Gamebooks (Choose Your Own Adventure Style)

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Can You Survive the Titanic? Alternate Endings Part 16


Keeping the blanket in CHOICE #20 is a more sensible option, and the anonymous woman doesn't even die.


"You feel ashamed, but you know that using the blanket to stay warm is your best chance for survival.  Instead you put your arm around the woman next to you.  The two of you huddle together for warmth.  Just beyond the lifeboat, Titanic is sinking faster.  The ship's stern rises higher and higher out of the water, until its huge propellers are lifted above the water.  Others jump.  Still more brace themselves against the railing.


One of the huge smokestacks tears apart from the ship and falls to the water with an enormous crash.  A few moments later Titanic disappears beneath the waves for good.  You look away, tears in your eyes.


You know you're lucky to have survived the disaster.  Your decision to keep your blanket helped.  You and the others on the boat are cold but all alive when the ship Carpathia arrives around 3:30 a.m.  It's a sight you'll remember for the rest of your life.  THE END".




Results So Far


13 Good Endings

4 Deaths

0 Bad Non-Death Endings

0 Neutral Endings

0 Inconclusive Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Can You Survive the Titanic? Alternate Endings Part 17


Staying on the ship when I go to the starboard side in CHOICE #19 has the same effect as going to the port side in CHOICE #18.  This makes sense when you realize Charles Lightoller was on the port side in real life, and he more strictly enforced the "women and children" policy.


I push one woman into a lifeboat even though she shouts "No, I won't leave my husband!"  The remaining lifeboats leave, and the deck tilts some more.  My only chance of survival now is to float on furniture or something.  CHOICE #21 is to stay on the Titanic until it sinks, or jump into the water.


The former option is fatal.


"As the ship's stern rises higher, you wrap your arms and legs around the metal rails and hang on.  You hear several explosions as the ship slides into the water with alarming speed.  You take several deep breaths.  Then you jump as far out and away from the sinking ship as you can.


The cold water feels like knives as you are pulled under by the suction of the ship.  As hard as you kick, you seem to be going deeper.  With a desperate burst of energy, you kick free of the whirling current.  You pop out of the water, gasping and coughing, but alive. 


Hundreds of people are in the water, frantically splashing and crying 'Help me!' 'Save us!'  You know that no one is coming to save you.  What you must do now is get out of the water.  Your chances of dying from hypothermia are much greater in the freezing water.


You spy a wooden table floating nearby and climb onto it.  You slowly paddle away, hoping to get clear of the wreckage.  Suddenly the table tips and hits you in the head.  You're flung back into the water.  Unconscious, you float in the water until your frozen body sinks to the bottom of the ocean.  THE END".


Unlike the other Deaths. this one is a bonkus of the conkus.  So close to survival too. . .




Results So Far


13 Good Endings

5 Deaths

0 Bad Non-Death Endings

0 Neutral Endings

0 Inconclusive Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Can You Survive the Titanic? Finale


Our last ending occurs when I jump off the boat early in CHOICE #21.  It's odd that this kills your father in the 12-year-old boy storyline, but is the right thing to do here.


"Holding your breath, you leap as far out into the ocean as you can.  The freezing water feels like knives cutting your skin.  The water is already filled with hundreds of people screaming for rescue.  You've got to get out of the water before you die of hypothermia.  You start swimming.  Wreckage is everywhere, but there isn't anything big enough for you to float on.  Then you spy a strange sight.  About 30 men are standing atop an overturned boat.  One of them is Second Officer Charles Lightoller.  You swim to the boat and climb aboard.


'We have to stay afloat', Lightoller says.  'Everyone stand in two rows along the boat.  When a wave rolls us, we can stabilize ourselves'.  Through the night you stand with the other men, following Lightoller's orders to 'Lean to the left!' 'Stand upright!' 'Lean to the right!' to keep the upturned boat afloat.


Soon your wet, frostbitten feet go numb, but you keep standing.  Several men collapse and disappear into the water.  But you're still standing when the lights of the ship Carpathia appear.  'We've made it', you whisper hoarsely.  Staying awake helped you survive the wreck of Titanic.  THE END".


There are some flaws in these Capstone Press historical survival CYOAs that would probably make them uninteresting for the Realms Beyond forum.  The writing is bare-bones compared to You Say Which Way entries or La Prisión.  The amount of CHOICEs required to reach an ending is very low due to fitting 3 independent storylines into a short book.  And the endings don't have much variety because they're constrained by the setting.  Don't expect to see many more Capstone entries in the thread, unless the Peanut Gallery wants to see them, of course.


But they probably serve their purpose when you consider the target audience.  For young kids, this may be a good way to make them interested in history.


My next project will be an installment in a new series:  Ultimate Ending.  The House on Hollow Hill sounds intriguing enough to ridicule in the thread, and Ultimate Ending supposedly has mechanics that haven't been seen in the other CYOAs.




Final Results


14 Good Endings

5 Deaths

0 Bad Non-Death Endings

0 Neutral Endings

0 Inconclusive Endings



3/5 of the Deaths came from the surgeon's assistant route.  So don't play as him if you're forced to bet on a playthrough of this book.


EDIT:  I forgot to credit the author!  Allison Lassieur is a prolific writer for Capstone Press, and made many entries for the Interactive History Adventure series.  She also writes non-CYOA children's nonfiction.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Ultimate Ending:  The House on Hollow Hill Part 1


Ultimate Ending seems to have some differences from the pure story-based approach found in other Choose Your Own Adventures.  Most danger can be avoided with "common sense and a logical approach to problem solving", but "others will require a little bit of luck".  Having a coin or a pair of dice is recommended to deal with that.  Since I don't have any dice available, I may use Random.org to generate a result if necessary.  Because of the potential for luck-based elements, I will only play fairly in the CANONICAL ENDING.  For Alternate Endings?  Expect more cheating than an online leaderboard.


I'll need to keep track of clues and items too.  "Taking note of these things is often important, so while you're gathering your courage, you might also want to grab yourself a pencil and a sheet of paper".  Or use my standard Microsoft Word documents that are meant to keep track of CHOICEs.


While each Ultimate Ending book has many conclusions, there is one that's clearly better than the rest.  Hence the title of the series.


In case you have any doubts as to what inspired this series, the dedication is to "Connor Schulte, who will someday choose his own adventure".


The authors of House on Hollow Hill are David Kristoph and Danny McAleese.  They mainly write in the fantasy and science fiction genres.  Xia Taptara drew the cover.


Now let's start the book!


"You are MIKE THOMPSON, a highschooler in upstate New York.  You're walking down the street with your friends Emma and Jake, admiring the autumn leaves on the trees lining the neighborhood".


No anonymous You Say Which Way protagonist here.  And my character's name is capitalized like a retro RPG.


Jake is playing with a baseball and wants to go back to the field near school to work on his curveball.  But Emma laughs at him and says "You're the only kid who spends all day at school and wants to go back for more".  Jake responds with the technicality that the field is only close to the school, not on it.  I tell Jake I need to go home for piano practice because I have a music test tomorrow.


Emma sympathizes with me because the music teacher Mrs. Baramule failed her sister for "confusing a C with a C-sharp".  I'm don't play any instruments in real life, but Mrs. Baramule sounds rather strict for someone outside of a professional orchestra or something.  I asked my friend who requested the Titanic book about this, because she often sings for public performances.  She thought it was silly too.  (I hadn't made any CHOICEs during that conversation.  I just read the first few pages to laugh at the book.)


But our extracurricular conversation is cut short when we see "the massive house on the corner, old and decrepit".  I say I heard Mr. Goosen is moving out at last.  We hear his voice behind us confirming that he's lived there for 81 years.  Mr. Goosen says there is still plenty of treasure left behind from his adventures.  And he's had plenty of adventures:  "African safaris, scaling the Himalayas.  He's done it all!"  Perhaps Mr. Goosen is what an elderly former CYOA protagonist would be like?


Mr. Goosen explains that he has 1 daughter and 4 grandchildren, and they've already taken the treasure they wanted.  Everything else will be bulldozed along with the rest of the mansion.  Why the person who bought Mr. Goosen's house would want to destroy the treasure instead of selling it is unknown to me.  Maybe it's cursed?


The 3 of us are allowed to take 1 item each with us.  No more, no fewer.  Is this going to be an Aladdin-style "Take only the lamp" scenario?  And Mr. Goosen disappears from view too quickly to be an old man.  He's probably a ghost, and this fact will be presented as a "shocking" twist later.  The key to the 3 story mansion is in the mailbox.  The bulldozers will come "first thing tomorrow morning".  Is there one Death where we stay too long and are crushed under the rubble?


There's a map of the house, similar to El Misterio de la Casa Abandonada.  A kitchen is in the NW corner, a den in the NE, a billiard room in the SW, stairs in the S central area, and a piano room in the SE.  The basement is on the E side of the piano room.  But this only covers one floor of the house.  Will there be maps for the 2nd story?


Jake loves the idea of a billiard room.  "I bet there's some cool antique weapons in there.  Like a battle ax or something.  There's always cool stuff like that in a billiard room".


Emma shares my concern of having a map of the 1st floor.  MIKE THOMPSON asks which way to enter the house.  Jake prefers the direct approach of the front door.  But "the front porch is dilapidated, with holes in the steps and spiderwebs in the corners.  The door looks like it hasn't been opened in over a year".  MIKE THOMPSON thinks this is dangerous.


Emma offers "Or the basement.  My mom and I used to help Mrs. Goosen move boxes around in the winter".  Boxes no doubt mean treasure.


CHOICE #1 is either to "keep things simple" and go for the front door, or enter through the basement.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Ultimate Ending:  The House on Hollow Hill Part 2


There is one passion that can overcome fear:  avarice.  Let's go to the basement and fight off supernatural horrors to get some loot!


Besides the encouragement to use coins and dice, the fact that there are page numbers listed in the hyperlinks implies that Ultimate Ending was made for print first rather than as an ebook.


To get to the basement, we have to brush some "encroaching tree limbs" aside.  Jake shouts "OW!" and says I hit him accidentally.  Good thing we don't have Hit Points in this CYOA, or else the characters accidentally injuring each other would be annoying.  A padlock prevents us from entering.  Emma says "I guess we'll try out back?"  But our impetuous friend Jake grabs an axe out of a tree stump and shouts "Watch this!"  "He raises the ax high and charges forward".  I then have to "jump out of the way" and move to page 42.  Jake was established as being overly fond of axes. . .


"With both hands he brings the head down with deadly speed.  And misses.  The ax smashes into the wooden door, half a foot to the left of the padlock".  Someone failed his accuracy roll.  Emma says "Nice swing, Barry Bonds".  Jake must not have taken enough steroids.


Jake's 2nd axe swing is more accurate and destroys the padlock.  It's so hard to see inside the basement that "darkness stares back at you".  A yippy Yorkie interrupts us.  Mrs. Hollencamp, "the neighborhood snoop" is watching us.  She asks who's there, and Emma wants to explain the situation to her.  Jake wants to get away from her.  I've snarked enough Mary Worth comics to know to avoid a "neighborhood snoop" when I see one.  But she may have some advice concerning the house.


CHOICE #2 is to wait for Mrs. Hollencamp, "brave the basement", or go to the back yard.  I have a bad feeling about "brave the basement" because that option goes to page 61, and the 3rd option leads to page 63.  Short paths often lead to Death in CYOAs. 


Obeying Mrs. Hollencamp leads to an anticlimactic ending.  She really is as meddlesome as Mary Worth.


"Let's wait here for Mrs. Hollencamp', you decide.  'We'll just explain to her that Mr. Goosen allowed us to go into his house.'  Emma nods as if it were the right thing to do.  Jake looks scared.  Realizing he's still holding the ax, he quickly tosses it back behind the door to the cellar.  You hear the sound of her Yorkie before you see them round the corner.  'Ahh ha!' Mrs. Hollencamp says, pointing a wrinkled finger at you.  'I knew I heard someone back here.'  She looks from one face to another.  'Now this is quite a surprise.  I would have expected this from Jake, but Mike?  And Emma?'


Emma waits patiently for her to finish.  She puts on her most polite voice.  'This is a simple misunderstanding.  We just spoke to Mr. Goosen, and he said we could go inside his house one last time before it was bulldozed.'  The old woman looks taken aback.  'When did Mr. Goosen give you permission?'  'Just now.  Five minutes ago.' 


Mrs. Hollencamp's face twists in anger.  'This is not funny.  Not funny at all.  I cannot believe you children would play such a cruel, distasteful joke.  Especially so soon after Mr. Goosen. . .'  'No, it's true!' Emma sputters.  'We're not making a joke at all!'


Mrs. Hollencamp reaches forward and grabs your arm.  She has a surprising grip for a grandmother.  'Come with me. We're going to explain this to your parents and see what they say!' 


Jake bolts for the backyard, but Emma sullenly follows Mrs. Hollencamp as she leads you down the street.  Maybe Jake will have more fun inside the house, but for you two this is. . .THE END".


This may be the most disappointing CANONICAL ENDING I've found in a CYOA.  I talk to what's now confirmed to be a ghost, get a quest to find treasure, and am immediately dragged away by a crone.  The definition of a Neutral Ending.  So much for talking to people to get clues!


But don't worry, audience.  There will be more endings to come.


Results So Far


0 Good Endings

0 Deaths

0 Bad Non-Death Endings

1 Neutral Endings

0 Inconclusive Endings

0 ULTIMATE ENDING

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Ultimate Ending:  The House on Hollow Hill Alternate Endings Part 1


In my desire to avoid spoilers, I missed the 3rd option in CHOICE #1, which is to go to the backyard on page 14.  I would have picked the basement anyway even knowing that.


Let's "brave the basement" in CHOICE #2 instead of listening to Hermione Emma.


"Already you can barely see behind you in the soup-like blackness.  How can it possibly be so dark?  The door was just behind you, yet now it seems a thousand feet away!"


Emma grabs my hand, and Jake touches me.  We wait "for what seems like hours", until Emma remembers she has a flashlight and turns it on.  (Does anyone else expect the flashlight to be ignored or disappear in other paths?)  She explains that she used it for school to "look for worms in the field with Mr. Hanney", her biology teacher.  Jake's still holding the ax, but left behind his glove and baseball.  In a Spanish CYOA, he'd fall down the stairs, causing the ax to fly into my jugular.


I'm then ordered to go to page 20.  The basement mostly has worthless objects, such as wet cardboard boxes, rusty bicycles, and a mechanical lawn mower.  But there are some things that might interest us.  An "ancient-looking wine rack" is filled with bottles, and two crates of "the kind you would see packed with straw and priceless archeological artifacts".  CHOICE #3 is between these two options.


If we open the crates, who knows?  We might find the Ark of the Covenant, which could kill us in various ways according to First Samuel 5, Second Samuel 6, or Raiders of the Lost Ark.  But the authors wouldn't go for that blunt of a reference, would they?


The wine rack option tells the reader to "shuffle to page 91" instead of "turning" to it.


But I'll go for the crates for now.  "They're made of old wooden boards nailed together.  Like something out of Indiana Jones".  Just as I had predicted a few seconds earlier.  (I type these posts live as I'm playing. . .)


Jake sees the letters -TREA- on the first crate, and -STRIC- on the second.  But I'm suspicious out-of-character.  Why did the book put a hyphen before the TREA if it were the beginning of the word TREASURE?  Jake asks why better paint wasn't used, and I reply that the faded paint means the crates are older and may have more valuable contents.


CHOICE #4 is to either open the -TREA- crate, or the -STRIC- one.


My reservations about the hyphen before -TREA- are meant to be a clue!  As seen in the following ending.


'I bet the first one says 'TREASURE', you say.  'Let's open that one'.  Jake wedges the ax head in between the top of the crate and the side.  He pushes up and down on the handle until slowly, one millimeter at a time, the nails begin to loosen.  With one final push the entire cover pops off and clatters to the ground, sending a puff of dust into the air all around you.  The ax falls inside the crate and the sound of shattering glass rips the air.  'Oh no!' Jake cries.


Coughing and waving your head over your face, you lean over the crate.  Jake and Emma join you, all peering inside.  The dust begins to fade and the contents come into view.  Three cylindrical cannisters rest inside the crate, suspended in straw.  They're made almost entirely of glass, showing a glowing green liquid inside.  A fourth container is in pieces, the ax head penetrating through the center.  And the green liquid has spilled out.  It makes a hissing sound as it drips down through the straw.  That's when you notice more letters printed on the inside wall of the crate:


C-H-E-M-I-C-A-L
T-R-E-A-T-M-E-N-T


'Guys', you say.  'I think we've made a mistake.'  A greenish mist rises up from the crate.  Within seconds it's all around you, filling the cellar.  You feel a tingling sensation on the skin of your hands and neck.  Your eyes begin to sting as you cough and cough.  You fall to your knees, wondering what would have happened if you had gone around the back yard.  You'll never know, though, because unfortunately this is. . .THE END".


Even if we hadn't tried to open a crate full of toxic chemicals with an ax, the bulldozer crew might be in for a nasty surprise in the aftermath of other endings.



Results So Far


0 Good Endings

1 Deaths

0 Bad Non-Death Endings

1 Neutral Endings

0 Inconclusive Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Ultimate Ending:  The House on Hollow Hill Alternate Endings Part 2


The -STRIC- crate may not lead to the ULTIMATE ENDING, but the results are better than the previous endings by a large margin.  No, it's not RESTRICTED like I expected.


"I've got a good feeling about the second crate', you say.  'Jake, have at it'.  Jake wedges the ax head in between the top of the crate and the side.  He pushes up and down on the handle until slowly, one millimeter at a time, the nails begin to loosen.  With one final push the entire cover pops off and clatters to the ground, sending a puff of dust into the air all around you. 


Coughing and waving your head over your face, you lean over the crate.  Jake and Emma join you, all peering inside.  The dust begins to fade and the contents come into view.  Three enormous eggs sit inside the crate, resting gently on mounds of straw.  They appear cream colored in the light, smooth and shiny as if they're slightly damp.  'Dragon eggs?' Emma whispers, awestruck.  You notice more printed letters on the inside of the crate:


O-S-T-R-I-C-H-E-G-G-S


'Ostrich eggs!' you say.  Emma seems disappointed, but you're excited.  You pick one up with careful hands and hold it up for them to see.  A voice calls out in the darkness:  'Not just any ostrich eggs!'  You nearly jump out of your shoes until you recognize Mr. Goosen gliding toward you.  'You nearly scared the skin off us!' Emma says.  'How did you get in here?  We didn't see any doors open.'


He ignores the question.  His eyes are transfixed on the egg.  'We had to call them ostrich eggs to get them through customs.  These are millions of years old, from the Jurassic era!'  'Dinosaurs!' Emma cries.  But then Mr. Goosen is gone as quickly as he had arrived.  'That was creepy', Jake says.  'And he looked weird, too.  Like I could almost see through him, like a. . .'


Across the cellar, the door to the outside swings open.  It seems like there's a storm brewing.  'We'd better get out of here'.  As you walk home you aren't sure whether to keep the egg or donate it to a museum.  But what you are sure of is that this is. . .THE END".


How convenient that there are exactly 3 eggs for the 3 adventurers to fulfill the "take only one item" clause.  But MIKE THOMPSON must have heard Indiana Jones's words "It belongs in a museum!"  Starting an ostrich farm would have been a funny outcome for a CYOA.


I could make fun of Emma for assuming that they're dragon eggs, but she just saw a ghost.  Why not believe in dragons at this point now that the materialist world view is kaput in this setting?


And the wind is blowing noticeably harder outside not long after I type the ending where the storm is brewing.



Results So Far


1 Good Endings

1 Deaths

0 Bad Non-Death Endings

1 Neutral Endings

0 Inconclusive Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Ultimate Ending:  The House on Hollow Hill Alternate Endings Part 3


Now that I've exhausted all the crate possibilities, it's time to check out the basement wine rack in CHOICE #5.  Emma says "My mom collects old wine.  Some of her bottles are over fifty years old!"  Bragging about wine bottles that are only 50 years old?  Parvenu!


There are 8 rows of wine bottles, and each slot is a foot apart.  Emma dusts off one of them, and finds a label that says "Chateau Rousseau, 1988".  When Jake gets his bottle, "a wolf spider, the size of your hand" appears!  Emma doesn't care, but Jake thrusts the ax upon me and tells me to kill the spider because he's terrified.  It's nice that the writers didn't go with the cliche of making the girl afraid of spiders.


CHOICE #5 is to kill the wolf spider, or let it live.  One note about CHOICEs in this book is that sometimes you might only get one page before the next one.  So even if one option in a CHOICE leads you to one page before the next result, it might not necessarily be a Death.  I'll have to keep that in mind for future Ultimate Ending installments because they all have the same authors.


I feel like being nice to a giant spider this time.  It might talk to us.


Jake swipes Emma's flashlight and runs out of the basement into the house.  We end up in the tiled kitchen and see "Jake is bent over, hands on his knees, panting with fright".  Emma says it was only a spider "with more than a hint of derision".  Now I go to page 56.


The kitchen's tile is as dusty as you'd expect from being neglected for so long.  Our footprints are the only ones here, in an ominous note in the narration.  Emma looks through the cabinets, but they're all empty.  I say "Maybe something is in there" when I see a closed pantry.  But Jake says "Or we could check the refrigerator'.  'It sounds like it's still on".  Shouldn't he be more suspicious of an appliance that somehow still has power when nobody's paid the electric bill?  I remember the washing machine in Creepy House. . .


CHOICE #6 is to either take MIKE THOMPSON's advice and check the pantry, or follow Jake's stupid plan and be mangled by a haunted fridge.


Taking the latter option makes MIKE THOMPSON stay away from the fridge because "if the contents of the fridge are as old as the rest of the house the smell should be awful."  Jake confirms this.  "Ugh!  It smells like rotten eggs!"


"Without warning, Jake flies backwards as if punched in the chest.  He lands on his butt and stares up at the glowing refrigerator opening".  It seems to be a cake-like "green jello mold" covered in white mold.  It starts hopping toward us.  Should have kept that ax, Jake!  Now it's off to page 41.


This food monster is slow enough for us to get away.  We're forced into the piano room because the green jello blocks the way to the den.  It seems to leave after we close the piano room door because the stench disappears.  Page 43 is the next destination.


There are many treasures in the piano room, like "crystal figures of different exotic animals", 18th century oil paintings, and a "gold and glass chandelier".  But the piano captures our attention.  It's suspiciously well-polished and clean for an abandoned house.  "The keys are so white they practically glow".


Emma looks at the music books and finds works of classical composers like Bach and Rachmaninoff.  But then the piano starts to play itself.  Jake says "It's not me!  What if it's one of those pianos that plays on its own?  Like a robot?"  Emma teaches him the term "player piano", but knows this piano is not an example of one.


Off to page 51.  This book likes to bounce the player around after CHOICE #6.  Perhaps this is a path to the ULTIMATE ENDING?


MIKE THOMPSON recognizes the tune of Für Elise playing.  CHOICE #7 is to select the correct 9th note to play.  Is it A or B, C or D, or E, F, or G?  It seems odd that two different notes would be offered in each option.  Is this where I'm supposed to use dice?  Or does it reward classical music knowledge that Herman Gigglethorpe doesn't have?  I wonder if the line about the music teacher failing Emma's sister for not knowing the difference between C and C sharp is supposed to be a clue.


Random.org gave me "2" when I asked it for a 1-6 roll.  So it'll be A or B for this route.  This happens to be the correct option.  "The ivory keys glow, and the full song begins to play.  It sounds so beautiful, the acoustics in the room are fantastic." And a glowing substance on the piano keys rises into the air and becomes solid.  It's time to go to page 122.


A ghost girl appears and compliments MIKE THOMPSON's piano skills.  "Just like my mom used to play!"  She says her mom was a tutor.  Ron Jake wants to get to the point and asks "Say, you don't know where anything good in this house is?  Something valuable?"  Hermione Emma disapproves, but the ghost doesn't take offense.  She tells us to look in her piggy bank in the nursery on the 2nd floor.  Jake says "Piggy bank?  We want treasure, not pennies", but I point out we won't necessarily have to take any particular object.  Turn to page 123.


The ghost girl's bedroom has toys that look like they came from the 1960s.  Do our characters have specific knowledge of retro toys, or is it just the narration?  Jake dismisses the piggy bank as "boring", but I hear another sound coming from it just as Jake suggests going to the office to look "for a computer or something".  Turn to page 134 and a non-ultimate ending.


"You lift the pig over your head and smash it on the ground.  With the sound of broken porcelain it blows up into a thousand tiny pieces.  The sound shocks Jake.  'What'd you do that for?' he demands.  'It's just dumb coins.'  Emma's eyes widen.  'No, Jake, look!'  Among the pink porcelain pieces are tiny, colorful objects.  They look like skittles, until you lean forward and pick one up.  It's blue, with at least a dozen smooth, flat surfaces.  'It's a sapphire', you mutter.


'They're gemstones!' Emma cries.  The three of you pick up the sapphires and rubies, emeralds and topaz, exclaiming as you find larger and larger gems.  You fill your pockets with them until they're overflowing and you have to carry the rest in your cupped hands.  'Now we can get out of this house!' Jake says.  None of you disagree.


As you exit out the front door you see Mr. Goosen standing there, waiting.  'Ahh, the gems from my days in the mines of Svalbard!' he says when he sees what's in your hands.  'What a prize.  Just about the best thing you would have found. . .'  You thank him and hurry down the street; it's already getting dark.  The gems are surely worth thousands of dollars.  You can't wait to show your parents.  Maybe now they'll let you and your brother go to space camp.


It was an exciting adventure, and the three of you never tell anyone about the strange things you saw in the House on Hollow Hill.  Nobody would believe you, anyways.  Excited about what the future brings, you accept this is an exciting way to reach. . .THE END".


How are these kids going to explain the treasure to their parents?  They'd better have a good cover story if they don't want the adults to assume they stole the gems.


Svalbard is known for its coal mines, but not gemstones as far as a Google search is concerned.  


I'm surprised that there are red herring puzzles in the book.  The Für Elise ghost piano seems like it would lead to the ULTIMATE ENDING, but instead we get a lesser Good Ending.


Results So Far


2 Good Endings

1 Deaths

0 Bad Non-Death Endings

1 Neutral Endings

0 Inconclusive Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Ultimate Ending:  The House on Hollow Hill Alternate Endings Part 4


Picking the wrong note for Für Elise in CHOICE #7 leads to failure.  Since both incorrect options go to page 140, I only need to post one ending instead of two.


"The piano shakes menacingly, causing the wires inside to make a cacophony of noise.  The chaotic music fills the air, until a strange mist begins rising off the back of the piano.  You know what's going to happen by now.  The mist forms into the figure of a little girl, wearing a faded white dress.  And you can see straight through her into the ceiling beyond.


The girl is extremely unhappy.  "No!  It's wrong.  All wrong!'  She bobs up and down in the air.  'Mom played it much better than that.  She never made mistakes!'  She starts crying, a long sorrowful wail.  The sound causes a sharp pain deep within your ears.  You cover your head with your hands but it doesn't help.


You fall to your knees in agony as the girl's cries intensify.  You send one final look at Emma as darkness begins closing in all around you.  'I'm sorry!' you try to tell her, right as you realize this is. . .THE END".


I'll mark this one as a Death.  No wonder Mrs. Baramule is a strict teacher, if playing the right note can save your life in this universe.  She probably knows more about Mr. Goosen's house than my character suspects.


Player characters in CYOA books don't seem to care much about discovering ghosts or aliens in the endings.  This sort of event should make them question everything they thought they knew about the world.  But I guess they aren't introspective types.


Results So Far


2 Good Endings

2 Deaths

0 Bad Non-Death Endings

1 Neutral Endings

0 Inconclusive Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Ultimate Ending:  The House on Hollow Hill Alternate Endings Part 5


Nothing happens when I turn on the light switch inside the kitchen when I decide to go for the pantry in CHOICE #6.  At first.  The pantry is big enough for me to walk inside.  When I reach for a sack of rice for. . .no reason I can figure out, the ghost girl from the piano room appears.  She introduces herself this time:  "HI!  MY NAME'S ELIZABETH!"  If her name is in ALL CAPS, maybe she's a relative of MIKE THOMPSON.


She demands that I tell her what day her birthday is, with the threat "You'd better know it. . ."  CHOICE #8 is to either pick a random date, try to hit her with a pool cue I don't have, or try to escape.  The 2nd option suggests that the book's inventory is based on the honor system.  There's nothing stopping players from retconning a pool cue like the life preserver in La Isla de los Dodos.


MIKE THOMPSON guesses April 2.  It's not ELIZABETH's birthday.  She disappears and starts making boxes of food fall inside the pantry.  One of them "smashes your toes".  Once again, it's a good thing none of the characters have stats.  Emma asks "What do we do?" CHOICE #9 is to either smash the now-locked pantry door open, or use the pool cue.  The authors wanted me to go to the billiards room first, didn't they?


"Desperately, you throw your shoulder against the pantry door.  The wood creaks but does not budge.  You try a second time, and then a third.  Your shoulder aches and you eventually give up.  'Mike, I'm scared!' Emma calls.  The heavy bags and boxes continue raining down on them [sic].  Although you cannot see, you can feel the items flying in the room.  It's like you're in a tornado of grocery items!


You huddle on the ground and cover your head protectively.  Eventually the torrent might end, but for now you're in a whirlwind nightmare that signals. . .THE END".


Where's Jake with his ax when you need him?  This is an Inconclusive Ending because of the last line.  And being indefinitely trapped in Mr. Goosen's house isn't a possibility in this book due to the bulldozers, unless there's a time warp involved.


Results So Far


2 Good Endings

2 Deaths

0 Bad Non-Death Endings

1 Neutral Endings

1 Inconclusive Endings