Down in the Dumps Animated Adventure by PHILIPS General: In every scenario, and before you do anything else, trip around to all the locations picking up what you can (not all items are useful) and seeing all the possibilities. Scour the screen carefully with the hand icon, and be aware that sometimes the characters can obscure important items. There is more than one solution to the same problem, but I will give you only one of them; you can always experiment for yourselves. There are no end of red herrings. THE BLUB, THE RAT Pick up the cheese, go up and up again. You need the rope. Come down to where the weight is, use the rope on it, click on the slow motion button, drop the cheese near the weight, pull the rope. Watch what happens. In the new location, go down, pick up the post, up left, get the thimble and the crayon. Use the crayon on the post. Out, up right. Get all the pills, though you only need the blue ones. Click on the toy. Inside the bottle, use the thimble on the whisky, leave, use the post on the yoghurt tab and, when the bad guy comes, use the various pills on the thimble and hand it to him for a bit of fun. The blue pills knock him out and you get the item you were after. Watch. End of this particular cartoon. THE HYPNOTIC MACHINE Go around all the locations, spotting and collecting items. You need the curtain, the paint pot, the paint brush, the wooden stick, the oil and the soap. You will need to push the TV set to get to a trap door. Once you've got all these items, do the following. Go outside where the moles have ruined the vegetables and use the oil on the ground. When they come back, they slip and you get the bike frame and the moles. Go inside, get into the lift and go up to the third floor. Use the paint brush on the wall. Go through the hole and you get into a dreary game. Save before you start. If you see you are losing heavily, start again or you'll be at it forever - next time you'll know some of the answers. You will win eventually a fog horn. When you do, you'll be returned home. Go to the second floor, where the washing machine is, and use the soap on the floor. Use the fog horn and the nutter comes in and gets knocked out. Get the washing machine to clean the blood stains. Now go and talk to grandpa. He wants various things. Since you've got them all, nip up to the 4th floor and start handing him items, such as the curtain, the wooden stick, the bike frame and the moles. Watch. That's this one finished. THE ABOMINABLE ROBIN BLUB Start by going into the castle and talking to the king (talk to the secretary first); if you don't get the right answers, try all the possibilities. Basically, you want him to tell you about Santa. Out and go through the door to the right. Talk to the bad guy. Out. Leave the castle and go "south". Get on the train and choose the forest. To get across the pen you have to fight. Actually, watch the guy and go left or right according to which way he turns (you'll soon learn to go in the opposite direction to his). Eventually you'll win, he'll embrace you and you can go into the forest and become one of the merry men. Look inside the chest and get what's inside. Leave and go to the station. This time, choose the pond. On arrival, go into the igloo and talk to the eskimo. Get the rod. Out. Use the rod on the skating animals, you get the skates. Use them on yourself. Watch. Inside the fish, click on the king and he'll whistle you a tune. You have to reproduce that tune by hitting the glands. Hit them in the following order: 53142. The king's spell is broken and you get back to the pond. Enter the igloo and get the eskimo's clothes. Go to the forest to join the king. He tells you about a secret entrance to the castle. You can look in the chest, if you like. Enter the hole under the tree and go left. Save here because you'll have to be quick. Use the third lever and a door will open. Go through it and upstairs. Look at the chest - it's locked. Go through the balcony to the princess' room. Let her kiss you and she will give you a key. Go through the door and unlock the chest with the key. Watch. After the herald tells you about the tournament, go left and grab some candy. Move on and sign to join the tournament. Watch and listen carefully to the instructions. It's just a matter of luck, but keep an eye on the guy to the left (i.e., on the right of the screen); if he has a piece of the body you have to construct, swap it for one you don't need. Don't worry if you lose, you automatically start again. Eventually you will win - watch what happens. End of story. THE BUM This part is unnecessarily complicated because there are two characters in play and it is difficult to decide which one is to have which items or to do what. The first aim is to get both characters onto the Bum. This can be done in various ways. First, walk around to see what there is without picking anything up. To get the boy up: get the girl to go to the left (up) and enter the bag (in the screen with the can and not much else, before you get to the bird chasing the maggot). Get her to take the cork. Go back to the Bum's shoe, pick up the plank and the prospectus. Read the prospectus and use the plank on the cork to set up a see-saw. Now change to the boy, get him to pick up the spring where the pet is and get him to sit on the see-saw. Change to the girl and climb the other side of the see-saw. The boy gets thrown up above. Get him to use the spring and he will leap onto the ear. Going down the hole and talking to the spider (the word "audience" is the key) will get him up on the scalp of the Bum. To get the boy up: get him to pick up the pin-up and the balloon, go to the pet in the water, use the pin-up on him, have him blow up the balloon and then grab the balloon. To get the girl up: have the boy pick up the matches from the bag and get him to where the cannon is. Get him to shake hands with the baddie. Have the girl enter the cannon. Back to the boy, get him to pull the flower three times and then light the wick with the matches. The girl gets shot onto the Bum. By the way, it's quite fun to get the boy to use the matches in different locations. To get the girl up: have her go into the bag and pick up the cotton reel. Go to where the bird is and use the doll on the baddie. Talk to Hubert and take him. Use the cotton reel on him. Get hold of the bird. At the end of the sequence, have her use the maggot on the head of the Bum. Take your pick. Once they are up there, have the boy go all round talking to everybody and taking the rattle, car and toy soldier; he will also need the basketball to deal with the mother louse's house guardian. You will have gathered that you need to neutralize the cop and find an amplifier. When the boy has been everywhere, change to the girl. Have the girl speak to the mother louse and then go to the bar. Have the boy go to the bar and, in the presence of the girl, hand to the baby the rattle, car and toy soldier. The girl automatically retrieves the baby and takes him home, thereby getting a tape of lullabies. Get her back to the bar. Have her hand the tape to the boy (grab the tape and click with it on the boy icon above the play screen). Have the boy go to the room on the right and listen to the tape on the apparatus to the right. Watch. At the end, grab the amplifier by the sobbing guy. Take it to all the characters, including the Beastie with the basketball and the grannies, and show it to them. Now go to the room to the left of the grannies, where all the characters are congregated. Look at the switch and put the chewing gum on the floor (you can do this at any time during this cartoon, but only looking at the amplifier to the left of the screen will give you the option). Now talk to Elvis, show him the amplifier again and talk to Elvis once more. Watch. At the end of the sequence, walk to the right. You can now go down into the Bum's Ear. The girl will automatically follow. Inside the dark room, have one of them work the winch (just move the hand icon till you find something to activate). Have one of the characters use the electric handshake on the monster with the club. Now go back out the way you came in, in search of the ship's part. The rest of the action is automatic. At the end, click on the ship to find out what shape it's in. That's it. No finale, but the end all the same.