|  Tin Star | |
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| | Description | In the wild West, the tin star is the symbol of law and order. The men who wear the tin star are respected by the community, as they face violent and cunning criminals nearly every day.
After a group of criminals kidnapped your wife and daughter and almost took your own life, you decided to join the ranks of these brave lawmen and became a sheriff in the town of Tucson, Arizona. For a few months, your life passed quietly and your duties as sheriff were limited to short missions, like escorting outlaws to prison.
One day, the tranquility of Tucson was shattered by the arrival of a group of dangerous bandits whose faces had long decorated WANTED posters in many Western Union Telegraph offices. The bank was their target and your absence, due to a disturbance at the nearby silver mines of San Xavier, was their opportunity to strike. They arrived shooting and shouting, spreading fear everywhere, and robbed the bank of the savings of the hard-working people of Tucson. Some citizens and bank employees were even killed by the bandits. The family and friends of the deceased demanded justice.
When you arrived back in Tucson the following day, you were sickened by the stories you heard about the atrocities carried out by these ruthless bandits. You quickly collected food, water, guns and ammunition, saddled your horse, and set off in pursuit of the bandits. They only had one day's head start, so you should be able to catch them.
Unfortunately for you, the bandits had anticipated your move and set an ambush in a narrow canyon on the edge of the desert. You were taken by surprise, knocked out, tied up and left to die in the desert sun. When you woke up, you found yourself in the shadow of the canyon. Your horse was nearby, but most of your other belongings, including your guns, were gone. An ordinary man would have slowly died of thirst under the hot summer sun, but you were no ordinary man and you were determined to prove it.
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| | Instructions | MOVEMENT
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To move around, use commands like GO NORTH and GO SOUTH. You can move in any of the four cardinal compass directions. To save typing, movement commands can be abbreviated to N, S, E and W. You can sometimes use other movement commands such as IN, OUT, ENTER, EXIT, GET IN or GET OUT. These will be reasonably obvious when the time comes.
This game takes place in an open range, so traversing the game world will kill you by exhaustion if you try to do it on foot. Make good use of your horse. Once you MOUNT your HORSE, you can move from one location to another using the directional commands like usual, providing the horse can enter that location.
EXAMINING THINGS
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Make sure you EXAMINE everything you come across, even insignificant things like scenery and objects mentioned in room descriptions, as subtle hints and clues are scattered everywhere. To save typing, EXAMINE can be abbreviated to X. For example, EXAMINE HORSE can be abbreviated to X HORSE.
You can also try your other senses when it seems appropriate, e.g. SMELL, TOUCH or LISTEN. Unlike EXAMINE, these actions aren't necessary to solve any puzzles but may prove useful at some point in the game.
MANIPULATING OBJECTS
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Apart from examining things, most of your time will be spent manipulating objects. Use commands like GET or TAKE to pick up an object, e.g. GET PISTOL. Use commands like DROP or DISCARD to drop an object, e.g. DROP PISTOL.
To see what you're currently carrying and wearing, use INVENTORY (or I). As you're not a pack horse, you can only carry ten items at a time.
There are many other verbs that can be used to manipulate objects. These will be fairly obvious when the time comes. Common verbs include OPEN, CLOSE, EAT, DRINK, READ and so on. Use PUT, PLACE or INSERT to put objects into containers or on supporters, e.g. PUT NOTEPAD IN POCKET.
MAPPING THE MAZE
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This game starts near a desert, which is set out like a maze. Mazes were very common in the days when the original game was written. Mazes are hard to traverse as each location in the maze has the same description and the connections between locations may twist and turn or even loop back on themselves. If you have sufficient items in your inventory, then you can try dropping one item in each location to make it unique. Mapping the maze will then be much easier.
COMMUNICATING WITH CHARACTERS
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You will encounter a few characters in this game. When you first meet new characters, in addition to examining them, you should try talking to them, e.g. TALK TO INDIAN. To get further information from them, try asking them about something relevant, e.g. ASK INDIAN ABOUT BANDITS. This game is partially about gathering information, so you will need to ask characters about various things.
ADVANCED FEATURES
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You can use IT or THEM to refer to the noun used in the previous command, e.g. EXAMINE BAG, OPEN IT (for a singular object) or TAKE BEANS FROM BAG, DROP THEM (for plural objects). You can also use HIM and HER to refer to male and female characters used in the previous command, e.g. TALK TO INDIAN, ASK HIM ABOUT BANDITS, or EXAMINE MAN, TALK TO HIM.
You can refer to multiple objects by separating the objects with AND, e.g. GET BOW AND ARROW. Using IT and THEM in the next command will only refer to the last of those objects, e.g. EXAMINE IT will refer to the arrow.
You can use ALL to refer to all the appropriate objects with GET and DROP, e.g. GET ALL to get everything in the current location, GET ALL FROM TABLE to get everything on the table, DROP ALL to drop everything you're holding, but not wearing.
When using ALL, you can use EXCEPT or BUT to exclude some objects, e.g. DROP ALL EXCEPT RIFLE.
Finally, you can enter multiple commands on the same line by separating them with a period, e.g. EXAMINE BOX. OPEN IT.
OTHER COMMANDS
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Use LOOK (or L) to refresh the display.
Use VERSION to get the game version. Use ABOUT or INFO to get background information and credits for the game. Use CREDITS to get the credits only.
Use SAVE to save your progress. Use RESTORE to restore a saved game.
Use UNDO to undo the last move. This is handy if you change your mind or make a mistake. You shouldn't be able to get into an unwinnable situation in this game, but it is possible to get killed, so save the game when it looks like you're about to get into a dangerous situation.
Use AGAIN (or G) to repeat the last command.
Use WAIT (or Z) to do nothing apart from pass the time.
Use HELP to get a brief reminder of how to play the game or HINT to get a context-sensitive hint related to your current location or current situation.
Use RESTART to restart the game from the beginning. Use QUIT (or Q) to quit without restarting.
Use UP and DOWN CURSOR KEYS to cycle through your past commands. This is handy if you want to repeat the previous command or correct a typo.
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| | Solutions - Complete | Tin Star
By Gianluca Girelli
For Z-code interpreters
Solution by Garry Francis
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This is a minimal solution. You'll need to EXAMINE lots of things for this solution to make sense. Some optional (but significant) commands are shown in parentheses. These can be omitted once you know what to do.
(X HORSE) (he's your faithful stallion)
(X ROPE) (it's a long rope that ties you up)
(GET IT) (you can't get anything while you're tied up)
(X CAMPFIRE) (coals are still warm)
BLOW ON COALS (flame lights up)
BURN ROPE (you burn it enough to free yourself)
GET IT
TIE IT TO HORSE (he will now follow you when you're holding the rope)
GET BLANKET
(X IT) (can be used to make smoke signals)
W (your horse follows you, as you're holding the rope)
W
W
X CARCASS (you find a saddle bag)
GET SADDLE BAG
N
N (your horse spots the water and drinks its fill, he'll now let you mount)
DRINK WATER (your own thirst is quenched)
(MOUNT HORSE) (you're too weak, you need to eat something)
OPEN SADDLE BAG (it contains some pemmican and an empty canteen)
GET CANTEEN
(OPEN IT)
FILL IT WITH WATER (you'll need it later)
(CLOSE IT)
GET PEMMICAN
EAT IT (you feel your strength coming back, you can now mount your horse)
DROP SADDLE BAG
W
E
(X WAGON) (it might be worth searching it)
SEARCH WAGON (you find a stick of dynamite)
GET DYNAMITE
(X IT) (it's got a long fuse)
(X FUSE) (you reckon it would burn for three moves before dynamite blows up)
S
(S) (it's too far to walk on foot)
MOUNT HORSE
S
S
GET BRANCH
W
S
(D) (you can't take the horse into the crevasse)
DISMOUNT
DROP ROPE
D
GET HEADDRESS
U
N
E
S
(X INDIAN)
(TALK TO HIM) (ask him about something specific)
(ASK HIM ABOUT APACHES, BANDITS, HEADDRESS, HIMSELF, KNIFE, ME, NAVAJO, SMOKE)
(SHOW HEADDRESS TO INDIAN) (it's his, he lost it and couldn't find it)
GIVE HEADDRESS TO INDIAN (he gives you a knife in return)
LIGHT BRANCH
NWSE
(EXAMINE MAN) (he's tied to stake by leather ties)
(X STAKE) (it's buried in ground, man is bound to it by leather ties)
(X TIES) (they're wet leather that shrinks as it dries out)
CUT TIES WITH KNIFE (ties fall to ground, but you need to revive man)
REVIVE MAN (he sees that you're a sheriff, but unarmed, so gives you his rifle)
(ASK MAN ABOUT APACHES, BANDITS, INTRUDERS, HIMSELF, INDIANS, ME, NAVAJO, SMOKE)
GET BRANCHES
W
GET ROPE
N (horse follows you)
EE
(S) (it's too far to go on foot)
MOUNT HORSE
SS
(U) (you can't get past the rattlesnake)
SHOOT SNAKE WITH RIFLE (you can now get past)
U
(E)
(N) (you can't take your horse across the rope bridge)
(DISMOUNT)
(DROP ROPE)
(N)
(N)
(N) (the Apaches won't let you pass, you need to somehow send them away)
(S)
(S)
(W)
DISMOUNT (if you didn't do it earlier)
DROP BRANCHES
LIGHT THEM WITH TORCH
MAKE SMOKE SIGNALS WITH BLANKET (the distant Apaches ride away)
E
DROP ROPE (if you didn't do it earlier)
N
N (Apaches are now gone)
N
(X HOLE) (it's about the size of a candle)
PUT DYNAMITE IN HOLE
LIGHT IT WITH TORCH (get out of here before it blows up)
SZ
Z (Kaboom!)
N (there's a large hole in the mountain)
NNNN
GET HATCHET (the dripping water douses your torch)
S
E (you can now see cracks of light in the darkness)
(X CRACKS) (another entrance has been boarded up from the outside)
CHOP BOARDS WITH HATCHET (you reveal another entrance to south)
S
(X BRIDGE) (it's been chopped down by the bandits)
CHOP TREE WITH HATCHET (tree falls across ravine to form makeshift bridge)
S
S
E
N
N (you must have your rifle with you)
Z
Z
Z (you hear horses approaching)
Z (horses arrive)
(Z) (men dismount to water horses, it's the bandits)
(Z) (they look like Mexicans, they're talking in Spanish)
(Z) (they're joking about their carnage)
(Z) (time to hand out some justice)
(Z) (they're almost ready to leave)
SHOOT BANDITS
***THE END***
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