The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy/Walkthrough

This game follows Arthur Dent's journey from his home, until disembarking the Heart of Gold on Magrathea.

The game itself is considered to be cruel in its difficulty. In particular, it's possible to forget to collect an item early in the game and therefore deadlock a puzzle at the end.

Earth

The game places Arthur Dent in his bedroom, with a simple description:

You wake up. The room is spinning very gently round your head. Or at least it would be if you could see it which you can't. It is pitch black.

This introduction doesn't give all the information about the room, requiring you to guess the contents of a modern room (which is mostly obvious), or reading the manual to identify the correct command.

• LIGHT LAMP

Once you do so, you can now see the surrounding room. It's a mess, with various items, but you're still in bed and the room is spinning. There's also a strict time limit as well, not giving much time for figuring things out.

• STAND
• GET GOWN
• WEAR GOWN
• EXAMINE POCKET
• EAT ANALGESIC

This clears your headache. A few commands (either picking up the phone or opening the curtains) indicate that there's a bulldozer approaching your house. You now need to finish your tasks in the house before the bulldozer hits.

• GET SCREWDRIVER, TOOTHBRUSH
• S
• GET MAIL
• S

Now to confront the bulldozer, simply stall until Ford arrived.

• LIE DOWN
• WAIT (x3)

Ford arrived, and offers you a towel. You need to get Ford to

• FORD, WHAT ABOUT MY HOME
• WAIT
• S
• W

You are now at the bug, and need to "fortify" yourself, but there's a few things to do as well.

• PURCHASE SANDWICH
• DRINK BEER (x3)

There's a distant crash, your house getting knocked down.

• EAST
• GIVE SANDWICH TO DOG
• NORTH
• WAIT (x3 - until Vogons arrive and Ford drops a device)
• GET DEVICE
• PRESS GREEN BUTTON

You are now in a dark area. Keep looking, and examine the result each time. Eventually one of the senses in the list will disappear.

• LOOK
• SMELL
• EXAMINE SHADOW

Vogon Hold

Ford will give you some peanuts. You will also need a Babel Fish, required to understand the Vogons. There is both a time limit in this section, as well as a limit of five times you can launch the babel fish.

• EAT PEANUTS
• REMOVE GOWN
• PUT GOWN ON HOOK
• GET TOWEL
• PUT TOWEL ON DRAIN
• GET SATCHEL
• PUT SATCHEL ON PANEL
• PUT MAIL ON SATCHEL
• PRESS DISPENSER BUTTON
• PULL SWITCH

Note the result of pulling the switch, it requires you to remember a specific word in the captain's poem (which changes from game to game.) Retrieve your stuff, and within a few moves, vogons will arrive ad strap you in.

• ENJOY POEM

Wait for the poem to finish, and note the word.

• TYPE "MORPHOUSITE" (the word varies between games, and must be in quotes.)
• GET PLOTTER

Note: If your load is too heavy, try putting things in the thing your aunt gave you which you don't know what it is.

After a few moves, the guard throws you and ford to the airlock.

• PRESS GREEN BUTTON (or wait several turns)
• LISTEN (until you hear a hum of a star drive)
• SOUTH (narrator lies about it being to the port.)

Heart of Gold

You are now in the Heart of Gold, the spaceship owned by Zaphod. Waiting will have Ford bring you to the bridge, where you meet Zaphod and Trillian, and the trio will enter the Sauna. You can now explore the ship at your leisure.

From the bridge:

• DOWN. SOUTH. WEST.
• PUSH PAD. GET SUBSTITUTE.

The tea substitute is required later, but is not for human consumption.

• EAST. SOUTH.

Entering the engine room from the Aft end corridor is a bit of a chore.

• SOUTH. YES. YES.
• SOUTH. NO.
• LOOK. LOOK.
• GET ALL
• NORTH. NORTH. UP.
• DROP PLOTTER, GENERATOR, SUBSTITUTE

The bridge will be your base of operations as you jump from place to place, but you will have to set it up first.

• PLUG SMALL PLUG IN PLOTTER
• PUT BIT IN SUBSTITUTE

Probability generator

Save your game, before each time you press the switch. Also, make sure you are at least carrying the towel and the thing.

• PUSH SWITCH

This brings you to the dark area. As before, look until one of the senses disappear. With the tea substitute, you will be directed to a random location, although you can later get an item that allows waiting to cycle through the choices.

For each sense, there are two subtle differences:

• Smell: something pugent waving under the node (to Lair of the Ravenous Bugblatter beast of Traal), and something being waved under your nose (Vogon Hold)
• Listen: Deep and distance sound of star drive from above (Heart of Gold), and deep and distant sound of star drive from below (War Chamber)
• Sight: Something at the "front" of eyes (Country Lane), or something at the "back" of your eyes (Presidential Speedboat)
• Feel: Something "cold", and wet and squishy (party), or something a bit "warm" (sperm whale)

When you are finished with each remote location, you will re-enter the dark area. Listen, and head to the aft each time.

Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal

When something pungent is waving under your nose, you can make out a shadow.

• EXAMINE SHADOW
• SAY MY NAME
• EAST
• GET STONE
• PUT TOWEL ON HEAD
• CARVE MY NAME IN MEMORIAL
• REMOVE TOWEL
• WEST. SOUTHWEST.
• GET INTERFACE

After a while, you get captured by beast hunters, get sold into slavery and fall into a black hole.

When you return to the Heart of Gold, you can:

• SOUTH. WEST.
• OPEN PANEL. GET BOARD. PUT INTERFACE IN PANEL. CLOSE PANEL.
• PUSH PAD.

The Nutrimat will have trouble figuring out your request, and Eddie will make a shipwide announcement that nuclear missiles are inbound. Time to hook up the spare generator to the bridge's console.

• EAST. UP.
• PLUG LARGE PLUG IN CONSOLE.
• PUSH GENERATOR SWITCH.

This transforms the missiles into a sperm whale, saving the ship.

• DOWN. WEST.
• GET TEA
• EAST. UP.
• DROP TEA.
• REMOVE BIT. PUT BIT IN TEA.

With the dangly bit in the tea, you can now select the destination of the improbability drive, simply by waiting on undesirable destinations. Also, you no longer need to wait a few turns before the destination.

War Chamber

A deep and distant hum of a star drive coming from far below.

• LISTEN
• SOUTH

You arrive at a war chamber, where two creatures are approaching earth

• GET AWL.
• PUT AWL IN THING.

Wait for the battle fleet to reach Earth. If you didn't feed the dog, you will have to restart the game, or have Ford purchase the sandwich and give it to Arthur. When they spot the dog eating the cheese sandwich, you will be transported into a maze.

Move in any direction until you see a black particle.

• GET PARTICLE

After returning, you can now freely get no tea without having to drop tea.

Also, this location becomes fatal if you attempt to re-enter it. If you are still using the tea substitute, remember to save the game before pressing the switch.

Sperm Whale

This feels a bit warm, wet and squishy. You must be using the tea in order to reach this location.

• FEEL
• TASTE LIQUID
• GET FLOWERPOT
• PUT FLOWERPOT IN THING.

Wait until the whale crashes to the ground. All items not carried in the gown or thing will be destroyed.

The flowerpot needs four pieces of fluff, obtained later.

Party

When you feel, it feels a bit cold, wet and squishy.

• FEEL
• TASTE LIQUID

You appear at a party, but as Trillian. You need one item from Arthur.

• OPEN HANDBAG
• DROP PLATE
• GET FLUFF
• PUT FLUFF IN HANDBAG
• GET PLATE

Wait until Phil approaches you and brings you to a ride.

This fluff is needed later, when combined with the flowerpot.

Earth

• LOOK AT DARKNESS
• EXAMINE LIGHT

You are now back at earth, but as Ford rather than Arthur. The Vogons are approaching, and you need to give back the towel before its too late.

• OPEN SATCHEL
• GET TOWEL
• GIVE TOWEL TO ARTHUR
• IDIOT

Arthur wants you to deal with Prosser before you can give back the towel.

• GO TO PROSSER
• PROSSER, LIE DOWN

• SOUTH
• WEST

Note: If you haven't fed the dog at the beginning of the game, you need to have Ford purchase the sandwich, and give it to Arthur.

• PURCHASE BEER
• DRINK BEER
• DRINK BEER

Arthur's house crashes down.

• EAST
• NORTH
• GIVE SATCHEL FLUFF TO ARTHUR

The Vogons should arrive shortly. You can attempt to use the device, but it will fall and roll to Arthur's feet. He will press the green button.

Heart of Gold theft

A light stabbing the back of your eyes. The boat is steering towards the narrow channel, but you'll need to trigger the autopilot. loo

• STEER TOWARDS ROCKS
• LOOK UNDER SEAT

This gives you the key (to unlock the box), and the seat cushion fluff.

• EXIT
• NORTH

Say whatever you want to the crowd, and Trillian will take you hostage.

• GUARDS, DROP RIFLES
• TRILLIAN, SHOOT RIFLES
• EAST

The items you were carrying will be placed at the hatchway.

Exiting the ship

You now need to exit the ship.

The four piece of fluff are put in the pot:

• PUT ALL FLUFF IN POT

Wait for the flowerpot to have a sprout poke out of it, and enter the sauna.

• EAT FRUIT

The game randomly selects one of twelve tools in the game. If one of them is inaccessible, it will be that tool, requiring you to reload an earlier save, or restarting the game. Bring that tool with you.

• GET TEA
• DOWN. SOUTH.
• GET NO TEA
• OPEN DOOR

The contradiction counts as a display of intelligence, allowing you to enter Marvin's Pantry.

• DRINK TEA

When you meet Marvin, ask him to open the hatch. You will have twelve turns to reach the access space, with the correct tool.

• EAST. DOWN. EAST.

Wait for Marvin to ask you for the tool, then give it to him. He will quickly hotwire the hatch, allowing you to reach the surface.