Welcome to GOLD RUSH! The game takes place in 1848, and begins in
Brooklyn Heights, New York. Your name is Jerrod Wilson, you work in a
newspaper office, and you're not very satisfied with life. The object
of the game is to travel from New York to California and strike it
rich!
You have exactly 14 minutes from the time the game starts until the
gold rush begins. When this happens, your possessions drop in value
and prices skyrocket. Therefore, you must have completed all your
transactions before then. It is advisable just to walk around and
learn the location of everything, then restart the game.
There are three routes to California. Depending on which route you
take, you must accumulate different items in Brooklyn. Ready for
adventure? Okay, let's go!
BROOKLYN HEIGHTS: YOUR HOUSE
You start the game on a bridge facing east. Cross the bridge, and go
down the screen. Your house is on the corner. Unlock the gate and
door, and go inside. Look at the album on the table. Get the family
picture that brings back all those memories. Go over to the desk. It's
a rolltop desk; so, roll the top. Get the bank statement that was
hidden underneath. Read the statement to find your bank account
number. (Note: Each time you restart the game you will have a
different account number.) Leave the house.
Since you have decided to leave for California, you might as well
sell your house. Just type SELL HOUSE. A buyer will come along. You
can either wait for him, or just leave and come back later. Don't
worry if you get a message that he left; he'll return again. He will
offer you $850 for your house. Take the money.
GAZEBO
Walk west into the next screen. Go into the gazebo. Do not walk on
the grass, or a cop will come and take a point away from you! Get the
flowers, then enter the gazebo. Look into the crack in the floor. Keep
moving around and looking until you find the gold coin. Get it.
POST OFFICE
Go west again, that's the post office on the corner. Go in and ring
the bell. Ask for your mail. If he says you have none, leave and try
again in a minute or so. Once you have the letter, look at the letter,
the postmark, and the stamp. Now, look under the stamp. Hey! It's
_gold_! Open the letter and read it. Your brother has found gold and
wants you to come join him. Leave the post office.
NEWSPAPER BUILDING
Go to the left and into the large white building. This is the
newspaper building where you work. Go to your office. You don't know
where it is? But you work here! Oh well...it's up the stairs, last
office at the bottom on the right. Walk to your desk, and look under
the blotter. Get the clippings, and read them. (Now you know the story
about your brother). Well, if you're planning a trip out West, you'd
better quit your job. Go downstairs to the boss's office (the first
one on the left), and tell him you're quitting.
BANK, WAREHOUSE, CEMETERY
Go into the bank. Make sure you know your account number. Go to a
teller and type GET MONEY. Give him the account number when he asks
for it. Go north into the warehouse, and read the poster inside. The
address to get tickets is next door to your old house. Go back down to
the cemetery and find your parents' graves. (Hint: They are the only
two that look alike and are next to each other.) Read each grave, and
put the flowers down (sniff).
WHAT TO BUY IN BROOKLYN
Up to this point, everything you need to accomplish in Brooklyn is
the same -- no matter which route you plan to take to get to
California. If you are planning to go via sea, you must remember that
the steamship leaves exactly 18 minutes after the game begins. Go to
the house next door to your old one. Answer the questions the man asks
you, and tell him which ticket you want. (Note: The price of the
tickets will skyrocket after the GOLD RUSH! starts. Make sure you buy
them before then.) If you intend to go via Panama, you'll need the
mosquito net from Rand's Hardware store. If you're planning to go via
the Cape Horn route, you will need the fruit.
If you want to go via land, then just go and buy your ticket from the
stagecoach office. After buying the ticket, go to the stable, and SHOW
TICKET to the little guy in white. He'll escort you to the coach.
Enter the coach, and the rest will take care of itself.
THE PANAMA ROUTE
There is nothing to do on the ship. You will not die of mosquito
bites if you bought the net. When you reach the jungle you will have
to follow the rest of the crew. Talk to the man under the tree, and
he'll give you a Bible. (No matter which route you take, there will
always be a man reading a Bible: Take the Bible.)
Walk to where you see the hanging vine. As soon as the killer ants
start to appear, jump onto the vine, and hang there until they leave.
Go onto the next screen. There are four paths through this screen, but
you can't see any of them. Do not use the first two. You will have to
do this screen by trial and error. (Save the game before you try it.)
The third and fourth paths take you through. For extra points, take
the fourth path -- the hardest to finish. When your toe hits
something, look down. Pick up the gold disk.
The next screen is also solved via trial and error. Don't take a
straight path across the swamp, or you'll sink in. Occasionally, a
crocodile will eat you, too, but not every time. If this happens,
you'll have to restore. After that, the game runs by itself until you
reach Sacramento.
THE CAPE HORN ROUTE
Look around the ship. (The man who will give you the Bible is at the
right end of the ship.) There's not much to do until the storm;
anything you collect before the storm will be lost. So, even if you
find items before the storm, do not pick for them up (except the
Bible). Purely at random, you may die of Cholera. If you do, you will
have to restore back to Brooklyn. (Restoring to a point later than
Brooklyn won't help.)
You will not die of scurvy if you have the fruit. Now, you need food,
and there seems to be plenty of fish in the sea; so, let's go fishing.
Do not stand on the deck during the storm, or you'll get swept
overboard. Sometime during (or after) the storm, get the string from
the bunk room, the paper clip from the captain's office, the bait
(ham) from the cooks' table, metal scraps from the boiler room, and a
pole from the bottom floor (where the engine is being stoked). Go to
the back of the ship and type FISH. The game runs by itself after
that, until you reach Sacramento.
VIA LAND
Once you join up with the mining company, go over and talk to the
captain. He wants money, so give him what you have. He'll ask you to
obtain animals for the trip. Go down a screen and buy animals. Which
animals do you need? You're going on a long journey, so you are better
off buying the mature mules.
Go back and tell the captain, and he'll give you a second job. He
wants you to tell him when it's time to leave. Go up a screen, and
keep looking at the grass. As soon as you get a message saying that
the ground is getting greener and drying up, tell the captain. You
should have also bumped into our friend with the Bible (he's sitting
under the tree).
When you reach the steep hill, unhitch the team, and let the animals
go to drink and rest. To stop them from pulling you and the wagon over
the cliff, you must lock the wheels. When you get thirsty, drink water
from the barrel in the coach.
SACRAMENTO
Whichever way you arrive, you must immediately go to the stagecoach
office. It's in the building just left of the middle of the screen. Go
in, and look at the schedule. If you have missed the stagecoach to
Sutter's Fort, then you will have to restore; otherwise, get onto the
stagecoach.
SUTTER'S FORT
Walk around the fort. Find the blacksmith, and talk to him. Give him
your name and your brother's name. He'll give you your brother's
branding iron. Go to the graveyard and read the graves until you find
your father's. Read the grave. There is a cannon at the top. Psalms
23? Read it in your Bible. The phrase "Green Pastures" is in capital
letters. Use the envelope. Move it around until you are told it's in
place. Aha! So that's what those strange markings were for. Read the
letters. It says ROOM 12, or is it ROOM 21? Go back into the fort and
buy a gold pan. It's time to try your luck at finding gold.
PANNING FOR GOLD
You have to be at least 10 miles from the fort to find gold. (The
bottom of the screen will tell you how many miles away you are). Walk
in the stream, and keep panning. You will be able to find gold 50
times. Do not pan if there is anyone else in the screen, or you'll be
hung! Once you have all your gold, go back to the fort. Watch out for
the thieves: They'll take everything away from you.
BUYING THE REST OF YOUR SUPPLIES
Go and buy a mule. Take it to the blacksmith, heat up your branding
iron, and brand the mule (with your brother's mark). Take the mule to
the stable, and leave him there while you shop for supplies. Go back
to the store where you got the pan, and buy the shovel and a lantern.
Now, go back to get your mule. Look at all the mules until you find
the one with your brand on it. If it says it's a quiet, tame animal,
you don't want it. Your brother has left his mule there for you; you
want to get his instead. Once you have it, head back toward town
(southeast). Be careful not to lose your mule.
THE GREEN PASTURES HOTEL
Find the hotel. It's called Green Pastures! You recognize that from
the Bible! Tie up your mule to the post outside. Go inside and look at
rooms 12 and 21. Hmm...Room 12 looks suspicious. Go back downstairs
and look around. There is a message box. Ask for your message. You are
told you don't have any messages because you're not staying at the
hotel! But can you do the man a favor by delivering a message to the
man in Room 11. Say YES.
Take the message, knock at the door, and give the man his message.
When he leaves, quickly walk into his room. (If he catches you in
there, you'll have to restore.) To get into Room 12, go to the left
wall, and look at the fireplace. Aha! You recognize that cannon. When
you turn the wheel, the fireplace opens. Go through the fireplace into
Room 12.
ROOM 12
Look around the room. Get the string from the floor, and the magnet
and note from the table. Read the note. What is that bird cage doing
there? Open the window, and in flies a bird. Look at the bird, read
the note in the capsule, and put your identification in the capsule.
What identification? The family picture, of course! Off flies the
bird; when it returns, look in the capsule. Get the "pigeongram" and
read it. Follow? Stubborn? Aha! You've heard the expression "as
stubborn as a mule," right? Follow that mule!
JAKE'S HOME
Take the mule back out of town, and type FOLLOW MULE. It moves quite
quickly, and seems to know where it's going; be careful not to lose
track of it. (Watch out for robbers.) When you reach Jake's home, go
inside. Get the matches. Go outside to the outpost, then go down the
hole in the middle of the outpost.
THE CAVE
Light your lantern and proceed down the cave. Do this as quickly as
you can; save whenever you make progress because you only have a
limited amount of oil in the lantern. You reach a door that's locked,
and you have no key. But there's a hole in the door, and it's the same
shape as the branding iron! Tie the magnet to the string and lower it
through the hole. Move it around until you hear a "clunk." Then, pull
up the key carefully.
Open the door and go down in the cave. Be very careful on the
ladders. Continue down to the bottom left, and get the pick. Keep
digging for gold as you walk through the caves. Once you have found a
couple of pieces of gold, go up the long ladder to the top. Take the
gold nuggets on the right. Move down the ladder a little, and you find
the mine on the left.
THE END
Carefully enter the mine (save the game first; it's very easy to fall
off the ladder here). Down in the mine you go; keep using the pick as
you go along. Eventually, you will find yourself in a large room which
contains...your brother!
Talk to him, and he tells you that he's almost made the ultimate gold
discovery! Use your pick. When you find gold, keep digging in that
same spot. While you're digging, you will discover a cavern. As soon
as the entrance is big enough, walk through.
You've done it! You and your brother now have as much gold as you
could ever dream of! Well done!
