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Life, the Universe and Everything (life-universe-everthing-solution)

Solution for the Memotech MTX text adventure "Life, the Universe and 
Everything" (1984) by Andrew Key, published by Tricom Software Ltd.

Use POKE (64862),9 before loading the game to disable glitchy keyboard repeat.

Comments are in round brackets. Optional commands are in square brackets but 
they do help with understanding more about the game:-

(You start in "Dark Cave" with score 0)
GET BAG (score +4=4), PUT ALL IN BAG (the guide; score +8=12), [X ALL], N 
(Blowbagger insults you and flies off), W, W, N, [X DEVICE] (it has a start 
button), PRESS BUTTON (a sofa materialises on the plains; score +8=20), S, S, 
SIT ON SOFA (You teleport to Lords Cricket Ground, dropping all items; score 
+12=32), GET BAG (score +4=36), PUT ALL IN BAG (towel & ashes; score +24=60), 
W, BURN STUMPS WITH MATCH (score +16=76), PUT ALL IN BAG (fake ashes; score 
+24=100}, N, PUT ALL IN BAG (ball & key; score +20=120), S, PUT ALL IN BAG 
(crisps & newspaper; score +12=132), [X ALL, READ PAPER], BLINK (you notice a 
spaceship; score +16=148), N, W, S, U (ship entrance), UNLOCK DOOR WITH KEY, 
OPEN DOOR, S, CLOSE DOOR, LOCK DOOR WITH KEY, U, ORDER CHICKEN, EAT CHICKEN 
(ship zips across the galaxy; score +12=160), S, PUT ALL IN BAG (controller 
device; score +16=176), N, E (white room), PUT ALL IN BAG (*note1; score 
+20=196), [X ALL], PLUG IN CONTROLLER DEVICE (You now enter a virtual-reality 
reconstruction of planet Thikket which you will visit later. You start on 
"Hill-top"; score +20=216), S, [S, N] (Forest), E, E, S, E (in Thikket ship), 
W (back in white room), W, S, USE BLACK DEVICE (*note2; score +12=228), S, S, 
S, [E (cathedral of hate), W], KILL JAGRARAG (score +12=240), N, W, U, W, SWOOP 
(you collect bottle of wine; score +32=272), [X BOTTLE], E, W (Outside Party), 
S, GIVE BOTTLE TO DOORMAN (score +16=288) S, E (Gillian is here), [S, W, W, N, 
E, E] (to see all of the party), W, N, N, USE BLACK DEVICE (back in teleport 
room; score +8=296), N, D, WAIT (ship lands on the Thikket asteroid), UNLOCK 
DOOR WITH KEY, OPEN DOOR, N, D (The robots open the Wikket gate), N (Zafod is 
here), [X LOCK, X PLATFORM], PUT ALL IN BAG (ashes & silver bail; score 
+24=320), W (Zafod and ship are here), [X SHIP], GIVE BAIL TO ZAFOD (score 
+16=336), E, S, U, S, CLOSE DOOR, LOCK DOOR WITH KEY, U, ORDER CHICKEN, EAT 
CHICKEN (Ship lands on Thikket; score +8=344), D, UNLOCK DOOR WITH KEY, OPEN 
DOOR, N, D (Hill-top, everything is real this time), W, W (group of 
Thikketters), GIVE CRISPS TO GILLIAN (she says "Take us to your leader!"; score 
+20=364), U, D, E, S, S (Heart of Gold), [LOOK, X LEVER, X COMPUTER, READ 
GUIDE (Find SIGMA tree values)], N, N, W, D, E, E, S (forest, *note3), X TREE 
(1), S, X TREE (1+72=73), W, X TREE (73+76=149), E, X TREE (149+189=338), W, 
X TREE (338+253=591), E, X TREE (591+296=887), N, X TREE (887+301=1188), S, 
X TREE (1188+312=1500, the final result), N, N (back on hill-top), W, W, U, U, 
W, [S, X SHIP, N] (to see fake ship exhibit), N (Hectar invites you to see 
him), S, E, E (Airlock), TOUCH PANEL (*note4; score +8=372), W (after reading 
Hectar’s exposition), W, D, E, S, S (back in Heart of Gold), [READ GUIDE], 
PROGRAM COMPUTER, B (1500 - the number obtained from the forest maze; score 
+8=380), PULL LEVER (ship lands on Earth; score +20=400), N, D, W, KILL ROBOT 
(score +20=420), E, U, S, PULL LEVER (Prat joins the ship; score +20=440), 
WAIT (*note5), [WAIT], [ASK PRAT FOR ANSWER] (42 of course), ASK PRAT FOR 
QUESTION (*note6; score +24=464; YOU HAVE WON !!!)

*note1 - If there are also immovable items in the room, then PUT ALL IN BAG 
will attempt to pick them up and fail.This can be avoided if desired by picking 
the required item up directly e.g. PUT BLACK DEVICE IN BAG, but the warnings 
are of no consequence and it is quicker to type ALL in most cases.

*note2 - You will randomly teleport to either "Underground" or "Outside Party".

You need to get to "Underground" at this stage. If you end up at "Outside 
Party", then keep trying "USE BLACK DEVICE" until eventually you end up at 
"Underground". Also in that case, you will score 8 points for teleporting back 
from "Outside Party" to the white room now. Otherwise you will pick up the 8 
points later in the walkthrough.

*note3 - You need to examine a tree in every location within the forest maze 
to reveal a number on each one. Adding all numbers together gives the result 
1500, which is needed to plot a course on the ship later. The clue to do this 
is given by "READ GUIDE" while on the Heart of Gold ship. 

*note4 - You now enter the vacuum of outer space and provided Hectar is 
present, you will be protected for a small random number of turns. You should 
leave as soon as possible (preferably after one turn). It is occasionally 
possible to die immediately on entering outer space, even if Hectar is 
present. I am unsure if this is a bug or intentional random behaviour. In that 
case, the game has to be restarted again from the beginning. 

*note5 - although it is stated on the previous turn that Prat has arrived, in 
fact attempting to interact with him results in "Prat isn’t here" until one 
turn later. Also waiting one further turn again reveals the clue about having 
to ask Prat something.

*note6 - This solution scores 464 out of a possible 500 points. I have yet to 
find the missing 36 points - answers on a post card please. :)

benkid77 - 20 October 2023