You arrive at the Job Centre looking for a challenging job. The lads are busy discussing a vacancy for a farm labourer at Southern Comfort Farm in Surbiton. Many people have been sent there but only a few returned, sacked for incompetence. No-one knows what happened to the others. Someone is running a book on how long the next person will last, as no-one has worked there for a whole day yet. You are overheard rashly boasting that it would be easy to keep out of trouble for one day!

You find yourself standing in the kitchen of a suburban house that has been turned into a smallholding. A lady is stirring a large cauldron, containing a seething mass of grey porridge. (You hope it is not for lunch.) Your employer (for it is she) says, "How nice to find yet one more volunteer. I have four tasks for you to finish before five o' clock. On no account must you lose or damage any equipment, or upset the posh lady next door. You may find that the garden has one or two surprises for you."

A program description has been included the hope that it may be useful without giving away too much of the plot. (For anyone about to write their own adventure game I would recommend reading How To Write Adventure Games by Peter Killworth, published by the Penguin Acorn Computer Library.

F%
Code to distinguish between eating and drinking

I%,J%
Loop variables

A
Value of numerical DATA just READ in

ASK
ASCII value of letter in string

CARRY
Number of items carried

DEST
Destination room

HOURS
Time in hours

ITEM
Current object number

M
Message number

NV
Number of verbs

NM
Number of messages

NO
Number of objects

OB
Current object

PLACE
Position of letter in string

ROOM
Current room or area

SCORE
The score

SP
Position of space in string

SNAG
The number of the hazard in that room, if any

V
Verb number

VERB
Verb number

X,Y
Used to position the border motif

Y2
Saved value of VPOS, so that the text will be in the right place after the score and time are displayed

A$
The string DATA being READ in

BORDER$
The border motif

B$
The command

C$
Either the whole command or the object

D$
The command in upper case only

OB$
The first four letters of the object

V$
The first four letters of the verb

FLAG(OB)
The information on an objects state and whether an object is edible, wearable, etc

LONG$(OB)
The long name of each object

ROOM(OB)
The room where the object is

SHORT$(OB)
The short name of each object

TRANS(V)
Whether the verb takes an object

VERB$(V)
The first four letters of each verb

VERB(V)
The number of each verb

&5D00-&5DFF
The room data. The first byte contains the message number, the next four the north, east, south and west exists (if any). The last byte contains the snag number and is zero if there is no snag.

&5000-&5CFF
The messages

&5E00-&5EF0
The location above &5000 of the start of each message