Labyrinth

Every area of the maze

The first seven areas are explained, in the order a player meets them. The Brick Hallway does not yet lead to the guards’ room, and no way past the Stone Corridor’s guarded door is known. The other fifteen are read from the code and one capture each; none has been played through. Choose an area to see how you reach it, what you do there, and how it is passed.

Area 1 · The text adventure

The text adventure

Labyrinth begins with a text adventure. You name your character, answer the setup questions, and explore the streets outside a movie theater. Two word wheels hold the available actions and objects. Entering go home takes you from the sidewalk to a room with a television and a camcorder.² ($9114)

Areas: follow the city’s command routes →
How the opening’s text is stored and drawn →

The city’s command routes

Commands depend on where you are and what you carry. The ticket counter blocks entry without a ticket; the popcorn stand adds choices about payment, change, and the dropped nickel. Follow these connections on the city workflow. The Controls page explains how to enter a command.

GO HOME checks where you are

The command stays the same, but its result depends on your location. On the street, go home selects the home location. At home, the command replies “You are home!” At the ticket counter, the command says you cannot go home from there. ($9114)

The ticket changes GO EAST

At the ticket counter, go east checks whether you carry a ticket before consulting the movement table. Without a ticket, the reply is “You can't enter without a ticket.” With one, the table selects the lobby destination. ($90F4, $9327)

The purchase follows a shared payment path. Giving the dollar bill with at least five dollars available deducts four dollars in the ticket handler, then another dollar in the common give routine. The girl hands over one ticket.

Two dollars for cold popcorn

At the popcorn stand, giving a dollar bill can spend two dollars: one in the counter’s branch and one in the shared GIVE routine. The first purchase adds a box of popcorn. After that, a purchase flag makes the woman refuse another dollar payment, leaving your money alone. ($93E1, $087F)

Two complaints recover the missing quarter

The popcorn menu asks $1.25, but the woman takes two dollars and leaves only two quarters in change. The first complaint gets an excuse. The second produces another quarter. Three quarters in change restore the advertised $1.25 price. Further complaints produce a rebuke. ($95B7, $927C, $943A)

This example starts just after the purchase. TAKE collects the available quarters together, then exposes the dropped nickel. Complaining before collecting the change puts three quarters on the counter; complaining after collecting it adds one more to pick up.

The nickel changes the later offer

Returning a nickel after picking up the dropped one gets the woman’s thanks. The game remembers the return. While the teenager in the main theater accepts popcorn, keeping the dropped nickel makes him take the whole box. Returning it makes him take a handful and leave the box in your inventory. ($9485)

See the counter route on the city workflow →

01 · City routes

The city as a workflow

This diagram puts those routes on one map. Select a place or an arrow to see its description, condition, and result. Solid arrows move between locations. Dashed arrows show actions at the counter. The dotted arrow follows the coin choice into the later theater encounter. ($90F4, $9327, $95B7)

A route through the cinema, with optional change collection. Details appear below the diagram; on narrow screens, scroll the diagram sideways. The counter actions can be taken in either order. This is a guide to verified decisions, rather than a complete playable opening.

Try the counter’s change and nickel choices →

Area 2 · Entry mechanic verified · Other gate behavior remains open

The entrance gate

After the cinema, the graphical adventure places you outside the gate. Holding up from the starting position begins the entry sequence. Moving to either side first leaves the character against the foreground boundary.⁴ ($8D92)

The movement map divides the approach into horizontal columns. In the four columns shown here, the doorway column permits a deeper approach than its neighbors. Reaching depth 50 starts a script that changes the gate state and queues the first corridor. The diagram shows those world-coordinate checks, rather than a rectangle painted over the screen.

The doorway boundary

Walking straight up to the gate reaches depth 51 and starts the scripted sequence. Approaching from the left or right stops the player at depth 24. The sequence then queues scene 2, which opens with a title card and the first brick corridor.

See the corridor reached through the gate

A speech stored beside the gate script

The same resource holds seven lines addressing the cinema audience, including the player by name. Choose a line to read it. The player name is shown as ANON for privacy. In a nonzero scene, the phase-zero branch skips the seven speech records and starts phase 7. ($4171, $8D92) ($8E09, $8CD8)

The script keeps a phase and a countdown. When a countdown expires, it loads the next delay and advances the phase. Phases 0–6 select these messages; phases 7–13 continue the actor and gate sequence. Pressing fire on joystick port 1 sets the latch that can jump an early phase to 7. At phase 14, the script goes directly to checking the player’s approach depth.

03 · The Labyrinth

The first corridor

The first corridor stretches past a repeating brick wall. Its movement map divides the wall into 64 columns. Eight columns permit a deeper approach and allow the exit routine to choose an entry into the Brick Hallway. ($4171, $4115)

Where the openings lead

Choose a column, then change the exit variant. Each stored opening leads to the Brick Hallway. The variant changes the entry position within that room. ($4115)

Bold, underlined columns are openings; the other columns stop the approach. The single corridor strip wraps onto four rows for display. Each cell spans 64 world units.

Through the first opening

The first opening leads into the Brick Hallway. The exit selects entry position 35, which the room loader converts to world X=2272, with the player at depth 6. ($543A)

Compare departure and arrival

The continuous-mode placement rule starts the player halfway through the selected column: entry × 64 + 32. The variant selector above includes this calculation.

The exit chooses an entry position

The exit uses a changing random state to select one of four route-table variants. Other activity advances that state, so the selector shows possible outcomes rather than predicting an outcome from walking time. Entry numbers identify positions inside the destination room. ($4115)

04 · The Brick Hallway

The Brick Hallway

The Brick Hallway is a wall of doors. Its map holds fifteen door cells in a repeating 64-column strip, three open and twelve closed, and the player’s position decides which door a command reaches. The commands below start from two positions: the arrival and the neighboring door.

OPEN DOOR checks the map cell at the player’s position. At the arrival position the command replies “Nothing happens.” Walking right to the neighboring door and using the same command opens it. ($9053)

This example reproduces the command decision and map-cell change. Follow the route through this door.

The map cell changes when the door opens

The closed door’s cell has value 7. OPEN DOOR replaces that value with 6, which the room’s type table treats as an open door. Using OPEN DOOR again selects “It's already opened.” ($9053)

Closing a door takes one off the count

CLOSE DOOR shuts the neighboring door and reduces the opened-door count from 4 to 3. Opening that door again restores 4. Repeating CLOSE DOOR on the closed door or OPEN DOOR on the open door leaves the count alone. ($8E9E, $9053)

CLOSE DOOROPEN DOOR againRestart door cycle

See how the guards respond to the opened-door count →

The door leads elsewhere in the same hallway

Holding up through the opened door brings the player to another part of the Brick Hallway. The door at column 36 arrives at column 12. The room stays the same while the player’s entry position changes. ($4115, $543A)

Walk through the doorwayRestart route

This steps between two pictures of the route.

The arrival panel fails the door check

At column 12, the spiral panel looks door-shaped. ASK DOOR replies “There's no door here.” OPEN DOOR replies “Nothing happens.” The command handlers use the map’s type for this position when deciding what they accept. ($8DD1, $09E9)

OPEN DOOR at the panelASK DOOR at the panel

Choose a command to compare its recorded response.

The door prerequisite accepts map types 2 and 3. The arrival panel’s cell translates to type 11, so ASK DOOR stops at the prerequisite. OPEN DOOR has a separate type check and selects its fallback response at this position.

Trying the way back

The Brick Hallway arrival faces a wall cell. Holding up from that position approaches the brickwork; holding down moves into the foreground. Both movements stay in the Brick Hallway.⁴

Compare the forward and backward approaches

Neither direction leads back to the first corridor, and no other return route has been found.

See the OPEN DOOR response

05 · Alph and Ralph

Alph and Ralph

Alph and Ralph guard the two doors of their room, Alph the left one and Ralph the right. One doorway leads on and the other ends the game, and a random bit decides which. Alph comes out when called beside the left door. CALL ALPH produces “I'm here! You don't have to shout!” ASK ALPH then begins a conversation about the two doors. ($90C3, $8FA8)

This area starts inside the guard room, with the female avatar. The crossing from the Brick Hallway has not been walked.

The first three replies

Alph warns that one door leads to the center of the Labyrinth and the other to certain death. A second question gets a demand to open every door in the Brick Hallway. The third gets “We're not saying another word.” ($8FB1)

ASK ALPHRestart conversation

The opening exchange advances through three replies. Once the third reply is selected, the conversation index stays there. Later dialogue has a separate progress condition; the demonstration covers this opening exchange.

Changing speakers keeps the conversation’s place

Ralph answers CALL RALPH beside the right door. Starting with Ralph gives the same three opening replies as starting with Alph. Asking both characters shares one conversation: after Alph gives the warning, Ralph’s next answer is the request to open every door in the Brick Hallway. ($8FAE, $90CC)

CALL RALPHRestart speaker switch

The example begins after Alph’s first answer. CALL RALPH brings Ralph out beside the other door. ASK RALPH then continues with the second answer.

Start the exchange with Ralph instead

The next reply waits for a door count of 15

The guards’ request leads back to the Brick Hallway. Its map has fifteen door cells: three open and twelve closed. The opened-door counter starts at three. Opening a closed door adds one; closing it removes one. Repeating a command on a door already in that state leaves the count alone. ($8FBD)

At count 14, Alph keeps refusing. At count 15, the next question gets “Thanks for opening those doors! It gets kind of stuffy in here!”

Door count 14 · below the threshold15 · at the threshold ASK ALPH with this count

Choose a count, then ask Alph.

Each command starts from the same refusal, with only the door counter changed to 14 or 15.

Trying OPEN DOOR twice

The checked Brick Hallway door raised the count from 3 to 4 when it opened. Repeating OPEN DOOR at that door replied “It's already opened.” and kept the count at 4. Read how the map cell changes.

After the thanks, Alph leaves the choice to you

After the thanks, the next question gets “Figure it out for yourself.” Asking again gets the same reply. ($9004, $9ABD)

ASK ALPH after the thanksRestart after the thanks

This continues the count-15 conversation above.

Opening the door changes Alph’s answer

After the thanks, opening the left door gets a different answer from Alph: “Sorry, we're not sure which is which. Open the door and find out for yourself.” Close the door and ask again, and “Figure it out for yourself” returns. ($92B3, $9273, $9004)

OPEN DOORRestart door conversation

The sequence starts after walking closer to the left door, continuing from the count-15 thanks.

Through the left door to The Wall of Hands

Walking through the opened left door gets “How did she figure it out?” The sequence then advances the guard puzzle to its next phase and loads The Wall of Hands. ($8DDF, $8E9E)

Enter the left doorRestart doorway route

This route continues from the count-15 setup above, with the door selector at 1. The example steps through its recorded stages.

06 · The other doorway

Through the other door

When the selector is 1, the right doorway takes the losing path. OPEN DOOR changes its map cell to 3. Walking through it produces “You are falling down an endless tunnel,” then “Ok, we lied. It wasn't endless,” followed by the loss panel. ($8EAE, $8EC1, $9F44)

Step through the recorded route. The selector is 1 throughout.

07 · Choosing the door branches

A random bit chooses the doorway

Room setup advances the random state and stores one bit from the result. A stored 1 selects the continuation branch for the left doorway and the losing branch for the right; 0 reverses those code choices. The recorded doorway routes above both use 1. ($8F15, $8F06, $8DDF)

The setup guard lets this happen when its byte is negative, then changes that byte to zero. Calling setup again with a nonnegative guard returns immediately. In the captured entry, the chosen bits stayed unchanged over 240 idle frames while the random state advanced.

The setup draws two random bits. The first chooses the doorway; the second also chooses a later answer.

08 · Later conversation

The second bit changes an answer

The later conversation introduces the guards’ claim that one always lies and the other tells the truth. Its fourth answer points to either the castle or certain death. The choice compares the two stored random bits: equal gives the castle answer; different gives the death answer. ($9087, $90A6, $90B9)

Second stored bit0 · different from the doorway selector1 · equal to the doorway selector

Both pictures show ASK ALPH in the same room, at phase 4 with the conversation index at 3. Only the second bit differs.

09 · Congratulating the guards

Congratulate after asking

In the later conversation, asking a guard about the door prepares a new reply to CONGRATULATE. Alph then says either “Thanks, I think I lie pretty well!” or “Yes, telling the truth's a virtue.” Congratulate him before that question, and he protests that he hasn't done anything yet. ($90E5, $910D, $911A)

The second random bit chooses the lying or truth-telling wording by comparison with the selected guard. The accepted congratulations also remembers which guard was selected. An insult takes priority: the next congratulations gets “You sure are fickle!” and clears the insult flag. ($90EE, $9148)

Recorded comparisonBefore the later questionAfter asking · lying replyAfter asking · truth replyAfter an insultEarlier phase · after the thanks

These recordings use the same room at phase 4 and conversation index 3; the lying comparison also sets the second bit to 0. The doorway reaction below uses the remembered guard from these recordings.

10 · The reaction at the doorway

The other guard gives the game away

In phase 4, congratulating Alph changes Ralph’s reaction at the left doorway. Ralph identifies Alph as either the guard who always lies or the one who tells the truth. Without a congratulated guard selected, the reaction is “How did she figure it out?” ($8DF8, $8E25, $8E43)

Recorded doorway comparisonNo guard congratulatedAlph congratulated · lying replyAlph congratulated · truth reply

The remembered guard selects both the wording and who says it. The code flips the remembered guard’s selector to choose the other speaker. In phase 4, matching the remembered guard with the second random bit selects the lying accusation; a different value selects the truth accusation. ($8F0A, $9DC9, $9E10)

These phase-4 recordings continue the conversations above. The reaction and countdown depths are 40 and 44 because the phase changed after room setup; setup begun in phase 2 or later writes 54 and 64. The recordings stop before the phase advances. The next section continues through the load.

11 · The next room

Back at the Wall of Hands

From phase 4, the left door loads the Wall of Hands whichever reaction appeared. The player arrives at the same position after the generic reaction, the lying accusation, and the truth accusation. The guard phase stays at 4: its increment is capped there. ($8E9E, $59AF) Wall of Hands capture

The guard reaction is complete. The queued scene request is 5.

The guard sequence leaves a request for scene 5. The resident load service transfers that request and supplies entry 1 when the entry byte is unset. In these trials, the service reaches the same request regardless of which of the three reactions appeared. ($8E9B, $59D1)

This continues the three phase-4 recordings above, with their earlier depth thresholds and doorway selector 1. The example switches between the recorded images.

06 · The Wall of Hands

The Wall of Hands

A wall of hands talks to you, and a manicure is how you get out. The sequence runs for nine manicures: the eighth costs an hour, and the ninth lets you down into the Stone Corridor. The conversation comes first.

The hands open the conversation themselves: “Do you realize how many people have fallen to their doom because of us?” ASK WALL continues with “Millions!” Four further questions bring the conversation back to its opening line. ($8DE4, $903D) Room capture

The automatic question and typed questions use the same reply index. The fifth reply resets the next index to the beginning, while still displaying its own text. A separate gate can reject the command with “Nothing happens” and preserve the index. Its connection to movement and hand animation remains untraced. ($8EA5, $9284)

The room opens with an automatic question, and five ASK commands follow. The example replays the recorded replies. The first MANICURE WALL response and the departure are explained below.

07 · The first manicure

The hands want shears

MANICURE WALL checks whether the player has shears. Without them, the reply is “That would have been nice, but you have no tools!” Usable shears get “A manicure? How nice of you!” A damage flag can instead stop the command with “Your shears were damaged.” ($90E2, $90C3)

First-use comparisonNo shears · unchanged arrivalUsable shears · suppliedDamaged shears · damage flag set

The first accepted command advances the manicure counter from 0 to 1. Both refusals leave it at 0. The item-present trials keep the shears’ stored count unchanged. A separate command gate runs before either inventory check, and can reject the command with “Nothing happens.” ($90FA, $8EA6, $9284)

Continue through the first seven accepted commands.

08 · Repeated manicures

The hands ask for polish and lotion

Keep using MANICURE WALL with usable shears and the hands continue talking. The hands ask for polish and hand lotion, thank the player, then ask about the green liquid they are soaking in. Each accepted command advances the same counter. ($910B, $8EA6)

Accepted command1 of 72 of 73 of 74 of 75 of 76 of 77 of 7MANICURE WALL againRestart sequence

The seven accepted commands keep the shears’ stored count unchanged. The missing-tools and damage checks still run before the counter advances, so either refusal preserves the current stage. ($90E2, $90C3)

These pictures follow seven commands in one room session, starting with one shears unit in the inventory. The sequence ends at count 7. The eighth command costs an hour. The ninth leaves for the Stone Corridor.

09 · One hour later

The eighth manicure costs an hour

The eighth accepted MANICURE WALL interrupts the conversation with “One hour later…” The clock loses one hour, then the Wall of Hands returns. The manicure counter reaches 8 and the shears remain in inventory. ($913B, $0C61)

Hours before penalty12 hours · captured sequence0 hours · zero-hour caseMomentOne hour later…After the message

The captured clock changes from 12 hours, 51 minutes to 11 hours, 51 minutes at the decrement. The hour is removed directly; the minutes stay unchanged by that operation. With zero hours remaining, the same decrement triggers the time-expired ending. ($0C61)

The first trial continues the seven-command session. A second starts with the hour byte at zero before the penalty and reaches the time-expired ending. The ninth command leads out to the Stone Corridor.

10 · Leaving the hands

The ninth manicure leads to the Stone Corridor

After the hour penalty, another MANICURE WALL brings back “A manicure? How nice of you!” The counter advances to 9 and the player descends from the hands. The game then loads the Stone Corridor. ($9142, $8CD8) Stone Corridor arrival

DepartureNinth replyThe descent beginsLeaving the handsThe Stone CorridorContinueShow ninth reply

The ninth command sets movement state 12. Its downward movement reaches an exit threshold, then selects the first exit slot. In this captured room state that slot requests scene 6, entry 7. The actual arrival places the player at X480, depth6 in the Stone Corridor. ($8D81, $077E, $078E)

The ninth command descends out of the room and loads the Stone Corridor, with the shears still in the inventory. Continue to the Stone Corridor’s first door.

07 · The Stone Corridor

The Stone Corridor

The ninth manicure drops the player into the Stone Corridor. Along it stand a first door, an archway, a second door guarded by a companion, and a ladder, and this area follows them in that order.

OPEN DOOR gives “Nothing happens” at the arrival position. After the player approaches the door, the same command opens it. Repeating the command gives “It’s already opened.” The command checks the cell at the player’s column. ($8F30, $0998) Stone Corridor capture

Door checkOPEN at arrivalApproach the doorOPEN beside the doorOPEN againCLOSE the doorCLOSE againWalk through after OPENNextRestart comparison

The arrival is at X480, column7, where the stored cell has value0. The ordinary approach stops at X147, column2, where the cell has value1. OPEN replaces that cell with7 and refreshes the room. Its new type produces the already-opened reply on the next command. ($071E, $073E, $8F7B)

CLOSE DOOR reverses the change: cell7 becomes1, and the door shuts. Another CLOSE gives “It’s already closed.” ($8E91, $072E)

Walking through the open doorway brings the player to another position in the Stone Corridor, beside an arch and bars. This crossing selects entry30 and refreshes scene6. The arrival is at X1952, depth6. ($4115, $07EF)

These pictures compare the arrival with an approach from the same position, then opening the door and repeating OPEN. The last comparison walks through the opened door. The guarded door’s blocked reply is explained below.

08 · Through the archway

The arch leads to a ladder

Continuing through the arch brings the player to another stretch of the Stone Corridor, with a ladder visible on the left. The route stays in the same scene. ($4115, $07FD) Stone Corridor capture

Archway walkAt the archWalk throughBeside the ladderNext stepRestart walk

The doorway and arch select different entries into the corridor. Each entry places the player at the middle of its column: X = 64 × entry + 32. The first crossing uses entry 30; the arch uses entry 26. ($543A, $5496)

The first door’s cell stays open through both crossings. The ladder route is explained below.

09 · Beside the ladder

A companion blocks the guarded door

Another door stands beside the ladder. On the checked approach, the companion is in its doorway. OPEN DOOR replies “He's in the way!” and the door stays closed. ($8F5A, $8F6F)

How to move the companion, and what follows once the door is clear, are not yet known.

10 · The ladder

The ladder returns to the hands

Hold up near the centre of the ladder to start climbing. Once the climb begins, the player continues without held movement input. The ladder leads back to the Wall of Hands, whose opening question appears again. ($3796, $3DF1, $078B) Wall of Hands capture

Ladder routeOff-centre approachAlign with the ladderClimbingBack among the handsNext momentRestart route

The alignment check accepts eight positions within the ladder’s 64-position column. An off-centre approach can reach the wall without starting the climb.

The accepted approach starts at X1633. The completed load reaches the Wall of Hands at X84, depth 6.

The Hedge Maze: the goblin

Read from code

The goblin has one of four kinds

The goblin’s kind is a number from 0 to 3, chosen at random ($9A0E, $99FA). The kind decides how it answers. HIT goblin brings a cry for its mother (“MOMMY! MOMMY! ! ! ! !”) from kinds 1 to 3. INSULT goblin gets “That won’t work with me!” from kind 0, “Why you . . .” from kind 1, “I will get you for that!” from kind 2, and “HUH?” from kind 3. ($8F1B, $8FBB)

Gifts work on one kind each. A rock pleases kind 3 (“Oh!, a rock!”) and a bag of popcorn pleases kind 2 (“Why, thank you!”). Every other kind answers “Hah!” and still takes the item. CONGRATULATE goblin gets “Nothing happens.” from kinds 0 and 1, “Hmph.” from kind 2, and “Gee, that’s nice.” from kind 3. ($8D46, $8D85, $8ECF)

The shears work on doors and walls, and break on rocks

OPEN door and CLOSE door swap the hedge door’s map cell for the open or closed form, and a second try gets “It’s already opened.” or “It’s already closed.” ($8F7B, $8F9A) MANICURE door, MANICURE wall, and USE shears start a seven-step trimming animation. At the end, a door opens only if the player stands close enough (“Try moving closer.” otherwise), a wall earns “Want a job as a gardener?”, and rocks damage the shears for good. Without shears the reply is “You have nothing to manicure with.” ($9077, $90A4)

Four spoken words are trades

SPEAK avocado, jaggies, owl, or plastics gets “I won’t help you!”, “Save it for when you REALLY need it.”, or, when a counter allows it, “So be it, you are freed in exchange for 1 hour of time.” After that last reply the game waits and plays a sound. What the two flags behind these replies count is not identified. In an emulator test with the goblin forced into reach, “avocado” gave “Save it for when you REALLY need it.”, while “owl”, “jaggies”, and “plastics” gave only “Nothing happens.” Why those three differ is not known. ($9CDA, $9D0A)

The Persecution of Ludo

Read from code

Ludo is freed with the shears, but only after the goblins are gone

MANICURE Ludo starts the shears routine. If either goblin is still active the game answers “Maybe you’d have time if you got rid of the goblins first!” Once both are gone it shows “Congratulations! You have set Ludo free! Sir Didymus will be pleased.” and loads the next scene. If the player is not in one of those four cells the reply is “Ludo is too far away.” ($8F68, $8F86, $8F95)

Ludo answers every other command with a growl: ASK, CALL, CONGRATULATE, and INSULT bring “Ludo down!!!”, and HIT brings “No scratch Ludo! Ludo down!!” when the player stands in one of the four cells beside him (anywhere else HIT gets “Nothing happens.”). GIVE to Ludo, when he is near, gets “Ludo don’t want. Ludo down!!!” ($8FC3, $8FD4, $8FEE)

Two goblins react to the same commands

HIT goblin and INSULT goblin each start a short reaction for the nearest goblin, cost an opening bonus point, and bring “MOMMY! MOMMY!” or “HUH?”. CONGRATULATE goblin gets “Gee, that’s nice.” and CALL goblin “I’ll get you yet!” A goblin has to be within range for these commands, or the reply is “There is no one here.” How a goblin is removed is not shown by the command handlers alone. ($8E64, $8E87, $8E44, $8D75, $90D3)

The Wise Man’s Garden

Read from code

The hat wants a donation before the Wise Man talks

ASK Wise Man starts a donation. The hat says “Please place your donation in the box.” and the Wise Man answers a second ask with “You again, cheepskate? No wisdom until you pay up.” until the debt is paid. Insulting or hitting the hat adds one more to the debt (“Just for that you pay double!”). When the debt is paid, one of four thanks is picked at random: “Thank you, now step aside.”, “Now move along.”, “Run along now.”, or “All right, now scoot!” ($8FC1, $90AD, $9060)

Each hint matches a walking test on the nine cells

The first ASK Wise Man picks one of eight hints at random and runs the test that goes with it every frame while the player walks the cells. The hints are “The way out is all that is left.”, “The right door’s the only one on the left that’s left when the left door and the on…”, “The only way out is to be right in every way you can.”, “Even the right door is only correct one time in three.”, “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.”, “Thoroughness is a virtue, but order is paramount.”, “The hands of the clock trace the path to the ninth hour.”, and “If you go to the left first, then you will know the bloomin’ way out.” ($8FC1, $90DE)

The tests are of four kinds. Two of three cells in the first row, or in the last row, opens the exit at the cell not yet stepped on. Stepping on the same cell twice opens its exit, in either the last row or any row. Walking eight steps around the ring of cells in one direction, or going up the ring one cell at a time, opens the exit beside the last cell. A single step on cell 0 opens cell 4. A broken walk clears every counter and starts again. ($9112, $9136, $9159, $917D, $919D, $9210, $9223, $9253)

The hat and the Wise Man talk back

Both need you close: otherwise the reply is “Come over here. We’re not about to come to you!” ASK hat gets “Don’t ask me, I’m only a hat!”, CALL hat “I may be a hat, but I can hear!”, and CALL Wise Man “He may be old, but he’s not deaf!” MANICURE the hat or the Wise Man gets “Stay away from me with that thing!” Between the sequence steps the hat’s idle remarks (“Did you hear that?” to “Who wrote his lines?”) come from a table of eight. ($8FA1, $9099, $90A3, $90D1, $92CD)

The Hedge Maze: Ludo and the rocks

Read from code

Ludo comes when called, and perfume keeps him away

CALL Ludo replies “He’s coming.” and starts him moving toward the player. If he is already near, the reply is “He’s already here.” Perfume changes this: with perfume on, CALL Ludo is answered with “Smell bad!” or “He won’t come. Your odor is overpowering.”, and a short delay after the perfume is used the screen says “Smell bad!” on its own. ($918B, $91EB, $8F48)

HIT Ludo is scratching him. The four hit replies are “Ludo like!”, “Please scratch higher.”, “Please scratch lower.”, and “No more scratch Ludo.”, picked by a hit count that stops at 3. The other commands get “Ludo friend!” for ASK, “Ludo don’t understand.” for INSULT, and “Ludo don’t want.” for MANICURE. ($91FB, $91DF, $9232, $923E)

Calling the rocks makes Ludo shout, and the rocks roll

CALL rocks starts a 20-step countdown. At the end Ludo’s shouting rolls a pile of rocks in from one side, with the text “Ludo is making a tremendous racket. It’s enough noise to cause the rocks to roll!” A second CALL while a pile lies on the ground says “The last rocks Ludo called are still here.” If the carried rocks have reached eight, the reply is “You can’t carry any more rocks.” ($8F55, $8F6E, $8F79, $8DF7)

TAKE picks up the pile (“You take the pile of rocks.”), adding three rocks to the inventory. If six or more are already carried, the reply is “You take as many rocks as you can hold.” If the player stands too far, “They’re too far away.” ($9058, $907C) USE camcorder while a pile is in view records it (“You video tape a bunch of rocks. Nice.”) and sets a flag; that rock video is what Firey asks for in the forest. ($90AD)

The Door Knockers

Read from code

The knockers speak only when the door is closed

The room has two doors, each with a knocker, and the code tracks the player’s horizontal position as a value from 0 to 3, and positions 1 and 3 are the two knockers. Standing at position 2, between them, gets “Who are you talking to? Please step closer.” A knocker needs you close, or the reply is “You’re too far from it.” ASK and INSULT work only from position 3: from position 0 or 1 the knocker answers at random with “What?”, “I can’t hear you.”, “Again please?”, or “Speak up.” With the door open, the hint is “Close the door so the knocker can talk.” ($91E1, $921A)

ASK knocker starts a spoken hint, beginning “Remember, if you get trapped,”, and the knocker finishes with one of eight, such as “Two bits will buy you almost anything.”, “A door isn’t always a door.”, “Cross any color but red!”, or “Food can be helpful when you are stuck.” ($910E, $8D7B)

Insulting a knocker starts a knock-knock joke

INSULT knocker picks one of eight jokes at random. The jokes run “Knock knock.” / “Who’s there?” and then name the speaker: Lil’ Abby, Hoggle, Sir Didymus, Ludo, Goblin, A maze, Romeo, or Jareth. Jareth’s punch line is the angry “What do you mean, ‘Jareth who’! It’s MY Labyrinth!” ($9000, $9014)

Four items fit the knockers’ mouths and locks

INSERT key works at position 1: it uses up the key and changes the door’s map cell by adding two. INSERT ring and INSERT bracelet need the knocker at position 3: a closed mouth gives “His mouth is closed.” and a full one “Its mouth has something in it.” Otherwise the item is taken and the cell is restored by subtracting two. A ring in place of a bracelet says “So it wasn’t a bracelet after all!” INSERT popcorn and GIVE popcorn put popcorn in an empty mouth; with an empty box the reply is “All you have is an empty box.” If the ring is gone, OPEN door says “You can’t open the door, the knocker ring is gone.” ($917B, $9127, $91A9, $8EBA)

The Forest: Firey and the thrown head

Read from code

Firey wants a rock video

ASK Firey and GIVE (any object) get “We want a ROCK VIDEO!” until the player has given him a camcorder that holds a rock video. GIVE camcorder with an empty tape gets “I don’t want this boring stuff, get me a rock video.” With the rock video, Firey says “Oh thanks! Let me give you a piece of my mind.” and the camcorder is taken. ($8D39, $8D62, $8CFF)

After that ASK Firey answers “I’ve got something for you!” while fewer than three gifts have been taken, and “You’ve taken enough!” at three. The code holds the offers “Let me give you a piece of my mind.”, “Let me lend you a hand.”, and “Now he is a foot shorter.” HIT Firey and INSULT Firey get “Hey, that’s not nice!” and cost an opening bonus point; CONGRATULATE Firey gets “Like, thanks, that’s nice.” and earns one. ($8D39, $8E69, $8EEB)

Throwing the head shows what lies ahead

THROW head starts a short flight. When it lands, the reply describes the region ahead: “Wow! I see an old man in a chair!” (the garden of the Wise Man), “I see a bunch of hedges!”, “I see two funny doors!” (see the door knockers), “Yuck! Does that look disgusting!”, or “I just see more trees.” Thrown from too far in, the reply is “You can’t throw it in there!” ($8FFB, $9017)

CALL Firey brings “I’m coming!”, or “I’m here already!” once he is within range. CALL Ludo and CALL rocks only get the gag replies “He doesn’t answer.”, “Ludo is hanging around somewhere else.”, and “Here, rocks! Here, rocks! They don’t seem to answer.” ($8DB1, $8E0E, $8E21)

The Forest: the second strip

Read from code

This scene’s code, text, pictures, font, and costumes are byte-for-byte those of the first forest strip, so every command there behaves the same here. Only the 64-cell map and the exit tables differ. Counting all four exit banks, the first strip sends 4 entries to scene 9, 2 to scene 10, 7 to scene 11, 4 to scene 13, and 13 to scene 16; this strip sends 4, 2, 3, 4, and 4. ($8D39, $8FFB)

The Stone Faces

Read from code

The faces warn you off as you come near

Standing close to the wall brings one of sixteen random warnings, once per approach. They include “I’d turn back if I were you!”, “Abandon all hope all ye who enter here!”, “Certain death is ahead!”, “Beware! Beware!”, and “Lasciate ogni speranza voi ch’entrate!” ASK wall, CALL wall, and CONGRATULATE wall give another warning. ($8FAA, $8CBA, $8FA5)

Hitting a face gives one of four hints, then repeats

HIT wall or INSULT wall picks one of four hints, chosen at random from 18 when the scene starts. The face says “Sorry, just doing my job. Here’s something you’ll really like:”, shows the hint, and ends “But don’t tell Jareth I told you!” A hint already given is introduced with “We already gave you the hint:”. ($8FC0, $8FF3, $8DB8, $8DBE, $8D27)

The 18 hints are: “Defeeting a Firey will make you sure-footed.”, “You’ll need to arm yourself to enter the castle.”, “To enter the castle, you must first disarm a Firey.”, “Two heads are better than one.”, “To see the castle you will need to get a head.”, “It helps if great things are afoot.”, “Within every lump of wood lies beautiful music.”, “There’s music in the trees.”, “If you don’t C sharp you’ll B flat.”, “Heavy rock lovers make great videos.”, “A sweet smell can do much for unwelcome ones.”, “The unencumbered tight rope walker has the best balance.”, “Don’t knock the jewelry.”, “Goblins are short sighted.”, “Disguises sometimes work.”, “Jareth can’t take his own medicine thrown at him.”, “Open the log to reveal the hidden key.”, and “Make a logjam for safety.” ($903E, $9050, $9062)

The Bog of Eternal Stench

Read from code

This scene’s overlay differs from the Ludo maze’s by only seven state bytes. Every handler there, including freeing Ludo with the shears and the goblin reactions, is present here, and the exit table is the same: region 0 requests scene 10 and region 1 requests this scene. ($8F68, $8F95)

The capture shows Sir Didymus beside a ladder. Neither the speech nor Sir Didymus is described by this scene’s text records, so the picture comes from the loaded resources, not from these handlers.

The Goblin Village

Read from code

Two goblins move on their own and catch you

Two goblin slots each hold a mode, two counters, and a last move from 1 to 8. A goblin picks its next move either by turning one step around the ring of eight directions or, while the helmet is on and no perfume is worn, at random, which fits the hints “Goblins are short sighted.” and “Disguises sometimes work.” Wearing perfume instead starts a countdown with a random length, and each time it runs out the screen says “Oh! He smells awful! Get him!” ($9834, $986A, $98F3, $97F3)

HIT goblin sets a short reaction (“MOMMY! MOMMY!”), INSULT goblin “HUH?”, and CONGRATULATE goblin “Gee, that’s nice.” Each needs the goblin within range, or the reply is “There’s no one nearby.” CALL goblin gets “I’ll get you yet!” ($8E7C, $8E9F, $8E5E, $8D76, $9048)

Calling the elephant draws a block of tiles

Once an elephant has been adumbrated, CALL elephant draws a 12 by 9 block of tiles over the village, with a sound, whenever the state byte $0343 is not negative. Before that, the reply is “Elephant? There’s no elephant inside the Labyrinth.” ($8DC2, $8DF3, $9B0E) What the tile block shows has not been identified.

The Underground

Read from code

The log blocks a door only where the map has a door

DROP log and USE log check the map cell under the player. On a door cell (class 0) the cell is replaced, the log leaves the inventory, and a sound plays. Anywhere else the reply is “You can’t block the door.” ($8E8C) The hint in the stone faces is “Make a logjam for safety.” ASK door, CONGRATULATE door, and INSULT door get “Nothing happens.”, “The door seems rather board.”, and “The door is not open to criticism.” ($8F04, $8F61)

A patch of wall changes colour in steps

While the player stands in a zone near the wall (deep enough, and within a range of columns), a hook fills 16 colour cells in a step from 7 down to 1 on each entry, and refills them with one colour when the zone is left. The change shows one step per entry, not a continuous fade. What the colours mean in the story is not identified. ($99A1, $99C5, $99D0, $99F7)

The overlay also holds a moving object that switches between two headings and a three-step sequence once the player is deep in the picture. Their purpose is not identified. ($8D19, $8E13) Jareth’s only line here is “I’m quite delighted you find my humble Labyrinth to your liking.”

The Castle of the Goblin King

Read from code

The nerd talks in a 22-line monologue

Woken, the nerd speaks one line every 30 updates, from “You know it’s really amazing how” through a story about being locked in a closet by his sister Kim, to “Oh! You weren’t listening! No problem, I’ll start over from the beginning!” If the player gets too close while he talks, the screen says “The nerd is driving you up the wall!” While the walking-view state byte $0343 is negative, ASK nerd and CALL nerd only bring “Shh! You’re ruining my concentration!” or “He is busy watching a movie.”; in the other view they wake him. ($9090, $90A7, $9902, $9937, $9955, $996B)

Ludo’s noise rolls the rocks, but he leaves if you smell

CALL Ludo starts a noise sequence (“He’s coming.”). With perfume on, he refuses (“He won’t come. Your odor is overpowering.”) and later leaves (“Smell bad! Ludo leave!”). Left alone, the sequence ends with “Ludo scared! Ludo not come closer!”, and CALL rocks first answers “Maybe they’d come if you could yell louder.” If eight rocks are already carried, CALL rocks says “You can’t carry any more rocks.” ($8FF0, $8D62, $8E8A)

Throwing an object starts a target game

THROW crystal ball, head, helmet, or rock share one routine. It refuses outside the walking view (“Impossible!”) and while no rocks roll (“First get the rocks.”). A thrown helmet that was stuck to the head comes unstuck (“It came unstuck!”). The routine then runs a sequence against five moving targets that turn at set limits. Each hit lowers a counter and a kill-count; a hit at one of two positions raises a digit on screen. ($90EA, $9108, $9CF3, $9D90, $9E3E)

The door answers the key, the log, and the arm: INSERT key and USE log both apply a door effect, and USE arm works only within reach (“Your arm’s too short to reach it.” otherwise). The door’s default replies are “There is no door here.”, “The door’s unmoved.”, and “Don’t knock it!” ($8EC9, $8ED4, $8F0E, $8E5D, $8E6A)

The Secret Corridor

Read from code

The door is locked, and the helmet is a disguise that is refused

OPEN door at the door answers “The door is locked.” until the key has been used, and “It’s already opened.” afterwards. INSERT key or USE key at a door cell, deep enough in, uses up the key and plays a sound; elsewhere the reply is “There’s no place to insert it.” Once the door is open, standing at it with the helmet on (it is “stuck to your head”) brings “I will not face one who looks that silly! Enter without your disguise.” once, and again only after the player has stepped away. ($8D01, $8F3F)

Hitting the wall plays a note

HIT wall at a wall cell plays a pitch picked from a 64-entry table by the player’s position, grouped into six bands of about nine columns each, and by the row. Outside the zone it only makes a sound. The plank is a second instrument: INSERT plank or USE plank near the wall starts an eight-step sequence that restores a map cell and plays a pitch. Too far away the reply is “You’re not close enough.” ($8E86, $97BE, $8EEA)

The door’s other replies are the common ones: “The door seems rather board.” for CONGRATULATE door and “The door feels your verbal attack is unjustified.” for an insult. ($8E23)

The Upside-Down Room

Read from code

Jareth speaks first, and force does not work

On arrival Jareth says “So, you’ve finally made it to my castle. Think you’re clever? Your hours have become minutes.” HIT Jareth within reach gets “You can’t defeat me with force. Your hands pass right through me!” and farther away “No one can reach that far!” His other replies include “You think you can defeat me with words?”, “You’re really grasping at straws!”, “Do you think I’m a door?”, “Ludo is not here to help you now!”, and, for the cup, “So you’ve decided to return my cup did you? Did you have fun with it?” ($90A3, $916C, $9176)

The crystal ball is the weapon

THROW crystal ball starts a throw. When it lands the game plays a short tune and says “You hit Jareth with the crystal ball, but it’s not over yet!” THROW head and THROW rock follow the same routine with a different sound and a delay. Anything else gets “You can’t throw that!”, ($91CC, $91D2, $91DE, $91E2, $90D3)

The nerd hints, until you insult him

ASK nerd without a crystal ball gets “How do you expect to win without a crystal ball?” and with one “Why don’t you hit Jareth with a crystal ball already!” CALL nerd gets “Hey, this is great stuff!” HIT nerd or INSULT nerd gets “Ok then, I won’t help you!” and after that every nerd command answers “I’m not talking to you.” ($918E, $91A6, $91B0, $91BD)

Four actors move over a graph of nodes

The room is a graph of nodes with direction flags. Actor 0 (the player) steers by the joystick direction, actors 1 and 3 trail it, and actor 2 chases it, keeping a distance that switches between two limits ($A0, then $50). If actor 2 overlaps the player, the followers are cleared and actor 3 stops. ($8C95, $8CB3, $8DAC, $902A)

The Final Confrontation

Read from code

Six phrases lead to the same ending

Jareth opens with “I am still your master and you must remain with me until the end of time.” The scene replaces the command wheel with one built for this fight, and six phrases play it: YOU HAVE NO power over me, DO YOU HAVE power over me, DO YOU HAVE towels over me, THROW SOME power over me, THROW SOME towels over me, and YOU HAVE NO towels over me. Each starts a reply with sound 28, sets a different pose for Jareth, and then counts down 21 updates. ($8CC9, $8DC2, $8DDD, $8DED, $8E10, $8E1E, $8E3E, $8CF6)

When the countdown ends the win ending plays a tune and shows “Congratulations! You have defeated Jareth. You proudly walk back to your seat at the theater where the cute girl is waiting for you.” ($8E5F)

Leaving the safe range ends the game

Each row of the ledge has a safe range of positions. If the player’s position falls outside it, a nine-step fall begins, ending with “You fell off the edge and met your doom! And you were SO close to defeating Jareth!” ($8EAB, $8CAD, $8EDA, $8ECA, $8ED2)