The House on Rosewood Street, by Michael Thomét Walkthrough by Andrew Schultz There's a lot to do here, and it is repetitive. There's a point to this, really! I wanted to write the walkthrough because 1) people may miss the semi-hidden ending, 2) we can have a relatively straightforward way through and 3) I liked the game and wanted to highlight some of the hidden bits. The dialogue is really funny and surreal but maybe tough to see all of. I recommend Jacques Frechet's Toastball utility to dump the text if you wish to see it, as ASK X ABOUT Y (or even ASK ABOUT Y) can get tiresome. While it doesn't tell you specifically what is asked, things are lumped by subject, and the responses when you ask someone about themselves are pretty clear. (You may also want to wait until Friday.) You may notice the map is modular. There are some commands worth cut-and-pasting and then using the up-arrow to replicate. So I did. They are here. The > starting the walkthrough throws the parser off. w.n.e.knock.give paper e.n.w.knock.give paper w.s.e.knock.give paper e.s.w.knock.give paper You may also want to make the game screen relatively tall, so you don't have to hit a key twice. You'll be doing a lot of KNOCKing in this game. There's a pause where you need to press a key, but you're not told that. Better one key press than two, which is the case if these combined commands scroll through the screen. I will leave asking questions out of the walkthrough. You may find this amusing to do in-game, but wait until Friday. You also cannot use periods to separate commands. You can also ask about the things you need to fix or get for your neighbors. ask about editha ask about abigail ask about glenn ask about me ask about rosewood ask about elisabeth ask about maurice ask about theo ask about lottie ask about janice ask about caius Also note this isn't a *fully* optimal walkthrough. Sometimes it's better to go clockwise, sometimes counterclockwise, based on who asks for what, when. If you forget to give a paper, the most likely candidate (for me) was Caius. But you may just have to use the cut-and-pasted commands above to retrace. The game doesn't keep track of who's got what. >w >w >s >get all >read paper This provides backstory. You never have to read the paper to win the game. >n >e This does waste two moves, but the game doesn't track turn count. So this saves time if you can finagle it. >w.n.e.knock.give paper So now Editha has her paper. >w.n.e.knock.give paper Abigail has her paper. >w.n.e.knock.give paper Glenn has his paper. He's not especially thrilled with it, or anything, really, but that's his problem, not yours. The End of the Street ahead is a weird part of the map, since you can go north to it from three locations, but it goes back south to the center. >w >n >n Knocking doesn't work here. (>x note) >put paper behind gate >s >w >w >knock >give paper >e.s.w.knock.give paper Theo/Theodore gets his paper. >e.s.w.knock.give paper Lottie gives you a toaster to fix. Note that chores can't be done until you've delivered all the newspapers, though you don't have to deliver a newspaper to yourself. >e.s.w.knock.give paper >e.e.e.e.e >fix toaster This completes Monday. Now back to the grind! There's no need to get Lottie her toaster right away. Just do things in order as before, to save a bit of time. You can GIVE TOASTER to the wrong people if you want, too, for some extracurricular humor. Well, I enjoyed it. So, Tuesday, similar to Monday, but with a small change. >w.w.s.get all >n.e Okay, deliveries on the left side. >w.n.e.knock.give paper >w.n.e.knock.give paper >w.n.e.knock.give paper >w >n >n Okay, someone is here. No need to put the paper behind the gate. >give paper This is the same as TALK TO STRANGER. >s >w >w >knock >give paper Janice gives you a kettle. You need to go to town to fix it. But not right away! >e.s.w.knock.give paper >e.s.w.knock.give paper >give toaster You made Lottie happy! >e.s.w.knock.give paper That's your rounds in the neighborhood. Now to go into town. >e >s >z If only waiting for the bus and doing chores were always so simple! WEDNESDAY >w >w >s >get all >n >e >w.n.e.knock.give paper Again, you can add in GIVE KETTLE to all the wrong neighbors first for amusement. But of course to see all the responses you'd need to skip giving the kettle to Janice. >w.n.e.knock.give paper Abigail needs you to fix her radio. Again, deliver everything first. >w.n.e.knock.give paper We learn Glenn has a last name, Alvin. This is useless but neat information! Also, Glenn wants you to find his nozzle. You can ASK ABOUT NOZZLE a lot here. >w.n.n.give paper Interesting reaction from Caius! I mean, I'm nostalgic for the some things from the old days of newspapers and all, reading the comics and so forth, but ... >s >w >w >knock >give paper >give kettle Yay! Janice has her kettle back. >e.s.w.knock.give paper >ask theo about nozzle Theo gives you the nozzle back. Now it saves a few moves to return it right away. >e.e.n.e.e.knock.give nozzle >w.w.w.s.s.w >knock.give paper >e.s.w.knock.give paper Okay, everyone has their paper now. >e.e.e.e.e >fix radio THURSDAY >w.w.s Back to the old grind. Wait, there are ten papers now! What is up with that? >n.e >w.n.e.knock.give paper Editha, first. >w.n.e.knock.give paper Abigail takes her pa... wait! It's Elisabeth! Who is Elisabeth? Well, for starters, she's the one who wants the extra newspaper. >w.n.e.knock.give paper >give radio to abigail >w.n.n >give paper to caius >s.w.knock on door.give paper >e.s.w.knock.give paper >e.s.w.knock.give paper >e.s.w.knock.give paper Maurice needs his watch fixed. >e.e.e.e.e.fix watch Okay, on to Friday! FRIDAY >w.w.s.get all >n.n.e.knock.give paper Editha has lost her hat! You can ask other people about her hat if you want, but this walkthrough only shows who knows of it. >w.n.e.knock.give paper >w.n.e.knock.give paper >w.n.e.knock.give paper >w.n.n.give paper Now, the big moment. Sort of. >ask about hat The way north is opened! >n.get hat.s.s.w.w (Incidentally, the random parser error messages work quite well with WEAR HAT.) >knock.give paper >e.s.w.knock.give paper Theo needs a present in town. First, though... >e.s.w.knock.give paper >e.e.e.e.knock.give hat If you try to take the hat on the bus, you fail amusingly. >w.s.w.w.w >knock.give paper Oh, also something for Maurice... >give watch >e >s >z SATURDAY Okay, Saturday. You know the drill. Or ... is it quite the same? >w.w.s.get all.n.n.n.e Yes, we're bypassing Editha's house! Why? >knock.give paper Elisabeth gives you a mirror! The mirror allows you to see the "right" ending. >x mirror >give mirror (Nothing conclusive, but it gives an idea it's special.) >w.s.e.knock.give paper >give mirror "As if nothing has happened," and nothing has ... yet. You need everyone's reflection. >w.n.n.e.knock.give paper >give mirror >w.n.e.knock.give paper >give mirror Yes, even Glenn needs to look in the mirror. But ... >w.n.n.give paper ...Caius doesn't. In fact, he will break the mirror, causing the bad/looping ending. You can see this by delivering your papers and doing your chores and going to sleep. You hae to work through Sunday, so I won't fill in the blanks, here. If you want to give Caius the mirror to see the alternate ending, then, I recommend saving. Elisabeth's house will disappear. This is a clue something is up. Now down the left side! >s.w.w.knock.give paper >give mirror >e.s.w.knock.give paper >give mirror But Theo needs something else! >give gewgaw >e.s.w.knock.give paper >e.s.w.knock.give paper Okay, everyone's taken care of! Now you just need to fix the mirror. If you didn't know it needed fixing, >x mirror >e.e.e.e.e.fix mirror You can sleep now, but ... >w.w.n.n.e.knock.give mirror And that does it! SUMMARY of what to do when: Monday: fix Lottie's toaster Tuesday: replace Janice's kettle Wednesday: fix Abigail's radio, find Glenn's spray nozzle (Theo has it) Thursday: fix Maurice's watch Friday: find Editha's hat, get a gift for Theo. Saturday: Elisabeth gives you the mirror.