"HONK!" SOLUTION

This is a close-to-minimal walkthrough of Honk!. If you just need a hint or nudge, try typing > HELP in the game and navigating to the in-game hints menu. This walkthrough is meant to be either a last resort, or a lifeline for people who hate puzzles.

The commands here skip lots of hints and jokes. But these text inserts will explain why we're doing what we're doing.

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1. SETTING UP THE SHOWS

Start by talking to the Ringmaster to learn what's going on.

> T BOSS
> 1
> 1
> 2

In this walkthrough, we'll do all the setup for the three show puzzles first, then do all the shows one after the other.

First, collect the stack of pies (for Freda's show) and the bendy balloons (for Adagio).

> N
> E
> S
> GET PIES AND BALLOONS
> N

We'll now drive the car into the circus ring, as we'll need it there for Lawn's show.

> ENTER CAR
> W
> N
> N
> IN
> GET OUT

You may have noticed that the Ringmaster's top hat was bothering him. You need to also notice that Adagio's hat doesn't match her costume. The two have accidentally switched hats at some point, so we'll switch them back now - this will contribute to the solution for Adagio's show.

You'll find that the Ringmaster is protective of "his" hat, so we need to talk to Adagio first and get her hat. We'll do this by the standard TALK TO ADAGIO command but you can also ASK ADAGIO ABOUT HAT.

> E
> E
> N
> T ADAGIO
> 2

Now bring the purple hat to the Ringmaster:

> S
> SW
> S
> GIVE HAT TO BOSS

You'll know this is Adagio's hat because the traditional magician's rabbit is in it. Bring it to her now:

> N
> NE
> N

Adagio will automatically take her hat back. Now the rabbit will be present in Adagio's show.

The rabbit is useful because she demolishes lettuce and anything chewable that's covered in lettuce, as this little scene demonstrates. The next bit of setup will take advantage of that. We'll first go to the burger stand, get a burger, and get the lettuce from that burger...

> S
> W
> W
> GET BURGER
> GET LETTUCE

... and then put the lettuce on the ropes of the Diabolical Contraption. (This can also be done during the show, if you happen to have the lettuce.)

> E
> S
> THROW LETTUCE AT ROPE

The last thing we need for Adagio's show is the helium canister, which we might want anyway since we can't blow up the bendy balloons by lung power alone:

> N
> W
> W
> GET HELIUM

We'll now get the stepladder, which will indirectly contribute to Freda's show. 

> S

The Big Wheel puzzle is basically a maths problem. You can add 3 or take 7 from the number of whichever cab you can reach, wrapping around to 1 once you go higher than 21, and you need to reach 14. Since 3 and 7 are both factors of 21, you can reach 14 from whatever number you're on. One winning strategy is to push the lever until the current reachable cab is 7, 14, or 21 - if it's 14, you're done, and if it's 7 or 21, you just need to pull the lever once or twice.

If you really can't stand the maths, there's an even easier solution: once you've visited the Big Wheel and noticed the ladder, you can visit the Ringmaster and ask about the ladder. He'll offer to get it for you, and if you accept, you'll find the ladder waiting outside his camper.

Here's we'll do it the mathematical way. Assuming you haven't touched the lever yet, one valid sequence is:

> PUSH LEVER
> PUSH LEVER
> PULL LEVER
> PULL LEVER
> GET LADDER

We'll use the ladder right now. Take it to the love booth at the north of the map, climb it, and take the bow from the Cupid statue. The bow is needed for Freda's show.

> N
> N
> E
> DROP LADDER
> CLIMB LADDER
> GET BOW
> DOWN

The last bit of setup we need to do is to grab the French horn from Monster Manor for Lawn's show. First, enter Monster Manor and wait for the ride to progress.

> W
> N
> Z
> Z
> Z
> Z

Once the Mad Hornist mannequin appears, the horn is in reach. Grab it and wait to disembark.

> GET HORN
> Z

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2. SOLVING ADAGIO'S SHOW

At this point, we have done everything we need to do to run all three shows successfully. We'll do Adagio's show first. Starting where we left off outside Monster Manor, let's go talk to her, run through her conversation tree quickly, and ask her to run her show.

> E
> S
> E
> N
> T ADAGIO
> 1
> 1
> 1
> 1
> [press space]

Adagio's show is an escapology act, but because of the Phantom's interference, she can't cut the ropes to set herself free. The way to cut the ropes needs to plausibly come from within her show and props, otherwise the audience will protest that it's not the magician escaping, it's just the clown untying the magician.

Because we swapped Adagio's hat with the Ringmaster's, the rabbit (in the black hat) should be present. Because we threw the lettuce at the ropes of the Contraption earlier, the rabbit should be trying to reach the ropes, but she can't climb high enough. (If you haven't thrown the lettuce at the ropes yet, and if you have the lettuce, you can do that now to progress.)

We also have a pack of balloons and a helium canister. If you experimented with the balloons earlier, you may have noticed that you can make a floating basket. This is the last piece of the puzzle to Adagio's show: we're goign to make the basket, put the hat (and rabbit) in the basket, and let it go. (This won't work if you aren't carrying the helium canister.)

> BLOW UP BALLOON
> 2
> PUT HAT IN BASKET
> DROP BASKET
> [press space]

If all is well, the rabbit will float up to the ropes and chew Adagio free.

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3. SOLVING LAWN'S SHOW

Starting where we left off in Adagio's camper after running her show successfully, let's go talk to Lawn and offer to run his show.

> S
> E
> T LAWN ... talking to Lawn to initiate his show
> 1
> 1
> 1
> [press space]

Lawn's show is about getting a semi-trained goose to perform tricks in response to the story Lawn is telling. Because the Phantom has (somehow) blindfolded the goose, Lawn can't communicate with the goose with his usual arm gestures. The player needs to find an alternative method.

If you talked to Lawn about the goose, you may have seen him mention that some goose-trainers use audio cues instead. You may have also noticed that three objects in the game produce honking sounds: your red nose (when honked - that is, squeezed), your clown car's horn (when honked) and the French horn from Monster Manor (when played). You may even have found the goose earlier and experimented with these honks, and thus noticed that each item produces a reaction from the goose: the nose makes it attack you, the car horn makes it spread its wings, and the French horn makes it fall over.

We now need to match these effects up with what Lawn says during the show. The first five steps are:

> HONK NOSE
> HONK CAR HORN
> HONK NOSE
> PLAY FRENCH HORN
> HONK CAR HORN

The sixth and final step is more difficult. It's about flying upwards, but we haven't got an object that makes the goose do that specifically, so we have to improvise.

The trick is that you can climb the cage and honk the nose from up there, making the goose fly up to try to attack you. (You can also climb the ladder if you have it set up in the ring, but you don't need it - you can climb the cage on its own.)

> CLIMB CAGE
> HONK NOSE
> [press space]

This should finish off Lawn's show.

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4. SOLVING FREDA'S SHOW

Finally, let's help Freda out. Starting from Lawn's caravan, go talk to her and have her run the show.

> W
> S
> E
> T FREDA
> 1
> 1
> 1
> [press space]

This is probably the simplest show in itself. Freda is being challenged to lift the Phantom themself, and is struggling under the weight. You need to expose and counter the Phantom's trick.

The thing you need to notice is that the Phantom is holding their conspicuously bulky coat shut. You'll find that the direct approach of trying to lay hands on them doesn't work - you need to make them let go.

This is where the stack of pies comes in. If you did what a clown does and tried throwing pies at everyone, you may have spotted that your victims consistently put their hands to their eyes afterwards to get rid of the custard. Exploit this behaviour now to make the Phantom let go of the coat.

> THROW PIE AT PHANTOM

This exposes that the Phantom is artificially bulking up with bags of flour under their coat. You need to get rid of the flour. Again, the direct approach won't work so you'll need to do it semi-remotely. Here is where the bow-and-arrows from on top of the Love Booth come in. Puncture the flour with an arrow to let Freda finish the show.

> SHOOT FLOUR WITH BOW
> [press space]

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5. ENDGAME

After solving all three shows, you're informed by the Ringmaster that the Phantom is now caught and tied up in the ring - you have the privilege of unmasking them. Let's go right there. This walkthrough goes there from Freda's camper, where we left off after solving her show.

> W
> W
> N
> N
> IN
> GET MASK
> [press space]
> 4

There's a lot of conversation with the Phantom here if you're interested in what they're up to and why. In this walkthrough, we'll just take the option of skipping all that and we'll press space throughout the cutscene that follows.

> 4
> [press space]
> [press space]
> [press space]
> [press space]
> [press space]

The Phantom is escaping on the road, and we need to catch up with them. We'll need our car for that. Go to wherever you left it. In this walkthrough, we never moved the car after Lawn's show, so it's still in the ring.

> N
> N
> IN

Now either try entering the car or examining the tyre to reveal that one of your tyres has been slashed and needs changing.

> ENTER CAR

We can't source a real replacement tyre, but we might recall that our bendy balloons are so stiff because they're made out of vulcanised rubber. We may also have spotted "perfect circle" in the list of balloons sculptures we can make. Let's improvise a new tyre with the balloons.

> BLOW UP BALLOON
> 3
> PUT CIRCLE ON TYRE
> X TYRE

Now enter the car to automatically catch up with the Phantom on the motorway.

> ENTER CAR

You're now chasing the Phantom. You can stop them quickly by either shooting their camper with the bow, or throwing a pie at their camper. If you don't have these items with you, you can do what this walkthrough will do, and just wait it out for eight turns until the problem solves itself.
 
> Z
> Z
> Z
> Z
> Z
> Z
> Z
> Z

You're now in a final confrontation with the Phantom. There's nothing you can do yet, but if you bide your time for just a little longer...
 
> Z
> Z
> Z

... the situation will change. The final winning move:

> HONK NOSE

Thanks for playing along!

- wisprabbit