This was actually the first Infocom game I ever played! I was way too young to understand it, though. I was also too young to know that "ajar" was an adjective describing an openable window and not an object itself that could be opened ("a jar"). Never got very far in Zork I over that one.
In the Desert
Stand up. Leave your tent by going south. Go south again to the fire pit and get the matchbook. Ignore the rock and "foil" (a pack of cigarettes). The plane circling overhead is the one delivering the navigation box (read the game documentation for background). You don't actually need the box at all with this walkthrough, nor does it score points to get it, so we're going to skip it. Go west twice to the supply tent. Get the pick axe and shovel. Go east twice and south twice to the work tent. Read the note. Open the knapsack, put everything you can inside it (put all in knapsack), and take it. (You can refer to the knapsack as just sack for brevity's sake.) Go back north four times to your tent. Break the lock on the trunk with the axe or the shovel. Take the lock, drop it, then open the trunk. Read the inspection sticker if you like. Get the dried beef and the map. (Eat the beef when the game tells you that you are hungry.) Unfold the map and take the stone cube. Go south, then west twice. Drop the knapsack, get the canteen, fill it from the river, and close it. (Drink from the canteen when the game tells you you are thirsty.) Put your things back in the knapsack and pick it up again. Drink from the Nile. Go east three times, south twice, then east two more times. Dig in the sand five times. Put the stone cube in the revealed opening. Go down into the Chamber of Ra.
For Your Amusement:
Read the matchbook. Read the coupon, fill it out, and send it.
Drink repeatedly from the Nile.
Swim in the Nile.
Wander around in the desert (take some water with you so you'll last longer).
Fold the cot, take it, leave the tent, then unfold the cot and sleep on it.
Wave at the plane.
Look into one of the holes in the sand.
Sit on the crate.
Attack the crate with the axe.
Fill the canteen with sand, then empty it, fill it with water, and drink.
The Chamber of Ra and Circular Room
You can drop the map, shovel, and note. Get the torch and the jar. Open the jar, pour some oil on the torch, then close the jar and stow it in the knapsack. Get the matchbook, open it, and get a match. Close the matchbook before striking, and light the torch. (Pour more oil on the torch when the game tells you it is sputtering or dim.) Extinguish the match. Get the rope. Put everything else but the torch back in the knapsack and pick it up. Tie the rope to the altar and throw the rope down the steep staircase to the north. Go north. Get the golden cluster. Push the statue towards one of the corner directions. Return to the Circular Room, get the head that has separated, and go drop it next to the statue. Now go to three times in the opposite direction (e.g., if you pushed the statue NE, go to the SW room) to one of the Goddess rooms. Read the hieroglyphs, and get the cluster there. Repeat until you have been in all four rooms. Put all the clusters in the knapsack. Return to the Circular Room and go up.
The Barge and Temple
From the Chamber of Ra, go south twice and northeast. Read the hieroglphys in the Narrow Hallway. Go northwest to the Barge Chamber and north to enter the barge. Go west, get the scroll, and read it. You can drop it. Go east twice, then down, then west. Put the torch in the knothole. Get the shim, then drop it again. Make sure everything else you might have been holding is in the knapsack. Now lift the beam. Get the torch and go back east, up, and west. Get the beam. Go south, west, north, east (or you can go around the barge the other way). Now go north five times to the Inner Chamber where a skeleton is. Ignore the ring it's wearing. Go east, then south. Take the silver chalice. Return north and west, then west again and south. Take the golden chalice. Return north and east, then retrace your steps back to the Chamber of Ra: south five times, west (or east), south, east, southeast, southwest, north twice.
For Your Amusement:
In the Barge Chamber, walk the plank.
Wear the ring from the skeleton in the Inner Chamber.
The Cube and Burial Chamber
From the Chamber of Ra, go east then west (or west, then east). Read the hieroglyphs. Go south. Read the hieroglyphs above the panel in the chamber you come to. Take the first, third, and fifth bricks, then drop them. Go east through the revealed passageway, then north, then west. Read the hieroglyphs on the plaster. Break the plaster with the axe. Go west three times. Put the beam you're carrying in the niches, stand on the beam, and then break the plaster again. Open the door and go west. Take the beam. Go south. Wedge the beam in the doorway. Open the door. Go west. Examine the stone slab. Drop the knapsack. Put the diamond cluster in the first hole, the ruby in the second, the emerald in the third and the opal in the fourth. Lift the slab. Get the spatula and the book. Open the book with the spatula. Read the page. Get the knapsack. Return east. Take the beam. Go north twice. Wedge the beam under the lintel. Break the seals with the axe. Open the door. Go north, then east twice. Drop the knapsack, get the canteen, and open it. Fill the silver chalice with water. Put the chalices on the discs (it doesn't matter which goes on which). Get the scarab. Go west. Put the scarab in the small recess and the book in the large one. Turn Neith, Selkis, Isis, and Nephthys. Open the sarcophagus. Well… that's what you get.
For Your Amusement:
Drop objects into the pit when you're standing on the beam.
For Your Amusement at various times:
Try the following commands: pray;
eat, drink, take, kill, examine, rub, play, get on, clean, close, leave, follow,
search, smell, make, and wear
yourself.
This walkthrough was last tweaked 6/4//2011.