Jack and the Beanstalk
By Steve W Lucas
For Amstrad CPC
Solution by Garry Francis
----------------------------------------
This is a minimal solution to a very long and buggy game. There are lots of locations, but very few
objects and some of these are red herrings. You cannot LOOK AT or EXAMINE anything and there are
some difficult guess-the-verb scenarios. Sometimes, exits are implied but not shown. Try using HELP
in every room, as this sometimes gives an important clue.
You have to collect three treasures and return them to your mother. All three are found at the same
location and retrieved in much the same manner. The trouble is that you can't collect the
second treasure until you've returned the first, you can't collect the third treasure
until you've returned the second and you can't chop down the beanstalk until you've
returned the third. This means there's a hell of a lot of backtracking over the same path on
the large map. B-o-o-o-ring.
Inventory is limited to 4 items, so drop items when you're finished with them.
Each time you return to the ogre's kitchen, you need to change your appearance or you get
recognised from your previous visit. This area is buggy. To work around the bugs, go as yourself on
the first visit, then disguise yourself as the woodcutter on the second visit and the old lady on
the third visit. This seems to be the only order that works. It's worth saving the game at the
banqueting hall, before entering the ogre's kitchen, in case anything goes wrong.
Just before you steal the last treasure, a countdown timer starts telling you that you have 49 moves
before the ogre comes down the beanstalk. That means you have only 49 moves to steal the last
treasure, return it to mother and chop down the beanstalk, so make sure you're prepared in
advance and don't muck about, as there's only a few moves to spare.
The game has scoring, but it's very buggy, so I've only shown the scores at the end of
each trip. Some things can be scored multiple times. When you get to a certain point, it
automatically gives you a score of 80. The game does not tell you when you've earned any points
and it doesn't give you your final score at the end. In fact, if you PRINT s% (the variable
that holds the score) when the game ends, you'll see that the last 20 points are not even added
to your score.
[1st trip]
S
D
S
S
E
GET COW
W
S
S (searching here reveals a mouse, but it's not needed to finish the game)
S
E
E
IN
GIVE COW (old farmer drops some strange looking beans)
GET BEANS
OUT
W
N
N
DROP BEANS (a giant beanstalk rapidly grows)
U
S
E
S
IN
S
OPEN DOOR (exit added to south)
S
S
E
N
E
E
E
S
PULL LEVER (drawbridge is lowered, exit added to south)
S
E
E
IN
GET KEY
W
S
UNLOCK GATE (with key)
DROP KEY
S
S
(save game here in case anything goes wrong)
S
(HELP) (hide somewhere)
HIDE
OVEN
WAIT
OUT
GET GOOSE
N
N
N
N
W
W
N
N
W
W
W
S
W
N
N
N
OUT
N
W
N
D
S
S
W
N
N
N
N
N
U
N
DROP GOOSE (score at this point is 25%)
[2nd trip]
S
D
S
S
S
S
S
E
N
N
U
S
W
S
S
E
IN
GET OUTFIT
WEAR OUTFIT
OUT
W
N
N
E
E
S
IN
S
S
S
E
N
E
E
E
S
S
E
E
S
S
S
(save game here in case anything goes wrong)
S
HIDE
CUPBOARD
WAIT
OUT
GET MONEY
N
N
N
N
W
W
N
N
E
IN
N
E
N
E
N
GET SWORD
S
W
S
W
S
OUT
W
W
W
W
S
W
N
N
N
OUT
N
W
N
D
S
S
W
N
KILL WITCH (with sword)
DROP SWORD
N
N
N
N
U
N
DROP MONEY (score at this point is 40%)
[3rd trip]
W
GET PAPER
READ PAPER (note the combination)
DROP PAPER
E
S
D
S
E
GET CHEESE
W
S
S
W
UNLOCK SHED
10130127
IN
GET AXE
OUT
E
S
S
E
N
N
U
S
E
S
IN
S
S
S
E
N
E
E
E
S
S
E
E
IN
N
(HELP) (she's plagued with mice)
GIVE CHEESE (she shows you into closet)
DROP CHEESE
REMOVE OUTFIT
DROP OUTFIT
GET DRESS
WEAR DRESS
OUT
S
W
S
S
S
(save game here in case anything goes wrong)
S
HIDE
COPPER
WAIT (you have 49 moves until ogre comes down beanstalk)
OUT
GET HARP
N
N
N
N
W
W
N
N
W
W
W
S
W
N
N
N
OUT
W
N
W
N
D
S
S
W
N
N
N
N
N
U
N
DROP HARP
S
D
S
S
S
S
S
E
N
N (score at this point is 80%)
CHOP BEANSTALK (with axe)
***THE END***
