Ballyhoo FAQ

Ballyhoo FAQ

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FAQ TITLE:

The Optimized Straightforward Walkthru for Ballyhoo

COPYRIGHT INFO:

This FAQ is copyright 2009 by Stanley E. Dunigan (dunigase@wmconnect.com).

This FAQ may be posted and used anywhere by anyone as long as it's unaltered,
but always check one of the official websites listed below for the latest
version.

GameFAQs (www.gamefaqs.com)
SuperCheats (www.supercheats.com)
Neoseeker (www.neoseeker.com)

FAQ DESCRIPTION:

Like all of my optimized straightforward walkthrus, this FAQ is a complete
walkthru for the game that has been optimized and organized to make it as fast
and easy as possible to complete the game. I don't give any reference-style
information, like a list of all items, or encourage you to do unnecessary
things. In true walkthru fashion, I just tell you the answers without explaining
or rationalizing them.

VERSION 1.0 (4/28/2009) NOTES AND CREDITS:

This is the original release of this FAQ, so I have no special notes or credits
to report yet.

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NOTE: This FAQ was written while playing the Ballyhoo version that came with the
Lost Treasures of Infocom package that was released in 1991 by Activision. As
far as I know, everything will be the same for other game versions.


*** STEP 1: Get the scrap of newsprint. ***

Go south from where you start, then help the poor midget get a drink of water
(HELP MIDGET). Go south and get the narrow pole, then go north three times to
get to the performance ring. Go up to the platform, then go east until you reach
another platform. Get the balloon, then go west until you're back on the first
platform.

Keep trying to go down until you can, then pick up any objects you dropped. Go
south twice and west, and pick up the discarded clown mask. Go south and wait
for Comrade Thumb to go through the turnstile, then use the balloon to help you
gain access (UNTIE BALLOON. INHALE HELIUM. HELLO, HARRY).

Go south and west, then wear the clown mask. Knock on the clown trailer's door
(KNOCK ON DOOR) to get Chuckles to open it for you, then go south to enter the
Clown Alley trailer. Close the door, then examine the ash tray and try to get
the ash. Doing so will cause a scrap of newsprint to be revealed, so take it.


*** STEP 2: Catch a mouse. ***

Wait until Chuckles throws you out. Leave the camp area by going under the
pleated canvas wall (GO UNDER WALL), then hide behind the cardboard President
Taft thing (HIDE BEHIND TAFT). Wait until Mr. Munrab and the detective have
their conversation and leave, then go under the wall again twice to discover a
piece of wood.

It's a set mousetrap, so hit it with the pole (HIT WOOD WITH POLE) before
picking it up. Go east, northeast, north, and northeast to get under the
bleachers. Search the garbage to find a ticket, then take it and punch out its
blue dot (PUNCH BLUE). Go southwest and south, then use the ticket to unlock the
turnstile (PUT TICKET IN SLOT).

Go east before the turnstile relocks, then go south and southeast. Look into the
nearby cage (LOOK INTO CAGE) to see a ring of keys, then use your pole to get it
(GET KEYS WITH POLE). Drop the pole, then unlock the cage, open it, and enter
it. Get the bucket and headphones, then go south, northwest, north, west,
southwest, and west to return to the prop tent. 

Drop the mousetrap without setting it, then drop the lump of meat and take it
again (to get it out of the bucket). Go east and west to exit and reenter the
tent. Keep doing that until a field mouse is timidly gnawing at the mousetrap.
Use your bucket to capture the mouse alive (CATCH MOUSE WITH BUCKET).


*** STEP 3: Get the spreadsheet. ***

Go east and northeast, then put your ticket into the turnstile's slot like
before so you can go east to the midway. Go south to the menagerie, then get the
mouse out of the bucket and into your hand (GET MOUSE). Show him to the elephant
that's in the tent to the east (SHOW MOUSE TO ELEPHANT), then use the G command
to do it again.

The mouse will escape, but that's okay. Put the lump of meat back into the
bucket (PUT MEAT IN BUCKET), then follow the enraged elephant southwest. You're
back near the white wagon, and now notice a stepladder attached to its rear.
Drop everything with the DROP ALL command, then climb onto the wagon by going
up.

Use the crank to open the square panel on the wagon's roof (OPEN PANEL), then
reach over and knock on the door to lure Mr. Munrab outside (KNOCK ON DOOR). Use
the IN command to enter the wagon, then lock its door. Search the desk to find a
spreadsheet, and take it.


*** STEP 4: Do a hypnotism session with Rimshaw. ***

Push the desk over to where it's under the open ceiling panel (PUSH DESK), then
get onto the desk (GET ON DESK) to get back onto the wagon's roof. Go down to
return to the ground, then use the GET ALL command to pick up your dropped
items. Go northeast, north, east, and north to enter the hypnotist's parlor.

Show your ticket to Rimshaw (SHOW TICKET), then ask him to hypnotize you
(HYPNOTIZE ME). Wait until a hawker shows up, then wave at him to signal that
you want something from him (WAVE AT HAWKER). Get the money amount he signals to
you passed to him (PASS $1.85 TO HAWKER).

Get up and go east, up, east, down, east, up, east, and down to reach the "In
the Wings" area, where you'll pick up an unwanted hitchhiker. Go south to find a
concession stand, then join its line of suckers (GET IN LINE). Wait until a much
shorter line begins to form, then switch over to it (GET OUT OF LONG LINE. GET
IN SHORT LINE).

Wait some more until some idiot ahead of you lets in a bunch of other idiots,
making your line the long one, then GET OUT OF LONG LINE again. Say YES to your
"inner voice," then do the unpredictable and get back in the long line (GET IN
LONG LINE). You'll immediately get a frozen banana, so eat some of it (EAT
BANANA) and drop it to get rid of the monkey.

Go north to the wings to find the hawker, then ask him about your money (ASK
HAWKER ABOUT MONEY). He'll say that the guy who was sitting next to you is
holding a granola bar for you, so go up, west, down, west, up, west, down, and
west to get back to where you started. That'll end the hypnotist's illusion.


*** STEP 5: Get the red ribbon. ***

Get off of the sofa (GET UP), then go south and west. Go under the big top's
side wall (GO UNDER WALL), then search the garbage under the bleachers again to
find the missing granola bar. Get it, then go under the wall again. Go east
twice and north to enter the fat lady's area.

Go northeast to get around to her other side, then give her your recently
acquired granola bar (GIVE BAR TO TINA). Say hello to her (TINA, HELLO), then
take her hand and kiss it (TAKE HAND. KISS HAND). Get the stool, then go
northwest and get the transistor radio that the fat lady dropped. Go south, west
twice, south, and southwest.

Start rewinding the tape in the headphones (REWIND TAPE), then drop everything
except for the radio and headphones (DROP ALL BUT RADIO AND HEADPHONES). Go up
to get on top of the wagon and get good radio reception, then tune it to station
1170 AM (TURN RADIO TO 1170). Record some soothing classical music on the
headphones (RECORD TAPE. WAIT. G), then stop the recording and rewind the tape
(STOP TAPE. REWIND TAPE).

Go down and use GET ALL to pick up everything you dropped, then go northeast.
Unlock the gorilla cage (UNLOCK CAGE), then open the cage and enter it. Search
the straw to find a trap door, then play the classical music for the ape (PLAY
TAPE). Open the trap door, then get the red ribbon that's in the space beneath
it.


*** STEP 6: Get the ransom note and trade card. ***

Go east to leave the gorilla cage, then close it and lock it. Go north to the
midway entrance, where you should find the defective detective that Mr. Munrab
hired lying next to the big top. If he isn't there, you may need to wait awhile,
or exit and reenter the area until he shows up.

Drop the lump of meat and get it again (to get it out of the bucket again), then
go west and fill the bucket at the water fountain (PUT WATER IN BUCKET). Put the
ticket in the turnstile's slot again so you can go east and dump the water on
the detective to wake him up (POUR WATER ON DETECTIVE).

Ask the detective about the kidnapping and ransom demand (ASK DETECTIVE ABOUT
RANSOM). Put the meat back in the bucket, then take the ransom note and trade
card that the detective laid on the sawdust. They're the last two pieces of
evidence that you need to collect.


*** STEP 7: Visit the Blue Room and chase a kidnapper. ***

Go south and southeast, then drop everything except for the ticket (DROP ALL BUT
TICKET). Use the ticket to open the old sideshow front (SLIDE TICKET UNDER
FRONT), then go east and get the ticket back. Try to open the Blue Room's secret
exit panel (OPEN PANEL) to get roped into making a blackjack bet.

When asked if you want another card, say NO, then open the secret exit panel and
go west, northwest, and southwest. Comrade Thumb (who was the one tapping your
shoe) will appear. Wait for him to direct you back to the Blue Room, then return
there by going northeast and southeast, sliding your ticket under the front,
and going east.

Look under the blackjack table (LOOK UNDER TABLE) to find a suitcase. Take it,
then wait for Billy Monday to grab it and run out through the secret panel.
Follow him by going west and up twice, then wait until someone pokes an elephant
prod up through the canvas you're standing on.

To avoid getting zapped, use the MOVE command, then use the G command until the
prod comes up through the canvas and lingers momentarily. When it does, grab
onto it and yank it around (GET PROD. PULL PROD). There's no hope of catching up
with Billy Monday now, so go down twice, ignore the lie about you dying, and use
the GET ALL BUT POLE command to get your dropped items back.


*** STEP 8: Obtain a disguise. ***

Go northwest, southwest, and west twice to return to the prop tent. Go under the
wall, then east. Unlock the trailer's baggage compartment with your skeleton key
(UNLOCK COMPARTMENT), then open it and take the bullwhip from it. Go north,
northeast, and north twice to get to the performance ring.

Unlock and open the lion's cage. Enter the cage, then whip the female lion three
times to tame her (WHIP SMOOTH LION. G. G). Just having the stool in inventory
is enough to keep the male lion off you, so open the grating in the floor (OPEN
GRATE).

Throw the lump of meat down the passage past the grate (THROW MEAT INTO
PASSAGE), then go east to exit the cage. Drop the bucket, whip, and stool (all
in one command), then go west to reenter the cage. Close the grate to keep the
lions out of your way, then get the item that someone hid under the lion stand
(MOVE STAND).

Go east, south three times, and west. Give the cigarette case to the blind guy
in the cage (GIVE CASE TO HARRY) so he can tell you whose it is, then go east,
northeast, north, east, and south to find the owner. Show the cigarette case
first to Andrew and then to Jenny (SHOW CASE TO ANDREW. SHOW CASE TO JENNY) to
get rid of "them."

Go up to enter the wardrobe closet, then use the GET ALL command to take the two
available clothing items. Open the dress-suit combination's pocket (OPEN POCKET)
and get the veil that you find. Those three items will act as your disguise when
you horn in on the meeting in Katzenjammer's trailer.


*** STEP 9: Get into Katzenjammer's trailer. ***

Go up, north, west twice, and southwest to return to Harry's cage area. Read the
spreadsheet to learn the name Eddie Smaldone, then ask Harry about him (ASK
HARRY ABOUT EDDIE). Go west, under the wall, and east to reach Katzenjammer's
trailer, which is being guarded (and polished) by Chuckles.

To get rid of him, greet him using his real name (EDDIE, HELLO), then show him
all five pieces of evidence you've gotten so far (SHOW NEWSPRINT TO EDDIE. SHOW
SPREADSHEET TO EDDIE. SHOW RIBBON TO EDDIE. SHOW NOTE TO EDDIE. SHOW CARD TO
EDDIE.)

Now don your disguise by putting on all three clothing items you got from Andrew
Jenny's wardrobe (WEAR DRESS. WEAR SHAWL. WEAR VEIL). Knock on the trailer's
door to get Katzenjammer to leave it, then enter it to find that you have it all
to yourself (almost).


*** STEP 10: Rescue Chelsea temporarily. ***

Close the trailer's door to find a handy crowbar, then take it and move the
moose head to reveal a small crawl space opening. Chelsea is hidden in that
crawl space, but there's no way you can get her out. Open the trailer door, then
go west twice.

Open the Clown Alley trailer's door with the crowbar (OPEN DOOR WITH CROWBAR),
then go south to find Comrade Thumb. Take off your disguise (REMOVE VEIL.
REMOVE SHAWL. REMOVE DRESS), then drop everything you're carrying except for the
transistor radio (DROP ALL BUT RADIO).

Pick up Comrade Thumb (GET THUMB), then go north and east twice to enter
Katzenjammer's trailer again. Put Comrade Thumb into the crawl space (PUT THUMB
IN SPACE), then wait for him to get Chelsea up to where you can see her. Pick
her up (GET CHELSEA), then go west, north, and east to find her father.

The dope runs northeast, so follow him. He's fool enough to sic the "detective"
on you, but Mahler breaks out of his gorilla cage and makes off with Chelsea
before anyone can do anything.


*** STEP 11: Rescue Chelsea permanently. ***

Follow the child-stealing ape by going north, west, and north twice to the ring.
The rope ladder leading up to the platform got tangled when Mahler climbed it,
so enter the lion's cage and get the lion stand. Go east and drop the stand, but
don't bother using it until you get the safety netting back in place.

Clap your hands together (CLAP HANDS) to trigger the roustabout's hypnotic
trance, then order him to go get the safety net (ROUSTABOUT, GET NET). Wait for
the net to get set up underneath Chelsea, then get onto the lion's stand (GET ON
STAND) and go up.

Try to go up again to get Mahler onto the other platform, then go east to get
onto the tightrope. Keep going east until the radio station starts up a stupid
pledge session, then go back west to the platform. Go down and south three
times, then enter Munrab's wagon.

Use the office phone to call the radio station (PHONE WPDL), then go west and
north three times to return to the ring. Get onto the lion's stand as before,
then go up and east until Mahler drops Chelsea into the safety net. Let go of
the wire you're holding onto (LET GO) to win the game.