Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!lll-winken!lll-lcc!ames!umd5!brl-adm!husc6!necntc!dandelion!ulowell!cg-atla!hunt
From: hunt@cg-atla.UUCP (Walter Hunt X7031)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: opinions wanted: Fool's Errand
Message-ID: <1746@cg-atla.UUCP>
Date: 1 Feb 88 19:12:39 GMT
References: <963@thorin.cs.unc.edu> <1560@tulum.UUCP>
Reply-To: hunt@cg-atla.UUCP (Walter Hunt X7031)
Organization: Compugraphic Corp. Wilmington, MA
Lines: 47

In article <1560@tulum.UUCP> garth@swatsun.UUCP (Garth Snyder) writes:
>glassner@unc.cs.unc.edu (Andrew S. Glassner) writes:
>>
>> Has anyone played the game "Fool's Errand" on the Mac?  Is it any good?
>> About 4 months ago a friend mentioned the game to me with high marks, but
>> I've never seen it.  Is it shareware or buyware?  Is it fun?
>
> [Glassner provides a synopsis.]
>After all the puzzles are solved, there are some meta-puzzles that must
>be solved.  I can't comment on this aspect of the game as I am only at
>the point of having solved all the first-order puzzles.  When you
>complete the game, the manual promises a four-minute animated display;
>there is an animated prolog as well, but it is much shorter.

It took three solid weeks of messing around, a few hours at a time,
to get to the end.  Three avid puzzlers and Infocom vets, myself
included, worked at it.  It's very addictive, and very clever.
After you solve the sixty puzzles in the main game, you find out
that nearly half the game is left to play! 

The graphics, including the animation at the end, are extremely well
done.

>
>In my opinion, this game is one of the best ever.  BUT you have to like
>puzzles.  In particular, you must enjoy word-search puzzles, jigsaw
>puzzles, and word-scrambling puzzles, since about half the puzzle
>inventory is drawn from these categories.  The other puzzles are all
>pretty much unique and unclassifiable, and range from bizarre
>Mac-interface puzzles to brilliant procedural puzzles to clever "find out
>what the puzzle is here and solve it" problems.  There are also a few
>coordination puzzles.

I agree completely.  This game also is complex and intriguing enough
to play more than once, some months apart; my wife is going it alone
at the moment, six months after we (& a third friend) did it
together.

>The software is supplied on three 400K disks, and is not copy protected.
>It runs just fine off of my 60M LaCie hard disk.
>
and off our 80M Jasmine.  It's probably best off a hard disk.  Buy
the game; it's truly wonderful.  I can't wait to see what they do by
way of an encore.


Walter Hunt
CG