Jumpman's Grand Puzzle - Stage 6, Level 3

Tuesday, April 17, 2018

Stage 6, Level 3 (Third Gate)

As I mentioned in an earlier entry, we had a prior commitment Tuesday evening, so we showed up at Pints & Pixels a bit after 6:00 PM. I figured I'd have to put my name on the list and wait for a while to get my turn. However, when we got there, no one else had signed up. Apparently, since the prizes had been won, the other three people that had gotten to the final challenge on Friday weren't interested in completing it.

Richard Moss was having some technical difficulties, so I wound up playing it directly on the laptop without using the CRT monitor he had. That was a shame, but it was okay. I still got to use the USB Atari joystick.

I'd played an emulated copy of Jumpman a little bit after going home the night the winner was crowned, but that was it. I'd not had time to practice over the weekend. I did find some time to read the original manual and watch a YouTube walkthrough. That was when I discovered where the name for the contest, Jumpman's Grand Puzzle, came from. In the original game the levels are divided between three buildings, each with a different difficulty level. The final level of each building was titled "Grand Puzzle" I through III.

It turned out Richard was actually using a level editor I hadn't heard of and now, sadly, can't remember the name of. (See the final entry for it.) That explained why some of the levels I'd seen the winner play weren't seen in the walkthrough video. One thing I quickly learned is that to walk off a ladder, you had to be aligned just right with the platform you wanted to walk on. I believe that was different than the original game, and a little frustrating, but I got used to it.

So I had to play the Grand Loop. In the original game, that would be 30 levels, but Richard wouldn't say how many levels I had to go through. The first time through I made it to the third screen before losing a life. Then I kept repeating the same mistake of jumping off the screen and dying. I think I finished that level, but didn't make it through to the end.

There was still no one else there to play Jumpman, just one guy trying to get through The Princess Bride lines, so I got to immediately try again. This time I did better. In fact, I eventually found myself on the final screen that said, "YOU WIN"! I think there were only about five levels to play through. And that was that. I was fourth. I started in the High Five and I ended in the High Five. In the meantime, I'd dropped down, but never left the top ten. So far, I'm the only original High Five contestant to end there as well.

I talked to Richard a bit after winning. I told him the misdirection I got at Huntsville Escape Rooms about the lock combination. He said that maybe they should post the Journal page to ignore any such hints.

I also asked how many people defeated the lich without switching sides. He said they hadn't kept track, but it would have been less than half. Apparently the lich had been instructed to play to win if on the Player 1 side. Regardless, however, he wasn't supposed to attack the other player until after the first level. If the player asked to switch, he was supposed to still play reasonably well, but not his top game. My takeaway was that I should be proud to beat him in the first set of three without changing sides.

I also provided one piece of feedback, but was trying to save the rest of my questions for the Grand Banquet next week. Oh, did I not mention that? Coming Monday is Jumpman's Grand Bandquet at Pints & Pixels. They're going to provide pizza and soft drinks, plus have a cash bar available. It's only open to contestants and one guest each. So look for an epilogue entry on Monday.

Later that day they updated the scoreboard. Looks like I may be the only one still interested in finishing the challenge now that the announced prizes have been awarded.

For additional entries, see the Jumpman's Grand Puzzle label.