You are standing in an open field west of a white house, with a boarded front door. There is a small mailbox* here.
*Try opening!
(>|)
You just started up a game and now you’re staring at text and a blinking cursor and you don’t know what to do!
Don’t panic kids—
Crazy Uncle Zarf is here to help you get started...
 
You can try all sorts of commands on the things you see.
Try the commands that make sense!
Doors are for opening; buttons are for pushing; pie is for eating. (Mmm, pie.)
◇◇◇◇
If you meet a person, these should work:
TALK TO name
ASK name ABOUT something
TELL name ABOUT something
GIVE something TO name
SHOW something TO name
Each game has slightly different commands, but they all look pretty much like these.
These commands are very common:
EXAMINE it
TAKE it
DROP it
OPEN it
PUT it IN something
PUT it ON something
PUSH it
PULL it
TURN it
FEEL it
When in doubt, examine more.
 
 
You could also try:
EAT it
DRINK it
FILL it
SMELL it
LISTEN TO it
BREAK it
BURN it
LOOK UNDER it
CLIMB it
WAVE it
WEAR it
TAKE it OFF
TURN it ON
DIG IN it
ENTER it
SEARCH it
UNLOCK it WITH something
Or even:
LISTEN
SLEEP
WAKE UP
UNDO
JUMP
PRAY
CURSE
SING
Take back one move — handy!
{ Does the game intro suggest
ABOUT, INFO, HELP?
Try them first!
}
N (“Go north.”)
NW NE
W E Also:
Up, Down,
IN, and OUT
SW S SE
What if I only want to
type one or two letters?
◇◇◇◇
N/E/S/W/NE/SE/NW/SW: GO
in the indicated compass direction.
L: LOOK
around to see what is nearby.
X: EXAMINE
a thing in more detail.
I: take INVENTORY
of what you posess.
Z: WAIT
a turn without doing anything.
G: do the same thing AGAIN
◇◇◇◇
A service of the People’s Republic of
Interactive Fiction: http://pr-if.org/