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Submachine Zero: Ancient Adventure


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Rating: 4.7/5 (212 votes)
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JaySubmachine ZeroSubmachine Zero: Ancient Adventure is a spectacularly detailed Flash point-and-click puzzle game from one of the leading designers of the genre, Mateusz Skutnik (also known as Murtaugh) of Poland. This competition entry also placed within a tight group of puzzles that resembled a photo-finish at the horse races. In other words, it was difficult to pass this entry by as a prize winner.

This latest adventure offers similar mood and mystique as the other games in the Submachine series, and Mur demonstrates his masterful ability to create engaging and compelling game play experiences, even within a game of a smaller scale as this was designed specifically with the competition in mind. The level of immersion experienced by the player is enhanced through both sight and sound making this an excellent addition to the series. The interface is especially remarkable, as it is very intuitive and does not get in the way of the game play. This is more an evolution than a revolution of styles, however, as Mur extends and refines his game-making talent.

Overall, the game is very easy; too easy, in fact, for it to have been rated highly as a puzzle game in the competition. It just doesn't offer much of a challenge as its puzzle is straight forward and easy to complete. I had figured out the solution to the puzzle before I was even half-way through, and from then on it was just rote.

Still, I would be remiss if I did not whole-heartedly recommend the game, especially if you enjoy the rare experience of a well-produced, point-and-click adventure game as this one is.

JohnBJohn: I was thrilled to see a Submachine-related entry from Mateusz in our competition. If you aren't familiar with these games, I'll advise you to start playing right now. Each of the installments is a shining example of style, atmosphere and simplicity rolled into a surprisingly deep casual gaming experience. Submachine Zero takes the same point-and-click pizazz from the previous games and scales things back just a bit to fit our competition theme. The game has a wonderful setting that hints at volumes of backstory. It's a little more straightforward than previous Submachine titles, but because of the depth of design you won't forget it anytime soon. Rarely do I get so engrossed in a game that I am compelled to finish it before leaving my chair, but Submachine Zero did the trick!

NoahNoah: Mateusz surprised everyone with a new edition of his popular Submachine games, reviewed here, here, here and here. With moody graphics that would be at home in an Edward Gorey book and spooky sound by the ThumpMonks, Submachine Zero is yet another great contest entry, and just as absorbing as Mateusz's prior work.

Play Submachine Zero: Ancient Adventure

We've been here covering the entire Submachine series since the very beginning with reviews and walkthroughs for all of them...

Outside the main storyline, and yet still another great Submachine, is a game created for the band Future Loop Foundation:

Walkthrough Guide


(Please allow page to fully load for spoiler tags to be functional.)

walkthrough

ready

set

here it is

..your have to collect 2 toungue
and then a lighter
place each tongue on each dragon and then it will open the door
then use your lighter to light each candle on each room
there's a brick lever you have to pull down so that one of the spikes on the left room will be block
notice the brick with symbol that rotates everytime you click it
one of the symbol must face up then you go to the room with brick symbol on it
whichever symbol is facing that will be the room that will open up
each room will have jewel
then one of the rooms will have a brick
you use the brick to trap the spikes on one of the room on the right
then you will have to place the jewel to where the symbol is and there... you will find the jewel..
that easy... i like it!

113 Comments

I'm missing the second jewel... I've run out of ideas. :(

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Never mind my last comment please. :)

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its good, but I got stuck :(

I got the 3 jewels, what do I do now?

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Nevermind

I got the stone and got past the spikes.

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I beat this one when it first appeared as an entry in the contest. The sound effects are great. I must say though, that I have forgotten how to get past the spikes at the end of the game. I was a little saddened by how short this game is.

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I agree, It was way to short.

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It was designed for the "simple puzzle game" competition, and therefore the length was appropriate.

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I loved this game! This and "Gateway" were my favs in the design competion. I was able to finish it without any hints or spoilers.

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what do you do with the gems?

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@Noah

Kudos for the Gorey referance.

This game is very tricky, I must come back to it and finish it, but as far as I got, it was really well done and, unlike many puzzle games, every step was a logical progression of the last.

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where are the jewls?

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Okay I see the stones but I can't get them.

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im stuck!!! i have put the tonges in the dragons and i climed down the rock ladder but i dont know what to do next! plz help me!

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how can i get it? i'm stop at the second room
i need help

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Im probably very stupid, but why doesnt that damn lighter get out of my hand!?!?! I light the candle, but i cant do anything else after that...

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Ronnn - That's because you have to set the lighter back down if you don't want to carry it with. Try clicking back on the inventory area from where it came.

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Brad Harrington September 13, 2006 3:24 PM

I got the gems but don't know what to do with them, can't get through the spikes on the right.

Help me spock!!

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I agree. I have the stone and the jewels and I can't get past the darn door on the right.

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OK, I've got the two tongues, and the lighter. That's all I've done. NOW WHAT DO I DO?!!!?!

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Uh, Im having the same problem with the lighter!!! :(

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Man...I was kind of expecting a bigger ending than that...it was really nifty, but short. I liked it though!

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so... the jewel of wisdom just reminded me of the thing above the people's heads in The Sims.

and for those stuck by the spikes, try using something to block them...

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How do I get through the spikes? What do I use? Where do I get it?

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Scott - to get through the spikes:

you'll need the stone tablet you find on the ground in one of the rooms on the left. Place it toward the lower set of spikes to clear a way through for you.

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Ok, I have all the jewels... what do I do with them? And how do I get through the other spikes? I don't know how I got through the first one...

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ok. i got de jewles and the stone but i dont know what to do...can you help me?

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This is an answer to the game for Mexican readers...

Wow! Valla ke los estadouidenses son tontos!
En la habitacion de la tercera joya hay una piedra. Esa piedra se pone en los picos de la reja derecha, despues se ponen las joyas en la estatua y se obtiene el cristal y asi se termina el juego.

Atte. Un Mexicano más listo ke ustedes.

--------
Translated it goes something like this...

Wow! Near the third jewel there is a stone. The stone is to be put at the tips of the right grate. Then put the jewels in the statue you find there and the crystal is obtained, and that is the end of the game.

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Ok ending, but it's kinda hard. I had to use 2 hints to win. Oh, and thanks, Jay for the nice hint.

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yo that was the easiet puzzle ever i got it in like 10 minutes

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i cant get through the door.
how do you get in

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what do you do after you get the jewels and the stone Jay?

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Gameman - you have to find the place to put the jewels. It's beyond the spikes on the right side of the dungeon.

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I'm having the same problem trying to lose the lighter

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Helen Daniels October 7, 2006 8:24 AM

I was able to complete the puzzle quickly, and would appreciate a more complex one in the future, however I felt a sense of achievement when I completed it!!! and very much enjoyed the process!!!

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ok i have the red jewel # 2 and i have the lighter ...sooo what next? help plz and thx =)

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sorry but that was to easy for me i did it all in 5 mins

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Hey man it was good, actually took me exactly 4 minutes to do but i think extended levels and it would be a class game.

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Fab! It took me ages but I got there, great time waster!

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to get passed the last spikes

get the stone. then go to the spikes click on the stone then click on the spikes. Once in side the room take the jewels and match them up with the picture on the statue on the big rocks under it then you have beaten the game affter you get the green jewel

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I actually think that is the first point and click game I've ever fully done without cheating :)

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Antwon Fisher October 14, 2006 9:45 PM

Boooo!!

That was waaaaay too easy.

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walkthrough

ready

set

here it is

..your have to collect 2 toungue
and then a lighter
place each tongue on each dragon and then it will open the door
then use your lighter to light each candle on each room
there's a brick lever you have to pull down so that one of the spikes on the left room will be block
notice the brick with symbol that rotates everytime you click it
one of the symbol must face up then you go to the room with brick symbol on it
whichever symbol is facing that will be the room that will open up
each room will have jewel
then one of the rooms will have a brick
you use the brick to trap the spikes on one of the room on the right
then you will have to place the jewel to where the symbol is and there... you will find the jewel..
that easy... i like it!

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wow like where is the thing to open a door or trap? like I cannot find the key to open a door!!!!!!!!!!!! help!!!!!!!!!!!!! me...........

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It was good but real short i hope the next one would be a little longer.

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It was definitely easy, but I'm glad- It was supposed to be short, and it's a nice break from stuff like antiriddle that makes my brain hurt.

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Had trouble with r/h door until I read your help comments - then it was all over. What a disapointment.

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the game is easy but i see alot of peapole are stuck at the same part.

when you find the 3 gems look for a stone and go too the traps there you have to put the tablet at the bottem spike and then you put the 3 gems in place and go down an finished

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tara jayne November 11, 2006 6:58 PM

Great game thanks enjoyed it alot yeah its short but i really enjoyed it

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ok,maybe i'm being really dumb here,but, where is this lighter that keeps being mentioned? i got the two tongues but can see or find a lighter anywhere?

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Men i did evrything but when i try to put the gems on the place thay wont stay there..WAHAT DO I DO?

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muy bueno !! very good game man !!! and very sofisticate

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Hey everyone if you thought this game was to short, start the game again then right click for links to submachine 1, 2, and 3. If you were wondering i could only beat 1 and 2 and this one. Oh and 2, and 3 are the long ones. But 3 is extreamly hard ( for me at least ) ok c ya later

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Congrats to the winner with this game. Keep on the good work. I liked it.

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i cant pick up stone tablet

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No-one known December 15, 2006 2:38 PM

Looks like this game happens before Submachine 2.

The reason is...

at the end you get the wisdom gem in this game at the end, when you start submachine 2 you have the wisdom gem. Thing is that submachine zero has the gem green, in submachine 2 it's grey?

So, it's kinda weird but true.

Maybe it's a sequel from Mur, like we were playing as Mur in submachine zero.

That or submachine makers wanted to make a 10 minute game for those who cannot do 30 minutes.

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I agree, this was way too easy.

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I agree, this was way too easy.

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i cant find the candles

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that was cool

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that crystal is really weird because u have it in the 2nd game but its grey like it doesnt work anymore or something

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i dont know were the candels are please help

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... wow. that was pathetically simple. i hope if they make another one it it longer and harder to solve...

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wat do u do once u have all three lil red shapes????? help me plz

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as a big submachine fan im very disapointed at how short and lame this one was. I expected it to be way better.

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It was way to short i never had to use hints lie in the other ones and i finished in like 6 minutes but it was a good game.

to get past the spiked door on the right go down to the room with the entrance to the jewel rooms go to the left room and pick up the tile by the door and use it to block the bottom 2 spikes

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complete spoiler
outside

go to the left and and right and pick up the lighter tongue 1 and 2 and put them in the dragon things mouths

inside

go down and left and youll see a door with spikes go down and click on the thing sticking out of the wall. go back up and you can go through the door spin the stone once. go back down and go through the door way across from the thing sticking out from the wall then go down and go in the open door and get the jewl. go to the spinning stone room and click it again go back to the room with the jewls and a different door is open get the jewl spin the stone again go back and get the last jewl. open the left door in jewl room and grab the stone slab by the door go back to the second room inside and go right put the stone slab by the spikes and go through put the 3 jewls the right place and the stone will lift revealing the last door go down and pick up the crystal

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number 2 was the best

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Blahama Blaha January 14, 2007 3:07 PM

nice game but toooo easy and short =)

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Too easy, Too short :(

and i couldn't find a single option anywhere to lower the graphics quality, which meant the game lagged up like heck.

And the people who are wondering why the gem is green, remember that this has nothing to do with 1 or 2. this is the gem of ancient (I think... too lazy to go back through and check :P) wisdom, so its got nothing to do with the regular wisdom gem.

nice grpahics and all, but i'd like this to be much longer, bit harder and it couldn't hurt to have a quality control :)

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I got jewl 3 but cant get past the rest

WHAT DO I DO?

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ME
What have you done with the jewels?

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can someone give me a walkthrough please?

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farquhar
Which bit do you need help with?

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so easy! But looking for the

lighter

was a little too frustrating!

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Wow that was really easy.

I'm so happy I figured it out myself xD;;

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I enjoyed it, it was really simple, but I hafta say I was hoping for more. Not more difficulty necessarily, but something at least a bit longer. Compared to it's predecessors, Ancient Adventure is a quick bite rather than a satisfying meal.

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I don't think people realize this game was created for our first game design competition, which called for "simple puzzle games".

This particular game was longer than most games submitted to the competition. So when you put it into perspective, the game fit quite nicely amongst the others.

It wasn't meant to be a continuation or a sequel to the series, hence the "Zero" denotation.

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where is the brick ?

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jay, I'm not too sure.
In this game you collect the ancient crystal of wisdom, and I'm sure that it's mentioned that you have it in other submachine games.

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Jatinator April 23, 2007 7:14 PM

Anyways i still don't get how to get past the part with the three jewels!

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Where are the jewels. Please help!

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someone May 7, 2007 2:01 AM

here's an interesting hypothesis

just an idea....the gem at the end of submachine zero is unused...whereas the gem in submachine 2 has been used by mur...remember one of the notes...perhaps the gem has lost some power and as a result changed color... mur did supposedly use it to power stuff right?

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Its a cool game but i got stuck,after we climb down the very first ladder we go right and there we see 4 sword like thing coming to us how can we stop that after u tell me how to stop pls give me the next instruction as to what to do after that????????????????
pls help me.

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Ray
Does the walkthrough near the top of this page help you at all?

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Hey, this is a great game, but someone needs to reformat the walkthrough a little bit. There are no periods and it is a little bit difficult to understand.

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Makai Sandor June 5, 2007 1:55 PM

Please more submachine!

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Anonymous June 20, 2007 11:56 PM

how do you get the second stone D:

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Mademan June 25, 2007 6:55 AM

Well, complete in 5 minutes. :) I don't know where the problem is, simple.

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This game was so easy!I beat it all in 2 minutes.And for some people who are stuck getting into the room with the statue protected by those swords on the right;

a stone is in the room with the jewel on the left.Put it on the swords and crouch under them.

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ImaRetard July 2, 2007 6:42 AM

OMG I was clicking the 3rd jewel room like mad. At least say the brick was somewhere not so obvious !! Like camouflaged in the shadows. Jeez

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nuttyfruity July 16, 2007 8:12 PM

This is the easiest game ever!!! I win!!!

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meireles July 17, 2007 11:01 AM

Im probably very stupid, but why doesn't that lighter get out of my hand!?!?! I light the candle, but i cant do anything else after that... i tried to put the lighter in the inventory but doesn't work, please its not the first time, i tried several times and always the same thing...

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It was a pretty cool game but it was really short i would have liked a few more hard puzzles in there.But anyways its a pretty cool game.

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ok so im writing because

this game was very easy to do i thought they could come up with something a little more challenging than that i mean come on its so easy!!

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I got everything pretty quickly, except the stupid tile.... Everyone was saying "by the door". I click all over the place and couldn't find it. Then i accidentally found it....thanks to michael who posted on jan. 10th. I found it only from his comments...

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Just-Mell August 28, 2007 2:02 PM

It was so fun ^.^
I liked it =D

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I found that this and Submachine FLF were much too short and possibly not even in the same class as 2, 4, even 1. (3 is in a class of its own-naturally)
Does anyone know if there are any plans on making more?

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for some wierd reason, I can't put the lighter back into my inventory...

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To B Man(and everyone else):
If you want a challenging game of Submachine, type this into the search box:

Submachine Remix

it was so hard, I beat it thanks to someone who posted a walkthrough.

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To get past the spikes:

go down and pull the lever stupid!

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i love this serires! its the best thing that ive ever wasted time on. and i agree 3rd game suked and this was way too short. but they rock!!!

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Victoria March 6, 2008 9:04 AM

i got the jewels and the lighter after i got the tonuges......but wat do i do with the jewels....how do i stop the last spikes?

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How do you put items back in your inventory after you are done using them? I used the lighter and it won't let me put it away so I can't do anything else. Please help me with this!

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cool i found it , i like this game!!! haha

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sararules July 15, 2008 12:27 PM

Sooooo easy

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Roseate Spoonbill August 25, 2008 10:20 PM

I couldn't place the jewels in their appropriate place.

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Roseate S.

Try inserting the jewels in a different order.

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How do you get the spikes to stop in the room on the right?

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To those having trouble putting away the lighter:

Are you clicking the BLACK area to the right of the shadowy area around the ladder? I know I tried to put it back in the inventory by clicking the dark grey area next to the ladder, because on that particular screen anything beyond that looks like it's outside the game window. Just click a little further to the right.

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ummmm... tommy? whats a period...? or am i just being stupid?

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utaukotori7 May 8, 2013 5:51 AM

I've got the 3 jewels easily and entered the last chamber where you can put the jewels.. but yet I can't put them on the statue :'

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Love these games. Now that Flash is on the way out, so many of them are no longer playable, including this one.

It's the end of a grand era of games.

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