These days, when I look at the plethora of bbc_b/Electron adventure solutions all out there on the Classic Adventures Solution Archive, I wonder if there's still anyone viewing the odd ones published in the EUG magazine. My response is to strive to make everything much more lush-looking so, to this end, here's a rather marvellous graphical solution to the Robico classic space adventure The Hunt - Search For Shauna. The version illustrated here is the BBC Micro version. The adventure is identical on the Electron but, alas, does not have any graphics.

As with many Robico adventures, although the instructions are sparse, they contain some important 'need-to-know' information. Your quest is simple: to find your missing crewmember Shauna and return with her to berth number 5820 of the spacestation. The game is played in real-time, so even with a solution you won't necessarily find characters in the locations indicated, so be prepared for a few scouting-around missions as you journey through it.

	You begin in the cockpit looking out at your spacefighter. Go E to the large cargo area.
	At this point you will be informed that there are only sixty seconds until space exposure, so move fast: GET GYROPAC and WEAR GYROPAC then go W back to the cockpit, and W again to the escape pod.
	GET the SCRAP of material you see and you will be sucked into space and carried to a nearby platform.
	DROP the NOTE then WAIT. HIRE TAXI which will take you to the space-station's customs area.
	Go W.
	(You will be declared 'Clean' as you pass through - that's a relief!). Go W again.
	You will now be in the arrivals area. Go SW...
	...and you should 'see a cute little lugobot'. You need him to complete your quest but, as The Hunt is a real-time adventure, he is not always in the same place. If he is not here in the long corridor, wander around and find him at this point. Then type FOLLOW ME. Then go NE (or) back to arrivals.
	Now go NW.
	You will now be at a junction. Go NW again.
	In the vast chamber, go NE.
	You will now be at the end of a large corridor. Go N.
	You will now be at a meeting of many passages. Go N again.
	In front of the dangerous door, go E.
	On the small bridge, go E again.
	In the generator room, PULL LEVER then retrace your steps W, W, S, S and SW to a small passageway.
	In the small passageway, go D.
	Now SEARCH the dark room and you will uncover a small trapdoor. OPEN TRAPDOOR then LOOK. You will now be able to go D.
	Welcome to quarantine. Go W to continue.
	In the short corridor, go N.
	You now enter a quarantine cage in which you should find a Lavean monkey. GET MONKEY if he is there, otherwise wander around until you find him then come back to the quarantine cage to continue with this solution. Go S and SW.
	You are now in an alcove where the floor has fallen away. Go D.
	You will clamber off some debris and a long creature. Go E.
	You will now be inside a torture chamber in which there is a lead helmet. GET HELMET and EXAMINE HELMET to discover the existence inside of a large spike. GET the SPIKE out of the helmet then WEAR HELMET. Then return W, U, NE, E (back to the quarantine reception desk), U, U, NE and N to back outside the dangerous door. Go N through it.
	In the radiation therapy room, head D.
	Now you will be in the research laboratory and will find some betaspecs. GET SPECS then return U, S, S, S, SW, SE and E.
	You now start off down a long corridor. Before doing so, DROP HELMET and WEAR SPECS. Then go E.
	The corridor is protected by laser beams but the text description gives you a good clue as to how to avoid each of them. In this first location you need to JUMP E.
	Then CRAWL E to avoid the ones at waist height.
	Finally, JUMP E again.
	You should successfully arrive at the Research Hall. Go E.
	Yawn, just the opposite end of the Research Hall. Head NE out of here.
	You have now reached the Chemilab where you see a test-tube with a ball-bearing on its tip. Try to GET the BALL. You will not succeed yourself but the monkey will be able to get it for you. (If you do not have the monkey with you it is impossible to get the ball!) Go SW and S.
	From the chemilab to the physilab. Here you should GET LETTER and READ LETTER. The letter will tell you "You can only touch the <colour>" and you need to remember the colour specified and substitute it for <colour> when required. Retreat N then continue W.
	Now go N into the - wait for it! - biolab.
	Type GET <colour> GUNGE (e.g. GET GREEN GUNGE). Then go S and traverse the laser-beam corridor with JUMP W, CRAWL W and JUMP W. Go W, W and then NW to the vast chamber.
	Continue NE, N, E and E until you reach the large vat of liquid.
	SWIM.
	GET the DEACTIVATOR which is (for some strange reason) in here. SWIM again to leave then head W, W, S, SW, SE, SE and, in the arrivals hall, go U the dark stairway.
	Go U again.
	At the top of the stairway, go W.
	You will now be on a gallery, which has a rail on which a servobot goes round and round. Ignore him for the time being and go S.
	Go W
	Go W again.
	Go S
	You will now have reached the old recreation hall. Go S.
	In this foozball court, you will be threatened by a mean-looking robodroid. Fortunately, the deactivator which you found in the vat is useful here and a quick type of DEACTIVATE ROBODROID which bring him to a dead halt. If you EXAMINE ROBODROID you are given the cryptic message that he might be 'handy' so GET his HAND (by clever juggling of that gunge you found earlier). Now go SW.
	You will be in the foozball equipment room. Here you should GET the FOOZBAT then return NE to the Court. Now return N and N again to the gallery.
	Keep typing WAIT at this location until the Servobot happens upon you (It is rolling around the gallery in a set sequence of moves. The first time he happens upon you he will speak to the Lugobot. You should then tell the Lugobot to GO AWAY. Then again keep typing WAIT until you hear the Servobot hand a static shield to the Lugobot.
	This next bit takes a bit of work. You have no idea where the Lugobot and Servobot met up with each other so you now have to WAIT until the Servobot rolls into your location again. Once he has done, wait for him to move off 'west' (or whatever direction) and type that same direction to follow him. Keep checking the description to see whether 'You can see a cute little lugobot'. As soon as you do type FOLLOW to get him to follow you. Then return E to the top of the stairway and go D and D again to the arrivals area.
	Head NW, NW and N.
	At the north end of the market hall, go W.
	Here you are at a 'creature extras' stand. Here you should DROP the LETTER (to free up inventory space) and GET the LEASH you see. Now return E and S to the vast chamber where you should DROP the MONKEY. Go NE, N, SW, D and D back to the quarantine area.
	Often you will see a Reverin pointer dog at the quarantine desk but occasionally it has wandered off. Find it and GET DOG (by putting it on the leash) and GIVE SCRAP TO DOG to keep it happy. Now return U, U and NE to the meeting of many passages.
	Go N, E and E again and PULL LEVER. Then return W, W, S, S, SW and go SW again.
	You will then be outside the apparently world-famous space-maze. Go SW to enter it.
	Follow the dog SW.
	Follow the dog SW.
	Follow the dog N.
	Follow the dog NW.
	Follow the dog S.
	Follow the dog S.
	Follow the dog SW.
	Follow the dog N.
	You will now be in the restricted research area, and can safely ignore the dog. Go U.
	In the small gallery, DROP the BALL. It will roll over the edge of the walkway and be immediately pulverised. Go D back to the research area again.
	Now go NW to the magnolab.
	In here you will see a dead body. EXAMINE the BODY and GET the IDENTICATION tag around its neck. READ IDENTIFICATION to discover the body's name to be 'Fred Bloggs'. Continue W on your journey.
	In the long corridor, go W.
	At the three-way fork go SW.
	You will now be in a green corridor en route to the Electrostatilab. Head S.
	In the Electronstatilab, you must SIT ON LUGOBOT before attempting to go S over the metal grid (else you are electrocuted rather horribly!).
	The lugobot will now throw you off at the south end of the statilab. Head SW.
	Here at the west entrance to the tunnel you will see some samples. GET SAMPLES then go SE.
	Inside the service tunnel, you will find a gun. GET GUN before retreating NW and NE. Now SIT ON LUGOBOT again and head N over the metal grid again.
	You now need to GIVE SAMPLES TO LUGOBOT and GIVE GUN TO LUGOBOT. Head back N and NE back to the three-way fork.
	Retrace your steps E, E, SE, S and NW to some twisting corridors.
	Go E.
	Now go NE to leave the space-maze.
	Head back NE, SE, SE, U, U and W to the gallery.
	Now keep WAITing again until the Servobot arrives. It will give a gas cylinder to the Lugobot. After this you need to head back to the space-maze: E, D, D, NW, NW and SW. Inside the maze, follow the dog until you reach the restricted research area.
	Go NW, W, W and W into the old exhibition hall.
	Go W here.
	You will find your way blocked by a forcefield. GET the gas CYLINDER (from the lugobot) and FIRE it AT FORCEFIELD. There will be a tremendous explosion that destroys the forcefield, the gun and the lugobot, leaving a pile of twisted metal. LOOK then GET METAL before continuing W.
	At the scarlet door, OPEN the CYLINDER so that gas begins to seep out. SAY FRED BLOGGS and the door will open. Type GO IN.
	Here you confront the kidnapper of Shauna who is killed by the dog when you enter, so EXAMINE BODY, DROP CYLINDER (to free up inventory space) and GET RECEIPT. EXAMINE RECEIPT and make a note of the digits as these identify the berth where his spacecraft is docked (hence where Shauna can be found). Go OUT.
	Now go E, E, E and NW to the secure area.
	Go N.
	Go N again.
	Now type WAIT until the Guardroid appears, then GIVE FOOZBAT TO GUARDROID. As you would of course expect, the Guardroid will now beat the Aggrodroid to death with the foozbat and allow you to pass. Go E.
	Go E.
	Go E.
	Go S.
	Welcome to the recycling room. INSERT all that twisted METAL that you picked up earlier and it will recycle it. LOOK to discover an iron rod. GET IRON ROD then head back N, W, W and W. Now keep going W until you meet the Guardroid and HIT GUARDROID WITH ROD to render it inoperable. Now find the end of the maintenance corridor by going W or E as appropriate.
	Go W.
	In the tool storage area, go N.
	Go NE.
	In the storage area, GET PNEUMATIC STAMP then go SW again. Now HAMMER SPIKE INTO WALL to create the foothold indicated at in the location description. CLIMB SPIKE.
	You will now see a card. GET CARD and EXAMINE CARD to discover it is made of plastic. Now go all the way back to the entrance to the space-maze: D, S, E, E, E, S, S, SE, E, E, SE, S, NW, E and NE.
	Go NE to the vast chamber then S.
	You are now next to a handprint door. INSERT the HAND (that you took from the Robodroid) and go IN.
	You now need to operate the computer console by INSERTing the PLASTIC CARD. The 'berth control' will now spring into life and you will be able to view the statistics of all of the spacecraft currently docked at the space-station. For example, TYPE 0. You are told in the instructions that you docked at berth 5820, so TYPE 5820 for details of your own craft. Make a note of these as you need the entry code later in time. (0070)
	Now TYPE <receipt number> (The number you made a note of earlier). This will bring up details of the kidnapper's ship. You now need to note down the 'Entry code' given to you by the statistics - and keep these details separate from the details of your own craft. Go OUT then N, SE, SE, SW and SE.
	You are now in the departure area. Go IN to the waiting taxi.
	Now TYPE <receipt number> to be taken to the docking area of the kidnapper's ship. TYPE <entry code number> to allow you to 'berth'. Now go OUT.
	Outside the spaceship, you will find Shauna. DROP HAND to free up inventory space and GET SHAUNA. Now HIRE another TAXI and head back to customs.
	You need to get back to the taxis heading to the ships. Go W, W, SW, SE and IN.
	Finally, TYPE 5820 to be taken back to your own spacecraft. TYPE <your entry code> (It always seems to be 0070!), LOOK then go OUT. The taxi will drive away and you can go IN
	That's it folks! You've completed the game and rescued Shauna. Now, personally I would've liked to see something a bit more spectacular than an identical copy of the opening location as a picture, but that's just me!

As you may observe from all of the pictures illustrating this game, The Hunt is actually a work of art on the Beeb as a much-improved Scott Adams type of game! It's a real shame that the Electron version is text only, particularly as all the pictures do load in from disc on the Beeb version. You would've thought it shouldn't have been too difficult to make a graphical Electron one that ran on the AP4... Perhaps a future conversion project for somebody?

Dave E