SPONGE /by Firebird/
                          ====================

NOTE: If your source of software is WOS (World of Spectrum), this game is
stored under a wrong name. You can find it under the name "Adventure Quest" by
Level 9, file ADVENTUR.Z80, although this is not Adventure Quest, but Sponge.
Also, this file is a snapshot which is snapshoted after the game intro, so you
can not read the instructions. So, before giving a solution, I will first give
what you can read in the introduction:

> Welcome to "SPONGE". (C) 1986 by A. J. Remic. Published by Firebird Software.
> You are a little droid called SPONGE (Silicon Powered Oxygen Numerised
> Genetic Experiment), and you are on board the star cruiser "Coseitan". You
> are on your way back from "Oberon". You have been there to obtain some
> precious moon crystals to sell to other planets. You are just docking at
> Venus, when it strikes you that you must pay the taxes to the federation.
> Your master gave you a lot of jewels to pay these taxes, but over the months
> you seem to have mislaid them. You will have to find them...

The solution is extremely simple and short, although I spent a lot of time to
find it. The game have some misleading messages, which suggest that you must to
do various things, but you in fact need not to do anything. The only problem is
that one important object is hidden in a secret location, but absolutely
nothing in the game suggest that this location exist...

                               Solution:
                               ---------

W, W, W, TAKE STONE, W, N, W, W, TAKE SAPPHIRE, W, W, W, W, N, W, TAKE DIAMOND,
N, W, JUMP (this is a secret location), TAKE PLATINUM, D, S, S, S, TAKE RUBY,
S, E, E, TAKE PEARL, S, S, TAKE EMERALD, E, N, N, E, N, TAKE ELPHERIC, E, S, E,
TAKE GLASS, E, E, N, E, E, E, E, PAY TAXES

                                Hints:
                                ------

- Type TEXT to turn pictures off, and GRAPHICS to turn them on again.
- Any other objects except jewels in the game have no any usage, although
  examining them will give a false hint about their usage.
- Aliens can not be killed, so avoid them.

                                 Comment:
                                 --------

A very contraverse game. Written in Graphic Adventure Creator. The descriptions
of the locations are good, and pictures are not bad, so the playing atmosphere
is good. From the other side, you need not to do anything except object picking
to solve game (in fact, you CAN NOT do anything else, except examining and
dropping objects)!? So, the game is very limited - the only hardness is hiding
the platinum in the room where nothing suggest that this room exist! The parser
is verb-noun parser, with limited vocabulary.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Game solution by Zeljko Juric

If something is not clear, ask me using E-mail:
zjuric@utic.net.ba

Or, if this address is outdated, search for E-mail at my home page:
http://www.void.demon.nl/warajevo/index.html