<!--
	Title: (Screening Room: Strategy) Survive Infidel
	Abstract: Beat the Sahara's scorching heat, find a
		lost pyramid, and uncover an ancient solid-gold sarcophagus.
		Sound easy? It isn't
	Author: Shay Addams
	Source: K-Power, v1(4)
	Date: May 1984
	Transcription by Steve Derby
-->

<img style="max-width: 100%;" src="/public/img/articles/k-power-survive-infidel/title-splash.jpg" alt="Survive Infidel title graphic splash">

A pack of voracious rats gnaws at my legs as I
curse the day I met that old spinster, Miss Ellington.
It was her crazy idea to have me finish the expedition
that killed her father back in 1920. If not
for her, I'd never have trekked across the vast
Egyptian wasteland to share a tomb with some unknown
queen of the Nile. The snarling rodents
swarm across my body and it's all over — the game,
that is — a text adventure I've been playing for the
past two weeks.

The first of Infocom's "Tales of Adventure" series,
*Infidel* drops you off inside a computerized novel,
where you're a small-time explorer who stumbles
across the chance to loot a pyramid of a gold
sarcophagus and a fortune in gems.

<h2 style="color: darkblue;">The Scenario</h2>

In the opening scene, you wake up to find that
your workers have walked off because you forced
them to dig for a pyramid on a holy day — thus the
name, Infidel, that they call you in a parting letter.
To aid you in your quest, a plane drops a parachute
with a navigational device you need to locate the
pyramid. You also can use the crinkly, parchment-like
map that comes with the game. Miss Ellington
found this map among the papers of her deceased
father, a once-famous archaeologist. (This background
is revealed in a handwritten letter that's
part of the game package. You also get a *True
Tales of Adventure* minimagazine that contains as
much off-the-wall humor as helpful tips on how to
play Infocom adventures.)

After locating the pyramid, you have to figure out
how to get in before descending into the Chamber of
Ra, the first of a series of dusty, death-filled rooms
that await you. It's a treacherous trip through the
pyramid's mazelike halls, because the temple
priests left plenty of cleverly concealed traps to foil
looters. After solving the riddles of the circular
room, the cube rooms, and other brain twisters,
you'll eventually find yourself deep within the
antechamber (if the rats don't get you first).

<h2 style="color: darkblue;">The Scoring</h2>

Each time you accomplish an important task,
your score (displayed at all times) is boosted.
Ransacking the rooms for treasure snares extra points.
Classed as a "fumbling beginner" at the outset, you
work your way up through the ranks to become a
"poor professor" or "fairly good looter" as your score
improves. High scores (the highest possible is 400
points) won't come as easily as in some Infocom
games. For instance, the hieroglyphics you'll have
to decipher make puzzles extra tough to solve. Still,
no matter how hard the challenge, the problems
you'll face all have perfectly logical solutions, the
hallmark of a classic adventure.

SHAY ADDAMS *is managing editor of Computer
Games magazine.*

<div class="article-sidebar-box" style="background: #FFDFDF;">
<table style="margin: auto;"><tbody><tr>
<td><img style="height: 1.5em;" src="/public/img/articles/k-power-survive-infidel/hieroglyphs.png" alt="Hieroglyphics"></td>
<td><h2 class="tight" style="color: darkblue;">Info for the Infidel</td>
<td><img style="height: 1.5em;" src="/public/img/articles/k-power-survive-infidel/hieroglyphs.png" alt="Hieroglyphics"></td>
</tr></tbody></table>

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<div class="fancy-nums">

<div>1</div>

Examine everything! This is the adventurer's
credo.

<div>2</div>

Explore the campsite thoroughly before entering
the pyramid. You'll need certain objects found there.

<div>3</div>

Don't enter the desert without a water supply
(unless you're looking for a slow death and
the same old sarcastic comments that Infocom's
famous for).

<div>4</div>

The solution to a problem in one room often
requires an object or clue from another room.

<div>5</div>

Make a map. The fewer moves it takes to get
somewhere, the better.

<div>6</div>

If you get lost, drop an item and walk around
until you see it again to get your bearings.

<div>7</div>

Make playing *Infidel* a group or party game.
Different perspectives on a situation can
make a big difference.

<div>8</div>

Think logically (like Spock) when analyzing
each description for clues.

<div>9</div>

Try every direction: N, S, E, W, NW, SW, NE, SE,
UP, DOWN, IN, OUT, ENTER, STAND ON, etc.

<div>10</div>

When you get killed, study the text for a
clue on how to avoid that particular death
the next time.

<div>11</div>

If you have a printer, use the SCRIPT feature
to obtain hard copy you can "study" in
study hall.

<div>12</div>

Decipher the hieroglyphics (don't worry,
they're not real graphics, just cleverly arranged
characters). Compare them with one an
other, and with Professor Ellington's translations.

<div>13</div>

Use the SAVE feature to do more than just
continue a game later. Play up to a key
point and SAVE it as game 0. Explore in one
direction from that point and SAVE it as game 1;
RESTORE game 0, then venture in another direction
and SAVE it as game 2. Combine the information
gathered in both when you start game 0
again, and SAVE the results as game 3.

<div>14</div>

Call Infocom and plead temporary insanity;
they've been known to give clues to
adventurers who've completely lost their way.

</div>