Zim Greenleaf's Laboratory Instructions To you kamikaze gameplayers -- this game supplies a couple ways to get killed. You can also get badly hurt. To you bloodthirsty ones -- a couple chances to kill something. IF you can. To you masochistic ones -- plenty of chances to suffer! And to you friendly ones -- a highly interactive and helpful (if you ask the right questions) NPC! And to you honest folks -- a chance to be honest! How unusual! To you botanists -- as you move over the laboratory floor, the common name of an herb will appear at the top of the screen, while the Latin appears in the text. You can guess the Latin name by the common, or vice versa. If any aspiring botanists out there might be interested in a version that actually quizzes the player about the botanical names -- and rewards players for right answers -- do write and let me know. For you non-botanists who just want entertainment, the botanical names mainly lend the game atmosphere -- you ARE exploring a sorcerer-botanist's laboratory after all! A word to the wise -- this is the very first computer game Yours Truly has ever created. Yours Truly is also NOT a programmer. So, although I have done my best and double best, please write if you are ambushed by computer bugs. A word to beginners -- due to the nature of computer adventure games, not everything you see in a room can be taken or acted upon. The computer may even disavow the existence of anything mentioned in a room description! Don't let this bother you. You'll have to assume that anything described in the room does indeed exist -- but you, the player, simply cannot move or have it. That's the way a computer game works. In this game, you are transported to a magical dimension. Where you can shrink. And explore a slightly more than normal-sized room. Namely because the resident NPC (non-player-character) is slightly more than normal-sized himself. When you explore the laboratory floor, feel free to ignore the repetitive room descriptions, and refer to them only when you wish to know where the furniture is in relation to you. You do need to glance at the bottom lines of a room description at least -- it is sometimes an item you can take. Or has just attacked you! The object of the game is to explore as much of the laboratory as possible, dispatching any nasty creatures that attack you, find as many valuable items as possible, return to your rightful size, and persuade the resident NPC, a benign but powerful fellow who dislikes being robbed as much as anyone else, to let you take your winnings back to your own dimension. For those who are tired of killer cardboard NPC's that are there simply to attack and be attacked, Zim the Flying Sorcerer is NOT one of those! For more details how this game works, see the file called Zim.txt. If you want the game solution, send your request, $10 and a stamped, self-addressed envelope, and I'll provide the solution for Zim Greenleaf's Laboratory for you. Even if you CAN figure out the game yourself, I hope you send me $10 in appreciation for all the hard work! Good luck! Melody Grandy 21 Hazelwood St. Asheville, NC 28806