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Controls

The Hobbit

In this classic illustrated text-adventure you guide Bilbo Baggins through Tolkien’s third-age Middle Earth on a quest to find Smaug's treasure. Interact with your environment using over 50 different actions and prepositions. Eat regularly to maintain strength. Use items and objects to progress.

Starting a Game

NOTE - The Hobbit can only be played using a keyboard.

To begin the game, press Space on the keyboard.

Gameplay

Guide Bilbo on an adventure through Middle Earth to find the evil dragon and bring the treasure back home.

When entering a location for the first time in the game, the computer will give you a full description of where you are in the adventure window. For some areas of the world, this includes a visual representation of the room. The visual representation of an area is normally only shown once to the player. To refresh your memory of the current area you are in, type LOOK command.

After a visual representation of a room has finished drawing to the screen, press any key to scroll the communication window back into view and continue playing.

There will be a list of exits for you to choose from in the communication window at the bottom section of the screen. Type in the correct exit and continue on your journey or type the incorrect one and become very lost.

Common commands

There are over 500 words and 50 different actions that you can enter into the communication window to interact with your environment and the objects and characters you may encounter on your journey.

Each command must, at minimum, be a single verb. RUN, CLIMB and WAIT for instance are all valid commands on their own, providing the current screen has something to climb.

Commands can be issued which relate to items inside the current room (for instance, PICK UP SWORD, LOOK IN BARREL)

There are some limitations to keep in mind:

  • You cannot refer to an object by its position in the world, e.g. TAKE ROPE ON CHAIR. Instead, simply saying TAKE ROPE would pick up the rope on the current screen and place it in your inventory.
  • You cannot use more than one indirect object in a sentence - you could say PUT THE BOTTLE ON THE CHAIR or PUT THE ROPE ON THE TABLE, but you cannot say PUT THE ROPE ON THE TABLE AND CHAIR

You can LOOK THROUGH doors and windows in the current room to see what lies ahead.

If someone has left the room you are standing in and you wish to follow them, this can be issued as a command also - FOLLOW GANDALF would move to follow Gandalf, if he has just left the screen.

You can use the SAY command to communicate with other people on the current screen, for example, SAY TO GANDALF "READ MAP". Depending on the current game state, they may refuse to perform the action.

Some screens may contain a lot of different items that you want to interact with at once. You can use the keywords ALL, EVERYTHING and EXCEPT to quickly perform actions related to more than one item - OPEN ALL EXCEPT THE GREEN BOTTLE, TAKE EVERYTHING, OPEN ALL for instance.

Helpful Commands

The list below contains some commands which may come in handy:

Command Description
LOOK or L Re-draws the visual display of the current area if one exists, displays a description of the area and the visible exits.
HELP Displays useful hints which can help if you’re stuck
INVENTORY or I Produces a list of what the player is currently carrying
@ Typing the @ Symbol (SYMBOL SHIFT + 2) performs the last command you entered again.
SCORE Prints a message displaying your current completion level of the game.
PAUSE Pauses the game until any key is pressed

Story

In the HOBBIT program, you take on the role of Bilbo, the hobbit. You will be able to roam freely throughout Middle Earth, explore and discover this wonderful enchanted land. You will meet all types of creatures, some friendly, others much less so. Your Adventure will be dangerous and exciting - it will be up to you to face the challenges which confront Bilbo.

At the point where this Adventure commences Gandalf, who is a wizard, has talked you into entering a new and exciting adventure to help out Thorin, the dwarf.

Your mission is to seek out the evil Dragon and return the treasure he hoards back to your home and place it for safe keeping in the chest. As a secondary mission, you must look out after Thorin and protect him. Should he be killed during the Adventure, it is most unlikely you will be able to survive the dangers ahead of you on your journey!

Best of luck Bilbo: may you return with wonderful tales to tell on a cold evening in front of a log fire.