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Phantom of Blackmoore, The (Phantom_of_Blackmoore_-_solution.txt)

Solution for the public domain TI-99/4A text adventure "The Phantom of 
Blackmoore" (1983) by Paul Granese. Published by Instrumental Software 
Systems.

General notes:-
This is a two-part multiload game. The GO verb must be used with directions. 
Only the first three letters of words need to be typed (except of course for 
the code needed to play part two, which must be typed in full). In addition to 
the four cardinal directions, part one also has UP and DOWN, but part two only 
has DOWN, no UP. There’s no obvious command to redescribe a location, but GO 
<direction> where such direction does not lead elsewhere will do it.

In the below solutions, comments are in round brackets and commands in 
square brackets are purely optional but generally informative.

Part one solution:- 
(You start in your office in Paris) 
TAKE MONEY, TAKE PASSPORT, TAKE TICKET, GO DOOR, GO STATION, GO TRAIN, LONDON, 
GO SOUTH (in an alley with two large thugs), DROP MONEY (the thugs take it and 
run away), GO WEST (under Big Ben, a car drops a package off - ignore it), GO 
DOOR, ANSWER PHONE (you are told you will need to add 489 to last 3 digits of a 
code you will be given later, also you are told to go immediately to Rome, but 
we need to divert first), GO DOOR, GO EAST, GO NORTH, GO STATION, GO TRAIN, 
PARIS (we need to divert our journey to pick up the key), GO SOUTH (back in 
your office), TAKE KEY, GO DOOR, GO STATION, GO TRAIN, LONDON (*note1), GO 
STATION, GO TRAIN, ROME, GO NORTH, GO NORTH (manhole cover), [READ NOTE] 
(Blackmoore is a lot closer than you think), LIFT COVER, GO DOWN, GO WEST, GO 
WEST, UNLOCK GATE, OPEN GATE, [READ NOTE] (beware of *some* gifts), GO WEST, GO 
UP (In Coliseum, another package here - ignore it), GO NORTH (You have 
completed part one! - *note2)

Part two solution:- 
(First you must enter the following code to access part two) 
1024 ASXOKAY 656
(You start by the base of a mountain somewhere in the vicinity of Geneva and 
you are already carrying your passport, master-key and ticket. You only need 
the passport.) 
DROP MASTER, DROP TICKET, GO EAST, RIDE LIFT, TAKE SKIS, SKI DOWN, GO EAST, 
STOP SKIS, DROP SKIS, [READ NOTE, GO EAST, READ NOTE, GO WEST], LOOK CAPE, TAKE 
SKELETON (skeleton-key), GO SOUTH, UNLOCK DOOR, DROP SKEL, OPEN DOOR, GO DOOR, 
OPEN B (*note3), TAKE MAGNET, GO DOOR, GO NORTH, TAKE STRING, GO EAST, GO EAST, 
GO EAST (a man collapses here, which prevents you from going east just this one 
turn), GO EAST (wall of stone), LOOK STUMP (keys in there), TIE MAGNET, LOWER 
MAGNET, DROP MAGNET, DROP STRING, TAKE KEYS, UNLOCK WALL (*note4), GO CAVE, GO 
HELI (you are flown back to Paris), GO DOOR (back in your office again), [LOOK 
WINDOW], GO DOOR, GO WEST, GO DOOR, TAKE CHALICE (stairs are revealed), CLIMB 
STAIRS (man in a chair wearing a hood), REMOVE HOOD (It is Pierre Riche! He was 
the phantom all along.)

*note1 - We would actually like to go straight to Rome from Paris at this 
point, but there is an in-game flag which checks if you have visited the cities 
in what is deemed to be the correct order. If you go straight to Rome from 
Paris, you cannot complete part one of the game as you will be told you did not 
visit the cities in the correct order. So the solution is to go to Paris -> 
London -> Rome. The reason we need to go to London twice in the first place is 
that the player can carry no more than three items, and must be carrying both 
the ticket and passport to be allowed to board a train. This effectively leaves 
only one remaining inventory slot for another item. We need the money in London 
and the key in Rome - but we can’t carry them both at the same time and board 
a train, hence the need to travel back and forth. 
However, once the game has been played to the point of receiving the phone call 
in London with the clue about the code, the game can be completed much more 
quickly in subsequent plays. You would then only need to visit London once with 
the key and just get straight back on a train to Rome - without needing the 
money or answering the phone again. That minimal solution is much shorter than 
this walkthrough, but it misses out almost half of the first part of the game 
and wouldn’t make much sense to anyone following it.

*note2 - We now have the code "1024 ASXOKAY 167", but remember the phone 
call in London revealed that we have to add 489 to the last three digits to get 
the true code for part 2 of the game which is therefore "1024 ASXOKAY 656".
Also, the player is instructed to type "OLD CS1" to load the second part of 
the game, which is correct for the tape version, however for the disk version 
as used in this walkthrough "OLD DSK1.XBLACK2" needs to be typed instead, 
followed by "RUN".

*note3 - If you open package A, the game abruptly ends.

*note4 - Do not go west back into the forest after unlocking the lock but 
before entering the cave. If you do so, an internal counter is reset to zero on 
re-entering this location which makes it impossible to enter the cave without 
restarting the game.

Bugs:-

In the forest location where the ski tracks are, if you try to go any direction 
other than east or west, the game will crash with a syntax error.

On the mountain side outside the shack, you can take the shack and the door and 
they will appear in your inventory. You can even drop the shack (object) while 
inside the shack (location), effectively putting the shack inside itself.

benkid77 - 22 November 2020