Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders/San Francisco

The game begins in Zak's home, San Francisco. It is the place with the most rooms to visit and several alternative solutions to the puzzles and there is no 'correct' sequence to perform them.

Zak's home
First PICK UP SUSHI IN FISHBOWL, below it OPEN DRESSER DRAWER and PICK UP PHONE BILL. If you READ PHONE BILL you will see that Zak owes $1138 to The Phone Company (1138 is a frequent in-joke in Lucasfilm games).

Notice below the desk a green card, however if you PICK UP PLASTIC CARD you will accidentally push it further inside. To get it, you can USE PHONE BOOK WITH PLASTIC CARD. You can READ CASHCARD to see your balance. You can also pick up the Plastic Card with other items such as the Butter Knife.

Above the Card, OPEN DESK DRAWER and PICK UP KAZOO. CLOSE DESK DRAWER.

Notice the torn wallpaper beside the door, PULL or PICK UP TORN WALLPAPER.

You need an empty Fish Bowl and you can USE SUSHI IN FISHBOWL IN LAMP, however you must try not to TURN ON LAMP because you will electrify the fish and harm your 'karma'.

If you want, TURN ON ANSWERING MACHINE. Each time you return home from your travels, you will receive a message from your mother with some hints on continuing the game.

OPEN DOOR and walk outside.

In the living room, PICK UP SEAT CUSHION behind the TV to put it in its place. PICK UP SEAT CUSHION (the other one) and PICK UP REMOTE CONTROL under it. USE POWER CORD IN POWER OUTLET and if you want USE REMOTE CONTROL. Watch the news to see some of the backstory and learn a few things about the other characters. Notice the familiar girl requesting ancient artifacts. You will see that the newscaster will start to repeat herself, so if you want USE REMOTE CONTROL again to turn the TV off.

Walk to the right (kitchen) and PICK UP BUTTER KNIFE on the wall. Below the sink, OPEN CUPBOARD and PICK UP BOX OF CRAYONS. With the crayon you can draw the map you saw in your dream. You can draw it either on the Wallpaper or the Phone Bill, although you might pay a penalty for damaging the document. So USE YELLOW CRAYON ON WALLPAPER (or PHONE BILL). Notice that Annie will also draw the map if you give her the items.

If you haven't got your Cash Card, return to the bedroom and USE BUTTER KNIFE WITH PLASTIC CARD. Notice the Rug Corner on the carpet. PICK UP RUG CORNER and notice the Loose Board on the floor. You can try to pry it open by USE BUTTER KNIFE ON LOOSE BOARD but you will only manage to bend it (Bent Butter Knife).

Go outside again and walk to the right. Near the exit, OPEN REFRIGERATOR and PICK UP EGG. Beside the door PICK UP SMALL KEY, OPEN DOOR and exit.

Outside
Walk to the left of your house to the Le Bakery shop. PUSH DOORBELL three times until the baker drops a stale bread and PICK UP STALE BREAD.

Walk to the far right past The Phone Company and walk to the 14th avenue to Lou's shop. READ SIGN and OPEN DOOR. Inside notice that the verbs PICK UP and GIVE are replaced. BUY all the items you can see (Golf Club, Wetsuit, Tool Kit, Hat, Nose Glasses, Guitar) although some of them won't be necessary.

You can WALK TO the Sell Window and SELL (BENT) BUTTER KNIFE. Lou will buy the Knife for $4 but if you have bent it, he will mistake it for an antique sculpture and buy it for his collection for $1500.

OPEN TOOL KIT and you will find the tools inside such as Wire Cutters, Monkey Wrench, Duct Tape, Rope etc. Go outside and notice the red door. READ SIGN and READ DEPOSIT BOX. It is Annie Larris' home and you must come there later. Walk to the far right and USE WIRE CUTTERS WITH BOBBY PIN SIGN to pick it up.

Walk back to the left, the 13rd Street and to The Phone Company. OPEN DOOR and enter it. Notice the employee. PUT ON NOSE GLASSES and PUT ON HAT to become like him. GIVE PHONE BOOK TO EMPLOYEE to pay the phone bill. Normally you pay $1138 (plus 10 if you have written in the book) but if you are disguised, he will say 'No charge for brothers' and you will pay nothing. Alternatively you can just OPEN COUNTER DOOR and USE COMPUTER TERMINAL to erase your name in the database.

Notice that it's not obligatory to pay the bill to finish the game.

Go to the phone and READ PAY PHONE to see the phone number. Go to the exit and PICK UP APPLICATION and READ it. It is an application for the King (Elvis Presley) Fan Club. USE YELLOW CRAYON ON APPLICATION to fill up with your details. Go outside and walk to your house. USE SMALL KEY IN MAIL BOX and USE APPLICATION IN MAIL BOX.

Enter your house.

Zak's home again
Walk to the sink and USE MONKEY WRENCH ON PIPE. USE STALE BREAD IN SINK and TURN ON SWITCH; when the bread is shredded TURN OFF SWITCH. Below PICK UP BREAD CRUMBS.

(notice that at this point, if you do some things in a wrong sequence and TURN ON FAUCET, you can lose the Bread Crumbs for ever and be unable to finish the game.)

If you still have Sushi, USE SUSHI IN FISH BOWL IN SINK to empty the bowl. Notice that you can kill Sushi by turning on the Switch but this will give you bad karma.

Airport
Now you can leave San Francisco. Walk to the right to see the bus and USE KAZOO or USE an object (GUITAR, GOLF CLUB etc) ON BUS to wake up the driver. USE CASH CARD IN CARD READER.

In the airport, you can READ NEWS TERMINAL. With each progress of the game, the news titles change (it is a way to keep track of your progress in the game). Your editor gave you a ticket to Seattle so you don't have to buy one. However you can optionally refund it and go to another destination, although Zak will complain that he has a compelling feeling that there is something important in Seattle.

Walk to the left and GIVE CASH CARD TO DEVOTEE. He will give you a 'spiritual' book on Golf for $42 (the number of everything) which is written by Swami Hollawanda, the Guru in Nepal.

Walk to the left and board the Airplane.

Returning to SF

 * Must have: Blue Crystal from Seattle or Scroll from Peru

Returning to SF, walk to home, and normally there will be a return letter for the King's Fan Club. USE SMALL KEY IN MAIL BOX and PICK UP LETTER.

You can enter home and see if you have any messages left in your answering machine. You can do it anytime you visit SF. Your mother sends the following hints:
 * 1) You should approach the girl shown on TV, who lives close to you
 * 2) Try to make a spaceship like the 'cute' girls shown on TV
 * 3) Approach the Golfing Guru at Katmandu.
 * 4) Space aliens are behind The Phone Company.
 * She also mentions a girl she wants to introduce to you; you also receive a message from your boss inquiring about the Squirrel story; and from Ed from Maniac Mansion asking for Sandy.

Walk to the Lou's shop and SELL REMOTE CONTROL which you won't need any more if you have the Blue Crystal. He will give you $50 for it.

Exit and walk to the red door and USE BLUE CRYSTAL or SCROLL ON DROP SLOT and Annie will show up. You will recognize each other (the dialogue you have will be a bit different if you are wearing the Nose Glasses) and will brief you about your mission and will give you a Crystal Shard. Now you can switch to any of the four protagonists, including Melissa and Leslie on Mars.

SWITCH TO ANNIE and PICK UP DESK BLOT, PICK UP CASH CARD, READ CASH CARD to see her balance.

Move both to the bus stop; as before, have Zak wake up the driver and quickly USE CASH CARD IN CARD READER both as Zak and as Annie.

Captured by the aliens
Whenever you use the Blue Crystal, you have 30" to complete your task and leave before the yellow Caponian comes to capture you. You also learn that he is The Phone Company employee in San Francisco.

He confiscates your crystal(s) and parts of the Skolarian machine you may have and teleports you to SF and puts you to the Mindbender. Note that if you are disguised with the Hat and Nose Glasses when he comes, he just gets the artifacts from you and leaves you alone; however if you are disguised and unconscious, he understands you are not an alien and confiscates your disguise (Hat and Nose Glasses) also.

In the Mindbender, you slowly become dumber by losing verb commands. If you still have the Nose Glasses and the Hat, wear them quickly, and the alien will let you free. If you don't, have Annie enter the base and rescue you (see below) and TURN OFF SWITCH next to the Mindbender.

If there is no way to escape, just wait until you are completely dumb and the alien takes you out. Slowly you will regain all your commands. However still, you have to take back the artifacts he confiscated. There are several ways to enter the alien base behind The Phone Company:
 * 1) PUT ON NOSE GLASSES, PUT ON HAT and enter The Phone Company. Freely OPEN COUNTER DOOR and OPEN DOOR. You are now in the base. OPEN CABINET on the left and your objects are back to you.
 * 2) When in TPC, READ PAY PHONE and note down the number. Go back home to your bedroom and PICK UP PHONE. Dial the phone number and the employee will go to answer it. Leave and go back to TPC. While the employee is on the phone, OPEN DOOR and enter the base.
 * 3) In your bedroom, PICK UP RUG CORNER, and USE a long hard object (GOLF CLUB, STALE BREAD, WIRE CUTTERS etc) ON LOOSE BOARDS. USE ROPE WITH HOLE and WALK TO HOLE. You are in the base, right below your bedroom.