Why “Ifnkovhgroghprm” in KQ1?

[Unknown,Unknown]

This has troubled me for a while now. At the point where you saposed to guess the guys name. In the tale this comes from its Rumplestiltskin, but in the game his name is Ifnkovhgroghprm. How did this come to be?

[Unknown,Unknown]

I just asked Roberta. She says it’s been a while, and she’s not sure, but she thinks: That it’s Rumplestiltskin spelled backwards, with a backwards alphabet: z= a, etc.

-Ken W

[Unknown,Unknown]

That’s it. I numbered a-z then z-a and the numbers match. So Ifnkovhgroghprm is Rumplestiltskin if you used the alphabet backwards. Just like Roberta would be ilyvigz. Thank you.

[Unknown,Unknown]

Gszmp Blf!

[Unknown,Unknown]

Hehe, that’s an infamous one… 🙂 The game hints poorly that you should guess this, but at least if you answer Rumplestiltskin you are told you’re close. It’s a good example of what was considered a challenging puzzle in those days. In the remake of the game, the gnome’s identity was better hinted by the graphics, and the name was changed to Nikstlitselpmur, which is simply Rumplestiltskin spelled backwards instead of in a backwards alphabet.

Still though, the game doesn’t require you to figure out the name to actually complete it. But you cannot get the maximum amount of points if you don’t though…

I wonder how many people who solved the original puzzle without help. I suppose Sierra got their share of letters asking about it. 🙂

[Unknown,Unknown]

Yeah, that was a stumper. I must admit I could only “solve” it by using old DOS debug.exe and looking directly into the program data. (This was on the original self-booting 5.25″ floppy disk version :))

[Unknown,Unknown]

No matter what I try I cannot jump and get the condor to grab me. The bird flies by and I use the hand, and I jump, but to no avail.

[Unknown,Unknown]

the hand? Are you playing the VGA remake by Tierra? (Both of the Sierra versions had text parsers — no hand icon.)

If it’s the Tierra remake, look for a faint red X on the ground. You have to stand there to be picked up. Go to the X, then try using the hand again.

-emily

[Unknown,Unknown]

I solved this puzzle by myself playing the original KQ1 around ’87. 🙂

But hey! I’m not bragging about this; Actually I wanted to tell you about that I believe there was a built in hint in the witches house, “Sometimes it’s wise to think backwards.”, or something like that. I think I had already finished the game before and was out for a hunt for the last points to gain. I reversed the Rumplestiltskin name in every possible way I could. Lovely puzzle! Thank you Roberta for teasing my Intelligence. 😀

I loved that game series. KQ3 being my favorite among them.
//Marcel Risberg, Stockholm, Sweden

[Unknown,Unknown]

I never got that damn puzzle becouse when I played KQ for the first time I had no idea about the English name of Rumplestiltskin, I of course was familiar with the tale he is in but in Icelandic, Rumplestiltskin is “Lendabrekkustaur” so you can see the confusion on my end 😉

And of course when I finally got around to get help, I wasn’t sure if the walkthrough was making fun of the reader with how to solve it.

But still it was a clever puzzle, and actually forced to you think.

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