History VideoGame / TheHitchhikersGuidetotheGalaxy

* PressXToDie: It is not a good idea to type "escape" when you are imprisoned, strapped down or lost in the dark. It works!... fatally.

A 1984 [[InteractiveFiction text-based adventure game]] published by Creator/{{Infocom}} and yet another spinoff of that wholly remarkable franchise ''Franchise/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy''. The game was co-written by Creator/DouglasAdams and SteveMeretzky.

* LostForever: Easy to do, and usually fatal.

## There are about a dozen tools hidden throughout the game, ''two'' of which are in your soon-to-be-demolished house at the beginning (don't worry; if you take every item you see in the house before leaving, you'll have both). Near the very end of the game, Marvin will need just one of these tools to save you. Unless you use the psychic plant, the game will deliberately pick one that you don't have. (And you can't just bring them all because it's too crowded, and the floor is a grill that lets any dropped tools slip away.)

It's notorious for being maddeningly difficult and very funny, and stays close to the other versions of ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy''.

You can play it online [[www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/1g84m0sXpnNCv84GpN2PLZG/the-hitchhikers-guide-to-the-galaxy-game-30th-anniversary-edition here]].

You can play it online [[http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/hitchhikers/game.shtml here]].

-->"Your serious allergic reaction to protein loss from [[TransportersAndTeleporters matter transference beams]] becomes a cause celebre among various holistic pressure groups in the Galaxy and leads to a total ban on dematerialisation. Within fifty years, space travel is replaced by a keen interest in old furniture restoration and market gardening. In this new quieter Galaxy, the [[PsychicPowers art of telepathy]] flourishes as never before, creating a new universal harmony which [[MentalFusion brings all life together]], [[EnergyBeing converts all matter into thought]] and brings about the rebirth of the entire Universe on [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence a higher and better plane of existence]]. However, none of this affects you, because you are dead."

* LogicBomb: Until you are able to aquire a cup of tea, your inventory will always have the item "no tea". You can't drop it, you can't do anything with it. However, once you fix the drink dispenser on the Heart of Gold, you can acquire "tea", and "no tea" will be dropped there. For the reasons listed under {{Doublethink}}, you need to have ''both''.

--> ''You take a single solitary step onto its ancient surface... and almost immediately [[TakeOurWordForIt something so amazing happens]] that we'll have to wait for the next game for you to find out about it.''

* {{Doublethink}}: "Intelligence" is defined as the ability to do this, and the only way to enter Marvin's room is to demonstrate that you have intelligence. [[spoiler:Appropriately enough, you ultimately accomplish this by physically removing your common sense, allowing you to carry "tea" and "no tea" at the same time.]]

* PressStartToGameOver: If you fail to get out of your house after the first few moves, you die. Thus setting the tone for the remainer of the game.
* PressXToDie: It is not a good idea to type "escape" when you are imprisoned, strapped down or lost in the dark. It works ''and'' is fatal.

* ExpospeakGag: Some items are given a name that's more complex than the everyday name. Top billing goes to the aspirin tablet in the beginning; it's called a [[spoiler:"buffered analgesic"]].

* ClingyMacGuffin: The Thing That Your Aunt Gave You That You Don't Know What It Is. But it's a [[BagOfHolding good thing]] you couldn't lose it... even when you're not who you were--or ''where'' you were, for that matter--when you lost it.

A 1984 [[InteractiveFiction text-based adventure game]] published by Creator/{{Infocom}} and yet another spinoff of that wholly remarkable franchise ''Franchise/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy''. The game was co-written by DouglasAdams and SteveMeretzky.

* AnotherStoryForAnotherTime: "As you pick up the toothbrush a tree outside the window collapses. There is no causal relationship between these two events."

* FootnoteFever

* GayOption: The game recognizes commands to kiss and enjoy characters of either gender...[[spoiler:but it just tells you that this isn't ''that'' kind of game. Sorry, slash fans.]]

** There are a few rooms or areas that have no use whatsoever, except as window-dressing, and don't even need to be passed through on the way to somewhere else (like the walkways around Arthur's home, or the very nice rooms in the flat where the party takes place (except, of course, the room you start in, which is where all the action takes place).

## One thing you need to do at the start, but probably won't think of if somebody doesn't warn you, is giving a dog a sandwich. Yes, ''giving a dog a sandwich''. [[spoiler: Apparently you can also have Ford do it when you revisit that event later, at least indirectly; if you buy a cheese sandwich and then give it to Arthur, he'll toss it to the dog as he runs back to his home.]]

* ClingyMacGuffin: The Thing That Your Aunt Gave You That You Don't Know What It Is. But it's a [[BagOfHolding good thing]] you couldn't lose it... even when you're not who you were when you lost it.

* GuideDangIt: On a couple of levels. For one thing, many of the puzzles have no clues except for the in-game Hitchhiker's Guide, and the articles they're found in are sometimes something no one would think to look up on their own ("[[spoiler:Brownian Motion]]"?). For another, said puzzles are often NintendoHard anyway, and if you mess any of them up, the game will become unwinnable. Then again, reading the books (including the sidenotes) will help with some of the puzzles.

* LogicBomb: Until you are able to aquire a cup of tea, your inventory will always have the item "no tea". You can't drop it, you can't do anything with it. However, once you fix the drink dispenser on the Heart of Gold , you can acquire "tea", and "no tea" will be dropped there. For the reasons listed under {{Doublethink}}, you need to have ''both''.

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: When you issue a command the game doesn't recognize, it makes a note of it, then later informs you that when you typed in that command, you inadvertently plunged a far-distant galaxy into a terrible war, which caused the races involved to unite in an intended war of genocide against your home planet. Later becomes a BrickJoke (and opens up a few additional ways to die.)

* GuideDangIt: On a couple of levels. For one thing, many of the puzzles have no clues except for the in-game Hitchhiker's Guide, and the articles they're found in are sometimes something no one would think to look up on their own ("[[spoiler:Brownian Motion]]"?). For another, said puzzles are often NintendoHard anyway, and if you mess any of them up, the game will become unwinnable.

## One thing you need to do at the start, but probably won't think of if somebody doesn't warn you, is giving a dog a sandwich. Yes, ''giving a dog a sandwich''. [[spoiler: Apparently you can also have Ford do it when you revisit that event later.]]

* FriendlyEnemy: The game itself was programmed to emulate this mindset. For instance, if you type, "Panic," it will gently respond, "Not surprised."