Search for the King Awesome Walk-thru!


 SEARCH FOR THE KING
        Part 1

 TV STATION, BUS STATION, BOBBI'S APARTMENT

 The King of Rock 'n' Roll has been presumed dead for many years, yet sightings
of him persist. Sleazy TV station, WILL, decides to cash in on the sightings by
offering a million dollars to anyone who comes up with evidence that the King is
alive. As the game starts, we find Les Manley, obscure WILL employee and
all-around wimp, hidden away in his basement office. It's your job to guide Les
to fame, riches, and high self-esteem as you <music, please!> SEARCH FOR THE
KING.

 A few things before we begin: First, note that some of the commands you give
the game can be abbreviated. For example, instead of typing ASK ABOUT WOMBAT,
you can just type AB WOMBAT. Using the abbreviations for ASK ABOUT (ab), LOOK
(l), OPEN (o), and TAKE (t) will save you much typing time and frustration. In
this walkthru, however, the complete commands will be given (just in case any of
you are a little slow on the uptake.)

 The second item has to do with doors. There are a fair number of closed doors
in this game, and to get through them you have to type OPEN DOOR. Since this is
apparent to anybody with a first-grade education, doors will be referred to only
if they are locked or are otherwise unusual.

 Now, on with the game. Take a LOOK AT CALENDAR. Looks like Les is due for a
promotion. LISTEN TO RADIO. The King had been sighted in New York! Walk over to
your desk and OPEN DRAWER. LOOK IN DRAWER and you'll see a thermos and a bag.
TAKE both items and LOOK IN BAG. A jar of peanut butter; not much of a lunch
unless you find some bread. Leave your office by walking east. (You can't do
anything with the water cooler or the curvaceous Stella, incidentally: Both are
on the other side of the wall.)

 Leaving your office, you find yourself in a hallway containing a locked door
and a water fountain. You never can tell when a cool drink may be needed when
you're hunting dead celebs, so walk over to the water fountain, OPEN THERMOS,
FILL THERMOS WITH WATER, and CLOSE THERMOS. Now, exit east, then east again.

 You're now in your boss's office. LOOK AT TV and you'll get two little tidbits
of information: The circus is in town; and Lyla Libido, the King's widow, is in
Las Vegas. LOOK AT DESK and you'll see some keys on the boss's desk. Keys which
open that locked door, perhaps? But you have more important things on your mind.
ASK ABOUT RAISE. Your boss doesn't seem very enthusiastic about giving you the
raise, but he does ask Stella to bring him your file. While your boss is ogling
Stella (it's easy to tell since his eyes bulge), TAKE KEYS. You were able to
take the keys without him noticing! Exit the office and walk back to the locked
door. UNLOCK DOOR, open it, and enter.

 There's not much of interest in the locked room, but if you LOOK IN TOOLBOX,
you'll see a reporter's ID. TAKE ID and walk to the elevator by your boss's
office. PUSH BUTTON to get the elevator doors to open. Walk in and you'll be
whisked up to the ground floor lobby. LOOK AT GUARD (he's sound asleep). WAKE
GUARD and he'll complain that you awoke him from a wonderful dream. File that
fact away in your brain and exit the building.

 Ah, the streets of New York! In front of you is a bus station, but don't bother
to enter: It's a red herring. (All it contains are an impossible maze, and
appearances by Alfred Hitchcock, Leisure Suit Larry, and Bart Simpson.) Instead,
walk east, then east again. Perhaps the resident of this typical New York
brownstone has seen the King? KNOCK ON DOOR. The mysterious occupant demands,
"If you're who I hope you are, prove it or get lost." SHOW ID and the door will
open. A middle-aged housewife greets you and invites you inside.

 Once inside, walk over to the couch and SIT ON COUCH. TALK TO WOMAN. Why, it's
Bobbi, the woman on the radio who claimed to have seen the King! You can tell
from the decor that Bobbi is a King fan. Wonder what that scarf is in the case?
ASK ABOUT SCARF. You find out it's a scarf that once belonged to the King. ASK
ABOUT KING. Bobbi tells you the King's favorite food was peanut butter and
banana sandwiches.

 What now? Try a LOOK AT TABLE. The description says the table is "just perfect
for sharing a soda." Well, why not? ASK FOR SODA and Bobbi will bring it to you.
Now that you have refreshments at hand, let's take a closer look at that scarf.
Type BOBBI, SHOW SCARF. Bobbi will take the scarf out of the case and put it on
the table next to the soda. If you could only take that scarf, perhaps it might
lead you to the King. But how could you get Bobbi to give it to you?

 It's obvious: POUR SODA ON SCARF. Bobbi kicks you out of her apartment, and the
game informs you that when she calms down she'll wash the scarf. Walk east from
Bobbi's building. There, on a clothesline, is the newly-washed scarf, hung out
to dry. CLIMB FENCE, walk over to the scarf, TAKE SCARF, and climb back over the
fence. (Okay, so it wasn't obvious, but whoever said adventure games were easy?)


 SEARCH FOR THE KING
        Part 2

 CIRCUS

 Walk west four screens. You find yourself at the circus. This is an overhead
view: To see the attractions up close and personal, you need a ticket.
Unfortunately, you have no money. Perhaps if you found the Colonel, he'd give
you a ticket out of the goodness of his heart. Walk to the left side of the
screen to the parking lot exit. (It's where the clown with the drum first
appeared.)

 You find yourself in front of a trailer. Walk to the trailer door and KNOCK ON
DOOR. It's the Colonel himself! If you ASK FOR TICKET, the Colonel tells you
that you have to earn it. ASK FOR JOB, and the Colonel says that he needs help
cleaning up after "the critters." That doesn't sound too hard, does it?

 Walk south. The "critters" are elephants! Well, it takes a big man for a big
job after all; just try not to breathe. Walk over to the shovel, TAKE SHOVEL,
and START WORKING. After shoveling, um, stuff for a bit, STOP WORKING. Head back
to the Colonel's trailer, KNOCK ON DOOR, and ASK FOR TICKET. Now you can see the
attractions. Exit east.

 Start with the Strong Man in the middle of the screen. Walk over to his booth
and type LOOK. You'll get a closeup of the Strong Man's booth. LOOK AT MAN. You
see Luigi the Strong Man clutching his rosin and looking depressed. Non-athletes
should LOOK AT ROSIN to find out what rosin is. LOOK AT SIGN. Hm, a difference
between Luigi and his picture, eh? LOOK AT MUSTACHE. It looks kind of droopy.
ASK ABOUT MUSTACHE. Luigi says that it's, er, not as stiff as it used to be.

 Before leaving Luigi, play a wild hunch. Didn't you see a Gypsy wagon in the
circus? ASK ABOUT GYPSY. Luigi tells you that the Gypsy is his daughter,
Angelina, and that you should keep your hands off. Exit the Strong Man screen
and you are returned to the overhead view. Walk over to the Gypsy wagon on the
right side of the screen and LOOK. The screen shifts to a closeup of the wagon.
Walk up the ladder and into the wagon.

 You're now face to face with Madame Zarmooska. ASK ABOUT FUTURE three times and
you'll see the King...King Graham from KING'S QUEST! Now it's time to get more
intimate with Angelina. ASK ABOUT ANGELINA and she'll give you a come-hither
look. But KISS WOMAN and she disappears into a cloud of pixels. Now that you're
alone in the wagon, LOOK AT CANDLES. Perhaps that wax might help Luigi with his
mustache problem? TAKE WAX. There's some other strange stuff in the wagon as
well. If you TOUCH LIZARD, a card pops out of its mouth. TAKE CARD and LOOK AT
CARD. A resurrection ticket? It might come in handy if the Grim Reaper should
come to call. Type EXIT to leave the wagon.

 Return to the overhead screen. Walk over to the display to the right of the fat
lady. Type LOOK to get a closeup. It's the World's Smallest Man, Helmut Bean.
ASK ABOUT HELMUT. Helmut tells you that he's bored with the same old routine and
that there's nothing to look forward to. ASK ABOUT JOB and Helmut tells you he's
sick of it. What Helmut needs is a hope, a vision...a dream! ASK ABOUT DREAM.
Helmut says he wishes he had one.

 Where could you get a dream? Head back to the TV station lobby. There's the
guard dreaming away. LOOK AT DREAM for a funny sequence. Next, TAKE DREAM. (Yup,
that's what I said!) Now you have a dream. Go back to Helmut and GIVE DREAM TO
HELMUT. You and Helmut become best buddies, so TAKE HELMUT. How many other
friends do you have who will fit into your pocket? Exit the screen and walk over
to the little cart next to the entrance to the big top. LOOK for a closeup.
There's a popcorn stand with nobody watching it. What's a circus without
popcorn? TAKE POPCORN and walk in the circus entrance.

 Oops, you must have taken a wrong turn someplace. You're in the ring with some
hungry lions! Thinking back to the original ADVENTURE (and about a zillion other
games), you decide to THROW POPCORN AT LION. While the big cat is chomping away,
exit to the east. Here you'll find Frederick Von Leep, the amazing acrobat. He
seems to be reluctant to climb the ladder. FEEL RUNGS and you'll find out why:
The rungs are slippery, but that's easily solved. GIVE ROSIN TO MAN. Fred will
use the rosin, climb the ladder, and make his daring leap. Leep's leap doesn't
quite work out as planned, though. Since Fred won't have any further use for
that cape he left behind, TAKE CAPE, and exit the big top. (The lion will still
be eating the popcorn when you walk by. It must have been the jumbo-size box.)

 Now, it's time for you to bid goodbye to New York and seek the King elsewhere.
Walk back to the bus station. Perhaps you can't take a bus, but you can send
Helmut to exotic places...literally. Walk over to the mailbox and MAIL HELMUT.
Now that you've sent Helmut off to places unknown, walk back to the popcorn
stand. Walk over and stand on the test-your-strength machine. With one solid hit
you are sent into the stratosphere!

 SEARCH FOR THE KING
        Part 3

 LAS VEGAS

 Look: up in the sky! It's a bird, it's a plane, it's...Les, falling painfully
to earth! After picking yourself up and dusting yourself off, you find yourself
in fabulous Las Vegas. Conveniently located next to the impact crater is a
mailbox. Walk over to it, OPEN MAILBOX, and TAKE HELMUT. Yes, your diminutive
friend beat you to Las Vegas! He must have been sent via Express Mail.

 Off to the east is endless desert. There's nothing waiting for you there but a
buzzard and a funny phone call from Stella. If you're trying to get all the
points, explore the desert (it's only two screens), and ANSWER PHONE when it
rings. To get out of the desert, OPEN THERMOS and DRINK WATER. This will clear
your senses and allow you to get back to town.

 If you don't care about your score, skip the desert, and head west from where
you crashed. You find yourself in front of a luxury hotel. Walk up the steps and
into the hotel. After riding the moving sidewalk, you find yourself in the hotel
lobby.

 Explore the hotel. You should find a pool-side bar, a swimming pool with Lyla
Libido and Mr. Fabulous beside it, a dry cleaners, and a typical floor with a
typical hotel room in it. You'll notice that Mr. Fabulous and his goon are not
very friendly. You'll need to distract Mr. Fabulous before you can talk to Lyla.

 Go back to the lobby and walk over to the desk clerk. First, ASK ABOUT KING. It
turns out he used to stay at this very hotel. Next, ASK ABOUT PHONE. The clerk
tells you that the phone is used to page guests. This gives you an idea. PAGE
FABULOUS. While the clerk is paging Mr. Fabulous, walk back to the pool. There's
Mr. Fabulous, talking on the white courtesy telephone...away from Lyla. Walk
over to Lyla and SIT ON LOUNGE. Your mere presence is enough to make her dive
into the pool. So much for hobnobbing with the stars. She left her sunglasses
behind, though, and as you know from reading the NATIONAL INQUIRER article that
came with the game, those glasses used to belong to the King. TAKE GLASSES and
leave.

 Walk to the elevator in the far east corner of the hotel. Enter it and PUSH
BUTTON. This will take you up to the Typical Floor. Walk east to the Typical
Room. Wonder what's in that maid's cart? Walk over and LOOK IN CART. In addition
to the usual cleaning supplies, there's a skeleton key. Bet that would come in
handy. Unfortunately, the maid won't let you take it.

 If only you could distract the maid somehow. (You do a lot of distracting in
this game.) Walk into the bathroom and LOOK AT SINK. On this invisible sink is
some dental floss. TAKE FLOSS. Walk back into the bedroom and LOOK AT DOOR.
There's a sign on the door. READ SIGN: It's a DO NOT DISTURB sign, of course.
TAKE SIGN, TURN OVER SIGN, and READ SIGN. It says something like, "Please make
up this room as soon as possible." Now that you have this side facing up, PUT
SIGN ON DOOR. The maid will come clean the room, won't she?

 She won't, because she doesn't have any good reason to clean the already tidy
room. You need to give her one. SIT ON BED, which rumples it up. STAND and walk
over to the maid's cart. While the maid is bent over making the bed, TAKE KEY.
Now walk back to the elevator and PUSH BUTTON. With the maid's key you are able
to reach the penthouse -- the very same penthouse where the King once stayed.

 Exit the elevator and go east. Walk over to the head of the tub. (A bathtub
with a view...now, that's luxury.) LOOK IN TUB. The tub is clean, except for the
drain. LOOK IN DRAIN. There's something there, but a big klutz like you could
never reach it. You can't, but Helmut can! TIE FLOSS TO HELMUT and LOWER HELMUT
INTO DRAIN. Helmut bravely plunges into the drain and comes back with a receipt.
LOOK AT RECEIPT. It's for a white suit, the sort of fashion once favored by the
King.

 Before leaving, PICK UP FLOSS. The game has made you drop the floss without
noticing. Nasty, huh? Go to the elevator, PUSH BUTTON, then go into the dry
cleaners. GIVE RECEIPT TO CLERK and the attractive attendant will fetch the
white suit. TAKE SUIT and EXIT. Now, walk to the front of the hotel. It's time
to leave Las Vegas, but how? Taking a LOOK around will give you a clue. Drifters
with no means of transportation except their thumbs, eh? HITCH A RIDE, and
you're picked up by the last remaining psychedelic van in North America.

 SEARCH FOR THE KING
        Part 4

 THE KINGDOM

 You are dropped off in front of the Kingdom, the King's southern estate.
Unfortunately, the gates to the Kingdom are locked. Exit the screen to the east
and you'll find yourself on an overhead map of the kingdom. Walk to the upper
right part of the screen where the black and white icon of a telephone is. You
find yourself in front of a bar holding a celebrity look-alike contest. You
decide to enter, since the suit, cape, scarf, and glasses make a pretty good
King costume. All you need now is a place to change clothes. Think like Clark
Kent and enter the phone booth. WEAR SUIT, and you look just like the King! Just
like a gangling, nerdish King, that is. Enter the bar and wow them with your
talent. SING or DANCE.

 Oh, well, at least you got free entrance to the Kingdom out of it. Return to
the overhead map and walk over to the mansion steps. You find yourself inside
the King's mansion. It's packed with valuable King artifacts all of which are
protected by a security alarm. Try stealing something to see what I mean. Since
you've acquired the habit of stealing King memorabilia, you need to deactivate
the alarm before you can continue with the game. First, you need to find the
alarm. Walk over to the bear rug and LOOK IN MOUTH. There's a switch in there,
but you can't reach it. Time for Helmut to do his stuff again. PUT HELMUT IN
MOUTH and the alarm is deactivated. Now, exit east.

 This is a room full of trophies and awards. Walk over to the awards and TAKE
MIKE. Also, TAKE THE GUITAR, then LOOK AT GUITAR. Hm, a string is missing. No
problem, though, as you have a replacement string of sorts. STRING GUITAR WITH
FLOSS.

 Exit west and then go north to the dining room. There's a door to the kitchen
here that you can't open. There's also a bowl of fruit on the table. Didn't
Bobbi say that the King's favorite food was peanut butter and banana sandwiches?
TAKE BANANA. Now all you need is bread.

 Ignoring the kitchen door for the moment, exit south, and go up the stairs to
the second floor. Exit west to the King's bedroom. There's nothing of interest
in or on the bed, so OPEN BUREAU. Inside is a secret mechanism. Walk over, TURN
ON MECHANISM, and the BatPole (sorry) the KingPole appears. SLIDE DOWN POLE and
you appear in the kitchen. RELEASE POLE to stop that spinning sensation. Walk
over to the eastern side of the counter and OPEN COUNTER. Walk behind the
counter and LOOK BEHIND COUNTER. Bread...just what you need to finish the
sandwich! (Don't ask me why there's fresh bread in a kitchen that hasn't been
used in years.) TAKE BREAD and MAKE SANDWICH. Mmm, that was tasty, but
fattening. The King's suit isn't as loose-fitting as it used to be. You can
leave the kitchen by the door to the east, which will take you to the dining
room.

 Time to get your revenge back at the bar. With your increased girth and
authentic mike and guitar, you're a dead ringer for the King. You're a cinch to
win the look-alike contest. Go back inside the bar and SING. You'll get your
just reward in more ways then one!

 There's nothing to do but sit back and accept your fate. You do indeed get to
meet the King, although not in the way you expected. It's a good thing that you
got that resurrection ticket from the Gypsy, though! Thanks to the ticket a game
that might have ended in tragedy instead leaves Les poised for love, success,
and a sequel!


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