ENCHANTER 126

ENCHANTER in 126 moves
----------------------

This is the lowest number of moves I could find to beat ENCHANTER (Infocom, 1983). Number of moves is defined from the moves counter displayed upon successfully beating the game. Successfully beating the game is defined as defeating Krill using the GUNCHO spell.

Tested on Release 29. May or may not work for other releases.

General notes:

Most actions in this game take exactly one move. Multiple actions on a single line, separated by THEN or a full stop, take multiple moves (otherwise the game would be completable in one move by typing a single mega-command), including multiple commands given to an NPC. Some meta-commands, eg SAVE, RESTORE, BRIEF/VERBOSE, do not take a move, but in-game commands such as INVENTORY and SPELLS do take a move. WAIT usually causes 3 moves to pass, unless something interrupts it. SLEEP causes a LOT of moves to be used, but fortunately we can get by without it.

The player can survive until move 195 before they are forced to sleep. However they begin to feel tired from move 85 onwards, which has two effects: it reduces the number of spells they can hold in memory (starts at 4 when wide awake, then reduces by one at moves 85, 95 and 105 to a minimum of 1), and it reduces the amount the player can carry (details undetermined).

Without food or drink, the player will die on move 90 from dehydration, otherwise on move 116 from starvation. But we're not going to eat or drink even once. Instead, we are going to deliberately die shortly before turn 90. The game will then revive us with enough sustenance to last about 50 turns before we succumb to thirst OR hunger, which is enough to beat the game.

A note on death: the player is always revived in the Eastern Fork, even if they haven't reached it yet. All inventory is retained, except for scrolls. Normal scrolls are left in the room where death occurred, and powerful scrolls are confiscated. The spell book is placed in the player's inventory, even if they didn't have it when they died. All memorized spells are forgotten.

The numbers before the following commands refer to the number displayed on the status-line move counter when the command is typed.

0> SE
1> SE
2> NE
3> S
4> GNUSTO REZROV
5> BLORB ME
[The first of three deaths. This one is just to get us to the eastern fork, one move faster than walking]
6> E
7> E
8> MEMORIZE REZROV, REZROV, FROTZ AND NITFOL
9> REZROV GATE
10> E
11> S
12> S
13> U
14> REZROV BEDPOST
15> TAKE GOLD LEAF SCROLL
16> FROTZ GOLD LEAF SCROLL
[a seemingly odd choice of light source, but bear with me here]
17> D
18> E
19> D
20> OPEN DOOR
21> N
22> MOVE BLOCK
23> E
24> TAKE STAINED SCROLL
25> W
26> S
27> U
28> GNUSTO VAXUM
[the only thing we GNUSTO in the whole game, apart from REZROV. Most spells only need to be used once, and leaving them as scrolls saves moves. VAXUM doesn't need to be GNUSTOed either if you collect the CLEESH scroll, but that takes extra moves]
[note also, we just GNUSTOed our light source out of existence. Now it will be dark when we step into the gallery, and we can pick up the candle as a new light source. The only feasible alternative to this is frotzing the spell book, which would take an extra turn to drop, and we want to have it with us on the other side of the gallery anyway]
29> E
30> LOOK BEHIND LIGHTED PORTRAIT
31> TAKE BLACK SCROLL AND CANDLE
32> E
33> S
34> SE
35> NITFOL TURTLE
36> TURTLE, FOLLOW ME
37> NW
38> N
39> EXEX TURTLE
40> TURTLE, E. U. SE. TAKE SCROLL. NW. D. W
[why give the turtle seven commands at once, instead of accompanying him to the engine room? This way he drops the KULCAD scroll where we need it (we pick it up on the way to the end-game, after we're done death-warping) without having to spend moves taking and dropping it]
47> N
48> N
49> MEMORIZE REZROV, FROTZ AND BLORB
50> FROTZ ME
51> OZMOO ME
[The first of four very random factors in the route. The guards must apprehend you and take you to the temple immediately after you cast the OZMOO spell, which can happen anytime from two turns after entering the banquest hall to some larger number I haven't bothered finding out. If it happens after two turns, you may OZMOO ME as move #50 and then FROTZ ME as move #51 in the cell, without affecting the final turn count]
52> REZROV DOOR
53> BLORB ME
[The second death. We reincarnate still with the dagger, and the spell book has been magically returned to our possession. We now do not need to go to the south cell to retrieve anything]
54> MEMORIZE REZROV, REZROV, VAXUM AND BLORB
55> E
56> E
57> E
58> N
59> N
60> U
61> REZROV EGG
62> TAKE SHREDDED SCROLL
63> D
64> E
65> E
66> E
67> E
68> E
69> REZROV GATE
70> N
71> TAKE CRUMPLED SCROLL
72> KREBF SHREDDED SCROLL
73> S
74> W
[A very random moment. The adventurer MUST be in the mirror in Hall of Mirrors Four. Good job that SAVE and RESTORE don't increment the move counter...]
75> ZIFMIA ADVENTURER
76> VAXUM ADVENTURER
77> E
78> E
79> POINT TO DOOR
80> N
[random moment #3. The adventurer MUST NOT take the pencil or the map, until you're finished with them]
81> TAKE PENCIL
[fun fact: we don't have inventory space to take the map right now. But we don't need to take it. We just need to draw on it]
82> DRAW FROM F TO P
83> ERASE FROM F TO P
84> ERASE FROM V TO M
85> DRAW FROM M TO P
86> BLORB ME
[oops, dead again! This final death is a faster way to get back to the south-west part of the castle. It also tops up our hunger and thirst meters with just enough to survive the game]
87> E
88> E
89> E
90> E
91> S
92> CUT ROPE WITH DAGGER
93> OPEN BOX
94> TAKE VELLUM SCROLL
95> MELBOR ME
96> S
97> D
98> D
99> S
100> E
101> SE
102> TAKE SCROLL
103> NW
104> W
105> N
106> U
107> U
108> E
109> E
110> TAKE BRITTLE SCROLL
[the final randomness of the game. There is a good chance that the adventurer will have picked up the scroll. This must not happen!]
111> N
112> N
113> N
114> N
115> LOOK AT TRACKS
116> REACH INTO HOLE
117> S
118> E
119> E
120> MEMORIZE VAXUM
121> KULCAD STAIR
122> IZYUK ME
123> E
124> GONDAR DRAGON
[it's really lucky that we can keep our GONDAR scroll when we drop our other belongings. Otherwise we would be forced to sleep, as we are too tired to hold more than one spell in memory]
125> VAXUM BEING
126> GUNCHO KRILL

Thus beating the game in 126 moves, with a score of 375.