pirate stashed your stuff.



How to Get 350 Points:
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Written by Ashininity

With limited turns and limited inventory space, getting 350 points in 
Colossal Cave requires efficiency, planning, and good inventory management.
Some knowledge about the game's mechanics doesn't hurt, either!

-=Points Breakdown=-
* Starting Points: 32
As long as you don't read the instructions, you'll start the game with 32 points.

-=Points From Treasures: 218=-
* Each treasure you see awards 2 points (15 x 2 = 30 total). 
* Any form of interaction (eye or hand icon) counts as "seeing" a treasure, 
  even if you don't pick it up.

Each treasure you place in the wellhouse awards points as follows:

* Gold Nugget, Diamonds, Precious Jewelry, Rare Coins, or Bars of Silver: 
  10 points each (5 x 10 = 50 total)
* Ming Vase, Persian Rug, Egg-Sized Emerald, Platinum Pyramid, Golden Eggs, 
  Jeweled Trident, Rare Spices, Golden Chain, or Pearl: 14 points each 
  (9 x 14 = 126 total)
* Pirate's Treasure Chest: 12 points

-=Additional Points: 100=-
These non-treasure actions or events award points:

* 25 points for being attacked by a dwarf for the first time 
  (this is pretty much automatic)
* 1 point for dropping the Spelunker Today magazine in Witt's End
* 25 points for surviving until the "cave closing soon" warning
* 10 points for surviving until the cave closes
* 35 points for blasting open the wall of the repository with dynamite
* 4 points for not quitting the game (these are awarded at any ending, 
  even player death, as long as you didn't quit)

-=Penalties=-
You will lose points for doing any of the following:

* reading the instructions
* taking hints from the narrator
* dying

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