Nightmare Reflections
By Steven Hillen
Published by The U.K. Atari Computer Owners Club in 'Monitor', issue 8, pp. 24-25
For Atari 400/800/XL/XE
Solution by Garry Francis
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This is the solution to a very hard game. Firstly, I must explain that this is really a puzzle
disguised as a text adventure. The original article in 'Monitor', issue 8, pp. 24-25 gave
virtually no hints except to "experiment around until some clues are revealed". It also
said "escape should be no more than 10 moves away", "think in terms of numbers"
and "don't bother with a map".
In 'Monitor', issue 9, p. 25, the author followed up with some very cryptic clues. You
will not work it out without these clues.
Thanks to the original article, the clues, personal correspondence with Martin Hillen (the
author's brother) and considerable trial and error with various theories, I can now reveal the
solution.
You start the game in a random room. Each room has one or more exits. Mirrors line the other walls.
On one side of the floor is a coloured shape. The coloured shape is your clue as to which direction
to take.
Firstly, the in-game hints:
I (you are carrying a watch and a piece of paper)
EXAMINE WATCH (it's numbered from 0 to 3)
EXAMINE PAPER (it says "Move On Down Four")
TOUCH MIRROR (it steams up to show "N0")
PUSH MIRROR (use PUSH direction)
These are all the hints you'll get. This tells you that the numbers on the watch correspond to
the points on the compass. "N0" means north = 0. MOD 4 (the first letter of each
capitalised word on the piece of paper) is how you convert numbers to the points of the compass. See
clues below for further details.
Note: In case you're not familiar with the MOD (or modulus) operator, it means you must divide
the number by 4 and take the remainder. For example, if you determine the number to be 6, then 6 MOD
4 = 2, i.e. 6 / 4 = 1 with a remainder of 2.
Let's go through the clues.
"Push around, ways abound."
Every room has four sides. If there is an exit in a given direction, you can go in that direction.
If there is no exit in a given direction, you can PUSH in that direction to flip the mirror and go
in that direction. For example, if you want to go north, but there's no exit to the north, you
can PUSH N to go north.
"Touch to show the node, the watch completes the code."
TOUCH MIRROR to show that 0 means north and the other directions correspond to the numbers on the
watch. Remember that the numbers on a watch are numbered clockwise, so:
0 = North
1 = East
2 = South
3 = West
"It's hard to reside in a SQUARE of SIDEs."
Each shape has a number of sides and the number of sides must be squared as follows:
Circle = 1 * 1 = 1
Triangle = 3 * 3 = 9
Square = 4 * 4 = 16
Pentagon = 5 * 5 = 25
Hexagon = 6 * 6 = 36
Heptagon = 7 * 7 = 49
Octagon = 8 * 8 = 64
Nonagon = 9 * 9 = 81
"Rainbow colours one to seven just add to the problem."
There are seven colours corresponding to the colours of the rainbow. You'll remember from your
school days that the order of those colours is ROYGBIV. Therefore:
Red = 1
Orange = 2
Yellow = 3
Green = 4
Blue = 5
Indigo = 6
Violet = 7
This number must be added to the result of the number of sides squared.
"Initialise the paper clue for the final thing to do."
Once you've added the colour number to the shape's number of sides squared, use MOD 4 to
determine the direction. For example, red triangle = (1 + 3 * 3) MOD 4 = 10 MOD 4 = 2; indigo
heptagon = (6 + 7 * 7) MOD 4 = 55 MOD 4 = 3.
"Nine more true moves make, and then you'll be awake."
It takes 10 moves to escape, i.e. your initial move plus nine more.
"Fishy draughts are just for laughs."
If the description tells you there is a draught in a certain direction, ignore it. It's not
relevant. Similarly, although not mentioned, the location of the shape is not relevant.
"One false step then, and it'll be another ten!"
If you make a mistake, it is reset and you have to start again. However, there is no feedback, so
you will not know that you've made a mistake, except that you will not finish in 10 moves.
