Flunky/Walkthrough

You will 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 1987 adventure game Flunky into the recorder, type LOAD "" (without leaving a space between the quotation marks), and press Enter to load the program into the console. In Flunky's starting room, you can redefine the five default keys, switch to Kempston joystick control (if it's connected), and change the language to Italiano (Italian), Français (French), Español (Spanish) or Deutsch (German) - however, this page is only going to cover the default language of English. It is also possible to return to here at any time to view your score.

Andrew's Boat and Sarah's Freckles
Once Flunky has walked to the left and down through the doorway, the Head Butler will say "GO AND LIGHT ALL THE FIRES", as he points to the right; you will now have to walk down and to the right, up through a pair of double doors, and to the right again, then take the matchbox you started with out of your pocket, walk up towards the fireplace, put the matchbox down to light the fire and pick it back up again. You will then have to walk to the left and up through another pair of double doors - and once you've done so, Prince Andrew (who's taking a bath) will say "YOU! GET ME A BOAT TO PLAY WITH". Once you've walked back down through the second pair of double doors, you will see that the value on the wall-mounted countdown timer has changed to 0490, which means you have 8:10 to find Andrew's boat; you will then have to walk to the left behind a guard, up through a third pair of double doors, to the left (into Sarah's room), walk up towards the table (which Sarah is sitting behind), and pick up the radio control on it. You will then have to retrace your steps back to the room with the countdown timer on its wall, and use the radio control to make a model helicopter fly out of its wall-mounted frame and knock a model tugboat out of its own frame onto the floor - and once you've done so, you will have to walk to the right, up and to the right around a table, and use the radio control to make a secret panel in the wall slide open. You'll then have to walk up through the panel, put the radio control down, retrace your steps back to the room with the countdown timer on its wall again, and pick up the tugboat; once you've done this, you will have to retrace your steps back to the room where you put down the radio control, then walk to the right, down a flight of stairs, to the left, down another flight of stairs, to the left, down through another doorway (as a portcullis lowers behind you) into the sewage, and to the left, then pick up a larger boat and put it back down again (it will float on the sewage). You shall now have to walk up and shake the hanging skeleton to make the portcullis raise again, retrace your steps back through the second doorway, walk to the left, down through a third doorway into the sewage again, take the tugboat out of your pocket and put it down (it will float across the sewage, pushing the larger one along in front of it) - and once you have done so you will have to walk to the left and pick up a bomb. You will then have to retrace your steps back to that room at the bottom of the second staircase, walk down through a fourth doorway into the sewage once again and pick up the larger boat; once you've done so, you will have to retrace your steps back up to the bathroom, walk to the right and up towards the bath, and put the boat down on the edge of the bath. Andrew shall then say "SUPER WHIZZO! A FLAT TOP" - and you then have to take the autograph book you started with out of your pocket, and give it to Andrew so he can sign it. The screen shall then cut to a shot of the autograph book as Andrew signs it, with the second letter of his name written backwards like a Cyrillic I (И); you shall then have to pick the autograph book back up and put it back in your pocket, walk to the right and up towards the towel rail, and pick up the red paint bucket on top of it. You will then have to retrace your steps back to Sarah's room (on which she will say "FLUNKY, I WANT SOME FRECKLES") and put the red paint bucket down in front of her - and once you have done so you shall have to walk to the right, take the bomb out of your pocket and put it down in front of the fireplace, then walk up towards the fireplace, take the matchbox out of your pocket again, put it down in front of the fireplace to light it and pick it back up again. You'll then have to walk back down towards the bomb, pick it up again, walk back up towards the fireplace and put it down again; once the bomb has changed colour from blue to red, you will have to take the matchbox out of your pocket once again, put it down in front of the bomb to light its fuse (it shall start flashing white), pick up the bomb, walk back to the left and put it down in the red paint bucket. You shall then have to pick up the red paint bucket and walk up towards the table - and once the bomb explodes, it'll cause Flunky to throw the bucket's contents into Sarah's face, covering it in "freckles". You will then have to pick up that (now-empty) red paint bucket (which Flunky automatically put down on the table) and put it down on the ground, take the autograph book out of your pocket and give it to Sarah so she can sign it; the screen shall then again cut to a shot of the autograph book as Sarah signs it (under her nickname, "Fergie", which was derived from her surname "Ferguson" when she came into the public eye in 1986).

Charles's Polo Balls
You'll then have to pick that autograph book back up and put it back in your pocket again, walk back to the right, pick that matchbox back up again, and put it back in your pocket again; once you have done this, you shall have to retrace your steps back to that first pair of double doors, walk to the right to warp to the point marked with an A and one left-pointing arrow on the map, up through a fourth pair of double doors and to the right to warp back to the point marked with a B and three left-pointing arrows on the map (Charles's room), as the wig on his mantelpiece (which is based on the Spitting Image puppet of "Rusty", worn by the puppet of Paul Daniels, 1938-2016), follows Flunky across the room with its eyes. Charles will then say "FLUNKY, GET MY POLO BALLS" as the value of the countdown timer on his room's wall changes to 0600, which means you have 10:00 to find Charles's polo balls - and you will then have to walk down, pick up the springs, and walk to the right into a room where Charles's first polo ball is bouncing randomly around (so you will have to stand in a position where you know it will come down to the left, in order for it to bounce off them and land in Charles's room). You shall then have to walk to the right and do the same for his second polo ball (only this time, you will have to walk back to the left and do it for a second time); once you have done so, you will have to walk back to the right and do it for his third and final polo ball (only this time, you will have to walk back left and do it two more times). You will then have to put the springs down and retrace your steps back to Charles's room - and once you have done so, he'll say "PLACE THE BALL FOR ME", as he continues to rock back and forth on his two-headed rocking horse. This means that you will have to pick each of the three balls up in turn, then put them down in front of the rocking horse so Charles can hit them with his polo mallet; however, after the first one, a guard will walk into the room from the left side of the screen and start firing laser beams from his gun at Flunky, who will have to sidestep them until he goes away. Once Charles has hit all three balls with his mallet, you will have to walk back to the left (the wig will continue to follow you with its eyes), take the matchbox out of your pocket, walk up to the fireplace, put the matchbox down to light the fire, and pick it back up again - but once you have done so, the laser-beam-firing guard will return. Once he has gone away again, you will have to take the autograph book out of your pocket and put it down in front of the rocking horse so Charles can sign it; the screen will then once again cut to a shot of the autograph book as Charles signs it.

Diana's Wig
You shall now have to pick the autograph book back up again and put it back in your pocket again; once you have done so, you will have to retrace your steps back to the right and into Diana's room (for this game, she is depicted as bald, which was a recurring joke Spitting Image used for the then-current Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, 1925-2013), on which she will say "FLUNKY DARLING, GET MY WIG". You then have to walk up to the table (which Diana is sitting behind), pick up the pistol on it, and retrace your steps back to Charles's room (the value on its wall-mounted countdown timer shall now have changed to 0385, meaning you have 6:25 to get Diana's wig) - and this time, the wig in question will fly off Charles's mantelpiece once it has seen Flunky, which means you will have to fire a laser beam at it from the pistol to bring it down (but while you're trying to do so, that laser-beam-firing guard will return again). Once the guard has gone away once again, the wig shall fly away off the right side of the screen and you will have to follow it back to Diana's room; once you've fired a shot at it while it is over Diana's head, it shall fall onto it. You will now have to put down the pistol, take the matchbox out of your pocket, walk up to the fireplace, put it down to light the fire, and pick it back up again (but while you are trying to do so, another laser-beam-firing guard shall walk into view from the right side of the screen) - and once he's gone away, you will have to walk back down and to the right, take the autograph book out of your pocket, walk up to the table, and put it down on it so Diana can sign it. The screen shall then for a penultimate time cut to a shot of the autograph book as Diana signs it (under a shortened version of her name, "Di", by which she was informally known until her death in 1997).

The Queen's Dogs
You shall now have to pick the autograph book back up again and put it back in your pocket again; once you have done so, you shall have to walk to the right, down through a fifth pair of double doors, to the right, up through a sixth pair of double doors, to the right behind a fourth (non-attacking!) guard, up through a seventh pair of double doors, and to the right into the Queen's throne room. A pair of curtains will then open to reveal the Queen on her throne - and once you have walked up to her, she will say: "FLUNKY, GET MY DOGGIES". The curtains will then close again, and you will have to retrace your steps back through that seventh pair of double doors (the value of the countdown timer to the right of the doors will have changed to 0985, which means you have 16:25 to find the Queen's dogs); once you've done so, you shall have to walk to the right, take the matchbox out of your pocket, walk up to the fireplace, put it down to light the fire and pick it back up again. You will then have to walk back to the left, up through an eighth pair of double doors, and to the right into the kitchen - and once you have done so, you will have to walk up to the fourth (larger) oven, pick up the sausage on it and put it in your pocket (however, once you have done so, the Chinese Chef shall get angry and try to hit Flunky with his cleaver, so he will have to sidestep it). You will now have to walk back to the left as one of the Queen's dogs goes back through the eighth pair of double doors; another one shall now come through a ninth pair of double doors, and as you go back through the eighth pair, it will follow you (so you will have to take the sausage out of your pocket and put it down, pick it up again just before the dog reaches it, retrace your steps back to the Queen's throne room, and put the sausage down again so the dog will eat it and wheel around in a circle). You will now have to retrace your steps back to the kitchen (where another sausage has appeared on top of the fourth oven), walk up to the fourth oven, pick up the sausage and put it in your pocket (again, once you have done so, the Chinese Chef shall get angry and try to hit you with his cleaver!) - and you shall then have to walk back to the left again as the first dog comes back through the eighth pair of double doors, and repeat what you did with the second one. Once you have retraced your steps back to the Queen's throne room and put the second sausage down to have the dog eat it and wheel around in a circle, the curtains shall open to reveal the Queen on her throne again; you will now have to take the autograph book out of your pocket and put it down in front of her throne so she can sign it. The screen will then, for the fifth and final time, cut to a shot of the autograph book as the Queen signs it (under her royal cypher, "EIIR", which means "Elizabeth II Regina" in Latin) - and she will then add "smart, eh?" below it. The game shall then return to the starting room, with the redefined keys and language you might have selected while in it after loading it.