Captain Cutter’s Treasure has to be one of the best games that Garry Francis has written. If not the best. It’s written in PunyInform, and the z3 can be played on a real Apple II+ if you use something like Interl under Linux to make your boot disk.

This game starts in a broom closet, like all games for PunyJam #1. This game also took first place in that competition, for good reason. This writing prompt hit the author in the right spot. Everything fits together, snapping in place. For something this small, there are several characters that you can talk to as you take in the world. All of them are needed because they are tied into the puzzles one way or another, and being able to ask them about subjects, a way of talking to NPCs in parser games, filled in a lot of what was going on.

On my first play-through, I ran into some ASCII art that looked like part of a maze’s map. But after sticking with it a second time, it turned out that this was only a clue, done in ASCII art. It worked, but it also drove me away, thinking that there was a maze somewhere in this game. Mazes have turned out to be more trouble than they are worth in interactive fiction.

But there is a warehouse in this game. It’s big enough to map. One could call it maze-like. It’s only ten rooms, but navigating them can be a little hard to imagine, so a map helps. Once I had a good idea of the layout, I was able to complete the puzzle and navigate the place properly. I also felt that I had everything I needed to rip off Cutter in order to steal his gold. I just couldn’t figure out how to open his chest. So I gave in and made my way to his ship.

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*** Spoilers ***

There was one thing that snagged me, and that had to do with the mouse hole. Every time I tried to look inside the hole, it said:

No way. There might be a mouse in there.

Even after finding the lamp and turning it on, it says the same thing. So this lead me to believe that there was nothing I could do about it. Even though it says, when you try to get to the boat, you’re missing something from the closet. So I looked it up. Thank you David Welbourn. I wasn’t too happy to find out that all I needed to do was look at the hole with the lamp on. Not inside, just examine it. I feel cheated. The game failed me there. I did look up a few other things, so I wasn’t going to finish the game on my own. I just wanted to get all the puzzles that I could.

*** Spoilers Off ***

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After you get the girl back, the game ends. You finished the task you were sent out for. But I was right about being able to cheat Cutter out of his gold because the game said that I could do better. There are an extra five rooms on that ship and a lot of stuff to do. It’s like I’ve only seen about half the game. And that’s great. Because with something like this, you can play the game over a few more times, finally getting one over on Cutter. Though I’m sure he would come back for you. He knows who made the deal.

Captain Cutter’s Treasure is a great game. There’s a lot to do in the seaport, with lively characters to run into and a few puzzles that tie everything together. It’s a medium-sized game with 32 rooms, making it very portable. It can be played on almost any old-school platform. And there’s enough there to come back for more. I know I’m going to try it again. Cutter is not getting away with all that treasure!

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