History UnwinnableByDesign / Infocom

* Even their EASY difficulty games can do this, like ''VideoGame/{{Wishbringer}}''. Fail to pick up your 3D glasses that are always the first item tossed on the floor by your captor [[spoiler: before you even get the chance to give him the violet note to make him leave,]] 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 ridiculous 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... What? SERIOUSLY?!?! And this is Easy?" Bad news, well, you might have to start all over because you overwrote your save. The other way most experimenting adventurers would make the game unwinnable (disturbing the trap that later traps the princess) the game is kind enough to warn you before you try it, and afterwards tells you that your score went DOWN (yes in all caps). This one counts as UnwinnableByInsanity if you continue on.]] 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). This was rectified in Version 69 though.

* Even their EASY difficulty games can do this, like ''VideoGame/{{Wishbringer}}''. Fail to pick up your 3D glasses that are always the first item tossed on the floor by your captor [[spoiler: before you even get the chance to give him the violet note to make him leave,]] 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 ridiculous 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... What? SERIOUSLY?!?! And this is Easy?" Bad news, well, you might have to start all over because you overwrote your save. The other way most experimenting adventurers would make the game unwinnable (disturbing the trap that later traps the princess) the game is kind enough to warn you before you try it, and afterwards tells you that your score went DOWN (yes in all caps). This one counts as UnwinnableByInsanity if you continue on.]] 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).[[spoiler: However, in Version 69, you do get one turn to give your captor the violet note before he can snatch the 3d glasses from you.]]

** If you forget to retrieve the gown (with the pocket fluff) and the towel, after obtaining the Babel Fish, then you can't go back and get them after you leave the Vogon ship.

* Even their EASY difficulty games can do this, like ''VideoGame/{{Wishbringer}}''. Fail to pick up your 3D glasses that are always the first item tossed on the floor by your captor [[spoiler: before you even get the chance to give him the violet note to make him leave,]] 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 ridiculous 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... What? SERIOUSLY?!?! And this is Easy?" Bad news, well, you might have to start all over because you overwrote your save. The other way most experimenting adventurers would make the game unwinnable (disturbing the trap that later traps the princess) the game is kind enough to warn you before you try it, and afterwards tells you that your score went DOWN (yes in all caps). This one counts as UwinnableByInsanity if you continue on.]] 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).

If you eat the waybread, then [[spoiler: you can't get the old man in the engravings room to show you the secret door which ultimately leads to the Dungeon Master's lair. This puzzle's "don't" clue is similar to the ''Zork I'' garlic-bat puzzle.]]

* 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 (but doesn't always) 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. This one might be UnwinanbleByMistake, though.

* 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 (but doesn't always) 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.

* Even their EASY difficulty games can do this, like ''VideoGame/{{Wishbringer}}''. Fail to pick up your 3D glasses that are always the first item tossed on the floor by your captor [[spoiler: before you give him the violet note,]] 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 ridiculous 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... What? 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).
** If you shortcut through the fog, down the mountain, wishing for rain with the umbrella, then [[spoiler: you must open the can too early, to get the stone, and you lose the snake and can't get past the troll, unless you have the horseshoe, wish for luck, then give the coin to the troll. But then you can't get into the theatre, which absolutely requires the coin.]]
** If the Boot Patrol captures you twice, and you don't have the chocolate, then [[spoiler: you can't eat it and wish for freedom to escape the now sealed jail cell. You're trapped there forever but the game doesn't tell you.]]

** 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, [[DevelopersForesight 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 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 [[spoiler: if you took too long to give him the violet note,]] 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 ridiculous 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... What? 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).

** 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 which supported the hut before you cast caskly on it. 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.]]

Zarf's[[note]]Andrew Plotkin's[[/note]] Cruelty Scale of InteractiveFiction, as lifted (and revised) from [[http://www.ifwiki.org/index.php/Cruelty_scale here]], [[http://groups.google.com/group/rec.games.int-fiction/msg/6c8a75c2b939d9c5 here]] and [[http://groups.google.com/group/rec.games.int-fiction/msg/2cbdc8bc538762f5 here]], divides video game types as follows:

** The ''Zork II'' hint book indicates two ways to move the menhir. It doesn't mention that one of those ways makes the game unwinnable. [[spoiler: If you ask the demon to move the menhir, then you can't get the Wizard's magic wand, which is required to win the game.]]

* [[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.
** Back to ''Spellbreaker'': If you eat both the leftover fish and bread found in the Guild Hall, you can't [[spoiler:get the Liskon spell scroll in the bottle in the Flathead Ocean. And you certainly can't get the "light" cube on the Flathead Ocean floor later in the game. This puzzle's "don't" clue is similar to the ''Zork I'' garlic-bat puzzle]].

* 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.

* In ''[[VideoGame/{{Zork}} Zork Zero]]'', the player must cast a spell on an item and then has ''exactly'' 18 turns to use the item before it changes back. Once it is restored, the item cannot be transformed again.

* In ''Stationfall'', the sequel to ''Planetfall'', it feels like [[spoiler: the boots]] will scramble your card in a single turn.
** [[spoiler: Putting the explosive in the thermos]] doesn't stop that item from evaporating; it merely slows it down by a factor of four while silencing the messages you would otherwise get about it. This is no fun if you decide to stash your safecracker tools in one location one by one as you get them; when you've got them all some hundred turns later, you'll find out that one thing has silently evaporated on you.
* In ''[[VideoGame/{{Enchanter}} 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.
** If you take too long (more than a day) to do everything required in the Hall, you're stuck. [[spoiler: Also, you're stuck if the mailman arrives before you put the depleted matchbook in the receptacle.]]
* [[http://www.csd.uwo.ca/Infocom/Invisiclues/spellbreaker/chapter8/TheStringRoom2/ Fail the copy protection]] in Infocom's ''[[VideoGame/{{Enchanter}} 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.

** If you didn't solidify the rainbow using the scepter, then you are going to be stuck if you go down the river to retrieve the scarab and emerald. And you cannot bring the scepter on the raft, as it will puncture the raft.

** If you give the sea chest to the monkey grinder before letting him squash the warning nymph, you can't get into the guild hall [[spoiler:to get a wand]].

** 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, [[DevelopersForesight 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.

* ''Beyond Zork'' has innumerable dead-end possibilities, but here are just a couple:
** If you rescue the baby hungus before trying to solve the crocodile's tear puzzle, you're stuck. Since the baby puzzle is much easier than the tear puzzle, it's easy to make this mistake. [[spoiler:You need the mother hungus to help you get the crocodile's tear. If you rescue the baby first, both he and his mother disappear into the jungle and you can't get the tear.]]

* 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.

** If you give the sea chest to the monkey grinder before allowing him to squash the warning nymph, you can't get into the guild hall [[spoiler:to get a wand]].

** If you rescue the baby hungus before trying to solve the crocodile's tear puzzle, you're stuck. Since the baby puzzle is much easier than the tear puzzle, it's easy to make this mistake. [[spoiler:You need the mother hungus to help you get the crocodile's tear. If you rescue the baby first, both he and his mother disappear and you can't get the tear.]]

* 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 if you took too long to give him the violet note, 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 ridiculous 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... What? 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 ''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 ridiculous 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... What? 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).

** If you shortcut through the fog, down the cliff, wishing for rain with the umbrella, then [[spoiler: you must open the can too early, to get the stone, and you lose the snake and can't get past the troll, unless you have the horseshoe, wish for luck, then give the coin to the troll. But then you can't get into the theatre, which absolutely requires the coin.]]

** If you shortcut through the fog, down the cliff, wishing for rain with the umbrella, then [[spoiler: you lose the snake and can't get past the troll, unless you have the horseshoe, wish for luck, then give the coin to the troll. But then you can't get into the theatre, which absolutely requires the coin.]]