Don't Panic! Let's Play The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Put the fluff in the flowerpot, then divert/concentrate light to it using the magnifying glass?

Could you please give us a list of locations on the ship? Might jog something.

I love the way that half the people here know the game forwards and backwards, but don't want to spoil the fun by spelling it out.

Happy to.

Bridge
This is the bridge of the Heart of Gold. A gangway leads down, and steam comes from an entrance to port. Next to the control console is Eddie (the shipboard computer).
Lying on the deck is a plotter connected to a spare Improbability Drive.
There is a spare Improbability Drive here.
There is a nice, hot cup of Advanced Tea Substitute here.
There is a handbag here.
There is a satchel here.

Galley
You are in the Galley area of the ship, containing a machine which is the state of the art in Nutritional Technology, a Sirius Cybernetics Corporation Nutrimat. There is an exit to starboard.
A carton labelled "Nutrimat/Computer Interface" is sitting here.
It looks like the Nutrimat contains:
a Nutrimat/Computer Interface

Entry Bay Number Two
This is an entry bay for the Heart of Gold. A corridor lies aft of here.

Corridor, Fore End
This is one end of a short corridor that continues aft along the main deck of the Heart of Gold. Doorways lead to fore and port. In addition, a gangway leads upward.

Corridor, Aft End
This is one end of a short corridor that continues fore along the main deck of the Heart of Gold. Doorways lead to aft and port. In addition, a gangway leads downward.

Engine Room
This is the room that houses the powerful Infinite Improbability Generator that drives the Heart of Gold. An exit lies fore of here.
There is a sales brochure here.

Marvin's Pantry
This is a small closet with an exit to starboard.
Marvin, the Paranoid Android, is here.

Hatchway
You are at the bottom of a gangway. A hatch below you is closed. There is a small access space to starboard.

Access Space
This tiny area, with an exit to port, is for working on the hatch mechanism, which is vastly more complicated than your rather ordinary intelligence can comprehend. The floor is an open metal mesh, like the floor of a catwalk.

"steam comes from an entrance to port"
What is to the port?

The sauna, where the other characters are. You can't go in there, but I don't remember why.

Episode 29

I’m I remember right you can go into the sauna, but it’s not really a room as such. Still no harm in finding out, right?

Bridge
This is the bridge of the Heart of Gold. A gangway leads down, and steam comes from an entrance to port. Next to the control console is Eddie (the shipboard computer).
Lying on the deck is a plotter connected to a spare Improbability Drive.
There is a spare Improbability Drive here.
There is a nice, hot cup of Advanced Tea Substitute here.
There is a handbag here.
There is a satchel here.

>port
You enter the sauna. After several hours, you come out a changed man. You have with you a changed plant.

Well you know, a sauna is rather relaxing all around. It’s just nice really but not too nice… of course I had to deal with Zaphod and Ford singing, a lot and off key, but that’s the sort of thing you have to deal with in a ship like this one. Oh, and look at that, something happened to me plant!

>look at plant
The plant is now large and leafy. Hanging from it is a large, succulent fruit.

Huh, what do you know! Goodness when was the last time I ate, I think the peanuts back in the Vogon hold and that was… years ago. I really should eat something, and it’s not like it’s going to have a coin hidden in the middle of it this time, right?

>eat fruit
The fruit has a zesty taste, and you devour it greedily. Suddenly, your vision wavers, and you see yourself, as though from a distance, standing near Marvin, who asks you for a molecular hyperwave pincer. Then, the image vanishes like a movie when the film breaks, and you find yourself still in the Bridge.

It seems that this plant is a rare horticultural phenomenon long thought to be extinct: The Tree of Foreknowledge.

That was rather unexpected if I do say so myself! Still it does seem to provide the correct course to my current causality conundrum. It also seems to have a side effect of alliteration. Still it looks like I need the molecular hyperwave pincer for this job.

>take pincer out of thing
Taken

Marvin's Pantry
This is a small closet with an exit to starboard.
Marvin, the Paranoid Android, is here.

Hey Marvin, could you do me a favor again?

>marvin, open hatch
"Humans are so depressingly demanding. Do this. Pick up that. Unjam the opening mechanism of the other. Meet me in the hatchway Access Space in twelve turns. I suppose," he mutters, "you can count up to twelve. So hard to know with morons. And don't forget to bring the proper tool."

Find by me, and I’ll see you there. I’m sure I’ll have the right tool this time, don’t you worry about a thing! Trust me, I have all my bases covered on this one.

>sb
Corridor, Aft End
This is one end of a short corridor that continues fore along the main deck of the Heart of Gold. Doorways lead to aft and port. In addition, a gangway leads downward.

>d
Hatchway
You are at the bottom of a gangway. A hatch below you is closed. There is a small access space to starboard.

>take off gown
Okay, you're no longer wearing your gown.

>drop gown
Dropped.

>drop thing
You're not holding the thing your aunt gave you which you don't know what it is.

>sb
Access Space
This tiny area, with an exit to port, is for working on the hatch mechanism, which is vastly more complicated than your rather ordinary intelligence can comprehend. The floor is an open metal mesh, like the floor of a catwalk.

And here we are, in nothing by my PJs waiting for a depressed robot while holding a tool that thanks to cheating with time travel and foreknowledge I know is about to be needed. Let’s hope I’m right, right?

Marvin shambles in.

>wait
Time passes...
Marvin, looking bored, says, "Hand me a molecular hyperwave pincer."

>give marvin pincer
Marvin fiddles inside the mechanism with the molecular hyperwave pincer for about three tenths of a second. You hear the hatchway slide open. "I don't expect you to be grateful," says Marvin, "or even interested, but that was probably more complicated than every single action you'll ever perform in your entire life put together." He limps away. "And me," you hear him mutter as he goes, "with this terrible pain in all the diodes down my left side."

>marvin, thank you
You can't see Marvin here!

You know, it’s hard to be grateful when you wonder off like that. Still the hatch sounds to be open! Let’s go see what is outside!

>p
Hatchway
You are at the bottom of a gangway. A hatch below you is open. There is a small access space to starboard.
Your gown is here.

>d
You step onto the landing ramp leading down toward the surface of the legendary lost planet of Magrathea. "Announcement, announcement. This is Eddie (the shipboard computer). Someone is leaving the ship on a strange planet without wrapping up all nice and warm. It'll all end in tears, I just know it..." The voice fades behind you.

Ramp
The wind moans. Dust drifts across the surface of the alien world. Zaphod, Ford, and Trillian appear and urge you forward.

Slowly, nervously, you step downwards, the cold thin air rasping in your lungs. You set one single foot on the ancient dust -- and almost instantly the most incredible adventure starts which you'll have to buy the next game to find out about.


By the way, there WAS a causal relationship between your taking the toothbrush and the tree collapsing at the very beginning of the game. We apologise for this slight inaccuracy.

Your score is 400 of a possible 400, in 596 turns.

Sadly there is no ‘next game’ in this case. The sequel ended up in Development Hell and simply was never finished. However, it’s not worth embarking on a long discussion of it now, because it really is, terribly complicated.

So, here am I stuck on some alien world, Earth has been destroyed (well, only temporarily. It is in a Tipple-Zed sector, so I’m sure it will be back any down now). I have a planet to explore, friends by my side and even a robot who could be fun to hang out with. You know I’ve always wanted to have a robot as my best friend.

ARTHUR: Night’s falling. Look robot, the stars are coming out.
MARVIN: I know. Wretched isn’t it?
ARTHUR: But that sunset, I’ve never seen anything like it in my wildest dreams! The two suns… It was like mountains of fire boiling into space.!
MARVIN: I’ve seen it, it’s rubbish.
ARTHUR: We only ever had the one sun at home. I came from a planet called Earth you know.
MARVIN: I know, you keep going on about it, it sounds awful.
ARTHUR: No, it was a beautiful place.
MARVIN: Did it have… oceans?
ARTHUR: Oh yes. Great wide, rolling, blue oceans.
MARVIN: Can’t bear oceans.
ARTHUR: Tell me, do you get on well with other robots?
MARVIN: Hate them. Where are you going?
ARTHUR: I just think I’ll take a short walk.
MARVIN: Don’t blame you.

A second thought, I think I’m going to find a ship, higher a crew and go into the exploration business. Maybe I’ll even save a galaxy or two. Who knows…

Hurrah, we finished!

Well done, that was fun.

Huh, I was more or less right. Go go genre knowledge.

I don't understand why there is a sauna in the bridge, but probably I shouldn't care considering how warped the universe is. After all, this is the universe where the ultimate knowledge is 42.
Thank you for a good LP anyway.

I don't really know what to say, so I'll just say "Thanks for another great LP."

Nicely done! I had fun trying to be proddingly vague enough toward the end there.

A final update if you want to give this game a go, the BBC just put a new edition of the game up for the 30th Anniversary of the radio show. It has all new fancy graphics to go along with he old plain text.