Complete solution of the VAX/VMS text adventure ZK (1985) by Edmund Sullivan and William Lees. Updated by Tim Sneddon and released for VAX, Alpha and I64 OpenVMS systems as "The Halls of ZK" (2013). This solution is for the 2013 release. As of 2020 it's still playable online at http://hallsofzk.org/play.html This solution is based on a previous solution for an apparently earlier version of ZK at https://github.com/tesneddon/zk/blob/master/zk/wizardry.txt Part 1 - Enter building and obtain security badge e, get all, e, n (building entrance), say digitalsoftwareengineering, (*note1) open door, n, get all, open glass door, n (lobby), drop all, get lamp, ask guard, please start building lights (*note2), e, e, e, n, n, w, drop all (*note3), put arm in machine, stand on scale, get lamp, e, s, s, w, w, w (lobby), get badge, wear badge Part 2 - Obtain CDD tape ask guard, please start building lights, n, n, e, open door, n, d, open door, s, w, w, n (Ed’s office), get ball, rub ball, rub ball, e, n, w, get neon ball, rub neon ball, rub neon ball, e, s, s, e, open door, n, u, open door, s, w, s, s (lobby), ask guard, please start building lights, n, open door, e (petty cash office), give neon ball to officer, open door, w, look in ball, look in ball .... (repeat until the petty cash officer types the four-digit code on the safe keypad - note the number e.g. 1234 - this is a different randomly-generated number each play. It can take around 35 or so moves at this point to wait until number is revealed.), s (lobby), ask guard, please start building lights, n, open door, e, type 1234 (change 1234 to the combination revealed earlier), open safe, get bills, open door, w, s (lobby), drop ball, ask guard, please start building lights, e, e, e (blue hall), e, e, e, e, w, s, sw (money-changer machine), put bills in machine (if bills are rejected, then repeat until accepted), get coins, n, n, e, open door, n, d, open door, s, sw, nw, sw, s (coke machine), put coins in machine, get coke, n, e, se, n, n (CDD development), give coke to developer (you now have the CDD tape), s, s, ne, open door, n, u open door, s, e, w, w, sw (blue hall), w, w, w (lobby), drop tape Part 3 - Obtain DTR tape ask guard, please give keys to me, ask guard, please start building lights, w, s (RSX development), push doc n, push doc w, push doc n, unlock door with key, get key, open door, push doc w, push yellow button, open door, push doc e, push doc ne, push doc e (do this seven times, until reach "Maze of Twisty Cubicles"), push doc n (DTR development), stand on doc, examine plant, get tape, step off doc, s, sw, w, w, w, open door, n, u, open door, s, w, s, s (lobby), ask guard, please start building lights, drop DTR tape, drop keys Part 4 - Obtain VMS tape n, n, e, open door, n, d, d, open door (*note4), u, open door, s, open door, w, s, e, open door, drop lamp, e, get card, open door, w, get lamp, w (strongly suggest saving the game at this point, as the next bit has to be done without any mistakes), w, start lamp (lab of implementors - this room and the tape library are always dark), w (tape library), stop lamp (you are bathed in strange light), start lamp (you are now on a critical path and must get the card to the VMS manager within 15 moves, or the lettering will fade - any mistakes on this bit and you have to start part 4 all over again), e, e, n, e, n (thankfully you left the door open earlier), d, s, w, n, n, w, give card to manager, stop lamp (you should now have the VMS tape as long as lettering on card had not faded - if the card was blank then you would have to do these steps again, but with less lamp power remaining, strongly suggest restoring to previous save in that case.), e, s, s, e, open door, n, u, u, open door, s, w, s, s (lobby) Part 5 - installation of tapes ask guard, please start building lights, get CDD tape, get DTR tape, n, n, e, open door, n, d, d, open door, s, w, s, s (Operator’s room), get disk, n, start vax, open disk drive, put disk in disk drive, close disk drive, boot vax, examine console (boot failure, a field service rep appears), open disk drive, get disk, give disk to rep, wait, wait, wait (field service rep now hands you a formatted system disk), put disk in disk drive, close disk drive, boot vax, examine console (ZKINSTALL is running), open tape drive, put VMS tape in tape drive, close tape drive, install, examine console (successfully installed), open tape drive, get VMS tape, put CDD tape in tape drive, close tape drive, install, examine console (successfully installed), open tape drive, get CDD tape, put DTR tape in tape drive, close tape drive, install, examine console (successfully installed), open tape drive, get dtr tape, stop vax, open disk drive, get disk, n, e, open door, n, u, u, s, w, s, s (lobby) Part 6 - Getting past the guard with the disk and out of ZK Ask guard, please start building lights, e, e, e, n, open door, w (Personnel), say <answer> (repeat for each of the six questions, you must answer all of the six random questions out of twelve correctly - *note5 lists the needed answers), open door, e, s, w, w, w (lobby), get sack, open sack, put disk in sack, close sack, give keys to guard, give badge to guard, open door, s (or wait until thrown out of building while in possession of disk), open crystal door, s, s, w, w (Helipad), wait (The helicopter lands and you climb aboard ... You've Won! All of ZK congratulates you!) *General notes:- Doors always automatically close behind the player when walked through. So typing "open door" is needed many times. Fortunately opened doors do stay open at least until the door is walked through, this behaviour is needed to solve the puzzle of getting the third tape. As noted in the game, unambiguous words can usually be truncated to four letters. *note1:- Type "examine wall" and you will see a pattern representing a sequence of 7-bit binary numbers where w=0 and b=1. Together, they represent a string of 26 ASCII characters which make up the password to open the door. The in-game ASCII table inside the sack is helpful to translate the pattern if needed, (look up "d", look up "i" ...). *note2:- This is a single long command "ask guard, please start building lights" and the comma is required. Random rooms go dark in the building at random times as the lights get switched off in various places throughout the game. You always need the lantern in case this happens to a room you find yourself in, although the lantern power doesn’t last too many turns. To save lantern power for where it is really needed (in the lab of implementors and tape library, where it is always dark), it’s best to keep asking the guard to turn the lights back on, every time you pass by to minimise the amount of darkness in the building. The shorthand for turning the lantern on and off is "start lamp" and "stop lamp". *note3:- This is the last time in the walkthrough I use "drop all". Once you are wearing the badge, it’s best to avoid this command since it will also drop the badge you are wearing. A guard periodically checks you are wearing the badge from a specific point onwards in the game. If you have dropped it, then you will get ejected from the building. *note4:- We open the doors here in advance of needing to go through them as it saves moves in the critical path on taking the UV-exposed card to the VMS developer before the lettering fades. *note5:- These are the answers to the questions asked by the personnel officer. You will be asked six picked randomly from these twelve. The below answers can be typed as-is, or as part of a sentence as long as the answer is found in it. Q. What is the status of the light on the working coin machine? A. DARK Q. What happens if you wait in line at the DCU? A. NOTHING Q. What color are the rectangular shaped bars? A. BLACK Q. Where is the picture of Bill the Cat located? A. ED Q. How many computers were did you see in your travels? A. 4 Q. Name a word beginning with 'C' in the ZK lexicon which is ambiguous in four letters? A. COMP Q. How much is the copy of ZK ENQUIRER worth? A. 1BIT Q. What does the CDD developer wish upon you when you give him a shaken coke can? A. BUG Q. What is the color of the rooms which are described as "corridors"? A. YELLOW Q. What can the sword be used for? A. NOTHING Q. What happens to you when you push the orange button? A. DIE Q. What can you ask the hacker (in the maze) to do for you? A. FIND benkid77 20/10/2020