Connections: It's A Mind Game
VIDEO PROBLEMS: If your Quick Time movies show a black screen, the
following are possible fixes:
In the windows directory, there’s a qtw.ini file. In the [video]
section, it is normally set to
Optimize=Hardware. The three possible fixes are: Optimize=Driver,
Optimize=BMP, or Optimize=DIB. After playing the game, you may want
to change back to the normal setting of Optimize=Hardware in the
[Video] section. Making any changes requires a restart of windows.
Your goal is to collect items representing innovations throughout
history and put them into a chain of connections. When you find an
item and it’s placed in your chain, click it to see an interesting
and educational video about that item and the relation to other
items in the chain. When the chain is finished, you automatically go
to another area of game. About the only drawback in the game, it has
to be started from disc 1 each time.
You stand facing a castle. Check the control box just right of the
drawbridge. Look under the carpet in front of the castle. Turn
around and enter the building with a single door. Examine the window
inside. Turn and talk to Mr. Burke, who appears several times
throughout the game. When you’re alone, examine the picture of
Africa on the wall. Nearby, click the steel balls and notice the
clicks. Turn the globe to Africa and you’ll discover a safe behind
the wall picture.
Examine the card on the desk (faint imprint of some numbers.) Get
the pencil. Click it’s image on your chain. Do this for all new
images on the chain. In the middle drawer, uncover the card and
notice the five digit number. Could these be related to the clicks
of the steel balls? Anyhow, it’s the combination to the safe, which
contains a couple of shillings.
In the right drawer, there should be some carbon paper. Rub it over
the card with the imprint. Play the message on the phone. Be sure to
rewind it. Make sure you’ve examined everything on the desk and in
the room. At the building with two doors, enter the Apothecary on
the left. Buy the yellow bottle on the shelf. Exit and enter the
Electronics shop next door.
Examine the oscilloscope, TV, etc. Play the video tape on the TV
(it’s critical.) You learn about a drawbridge opener and a certain
voltage. Go back to the office. Remember the phone number you found
on the card? It’s to the Electronics shop. Make the call and
immediately play the answering machine when the shop owner answers.
Go to the shop and get the oscilloscope. It’s useless until you
restore the phosphor coating to its screen. Maybe a trade at the
Apothecary will help. Once the oscilloscope has been repaired, go to
the drawbridge and open the control box. Place the scope inside and
set the proper voltage that you learned about in the video tape.
Enter the Castle.
NOTE: R means turn right, L means turn left, F means go forward
once, F2 means forward twice, and so on.
CASTLE.
Go straight ahead past the fountain. Talk to the guard. R, F, R, F,
L. Go down steps to the pump station. Get the shovel. Examine the
pump. Face away from it to see the flooded stairway leading down. Go
back upstairs and exit to the fountain. Go straight ahead to the
other red door. There’s a sword in the stone. This is your ticket
past the guard. Turn right to a small doorway. Get a condenser from
the crate. Return to the Apothecary.
APOTHECARY.
The woman should be gone. Get a match and a bucket. Return to the
castle pump room.
PUMP ROOM.
Use the condenser on the side of the pump. Get a bucket of water,
from the flooded stairwell, and use it on the condenser. Use your
shovel on the coal. Open the furnace and use the shovel on it. Light
the furnace and use the shovel on it again. Go down the drained
stairwell. Lower the two sword switches, on the control bank, all
the way.
Return to the sword room and get the sword. Show it to the guard.
Try to get the jewel from the crown. Try again. Go back down to the
control room and look at the computer screen on the right of the
control bank. Get the idea? At the three wall switches, set them
left to right false, false, true. Go get the jewel from the crown
and examine it and anything new on your chain.
Try to leave the throne room. Listen to Mr. Burke. You end up in a
desert. Ride the balloon. Examine the chain image. Turn to face the
town.
MINING TOWN.
F2, L, F, L to the side entrance of the Orpheum. Go through the
hallways, knock on the magician’s door and approach him. Go to the
side entrance of the stage and watch the act. Go to the door with a
star and knock on it. Leave the theater and go to the Dry Goods
store. Click on the jar of aspirin on the bottom shelf. Check out
the self service telegraph room. The morse code chart is critical.
Try the key a few times if you want to. Go to the saloon.
SALOON.
Talk to the miner. Turn left toward the piano and listen to Mr.
Burke. Play a little yourself. Take the role from the piano slot.
Check the image on your chain. Talk to the gambler. Eventually, the
phone rings. Answer it and get a dollar. Talk to the gambler again
and show him your dollar. Carefully notice the order that he lays
the cards down. Change them to that order but from left to right,
QKQQKKK. You get the gambler’s keys and a carburetor.
Remember, always check new items on your chain. Put the carburetor
on the car’s engine. Get a crank and half map from the trunk.
Carefully listen to the music in the next part. It will possibly
save you several trips later. Use the crank on the front of the car.
Note the tune on the radio and the BIG clue, DYNAMITE. Give the half
map to the miner and get a whole map.
Click the map in inventory for the directions. Check the piano rolls
and keep the one that plays the tune from the car radio. Go to the
Dry Goods store.
TELEGRAPH ROOM.
Look at the code chart and write down the codes for dynamite. -..,
-.--, -., .-, --, .., -, . and tap them on the key. Keep the dashes
long and the dots short. This is relatively easy with a telegraph
key, but with your mouse it’s quite different. For instance, the
letter N -. give a long blast, then immediately give a short blast
without hesitation. If you pause between the - and the .
it will be interpreted as two different letters. After you correctly
tap out the word dynamite, you win that very item, which is needed
to clear the mine entrance. Return to the Orpheum.
THEATER.
Go under the stage to the hydraulics room. Click the plaque on the
wall, up for off, down for on. Adjust all valve arrows up to shut
them off. Adjust the upper right valve down for on. Adjust the lower
left valve, by the meter, down for on. Working your way back to the
upper right valve, there are three additional valves to turn on
(down) so that steam can go from the upper right valve to the meter
and raise it to 100.
If you have too much trouble, consult the built in hint feature for
a drawing of the valves. When the meter registers, go around the
halls to backstage and the hydraulic lift. Ride it up, turn around
and go forward to the attic room on the left. Put your piano roll in
the loom and turn it on. If it’s the correct one, you will get a rug
with some red symbols on it. This is a code to a puzzle in the mine.
Once you get the rug with symbols, go to the mine entrance.
MINE.
Use the dynamite to clear the entrance and try to find your way
through the mine with the miner’s map or do the following: F4, L,
F2, R. F2, L, F2, L. F2, R, F2, R, F2, R. Click the light patch, on
the wall, for a sliding tile puzzle. Click your pattern rug on the
puzzle. Solve it and turn around. Go forward and get the gold
nuggets. In hints, use the magic square to get out or do the
following: turn around, go back to the light colored patch and turn
right. Then, F2, L, F2, L. F2, R, F2, R. F2, L, F2, R, F4.
At the Dry Goods, buy some aspirin and go to the woman’s dressing
room at the Emporium. Give her the aspirin. Click the item on the
dresser. Examine all new items on your chain. Back away from the
dresser. Eventually watch some gents playing lawn bowling. Score the
game by giving a point to the colored ball closest to the white peg.
Or points to balls of same color if more than one is closest to the
white peg. You get a ball for correctly scoring. Go to the Bank.
BANK.
The teller won’t talk. Hmm! Go to the Diner and talk to the bowlers
on the right next to the last booth. At the register, try to take
the paper from the jar. Click on the ketchup bottle next to the
register. Take the paper from the jar and click on it in inventory.
Go give the note to the bank teller. You have to find out the
mother’s maiden name. Go to the grave yard.
GRAVEYARD.
Find Casey’s father, Bob Moran’s grave. Casey’s brother Tom’s grave
confirms that Watson is the maiden name. Return to the bank and get
a crank from a safety deposit box. Now go to the ship.
SHIP’S HOLD.
Take the sextant. Use the crank on the small silver plate on the
cannon. Set the cannon level and use your bowling ball on the
cannon. Press the button. Go around to the side of the bank, enter
the hole in the vault and look around. Do your own fingerprint.
JAIL.
Move the stool and click the corner of the floor. You discover a
rare bone and get a reward of a three dollar bill! Now you can
afford that 2.99 special.
DINER.
Give the three dollars to the waiter and get the penny change. Take
the restroom key from the side of the register. In the restroom,
click the mirror and take the piece of fallen mirror. Go to the
ship.
SHIP’S HOLD.
Click your sextant on the night sky. Click the mirror piece on the
sextant (large brass circle-it’s actually the eyepiece) to get a
star fix. Adjust the light dot with the up and down arrows so that
it’s on the horizon (water line.) Back from closeup of eyepiece and
note the degree heading of 50. Set the red handled telegraph lever
to same heading. Face back toward the helm and listen to Burke.
(Disc change)
COURTYARD.
Now you’re in a medieval courtyard. Turn right twice and go up the
stairs on the right side of the building to Galileo’s office. Turn
left in the room to see the telescope. Click the arrow cursor above
the eyepiece for a side view of the telescope. It needs a lens in
the center slot. Click on the lunch box. Click on the boat in the
bottle. Click the curtain to reveal a broken shrink machine. It
needs a timing device. It also needs insulation on the area above
the red bars.
Exit Galileo’s and go to the door on the left, the Tapestry Shop.
Help the shop keeper turn red patterns into orange. Watch the
tapestry video on your chain for an idea. Create alternating red and
yellow squares. When successful, you get her watch. Enter the church
and go to the organ straight ahead and on the right. The devil plays
four main notes. You discover the organ doesn’t work. R, F, L, F, L.
There’s a water wheel that powers the organ. It’s broken.
Cross to the left side hallway and enter the belfry. Fix the gears
for the hunchback and he will give you a wrench for the water wheel.
Open the metal on the right and arrange the gears from right to left
in the following order: medium, small, medium, large. Medium, small,
large, medium, large. Take the wrench and repair the water wheel.
Remember the four notes? The middle black key (Ab), the next white
key left (G), second white key left of there (E), white key right of
there (F.) After the pulpit raises, get the lens from the bible and
return to Galileo’s. Put the lens in the telescope and get a
sandwich. At the shrink machine, replace the timing device and use
the shrink wrap. Pull the upper left lever to shrink yourself and
enter the ship in the bottle. Knock on the door. Turn right and get
the map. Give it to the captain. Enter the hold in front of the
captain. At the laquer tables, the left lever slides the tables
left, and the right lever rotates the tables around the center of
the room. Maneuver the tables for a clear path to the door. If
you’re growing old, the magic button in hints will do it. Review any
new items on your chain. Then, exit the door.
EGYPTIAN DESERT.
Approach the woman and do a match puzzle. TIP: first remove the top
center one. After the puzzle, click the cup. Go left to the Sphinx.
The guard requires a password. Return to the tent.
TENT.
Click the phone, then click the cradle to the right of the fax
machine. Now you have to restore power. Get a hose from a drawer. Go
outside and take the gas caps from the generator and the truck.
Click the hose on either gas nozzle. Pull the generator start cord.
Back in the tent, get the code tape from the fax. Review the code
video on your chain.
The difficult solution is to use the book, on the chest of drawers,
to decode the tape. The easy way is to wrap the tape around the tent
pole. Either way, go to the Sphinx and enter the code word on the
wall.
SPHINX KITCHEN.
MEASURING FLOUR.
Dump a full small cup into the large cup. With another full small
cup, fill the large cup. Dump the full large cup back into the
cannister. Put the large empty cup back on the counter. Dump the
partial small cup into the large cup. Dump a full small cup into the
large cup.
SETTING OVEN TEMPERATURE.
Go to the fish bowl and try to get the thermometer. Maybe the fridge
has something you can feed the fish. After getting the thermometer,
place it in the oven and close the door. Turn on the right knob and
change the left knob a little. Recheck the thermometer. Keep
changing the left knob until the temperature is at 350. Go through
the door by the fridge.
CODED DOOR HIEROGLYPHS.
Numbers already displayed are 1-5 from left to right. You need 6 and
7. One step back from closeup, 6 is in the third column from left.
It looks like two eyes with eyebrows. 7 is in the eleventh column
and near the bottom. It looks like a wishbone. Enter the new door
and turn left. Watch a short video of the Pharaoh taking a bath.
Click the curtain. You need the toy warship.
You have to drain the tub. Click the hand on the water near the left
side of the faucet. Click the ship on the curtain.
THRONE ROOM ANTECHAMBER.
Maneuver around till you can enter the red trapdoor. Look at the
instructions on the wall. By heating a tank of water, it flows into
another making it heavier. That one will pull cords fastened to
columns that open the big doors. Back upstairs, smash the small
chair on the right near the trapdoor. Place the broken pieces on the
small blue altar near the large doors.
Move the large mirror to direct the light towards the altar. Now you
have to concentrate the light onto the wood. Thoroughly check the
room for a magnifying glass. Once you’ve ignited the wood, the large
doors will open. Enter and talk to the Pharaoh. The rest is
automatic.
by George Ison
