-The Logical Journey of the Zoombinis FAQ/Walkthrough
-V1.0 (1/18/06)
-By KIRBIX
DISCLAIMER:
This is property of KIRBIX (Sean D'Hoostelaere). This may be not be
reproduced under any circumstances except for personal, private use. It may not
be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed publicly without advance
written permission. Use of this guide on any other web site or as a part of any
public display is strictly prohibited, and a violation of copyright.
In plain English, this means that it is against the law for you to copy this
guide. If you want to print it out, that's fine, but I do not permit its use
anywhere on the web or for it to be used for anything profitable.
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|Table of Contents|
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I. Version History
II. Zoombinis!
III. Walkthrough
A. Basics
B. Zoombini Isle, and Creating Zoombinis
C. The Big, the Bad, and the Hungry
D. Who's Bayou
E. The Deep Dark Forest
F. Mountains of Despair
G. Zoombiniville
IV. Contact Me
V. Credits
I. VERSION HISTORY
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1.0 (1/06)- First (and probably last) version!
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II. ZOOMBINIS!
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The Logical Journey of the Zoombinis was a game created about ten years ago by
Broderbund. The game was designed to teach children to make logical deductions.
With the focal point of the game being the recognition of visual patterns, the
child was required to see what was presented, experiment a few times and then
reach a conclusion of what the pattern to the puzzle is. It was a great game for
teaching logic to kids, and much more importantly, they had a great time doing
it!
The premise? Zoombinis were a happy tribe of creatures that were harshly
enslaved. They greatly desire to free themselves from this enslavement, and to
build their own civilization known as Zoombiniville.
That's where you come in- you guide the Zoombinis past the obstacles of a harsh
world and try to get them to Zoombiniville! "Are you a bad enough dude to save
their species?" We'll see!
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III. WALKTRHOUGH
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This walkthrough will accurately cover anything and everything that you might
want to know when playing the game. You need tips? Got it. You want to better
understand just what you're going up against? No prob. You want to know if your
little boy will like this game? Absolutely fine. The point is that it's here for
whatever your needs may be.
You have hundreds of zoombinis that you have to take care of in this game, so
you naturally are going to be spending a lot of time with these fellows.
However, daunting as it may be, it's not quite as bad as you might think. They
come in groups of 16, not one at a time, so while you still have one hell of a
journey ahead of you, it is, again, not quite so daunting.
Now, the game is set up into three branches of three levels. The first branch
is always the same, and you must simply do your best to get through it. Upon
completing the first branch, you'll arrive at a camp. At said camp, you'll have
two things greet you:
1) If you still have all 16 zoombinis, then you're free to move on to the next
branch of the trail.
2) If for some reason you lost zoombinis along the way (SHAME ON YOU), you'll be
asked to get more zoombinis to the camp so that you have a full group of 16
to start the next one.
Once you've got 16 zoombinis at the first camp, you have two options. One, you
can take the road north through "Who's Bayou", and Two, you can take the road
south through "The Deep Dark Forest." Both paths are equally difficult in their
fashion, so you can give them both a try. My personal preference is the bottom
route, but you may find that the top route is your forte. If that is indeed the
case, then by all means take the top route. Whatever method is best for you.
After completing the second branch you'll enter a second campsite, and the same
rules as above apply. Once you get 16 zoombinis to THIS camp, you can continue
to the final path. The final path is also always the same, and is fairly
straightforward.
Finish the last leg, and you're on to ZOOMBINIVILLE! In Zoombiniville, you'll
have buildings erected in your honor. For each leg of the journey that you
complete with all 16 zoombinis still entact, they will erect a new building,
from bowling alleys to the infamous clock tower on the game's cover.
Oh, and I almost forgot- DIFFICULTIES. There are four of them, and they are
applied in a most interesting manner.
Every time that you complete a piece of the path (that means any of the twelve
individual levels) without losing a zoombini, the difficulty level of said level
will increase. There are four difficulties for each level, with their own
increasingly complicated puzzles to solve.
The difficulties are:
Not so Easy
Oh so Hard
Very Hard
Very VERY Hard
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IIIB.
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==.................ZOOMBINI ISLE, AND CREATING ZOOMBINIS....................==
==============================================================================
SO, let's begin with the basics. We start with Zoombini Isle. Here, you are
presented with choosing your zoombinis. How do you choose? Well, you don't just
pick them out of a crowd. Rather, you are presented with the ability to create
your own zoombini. You get to pick the following: Hair, Eyes, Nose, Feet. Each
of the four has five variations to it, as is explained below:
Hair- Slicked, Ponytail, Bald Tuft, Spiky, Green Hat
Eyes- Glasses, Shades, Sleepy, One-eyed, Regular (two wide open eyes)
Nose- Blue, Green, Orange, Purple, Red
Feet- Sneakers, Roller Blades, Chasis (AKA wheels), Spring, Propeller
So, you pick one of each and then choose the create button to pump out a
zoombini. Simple, no?
Well, THAT's simple, but there's a bit more to it than that. You see, you can
create two of each zoombini style. That means you can have anywhere from 8
unique styles to 16 different ones in any given run. So, the question arises-
since this game is all about patterns on zoombini's appearences, is there a best
way to choose zoombinis?
The answer lies in where you choose to travel with your zoombinis. The north
path has two levels that in which zoombinis are linked together by common
traits. However, the southern path has the fleens. If you've got twins, you'll
have two fleens that look identical, meaning that it will be that much
harder to decipher the puzzle.
You've got a few options, really.
1) Due to the fact that twins navigate the first leg that much easier, you can
take a group of 8 twins through the first leg, and then another group of 8
twins through it after them. When they get to camp, you split the twins up
and take whichever path suits your fancy.
2) You can take groups of twins up the northern path, and take a group of
individuals down the southern path.
3) You can elect to simply always use individual zoombinis and take them down
whichever path is best.
Which strategy you choose is totally up to you, of course. Pick whichever you
think will work best for you, and your off!
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IIIC.
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==......................THE BIG, THE BAD AND THE HUNGRY.....................==
==============================================================================
This is it! Your journey begins! You've got three places to pass through, so
let us begin, and let's hope you don't lose any zoombinis along the way!
ALLERGIC CLIFFS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Zoombinis land their boat on the base of the cliffs, and after a long climb
to the top discover that their way is blocked by a set of rope bridges that are
apparently guarded by twin stone statues carved into the mountain face.
In this level, the challenge is to get the zoombinis across the bridge. Each of
the bridges has allergies to certain zoombinis. If that zoombini tries to cross
the wrong bridge, the rock face will sneeze and blow him back to the beginning.
Here's the catch- there are pegs holding the bridge up. For every time that you
try to send a Zoombini across the wrong bridge, and peg comes undone. When all
pegs are undone, the bridge collapses.
In Not So Easy, one cliff does not like a particular trait (sleeked hair, orange
noses, springs, et cetera), and only ONE. That means that everyone without that
trait can go over his bridge, and the rest must go over the second bridge.
Once you hit Oh So Hard, One bridge will reject TWO traits (wow, TWO). Same
rule as above: everyone else goes over the other bridge.
Very Hard rolls around, and the game gets... interesting. One bridge is now
allergic to all zoombinis who DON'T have 2 traits. >_> You get several tries to
figure this one out, so start testing the bridges and pray that you figure it
out in time. The good news is that if you screw up, you don't lose any ground
at all.
Very VERY Hard is identical, so once you master very hard, you'll be AOK.
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STONE COLD CAVES
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After crossing the bridges and scaling the cliffs, the Zoombinis travel through
the mountains and come upon a set of caves. To get through the moutains they
must go through the caves, but the entrances are guarded by four rock faces,
each of which has certain tastes in who they will allow and who they won't.
This level is identical to the previous one in theory, but now there are four
different paths instead of two, and therefore you get even MORE fun! Luckily,
you're giving more leniency and are allowed to screw up more times than on the
cliffs. Unfortunately, I don't know the rhyme or reason to how many times, but
every time you mess up, the rocks slam the ground, and eventually there's a
rockslide and the zoombinis who have not gotten inside yet will be left out.
In Not So Easy, one of the larger rocks (that is, the ones that the zoombinis
must pass second) is totally pissed. One of the rocks is female, so maybe it's
her time of the month, but whatever the reason, that rock won't allow any
Zoombinis to pass by. As for one of the smaller rocks, it will pick a trait of
some sort and declare that it doesn't want to see that trait, disallowing any
Zoombini with that trait to pass. So, establish which rock is bitching, and then
deduce what trait one of them doesn't like, and you're done!
For Oh So Hard, the larger rocks are more complacent, and one of them only
dislikes one feature while the other is tolerant of them. Same goes for the
smaller rocks, but the large and small rock will not both dislike the same
type of trait (Hair, Eye, Nose, Foot).
Very Hard is getting more complicated; one of the four rocks doesn't like two
traits while another rock (if the first was a large one, this will be small, and
vice versa) doesn't like a particular trait in the Zoombinis. Use the same
strategy (assuming you had one) as you did on the bridges.
Very VERY hard is difficult to explain, so in the words of the esteemed
greygoalie, who wrote another guide for this game:
"One of the large rocks will not accept roughly half the Zoombinis for varied
reasons; one of the small rocks will not accept roughly half the Zoombinis for
varied reasons. These reasons usually are: Having 1 of 2 features, having a
combination of 2 features, or having 1 of 3 features."
He explains it best, so kudos to him for properly telling the tale like I could
not.
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PIZZA PASS
~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Fleens? You're not Fleens!"
After navigating the caves, the Zoombinis are nearly out of the mountains when
they come across a troll and a... pizza machine?
"Huh... whatever you are, MAKE ME A PIZZA!" he roars at you. So, you must make
him a pizza. This style of game is different from the previous two. You have to
properly make a pizza for him within a certain number of tries, or he will begin
chucking Zoombinis back to Zoombini isle where they must start over.
Now, there are several options for your pizzas: First, you can opt to put
nothing on it, and then there are five toppings for the pizza: Cheese, Olives,
Peppers, Pepperoni, and Sausage. Arno is VERY picky and will not eat just any
item that you might choose to give him. You need the exact toppings that he
wants. So, look for his telltale signs:
"Something on that I don't like!"- 1 topping is wrong
"Something must go!"- Same as above
"EW, YUCK!"- More than 1 topping wrong
"MORE TOPPINGS!" The ones so far are right, but you need at least two more
"More Toppings." You need one more!
There are a total of three trolls, and each one has their own sayings similar to
those; those ones are used by Arno, so there's your free tip!
In Not So Easy, you deal with lonely Arno, the stubby troll. With the 5 toppings
it's actually easiest to just try each topping individually, find out what he
likes and then combine them all to quickly win.
In Oh So Hard, you get to deal with TWO trolls, the new one being Willoaen, a
taller, slimmer, feminie troll. Don't get your hopes up- she's still made of
wood, so she's still ugly, and not to mention she has a wicked attitude that
reeks of PMS. They also add something new to the mix- Ice cream! Either they
like their ice cream with a cherry, or they much prefer just the ice cream.
You can use the same strategy that you used in Not So Easy and it should be
very simple to finish.
Very Hard introduces the third and final troll who is named Shyler. He's, well..
the best I can figure, he's just a pansy. Never willing to come out and say
what he thinks, he mumbles about the fact that "he's allergic", and whatnot.
However, he's just as picky as the rest of them, so it's still that much more
obnoxious to deal with him. By now you've got the hang of this, don't you?
Finally, Very VERY hard introduces two new ice cream toppings with fudge and
whipped cream. Three trolls, eight toppings. Plus, you start with four pizzas
already made incorrectly. Use that to your advantage and look at what's down
there. Best of luck to you, but it really shouldn't be all that difficult to
tackle if you've made it this far.
=================
With that, you enter the first campsite. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! ONTO BRANCH TWO!
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If you chose to go north, you will face three puzzles, two of which are reliant
on having zoombinis with similar characteristics with each other. For this
reason I personally recommend bringing sets of twins along the path. This
half can be tedious, but if you're smart, you can finish two of the three
with no fear of losing ANY Zoombinis.
CAPTAIN CAJUN'S FERRYBOAT
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Captain Cajun will take the Zoombinis the first step of the journey along the
bayou using his riverboat. However, you cannot just waltz onto his boat and
ride along. No, he doesn't require a toll, but for some reason, he has specific
tastes in who sits where on his boat. If you aren't willing to comply with his
requests and sit where he asks, you will be forced to not ride with him.
In this puzzle, each zoombini must have a trait similar with the zoombini next
to it. That is, both must have red noses, or sneakers, or be balding, et cetera.
There's no limit to how many mistakes you can make, so simply work at it until
you figure it out. Don't lose hope! You'll get it eventually!
Not So Easy is quite easy- There's three lines set up around the boat. No
zoombini touches more than two others. :Yawn: this should take 30 seconds.
In Oh So Hard, you deal with a long rectangle 8 long and 2 wide. Again, quite
simple. 2 minutes tops.
Very Hard, things are a bit tougher, as you have to deal with a 4 by 4 square,
meaning that you need to actually pay attention this time.
Very VERY Hard? Well, the square has been angled about 45 degrees, so that a
zoombini may have to share traits with as many as SIX neighbors. A pain to
finish? Hell, yes.
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TITANIC TATOOED TOADS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This will probably make you pull your hair out, or more likely gouge your eyes
out, because it's incredibly tiring on your eyes. Your Zoombinis have bid Adieu
to Cajun and continued on foot, but now they're at a lake that they can't cross.
Zoombinis can't swim a lick, apparently, although I don't blame them- how does
someone with a spring foot swim, anyway? At any rate, since they can't swim,
they instead look for help from the local natives again. This time they find
that they can enlist the help of the local tatooed toads to carry them across
the pond. However, there is a catch- these toads are tatooed for a reason- you
see, the pond is covered in lilypads which the frogs will use to escort you, but
the frogs can only hop over the lilypads that their tatoos are able to tolerate.
SO, to better explain- you have 16 zoombinis to get across, and each toad will
carry 2 across. Therefore, you need to find 8 toads to take your zoombinis to
the other side. Lucky for you, there are more than 8 toads to choose from. Each
toad has a tatoo on his back of one of three things-
1) Color
2) Lilypad Shape
3) Lilypad Design
So, it's pretty straightforward- if for example you have a toad with a red tatoo
on his back, you must place him on a lilypad with a red pattern somewhere on
the left side of the pond. The frog will now jump onto the next lilypad with
a red pattern that is adjoined to the first one. It will continue jumping onto
adjoining lilypads until it either gets to the end, or it comes to a dead end.
If it reaches a dead end, you lose both the frog AND the zoombini. Sucks for
you if that happens!
In Not So Easy, that's all there is to it- find 8 patterns in the lilypads, and
send your frogs across twice. Pay close attention, because it's typical for a
path to be right in all but ONE pad. My advice? Do colors first- they're the
easiest to do, for sure.
Oh So Hard introduces an interesting thing; a fairy (not Faerie.. this is a kids
game!) Drops her wand for you to take. Using her wand, you can switch the spots
of two lilypads. The wand has a limited amount of energy (shown inside of the
wand by the core), and when the energy is out, it's out.
SO, you need to plan your strategy once again. Find any direct paths (if any),
and if you see any paths that are just one of two lilypads off, switch them and
send those frogs off! Just don't make careless changes back and forth, or you'll
run out of energy!
Very Hard and Very VERY Hard are identical- in addition to the wand, Crabs will
now hop onto the lilypads at random intervals. They too have patterns on their
backs, and they will scuttle down as far as they can, and if a frog runs into
the crab, they'll turn around. If the crab runs out of places to go, it doesn't
turn around, it just stops. SO, you not only have to use the wand to find routes
for your toads, but also find routes to safely send the crabs packing.
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STONE RISE
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Once they're out of the god forsaken bayou, there's only one more obstacle
that they must face before getting to camp, and that's a sheer rock face. Their
only way up? An ancient mechanism that is activated when similar zoombinis stand
side-by-side.
This game is REALLY self-explanatory. It shows you a symbol on the ground of
either hair, eye, nose, or feet. Underneath the symbol is a metal wire
connecting two octangonal grids together. So, put the corresponding matchup in
the two octagons, and the octagons will light up. When you choose the "continue"
arrow, all zoombinis on a lit square will continue while the rest stay behind.
While it's easy to learn, it's HARD to master. There are such an unlimited
number of patterns that it's incredibly difficult later on. Just remember that
there's an unlimited number of tries, so you can try over and over until you
have no more patience for it.
In Not So Easy, it's a breeze- it's 8 links of two, so if you have twins, just
put the twins together, and you're done! If not twins, spend 5 minutes tops
finishing this puzzle.
Oh So Hard is hardly much worse, as it's three zoombinis in a row. It requiring
some thought, but if you're good at thinking conceptually as the puzzle
requires, you'll do just fine.
Very Hard is where things get messy. The Zoombinis are arranged in long chains
of sorts, and you must begin to think carefully about it. Just remember that
there's no hurry, and that you can make as many mistakes as it takes to get it
right. Be patient, and think it through.
As for very VERY hard, well... it's a spiderweb of connectors. It will take all
of your conceptual skills (or blind luck) to pull this one off. I wish you
Godspeed, sir!
=================
And with that you enter camp number two! Excellent! However, before I continue,
let's cover the stuff that those of you who chose the southern route will be
dealing with.
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IIIE.
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==..........................THE DEEP DARK FOREST............................==
==============================================================================
Going south presents you with three types of obstacles. The first one is best
done if all of your zoombinis are unique from each other to a certain degree.
The second one is best when the zoombinis look somewhat alike, and finally, the
third one is based on absolutely nothing regarding the zoombinis appearences.
So, your call as to how you want to set up your zoombinis. Whatever you find to
be the hardest puzzle, cater your zoombinis accordingly.
FLEENS!
~~~~~~~~~
The Fleens that Arno mentioned earlier surface themselves here in the forest!
They are the cousins of the Zoombinis through some twisted family line, and they
HATE the Zoombinis, ready to beat them up for showing their faces on Fleen turf.
Fleens are just like Zoombinis- they have four styles for their hair, eyes, nose
and feet. For each zoombini that you have, there is a corresponding fleen. Three
of the fleens are on a tree branch with a bee hive hanging down.
Now, these fleens are agressive; if you send a zoombini down to face them, the
corresponding fleen will charge and drive them up the tree onto a branch beside
the other fleens. The branch can fit 6 zoombinis, so if you take more than 6
guesses to get it right, you will begin to lose zoombinis one at a time.
Your goal? Find the three Zoombinis that are related to the fleens on the brach
with the beehive. Get them to chase their Zoombini relatives, and if all three
jump off of the branch, the resulting bouncing of the branch will piss the bees
off, and those bees will in turn attack the fleens and run them off, allowing
for your Zoombinis to get safe passage along their way. This puzzle is fairly
straightforward, and once you figure it out, you're all set.
In Not So Easy and Oh So Hard, the fleen appearences directly correspond with
Zoombini traits; hair for hair, eye for eye, et cetera. You get three zoombinis
to test which traits you're looking for before you have to get the ones off the
tree, or you'll lose a zoombini. A few tries and you'll get the hang of it to
smash those nasty fleens!
In Very Hard and Very VERY Hard, the fleens correspond with different traits.
Meaning, Fleen hair could be related to Zoombini eyes, and Fleen eyes could be
related to Zoombini feet. Just remember this- the correspondance DOES stay true
through all 16 fleens, so figure out the pattern and then find those lucky
zoombinis to get the fleens off the trees! In six tries, well... it's mostly
luck, but there's SOME skill to it- do your best to diversify your zoombinis
as much as you can so as to make it easiest to find patterns.
Oh, and don't forget- the pattern in one game will NOT be the same in the next
game on any difficulty, so don't bother memorizing for the next time through.
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HOTEL DIMENSIA
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After a long trek through the woods, night falls and the Zoombinis need
somewhere to spend the night- apparently they're OK without one when they travel
through the bayou's up north, but down in the forest, things are a bit too
weird at night to keep going.
So, they come across a hotel run by a kindly old squirrel, but this time they
have a new problem- each other. Certain Zoombinis will only tolerate being with
others of a certain kind. Get all the zoombinis inside before the hotel closes
for the night!
So, here's how the puzzle works- you have several rooms to seperate your
Zoombinis into. The first zoombini will get into whatever room he chooses, while
the rest must go into their rooms by pattern. Figure out the pattern in the
alloted number of tried (wrong moves chuck them back out and move the clock
hand), and you're good! Those who are left outside apparently... walk home? I
don't know what the hell that's about.
In Not So Easy, it's just 1 row of 5 where you deal with a single trait.
Oh So Hard, and you have 2 traits interacting with one another instead of just
one; certain colums are certain features as well as certain rows being certain
other features.
Very Hard, and some of the rooms are boarded up to throw you off a bit.
Very VERY Hard is a mess- you have to toggle THREE traits at once, and may the
best man properly room the Zoombinis! Just don't hope for Zoombini romance- you
get nothing.
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MUDBALL WALL
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
So, you're out of the forest, and as was true in the Bayou, the Zoombinis have
to scale a rock wall to get to the final campsite. On THIS side of the trail,
there is an odd mechanism- a machine fires mudballs at the wall, and depending
on where the mudballs hit, boulders fall onto the platforms below. Zoombinis,
being incredibly ingenuitive, position themselves onto the planks so that the
falling boulders propel them to the top of the wall.
That's how this game works- you decide two to three factors on the mudball,
and depending on what factors you chose, it will hit different parts of the
wall. Those parts that will release boulders are marked by the fact that they
have dots on their respective squares. You have a limited amount of mud, so do
your best not to screw up too much!
In Not So Easy, you deal with two factors- Design on the ball and color of the
ball. The wall is a simple 5x5 grid of color x design.
Oh So Hard, and the grid is still 5x5, but the grid isn't DIRECTLY the same
color x design that it was in Not So Easy. However, there's a pattern to their
madness, so deduce the pattern and solve the puzzle!
Very Hard is Not So Easy again, only they add a third aspect- the color of the
design. So now it's 5x5x5 in a direct relationship.
Very VERY Hard is, you guessed it- 5x5x5 with a pattern that isn't as direct
as Very Hard was. Figure it out and get those Zoombinis home without running
out of clay! Good luck, sir!
===========================
And... you're on to the final campsite! Nicely done, and it's now time to start
the final (and worst) leg of your journey!
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IIIF.
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==..........................MOUNTAINS OF DESPAIR............................==
==============================================================================
Now that you've reached the final campground, it's time to continue! I hope you
enjoyed the previous path, whichever one you chose to take, because this one
is far worse than those were! Are you up to the challenge? Of course you are!
Now let's continue looking at the puzzles, shall we?
THE LION'S LAIR
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Zoombinis head into the moutains ever-so-ominous, and as they are traveling
they find themselves traveling through the caves. One day, while walking through
the caves, they come upon a curious sight- A Giant Sphynx is blocking the path,
and upon further examination the Zoombinis realize that the Sphynx will only let
them through if they travel past him in a certain order that he has preordained
using carvings on the wall. You know Sphynx's- ever-knowing; he knew that you
were coming and prepared this challenge for you days ago.
So, here's how it works- take a good look at the pictures on the wall, and
arrange your zoombinis in the order that the pictures show. As the difficulties
increase, he'll show you less pictures, and the number of traits that you must
consider will increase.
You do NOT have an unlimited number of tries, but there's a saving grace- when
you make a mistake, the zoombinis are put into their proper place so that you
can infer a lot of the correct answers based on how the computer chooses to
correct you.
In Not So Easy, the game shows you EXACTLY what order to use, so follow the
carvings. If you can't figure this out, you have real problems, or you're
colorblind... but if you're colorblind, how did you finish the tatooed toads
and the mudball wall? So I'll assume you're not colorblind, just stupid.
In Oh So Hard, the sphynx is now less kind to the zoombinis, and there are only
two of the carvings on the wall. Mess up a couple of times with people who are
NOT on the wall, and it will give you the rest of the order so that you can
finish the puzzle with no problems.
Very Hard takes us a step further- now he has them divided into groups AND
subgroups; "Green noses first, and the first green nose must have roller skates"
Cute, huh? You get two carvings of each of these groups, and while you get 6
tries before the gate closes, you might find yourself having difficulty. Trial
and error will only get you so far, but I'm sure a smart guy like you can
figure it out. After all, you've read this far, haven't you?
Very VERY Hard is, well... it's exactly the same thing as Very Hard, but there
are NO CARVINGS AT ALL. D'oh! Best you can do is make some educated guesses and
choose several varied zoombinis until you think you might have it. This is
quite difficult to do, but as is true of all first levels, you can always just
go back to camp and try again!
_ _ _
/ \/ \/ \
THE MIRROR MACHINE
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Deeper into the mountains the Zoombinis go! They begin to travel down, deep
into the mines... of MORIA! No, not really, but you ARE in a mine, now. The mine
is full of odd looking crystals... crystals with pictures of zoombinis set into
them! Cool! Now, what use does that serve you...
Well, in a nutshell, this game is a game of matching. You pick a zoombini, place
him on a minecart, and then pick glass slides so that the reflection of your
zoombini matches the gladd slides on the other side of the giant green rock.
There is usually only one correct way to do it, so you will almost certainly
spend a LONG time here. If you mess up, you lose the zoombini- there's NO
grace period in this puzzle.
In Not So Easy, it's a breeze. Find a mirror that matches the Zoombini that is
in front of the mirror and stick in on the opposite side. Flip the switch, and
now just do it 15 more times! Tedious, but very simple!
Oh So Hard is also quite simple- the same basic concept as Not So Easy, only
now there are filters set in place. By filters, I mean glass slides that have
certain features already on them so that your zoombini is going to look
different on the mirror. So, you must look for a mirror that looks the same as
your Zoombini does after filters have been applied.
Very Hard is where the real game begins- this time you've got the zoombini and
the mirror already picked out for you, and it's your job to choose the right
filter. The catch? The filters are misleading- when the filter is flashing, it
means that it will filter differently based on what the original zoombini/mirror
looked like. So, put them in place and see how they would turn out. Yes, it's
a long process of trial and error, but what can you do? Grin and bear it.
Very VERY Hard takes it a step further; now you've got to deal with TWO
Zoombinis and TWO mirrors at once. Luckily, the same concept from Very Hard
holds up here, so if you understood Very Hard, this should be a walk in the park
for you. (Well, that depends on the park- I mean a park in the Bronx is very
different from a park in Topeka Kansas...)
_ _ _
/ \/ \/ \
BUBBLE WONDER ABYSS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tired and ready to get to Zoombiniville, they have nearly reached the end of
their journey, but before them lies a chasm that they cannot avoid. Lucky for
them, someone else had a similar problem in the past and designed a machine to
blow giant bubbles, which the Zoombinis could then float across in. But, beware!
Apparently a wizard went through and cast a spell on the abyss to make the
bubbles react to certain things, or something weird like that, because now you
must solve a puzzle just to make the bubble go the right way!
Yes, it's a ridiculous premise, but aren't they all? So, it's your job to
navigate this abyss safely! As is custom, let me give you the rundown of what
all of the symbols mean, because if you don't understand them you are sure to
fail, and your mother taught you not to fail, didn't she?
White Swords indicate that the zoombini will travel in that designated direction
no matter how they were traveling before; these are simply there to make the
Zoombinis better navigate corners.
White/Grey Swords are translating arrows. That is, when one zoombini crosses it,
the arrow direction will change, and when another Zoombini crosses it, it'll
change again.
Swords with pictures over them are special- only zoombinis expressing the
feature shown on the sword will go that direction; the rest will drift past it.
Colored Swords change their direction when a Zoombini presses the magic button.
Otherwise they behave like normal swords.
Magic Fields remind me of the time pockets in Tomb Raider, sort of. Anyway, the
way they work is this- a Zoombini who hits them gets stuck until either
A) Another Zoombini runs into them and gets stuck himself, or
B) Someone presses the button, thereby releasing all zoombinis in fields of the
same color as the button.
Whirlpools are BAD- you hit a whirlpool and you'll DIE! Well, not die, but go
back to the last camp, undoing all your hard work! Avoid them, because there's
nothing good about them at all.
Oh, by the way, when two Zoombinis run into each other they BOTH fall into the
abyss and wind up back at camp, so avoid that one, too.
There are a two starting points for you to choose from, and everyone must get
to the opposite corner in order to win.
I don't have any specific strategies for any of these difficulties, so here's
some general tips.
-This is like a game of chess; map out what you plan to do before you do it, or
you will easily lose half of your party.
-While two Zoombinis in the air at once risk collision, don't be afraid to do it
as you may find that there are times when you want one Zoombini to change an
arrow or push a button for a Zoombini already in flight.
-The magic fields are nasty to put up with, but it's often a necessity to send
a Zoombini or two into the field and then free them later. So don't rule that
idea out in your plotting.
I wish you the best of luck- this is the last challenge, and it's probably the
most difficult to finish.
======================
YOU'RE DONE! YOU MADE IT! ZOOMBINIVILLE!
_ _ _
/ \/ \/ \
\_/\_/\_/
IIIG.
==============================================================================
==..............................ZOOMBINIVILE................................==
==============================================================================
You've made it, and a hard-won finish it was! Bask in your glory as the cute
little Zoombinis run and frolick!
... But, you musn't forget that you have MANY more Zoombinis to go! So, it's
back to Zoombini Isle to get a whole new batch ready for the journey!
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the Logical Journey of the Zoombinis. When
you manage to get all of your zoombinis to the village, you're done!
Congratulations, you are the master!
_ _ _
/ \/ \/ \
\_/\_/\_/
IV. CONTACT ME
###############################################################################
Got a question about the guide, or just want to make a comment? No problem-
Email me at kirbix@gmail.com. I get enough email already- adding yours onto the
pile won't hurt me any!
_ _ _
/ \/ \/ \
\_/\_/\_/
X. CREDITS
###############################################################################
CjayC, GameFAQs- For being such a great site for contributors to be a part of.
GreyGoalie- The guy before me, I quoted him up at the rock caves because he
put it better than I ever could. Thanks, man.
