The Trap Door/Walkthrough

You shall first have to connect your Sinclair ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC or Commodore 64 and cassette recorder to your television, then switch all three of them on; you shall now have to place the cassette of Piranha's 1986 action game, The Trap Door into the cassette recorder, rewind it (unless it is your first time playing it), start it, type LOAD "", without leaving a space between the quotation marks, and press Enter to load the program into the console; while the game's rendition of the show's theme song is being heard, you can press R to redefine the default keys, or J to switch input to a Kempston joystick, if connected. Once you have pressed C to continue, you will have to press either L or S to select either "Learner Burke" or "Super Burke" mode - and once you have made your choice, the game will start. A map for the game was published in the Sinclair User magazine in March 1987 and a solution for it was published in Crash magazine in August 1991 (by which time the show had been succeeded, by the cell-animated Bump the Elephant).

Can of Worms
BURKE! GET ME A CAN OF WORMS Sadly, the Thing's demands were not rendered as speech samples here by the show's narrator William Rushton (1937-1996); for the first task, you must make Burke pick up the can on the wall of the kitchen (on the right side of the above map, but it wraps around, so you shall not have to go the long way), and take it back to the room with the trap door (on the left side of the map, and in which he starts). You must then make him drop the can, push the lever on the left side of the room to open the trap door and release the worms - and you must then try to pick them up and drop them into the can (at least two are required) before Drutt the spider eats them (but you can use the trap door to send him flying into the air even though he will just fall back down to the ground again!). You must then pick up the can, take it to the room with the dumb waiter, and put it in the dumb waiter; however, if you have enough time, you can go down to the basement (below the room with the crusher) and collect a boiled slimy, take it back to the kitchen and drop it in the cauldron (you shall have to repeat this process thrice more), as it shall help Burke later. Once Burke has pushed the lever in the room with the dumb waiter to send the can upstairs, the text ''LOVELY WORMS! WELL DONE, BURKE'' shall appear on the screen - but the Thing will give him another task only moments later.

Crushed Eyeballs
I WANT A BOTTLE OF EYEBALL CRUSH For the second task, you must make Burke pick up the yellow beaker (on the upper wall of the kitchen) and empty it out, for it has a packet of seeds in it; you must then take the packet to the room with the three pots in it and empty it out, as it has three small eyeballs in it. You must now pick up each of the eyeballs, and drop them into the pots to make them start growing, then go back to the kitchen and push the vat into the room with the trap door so that it is directly on top of it - and you must then push the vat towards the back wall of the room, go back to the kitchen and pick up the bottle on its wall, take it back to the room with the trap door and put it under the tap of the vat, go back to the kitchen and pick up the basket (on its upper wall), empty it out for it has a bullet in it, go back to the room with the three pots (by this time, the eyeballs will be fully-grown), drop the basket, pick up each of the eyeballs and drop all three into the basket. You must then take the basket back to the room with the dumb waiter, climb up the staircase, go back to the room with the trap door, and empty that basket into that vat; you must then drop the basket, go back to the room with the dumb waiter, go back down the staircase, go back into the room with the trap door and push the lever upon its left side to open the trap door and release a long-legged monster (make sure the vat is positioned so that he will land in it and that bottle is under its tap before doing so, however). You must then take the full bottle to the room with the dumb waiter, put the bottle in the dumb waiter, climb the staircase, and push the lever to send the bottle upstairs - and once you've done so, the text CHEERS will appear on the screen. However, the Thing will give Burke (who must also get the monster back down the trap door!) a third task only moments later.

Fried Eggs
BURKE! I WANT SOME FRIED EGGS For the third task (after you have got that long-legged monster back down the trap door!), you must make Burke pick up the bullet (in the kitchen), take it back to the room with the trap door, and drop it; you will then have to push the lever on the left side of the room to open the trap door and release a bird-like monster, pick up the bullet and drop it upon the trap door (once you have closed it again), go back to the kitchen, pick up the bowl on the wall, take it back to the room with the trap door and drop it. When the bird-like monster is directly above the bullet, push the lever on the left side of the room to open the trap door and send the bullet flying up to it - and if you cannot close the trap door again quickly enough, the bullet shall fall down it, in which case you will have to use Drutt or Boni instead. The bird-like monster will look pained after the bullet hits it, and you will then have to pick up the bowl and follow it; when it looks down and starts to lay an egg, stand directly under it with the bowl to catch it. You shall then have to repeat this process thrice more, place the bowl on the stove in the room with the dumb waiter to fry the eggs (until it starts flashing red to indicate that they are done), pick up the bowl, put it in the dumb waiter, and push the lever to send the bowl upstairs; once you have done so, the text WELL DONE, BURKE will appear on the screen, but the Thing will give him a fourth task only moments later (and once again, you will also have to get that bird-like monster back down the trap door somehow)!

Boiled Slimies
BURKE! I WANT BOILED SLIMIES For the fourth task (after you have got that bird-like monster back down the trap door, and pushed the vat down it!), unless you have already done so, go down to the basement (below the room with the crusher) and collect a boiled slimy, take it back to the kitchen, and drop it in the cauldron (you shall have to repeat the process thrice more); you will then have to push the cauldron to the room with the dumb waiter, go back to the room with the trap door, and push the lever on the left side of the room to open the trap door and release a robotic monster. If you can get the monster to follow you back to the room with the dumb waiter, stand to the left of the cauldron, then move out of the way as it breathes a flame from its snout to boil the cauldron (because if you do not, it shall roast Burke to a crisp) - and you will then have to push the cauldron into the dumb waiter and push the lever to send it upstairs. Once you have done it the text FANTASTIC, 4 BOILED SLIMIES will appear on the screen; however, the Thing will give Burke a fifth task only moments later, and yet again, you shall also have to get the robotic monster back down the trap door somehow, along with everything else, as the next task is "Tidying Up"!

Tidying Up
TIDY UP AND THEN SEND THE LIFT UP For the fifth task, you must make Burke get the robotic monster to follow him to the room with the crusher, push the lever on the right side of the room to raise the crusher three-quarters of the way up the screen, and when the monster is underneath the crusher push the lever down to crush it; you will then have to pick up each of the three pots, the basket, the yellow beaker and the now-empty packet of seeds in turn and take them all back to the room with the trap door, dropping them on the trap door (you will also have to pick up Boni and put him on the trap door as well) and once Drutt is on the trap door, push the lever on the left side of the room to send everything flying into the air and down the trap door. If a spook should emerge from the trap door pick up a worm that may also have emerged from it and wait until the spook touches Burke - the screen will then flash yellow for a second and the spook will disappear. You shall then have to go to the room with the dumb waiter, and push the lever to send it upstairs (even though it does not have anything on it); the text HERE ARE YOUR WAGES shall then appear on the screen, and the Thing will send the dumb waiter back downstairs with a large safe on it.

Opening the Safe
For the sixth and final task, you must make Burke push the safe to the room with the crusher (once it is underneath the crusher, it shall come down on it automatically; however, it must have been raised three-quarters of the way up the screen after crushing that robotic monster to open it, because if it has been raised all the way to the top of the screen, the safe will be crushed, and if it has only been raised one-quarter or one-half of the way up the screen, it will not open). The text AS A SUPER BURKE I RATE YOU AS...CLEVER AND OVERPAID will then appear on the screen, and the game will be over.