WALKTHROUGH FOR SQUARE CIRCLE
by Eric Eve

Note: the game contains built-in hints, which you should try before resorting to this walkthrough. Obviously, you will get far more out of this game if you explore and try things out for yourself.

Note: this walkthrough takes you through the game fairly quickly, but it has not been optimised for the bare minimum of moves - some unnecessary steps have been included (a) to ensure that the maximum number of points is scored (the game can we won with less than the maximum points) and (b) that enough of the story is revealed for the game to make some kind of sense when the walkthrough is followed.


1. IN THE CELL

First, it would be a good idea to explore your immediate surroundings.
>STAND
>READ NOTE
>LOOK IN BOOKCASE
>X GREEN BOOK
>READ IT
>LOOK UP SQUARE CIRCLE IN GREEN BOOK
>LOOK UP SQUARE
>LOOK UP CIRCLE
>X BLUE BOOK
>READ IT
>X RED BOOK
>READ IT

Note the response to the last command; there's something odd about that red book; meanwhile the green book has told you what you need to solve the problem the note set you, and the blue book has sketched in something of the background to your predicament. If you like, you can look up other topics in both these books, but all you need to do is to complete the exploration of the cell and then get out of it.

>LOOK UNDER BED
>OPEN RED BOOK
>TAKE BRASS KEY
>UNLOCK BOX
>OPEN BOX
>TAKE IRON KEY
>UNLOCK DESK WITH BRASS KEY
>OPEN DRAWER
>TAKE PEN
>UNLOCK DOOR
>PUSH DESK N

2. DRAWING THE SQUARE CIRCLE

At this point you could explore your surroundings more thoroughly, but we'll concentrate on the essentials here. The room to the east (the circle room) is dark, so you'll need to get a light from the room to the west (the square room). There are various other things there that could be useful, but for this walk-through you'll only need the rubber sheet:

>PUSH DESK W
>STAND ON DESK
>TAKE CUBE
>DOWN
>TAKE RUBBER SHEET
>E
>E

Now you can actually draw your square circle. The definition of a square given in the green book is " A figure bounded by four equal straight lines, each of equal length, such that the four angles between adjacent sides are also equal." A line is the shortest distance between two points. The shortest distance between two points on the surface of a sphere is along the arc of a great circle. So if you draw four equal lines along, say, the equator of the globe you'll have drawn a figure that meets the definition of a square but is clearly also a circle. Then you can show it to the prison guard:

>X GLOBE
>DRAW LINE ON EQUATOR
>DRAW LINE ON EQUATOR
>DRAW LINE ON EQUATOR
>DRAW LINE ON EQUATOR
>TAKE GLOBE
>W
>N
>SHOW GLOBE TO GUARDIAN

You now have to persuade him that it's really a square circle that you've drawn. The correct responses to the questions and comments he now makes are:

>TELL HIM IT'S A SQUARE
>DEFINE STRAIGHT LINE
>CLAIM THE CIRCLE IS A SQUARE
>DEFINE CIRCLE
>NORTH
>N



3. FROM COURTYARD TO FIELD
The warning you should have received in response to the last command should be taken seriously. Walking straight out *is* too easy - if you try it you'll end up reimprisoned or shot. Instead you need to explore your immediate surroundings a bit further.

>X BUSH
>SHAKE BUSH
>LOOK UNDER BUSH
>TAKE METAL IMPLEMENT
>X BLUE DOOR
>X PANEL
>UNSCREW PANEL WITH TOOL
>OPEN PANEL
>FLIP LARGE RED SWITCH
>OPEN BLUE DOOR

As you'll see, the last command gives you a shock so you can't actually open the door (although you've disabled the alarm so that's *safe* to open it). There are several ways to deal with this, but the simplest is to stand on the rubber sheet (which will then insulate you from the shock).

>DROP RUBBER SHEET
>STAND ON RUBBER SHEET
>OPEN BLUE DOOR
>E
>E
>S
>UNLOCK GATE WITH IRON KEY

Again, the last two commands fail because the gate remains lock - but the last response provides a clue, namely that the iron key is *almost* right to unlock the gate (it's also possible to stand on something and climb over the gate, but we'll stick to the simplest solution here).

>FILE IRON KEY WITH TOOL
>UNLOCK GATE WITH IRON KEY
>S
>s

4. FIELD AND FOREST
You can explore both east and west from here, but you first need to explore to the east. If you look at the trough you'll find there's a hat in it, but the pig won't let you have it. You'll have to come back for it later; the first task is to go and meet an old hermit who'll provide wou with a change of clothes.

>X TROUGH
>E
>E
>FOLLOW HERMIT
>YES
>DON'T KNOW
>A HIMSELF
>A NEW ENLIGHTENMENT
>A PANDRA

There are several other things you could usefully talk to the old hermit about if you want more information, but for now we'll concentrate on the essentials of getting a change of clothes. To do this we need to get hold of the sack that's under the table, and take it to a secluded spot where we can change.

>A SACK
>ASK FOR SACK
>TAKE SACK
>OUT
>SE
>LOOK IN SACK
>REMOVE COVERALLS
>WEAR CLOTHES

This change of clothes will let you walk back past the prison without immediately getting re-arrested, but before going back that way, there's some more exploring to be done. First we need to collect a stick and a net, then we need to climb up a hill to find what's there.

>E
>TAKE STICK
>S
>TAKE NETTING
>TIE NET TO STICK
>N
>W
>NW
>TAKE ACORNS
>N
>TAKE SCRAP OF PAPER
>READ PAPER
>E
>X GROUND
>TAKE BRASSY OBJECT
>X IT

Although not strictly useful at this point, it will be useful to go back and show our finds to the hermit, if only to learn a bit more about what's going on.

>DOWN
>S
>E
>IN
>SHOW CARTRIDGE CASE TO HERMIT
>G
>G
>SHOW PAPER
>A DUNDERHEAD
>A DEPARTMENT
>SHOW COVERALLS
>PUT COVERALLS IN FIRE

5. FROM HERMIT'S HUT TO DEPARTMENTAL RECEPTION
Now we are ready to go and pay a visit to the Department of Applied Rationality, and meet its formidable receptionist. On the way we'll need to collect the hat from the trough, which will necessitate distracting the pig.

>OUT
>W
>W
>GIVE ACORNS TO PIG
>WEAR HAT
>W
>N
>E
>E
>N
>N

Now you should be in the Department Reception area. Whatever you do the receptionist won't let you any further into the building; you need to wait around a few turns and let certain events unfold. The most useful way to occupy the time is to get the receptionist to tell you a bit about herself.

>ASK RECEPTIONIST ABOUT HERSELF
>G
>G
>G
>G
>G

At this point, two separate people should have walked through reception, depositing envelopes into the tray on the receptionist's desk. She won't let you take them, and you won't be able to carry them out in plain view even after distracting her, so you'll need to hide them somehow. By this point she should, however, have told you that she enjoys reading all she can about the new order of society, and you're carrying something that should just fit the bill:

>GIVE HER THE BLUE BOOK
>PUT ENVELOPES IN HAT
>WEAR HAT
>S
>TAKE BLUE BOOK
>S
>S
>W
>W
>S

6. THE ENVELOPE GAME
Now that you've got clean away with the envelopes, you need to find out what's inside:
>REMOVE HAT
>X BROWN ENVELOPE
>OPEN BROWN ENVELOPE
>READ NOTE
>READ DOCUMENT
>X PICTURE
>X WHITE ENVELOPE
>OPEN WHITE ENVELOPE
>READ PRESS RELEASE
>READ GREEN SHEET

At this point, even having discovered who you really are, you probably want to try to sabotage the New Enlightenment (at least, you do if you want to win the game), and it will probably occur to you that the best way to that is to put the document and the green sheet back into the envelope and try to arrange for the envelope to be delivered to the Government Broadcasting Directorate:

>PUT GREEN SHEET IN WHITE ENVELOPE
>PUT DOCUMENT IN WHITE ENVELOPE
>N
>E

7. DISTRACTING THE GUARD

At this point you'll have discovered that there's a guard in the way, and you certainly don't want to get any closer to him. There's basically two ways of distracting him: either go round the other way back into the prison and set off an alarm, getting out the way before he appears to investigate, or enlisting the help of our old friend the hermit. We'll use the second method here.

>S
>E
>E
>E
>IN
>SHOW PICTURE TO HERMIT
>SHOW WHITE ENVELOPE TO HERMIT
>PUT DOCUMENT IN WHITE ENVELOPE
>SHOW HIM THE PRESS RELEASE
>G
>G
>G
>PUT PRESS RELEASE IN FIRE
>TELL HERMIT ABOUT GUARDIAN

At this point the hermit should stand up and follow where you lead; lead him back to the bend in the road where you can both see the guardian:

>OUT
>W
>W
>W
>N


At this point the hermit will ask for something he can use to get the guard's interest with. Your prison coveralls would do the job if you still have them, but you've burned them. However, that scrap of paper you found on the hillside will certainly interest him. 

>GIVE SCRAP OF PAPER TO HERMIT

8. FINISHING THE JOB
At this point the hermit should have got the guardian out of the way for you, so it's time to head back to the Department of Applied Rationality:

>E
>E

You could carry on into the building and drop the envelope into the tray, but you should now see a motorbike parked outside:

>X BIKE
>X POUCH

That suggests that simply slipping the white envelope into the pouch should do the job:

>PUT WHITE ENVELOPE IN POUCH.

And at that point, you've won!

Eric Eve
29-Jun-04
















