History UnwinnableByDesign / Infocom

** You MUST visit the Roc's nest BEFORE climbing the mountain to visit the hermit in his flimsy hut since you can only ascend the mountain once. Otherwise, the game's unwinnable. [[spoiler: You must get the caskly spell from the Roc's nest so you can magically rebuild the hut so you can get the cube. It's easy to get this wrong the first time you play the game since Spellbreaker intimidates you on your first attempt to enter the Midair room, which leads to the Roc's nest.]]

** You MUST visit the Roc's nest BEFORE climbing the mountain to visit the hermit in his flimsy hut since you can only ascend the mountain once. Otherwise, the game's un-winnable. [[spoiler: You must get the caskly spell from the Roc's nest so you can magically rebuild the hut so you can get the cube. It's easy to get this wrong the first time you play the game since Spellbreaker intimidates you on your first attempt to enter the Midair room, which leads to the Roc's nest.]]

* Then there's "Dungeon", the precursor to the Zork Trilogy. In version 32b, you use the rope in two different locations. Here's the rub. When you tie the rope to the railing in the Dome Room, then slide down into the Torch Room, (you can't get back up the rope) the thief can steal the rope right off the railing, then, after you've left the Torch Room via the one-way hole, he can drop the rope in the Torch Room, Tiny Room, or Dreary Room, where you can't retrieve it. In other words, you'd need the rope to get to the rope. So if this happens, you can't re-use the rope in the Slide Room, and you can't get the red sphere. You're stymied.

** [[spoiler:If you do so, just throw the mice away, navigate for about 20 turns, the return to the General Store for another rat pack.]]

** [[spoiler:If you do so, just navigate for about 20 turns, the return to Rebecca's freezer for another meat slab, then what again for it to rot, then drug it before feeding it to the vultures.]]

** [[spoiler: If you do so, just throw the mice away, navigate for about 20 turns, the return to the General Store for another rat pack.]]

** [[spoiler: If you leave the bottle without the disc piece, Evil Canuk will just grunt, but he won't try to duck you, and you can ask (sweet) Canuk about the bottle again.]]

[[spoiler: If you leave the bottle without the disc piece, Evil Canuk will just grunt, but he won't try to duck you, and you can ask (sweet) Canuk about the bottle again.]]

* Infocom's ''[[VideoGame/AstekaIITemploDelSol Tombs & Treasure]]'' on the NES has exactly one instance of this. Walk into a cave from the Ball Court. Hey, that's a nice jewel on that pedestal, I think I'll take it...oh no, the door closed and I'm trapped! That's it, game over, better reset! (The game tells you this in pretty much those words.) You can get that jewel, but not right then.

* Even their EASY difficulty games can do this, like ''VideoGame/{{Wishbringer}}''. Fail to pick up your 3D glasses that were tossed on the floor by your captor before pulling the lever to send the princess back home like she's begging you to? The 3D glasses get sent back with her, and you are then trapped, in one of the most cringeworthy puzzles ever created. [[spoiler:The room you saw when you watched the 3D movie earlier with those glasses is just as fuzzy when you are there for real as it was before you put the glasses on in the theater, and requires those 3D glasses to see anything in it, or even leave at all! You don't know this at the time the glasses vanish, but you will find out very soon. The good news is you DO know where you went wrong. The thought process goes "Okay. I'm in Fuzziness. I can't see anything. I can't go back up. Hmmm. Oh yeah. The theater screen was fuzzy without the glasses. I'll just put them on. Uh oh, I don't have them. Well, I'll just restore my save and pick them up... They aren't there... They vanished when I pulled that lever? and I saved after there... OMFG! SERIOUSLY?!?! And this is Easy?" Bad news, well, you might have to start all over because you overwrote your save. The only other way to make the game unwinnable informs you immediately after by subtracting points, and gives you two obvious warnings not to beforehand, making it Tough.]] Realizing you even need the glasses there is a bit of a MoonLogicPuzzle, and you might have discarded them after you watched the movie, rendering the game Unwinnable long before you realize it (there's no way to get back to where you put them after your capture).

* Infocom's ''[[TaiyouNoShindenAstekaII Tombs & Treasure]]'' on the NES has exactly one instance of this. Walk into a cave from the Ball Court. Hey, that's a nice jewel on that pedestal, I think I'll take it...oh no, the door closed and I'm trapped! That's it, game over, better reset! (The game tells you this in pretty much those words.) You can get that jewel, but not right then.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Enchanter}}'', the Kulcad scroll can only be used once. It cancels magic. Since every puzzle you encounter is basically a magical trap, the spell allows you to "cheat" your way past any one puzzle in the game. Except that at the endgame you need the Kulcad spell to win. There is a slight warning when you do use it at the wrong time at least--the next time you sleep, you'll have a nightmare in which you realize you destroyed a vital object.

* Even their EASY difficulty games can do this, like Wishbringer. Fail to pick up your 3D glasses that were tossed on the floor by your captor before pulling the lever to send the princess back home like she's begging you to? The 3D glasses get sent back with her, and you are then trapped, in one of the most cringeworthy puzzles ever created. [[spoiler:The room you saw when you watched the 3D movie earlier with those glasses is just as fuzzy when you are there for real as it was before you put the glasses on in the theater, and requires those 3D glasses to see anything in it, or even leave at all! You don't know this at the time the glasses vanish, but you will find out very soon. The good news is you DO know where you went wrong. The thought process goes "Okay. I'm in Fuzziness. I can't see anything. I can't go back up. Hmmm. Oh yeah. The theater screen was fuzzy without the glasses. I'll just put them on. Uh oh, I don't have them. Well, I'll just restore my save and pick them up... They aren't there... They vanished when I pulled that lever? and I saved after there... OMFG! SERIOUSLY?!?! And this is Easy?" Bad news, well, you might have to start all over because you overwrote your save. The only other way to make the game unwinnable informs you immediately after by subtracting points, and gives you two obvious warnings not to beforehand, making it Tough.]] Realizing you even need the glasses there is a bit of a MoonLogicPuzzle, and you might have discarded them after you watched the movie, rendering the game Unwinnable long before you realize it (there's no way to get back to where you put them after your capture).

** One more: When Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz has you strapped down and is reciting Vogon poetry to you, you have to ''enjoy'' the poetry before he completes the first verse, which makes him continue on to the second verse. You must hear that verse to get the password to open a display case containing a PlotCoupon which you may not need until hours later. And you can't use a guide for this, because not only does the case not always ask for the same word, the second verse itself is usually randomized and changes with every game. And don't think you can restore and keep guessing, [[TheDevTeamThinksOfEverything the game knows you don't know it]], and will fatally tell you you are wrong with an explosion. And oh, said verb is one of those commands that is only relevant in this part of the game and nowhere else, and by the time you get the hint ("You don't look like you enjoyed that at all.") it's too late and you need to restore. Trying to smile or laugh DOES result in the game telling you 'If you want to enjoy the poetry, just say so", but you aren't going to do that either unless you've already figured out the puzzle, and if you believe what you've read up till that point, you will think [[TheComputerIsALyingBastard that poetry is impossible to enjoy]].

** If you push the wrong button and fill up the maintenance room at the dam with water, you can't retrieve the wrench and screwdriver, thus preventing you from getting the treasure chest or diamond. Oh bugger i should have saved...

** If you kill the thief in his treasure room (to stop him from stealing your treasures), you can't [[spoiler:get him to open the jeweled egg for you. The hint above implied that someone else could open the egg, and the troll clearly doesn't have the tools, so it must be the thief.]], revealing another treasure.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Sorcerer}}'', there's a puzzle in a coal mine at the very end of the game. You can only breathe for two turns unless you have an obviate-breathing potion. But the only way to get that is to send in a matchbook at the beginning of the game, before the mailman leaves for the first time. If you don't, you can get through the rest of the game--but you always die in the coal mine, because you can't hold your breath long enough to solve the puzzle.
* [[http://www.csd.uwo.ca/Infocom/Invisiclues/spellbreaker/chapter8/TheStringRoom2/ Fail the copy protection]] in Infocom's ''VideoGame/{{Spellbreaker}}''. The game [[TheComputerIsALyingBastard lies to you]] and tells you that you passed it. Many hours later, at the very [[http://talking-time.net/showpost.php?p=1186990&postcount=245 end of the game]], you will be killed while attempting to use a vital object, with no warning as to why, what you did wrong, or when.
** A similar example occurs in Lucasarts' ''Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade'' adventure game. If you fail the copy protection, then much later you'll lose the game.

* Even their EASY difficulty games can do this, like Wishbringer. Fail to pick up your 3D glasses that were tossed on the floor by your captor before pulling the lever to send the princess back home like she's begging you to? The 3D glasses get sent back with her, and you are then trapped, in one of the most cringeworthy puzzles ever created. [[spoiler:The room you saw when you watched the 3D movie earlier with those glasses is just as fuzzy when you are there for real as it was before you put the glasses on in the theater, and requires those 3D glasses to see anything in it, or even leave at all! You don't know this at the time the glasses vanish, but you will find out very soon. The good news is you DO know where you went wrong. The thought process goes "Okay. I'm in Fuzziness. I can't see anything. i can't go back up. Hmmm. Oh yeah. The theater screen was fuzzy without the glasses. I'll just put them on. Uh oh, I don't have them. Well i'll just restore my save and pick them up... They aren't there... They vanished when i pulled that lever? and I saved after there... OMFG! SERIOUSLY?!?! And this is Easy?" Bad news, well, you might have to start all over because you overwrote your save. The only other way to make the game unwinnable informs you immediately after by subtracting points, and gives you two obvious warnings not to beforehand, making it Tough.]] Realizing you even need the glasses there is a bit of a MoonLogicPuzzle, and you might have discarded them after you watched the movie, rendering the game Unwinnable long before you realize it (there's no way to get back to where you put them after your capture).

* Even their EASY difficulty games can do this, like Wishbringer. Fail to pick up your 3D glasses that were tossed on the floor by an enemy earlier before pulling the lever to send the princess back home like she's begging you to? The 3D glasses get sent back with her, and you are then trapped, in one of the most cringeworthy puzzles ever created. [[spoiler:The room you saw when you watched the 3D movie earlier with those glasses is just as fuzzy when you are there for real as it was before you put the glasses on in the theater, and requires those 3D glasses to see anything at all in it, or even leave at all!)]] Realizing you even need the glasses there is a bit of a MoonLogicPuzzle, and you might have discarded them after you watched the movie.

* [[http://www.csd.uwo.ca/Infocom/Invisiclues/spellbreaker/chapter8/TheStringRoom2/ Fail the copy protection]] in Infocom's ''VideoGame/{{Spellbreaker}}''. The game [[TheComputerIsALyingBastard lies to you]] and tells you that you passed it. Many hours later, at the very [[http://talking-time.net/showpost.php?p=1186694&postcount=241 end of the game]], you will be killed while attempting to use a vital object, with no warning as to why, what you did wrong, or when.

* Even their EASY difficulty games can do this, like Wishbringer. Fail to pick up your 3D glasses that were tossed on the floor by an enemy earlier before pulling the lever to send the princess back home like she's begging you to? The 3D glasses get sent back with her, and you are then trapped, in one of the most cringeworthy puzzles ever created. [[spoiler:The room you saw when you watched the 3D movie earlier with those glasses is just as fuzzy when you are there for real as it was before you put the glasses on in the theater, and requires those 3D glasses to see anything at all in it, or even leave at all!)]]

** One more: When Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz has you strapped down and is reciting Vogon poetry to you, you have to ''enjoy'' the poetry before he completes the first verse, which makes him continue on to the second verse. You must hear that verse to get the password to open a display case containing a PlotCoupon which you may not need until hours later. And you can't use a guide for this, because not only does the case not always ask for the same word, the second verse itself is usually randomized and changes with every game. And don't think you can restore and keep guessing, the game knows you don't know it, and will fatally tell you you are wrong with an explosion. And oh, said verb is one of those commands that is only relevant in this part of the game and nowhere else, and by the time you get the hint ("You don't look like you enjoyed that at all.") it's too late and you need to restore. Trying to smile or laugh DOES result in the game telling you 'If you want to enjoy the poetry, just say so", but you aren't going to do that either unless you've already figured out the puzzle, and if you believe what you've read up till that point, you will think [[TheComputerIsALyingBastard that poetry is impossible to enjoy]].

** Even more infamous -- if only because it's early enough in the game that more people see it before giving up -- is the notorious "Babel Fish Dispenser" puzzle, wherein the player must use a pile of junk mail picked up at his doorstep back on Earth. By then, the planet Earth has been blown up, forcing players who forgot the junk mail (which is likely -- if they take too long trying to pick things up, then they'll be flattened by a bulldozer) to restart their games for any chance of a satisfactory ending. What makes the puzzle even more ridiculous is that in order to obtain the Babel Fish, the mail must be used in a variety of ways, each way non-obvious until you dispense another fish, and the latest method of failure gives you a hint for a new necessary step -- but if you proceed step-by-step according to the hints, the dispenser will run out of fish at the last (otherwise successful) attempt. At least here you can reload and use what you've learned.
** Most infamous of all is the cheese sandwich puzzle, in which failing to feed a random stray dog early in the game while you're rushing urgently on a timer will cause the game to be Unwinnable much later. You get a second chance at that puzzle (you relive that portion of the game as Ford and can have him do it), but there's no clue to do it then, either.
** One more: When Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz has you strapped down and is reciting Vogon poetry to you, you have to ''enjoy'' the poetry before he completes the first verse, which makes him continue on to the second verse. You must hear that verse to get the password to open a display case containing a PlotCoupon which you may not need until hours later. And you can't use a guide for this, because not only does the case not always ask for the same word, the second verse itself is usually randomized and changes with every game. And oh, said verb is one of those commands that is only relevant in this part of the game and nowhere else, and you're never hinted to use the verb at all.

** If you eat the garlic in the first room of the white house, one of the very earliest locations, you can't [[spoiler:scare off the bat outside the Coal Mine that will instantly grab you and take you to a random location nearby]], thus forever preventing you from retrieving the jade statue.
** If you kill the thief, you can't [[spoiler:get him to open the jeweled egg for you]], revealing another treasure.
** If you fail in the exorcism twice, you can't try again--or if you let the candles burn out, you're out of luck.
** If you puncture the boat, you can't get the large emerald.
** If your lantern runs out before you reach the Coal Mines, the room full of gas will explode (as it's the only non-flame-based light source). If it runs out ''and'' the candles burn out ''and'' the thief steals the torch, you will lose due to having no other light sources.
** If you push the wrong button and fill up the maintenance room at the dam with water, you can't retrieve the wrench and screwdriver, thus preventing you from getting the treasure chest or diamond.
** If you try to open the jeweled egg, you will destroy it instead--with no way to restore it, and no warnings.

* Infocom's ''[[TaiyouNoShindenAstekaII Tombs & Treasure]]'' on the NES has exactly one instance of this. Walk into a cave from the Ball Court. Hey, that's a nice jewel on that pedestal, I think I'll take it...oh no, the door closed and I'm trapped! That's it, game over, better reset! (The game tells you this is pretty much those words.) You can get that jewel, but not right then.

* The ''[[TheSpellCastingSeries Spellcasting X01]]'' series of games was phenomenally restrictive about what you had to do and when you had to do it; if a day passed by without one tiny thing being taken care of, the game became unwinnable.

* [[http://www.csd.uwo.ca/Infocom/Invisiclues/spellbreaker/chapter8/TheStringRoom2/ Fail the copy protection]] in Infocom's ''VideoGame/{{Spellbreaker}}''. The game [[TheComputerIsALyingBastard lies to you]] and tells you that you passed it. Many hours later, at the very [[http://www.csd.uwo.ca/Infocom/Invisiclues/spellbreaker/chapter15/TheSandRoom3/ end of the game]], a vital object will explode and kill you when you try to use it, with no warning as to why, what you did wrong, or when.

** One more: When Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz has you strapped down and is reciting Vogon poetry to you, you have to ''enjoy'' the poetry before he completes the first verse, which makes him continue on to the second verse. You must hear that verse to get the password to open a display case containing a PlotCoupon which you may not need until hours later. And you can't use a guide for this, because not only does the case doesn't always ask for the same word, the second verse itself is usually randomized and changes with every game. And oh, said verb is one of those commands that is only relevant in this part of the game and nowhere else, and you're never hinted to use the verb at all.

With a hefty amount of adventure games under its belt, Creator/{{Infocom}} would naturally have some rather nasty ways to make your save into a useless file with no way to win. It almost makes one wonder why they didn't take Creator/{{Sierra}}'s infamous catchphrase, "Save early, save often, and don't overwrite saves."

* The text adventure ''VideoGame/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' contained some deliberate, devilish cases of obscure things that needed to be done within a certain time frame. For instance, at the end of the game, Marvin will ask you for a specific tool to repair the ship with. The tool required is randomly selected from a pool of ten--except that if you are missing any one of those ten items, then the game will always choose that one. So, if you left the toothbrush in your bedroom at the beginning of the game, then you'll be forced to start over completely.
** If you miss your appointment with Marvin by failing to work out how to get into the niche in exactly twelve turns? Then you're stuck. If you're too early or too late he refuses to help you.
** Even more infamous -- if only because it's early enough in the game that more people see it before giving up -- is the notorious "Babel Fish Dispenser" puzzle, wherein the player must use a pile of junk mail picked up at his doorstep back on Earth. By then, the planet Earth has been blown up, forcing players who forgot the junk mail (which is likely -- if they take too long trying to pick things up, then they'll be flattened by a bulldozer) to restart their games for any chance of a satisfactory ending. What makes the puzzle even more ridiculous is that in order to obtain the Babel Fish, the mail must be used in a variety of ways, each way non-obvious until you dispense another fish, and the latest method of failure gives you a hint for a new necessary step -- but if you proceed step-by-step according to the hints, the dispenser will run out of fish at the last (otherwise successful) attempt. At least here you can reload and use what you've learned.
** Most infamous of all is the cheese sandwich puzzle, in which failing to feed a random stray dog early in the game while you're rushing urgently on a timer will cause the game to be Unwinnable much later. You get a second chance at that puzzle (you relive that portion of the game as Ford and can have him do it), but there's no clue to do it then, either.
** One more: When Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz has you strapped down and is reciting Vogon poetry to you, you have to ''enjoy'' the poetry before he completes the first verse, which makes him continue on to the second verse. You must hear that verse to get the password to open a display case containing a PlotCoupon which you may not need until hours later. And you can't use a guide for this, because not only does the case doesn't always ask for the same word, the second verse itself is usually randomized and changes with every game. And oh, said verb is one of those commands that is only relevant in this part of the game and nowhere else, and you're never hinted to use the verb at all.
** DouglasAdams once gleefully described the game as "user-mendacious".
** Leaked design notes for the unfinished ''Hitchhiker's Guide 2'' game suggest including a puzzle whose solution causes the game to become essentially Unwinnable (ignoring a one-in-a-million random chance). Only by ''not'' solving the puzzle and ''[[ViolationOfCommonSense losing the points]]'' could the player have won the game. This is just how the people at Infocom used to think.
* The ''[[TheSpellCastingSeries Spellcasting X01]]'' series of games was phenomenally restrictive about what you had to do and when you had to do it; if a day passed by without one tiny thing being taken care of, the game became unwinnable.

** In the ''veeery'' first area in the game, there is a bonding plant. You need to take the bonding plant and keep it alive throughout the entire game. If you hold onto a dead bonding plant, then [[spoiler:you can't get into the comedy club,]] which makes the game unwinnable. It's RIDICULOUSLY easy to kill the bonding plant.
*** There's a [[GuideDangIt way around this]]: if you destroy the dead bonding plant, a new one will regrow in the Valley of the Vultures, and you can use [[spoiler:the whistle]] to get it.
* Earlier Zork games were no different. In Zork I, any number of actions could render the game unwinnable (by either destroying or preventing you from getting any of the treasures, all of which are necessary to win). The game stubbornly refuses to alert you to when you've put it in an unwinnable state and many are very difficult to predict. Some highlights:

* In ''VideoGame/{{Planetfall}}'', [[spoiler:entering the rad labs]] turns the game unwinnable. That's fair, since the game explicitly tells you not to do so. But it also taunts you by having important-looking items in there. These items could be useful, but you won't live long enough to use them.
** Slightly worse: keeping a magnet close to any of your cards longer than absolutely necessary will blank the cards without warning.
* In ''Stationfall'', the sequel to ''Planetfall,'' it feels like [[spoiler: the boots]] will scramble your card in a single turn.

* Infocom's ''VideoGame/{{Suspended}}'' can be made unwinnable before the first normal command (not counting system commands like save/restore). Setting "Impossible" difficulty does just that -- now the player's Sun is due to go nova in a few minutes, so there's not much point trying to find the right-length wire to fix the complex's systems, is there? Infocom was the best.
* Infocom's ''[[TaiyouNoShindenAstekaII Tombs & Treasure]]'' on the NES has exactly one instance of this. Walk into a cave from the Ball Court. Hey, that's a nice jewel on that pedestal, I think I'll take it...oh no, the door closed and I'm trapped! That's it, game over, better reset! (The game tells you this is pretty much those words). You can get that jewel, but not right then.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Enchanter}}'', the Kulcad scroll can only be used once. It cancels magic. Since every puzzle you encounter is basically a magical trap, the spell allows you to "cheat" your way past any one puzzle in the game. Doing this gives you no warning that you've done anything wrong -- until you get to the endgame and lack the spell you need to win.
** There is a slight warning afterwards--the next time you sleep, you'll have a nightmare in which you realize you destroyed a vital object.

With a hefty amount of adventure games under its belt, Creator/{{Infocom}} would naturally have some rather nasty ways to make your save into a useless file with no way to win. It almost makes one wonder why they didn't take Creator/{{Sierra}}'s infamous catchphrase, "Save early, save often."