Labyrinths of Lacoshe - for the BBC Micro
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Game released by Program Power (Micro Power Ltd.) in 1983
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This adventure game was first mentioned in the original "Killer Gorilla"
advert (in the "other titles available" section) which appeared from July
1983 in BBC Micro magazines (in particular, the back
covers of "Acorn User" and "The Micro User") under the name of "The
Labrynthe of La Coshe".
By September of the same year it was appearing in the "Escape from Moonbase
Alpha" advert as "Labyrinths of Lacoshe" (having gone up £1 in the
process!), and the name stayed (sometimes it appeared as La Coshe) until
the game disappeared from the big glossy adverts by the end of 1983.
The version of the game I bought didn't even have a properly printed
cassette cover design, just the blank "Program Power" template with the game
name typed on (in red – with black bits at the top of the letters where the
typewriter ribbon had slipped!). Needless to say, there were no instructions
at all, no scene-setting, nothing. I got lost straight away. "INVENTORY",
"SCORE", "LOOK" didn't work – what sort of an adventure was this? I rang
Program Power for help, but they didn't know what to do either – so it was
"list the program time" (luckily it is written in Basic). Once I had a few
commands under my belt, I could begin.
N, S, E, W, U, D are the usual directions, IN and OUT are allowed under
certain circumstances.
I (capital letter i) = INVENTORY + SCORE rolled into one, also shows 'turns
taken' and 'weight carried' (maximum weight allowed = 12).
L = LOOK.
Other commands are :-
WELL, THROUGH, ULYSSES, OFF, ON, THROW, DIG, LOCK, EXORCISE, RING, READ,
KILL, PUSH, OPEN, GIVE, KICK, TURN, UNLOCK, TIE, WAVE, MOVE, RUB, TAKE,
JUMP, DROP.
The files contained in the Zip File (lacoshe.zip) are as follows :-
=================================================
(Note: all files have been optimised to print out on A4 paper without re-
sizing).
This WORD file (Lacoshe.doc) and the equivalent plain text file
(Lacoshe.txt).
The Map
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Lacoshe-page1,2,3,4,5,6.jpg are the 6 pages of the map. Where a box has a
reference in the bottom left corner, it refers to the Hint Notes (see
below). A reference in the bottom right corner is the "room" number –
essential knowledge for full use of the Necklace of Numbers! The map is not
drawn to represent directions accurately, it is drawn to make drawing the
map simpler!!
Hint Notes
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Lacoshe-hintsp1,2,3 are the 3 pages of Notes which go with the map. Note
that being able to kill the thief is a random event even if you have the
knife or sword (IF RND(4)=1 you can't!!).
"The Solution"
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Lacoshe-solution.jpg is one solution which will allow you to become a
"Grotto Master". It has 135 moves – it's called cutting it fine!! If you
enter your name at the beginning as "SUPREME CHEATER" then you are allowed
to use the Necklace of Numbers to "JUMP" to a "room" number – although this
is not allowed in ALL the "rooms".
The only problem is killing the thief – he randomly refuses to die (see Hint
Notes above). If despite following the list of moves, the thief stabs you
and the game ends, then just "RUN" the program again at the command prompt
and enter the moves again. The reason that this will work is because the
program re-seeds the random number generator each time it is run. This is
also the reason that SAVEing and LOADing at this point (using your emulator)
won't help – because the next "random" number to come up will be the same
one that came up last time! This is because (a) there is no such thing as a
true random number generated by a computer and (b) emulators save/load the
entire "machine state".
However, once the thief is dead, SAVE/LOAD may be used without problems.
The list of moves should be entered in column order i.e. all of column 1
then all of column 2 etc.
The numbers in brackets are the weights of the individual items "taken".
So now you know everything you need to know to find a shorter "solution"!!
Game played and mapped – July 1983 (or thereabouts!)
Game documentation scanned – January 2003
Carol Pedder – 24/01/2003
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Displayed on the Classic Adventures Solution Archive:
http://solutionarchive.com
