Flimtown

Flimsy's Town of ZZT, or Flimsytown, or FLIMTOWN.zzt, or possibly just zzt game, is a ZZT World authored by Flimsy Parkins at some point in the mid-2000's.

The goal of this page is to provide navigation assistance when exploring the game, and to highlight interesting object behaviours and moments.

Notes:

• The game begins in Room One (board 69).
• The object positions listed here begin at 1,1 in the upper-left cell of the screen.
• Board numbers begin at 0 (which is always the title screen in ZZT), up to 94. These numbers correspond to the board numbering scheme used in the Museum of ZZT file viewer.

Thanks to:

• Dr. Dos, for Museum of ZZT, the Zookeeper library, and for demystifying several techniques used throughout.
• Celine Kalante, for driving interest in this ZZT world.
• DavidN, for graciously releasing a copy of Castle of ZZT that Flimsy tampered with at around the same time that this was made.
• Kevin Vance, for KevEdit.

Roadmap:

• Map of layout, rough draft with thumbnails -- done.
• In-game screenshots of all boards collected, cropped and uploaded to this page -- done.
• Info filled out for individual boards (exits, tricks employed, additional context) - 16%-ish right now.
• Map of layout, full screenshots with board numbers and titles - 0% (having technical issues, will come back to this later)

Boards

0: The possibility that we are living in a

• This is visually identical to the Town of ZZT title screen.

Edge Exits

• None.

Passage Exits

• 33,22 White-on-brown: 67: "$Wake Up" (one-way)

1: false vacuum has never been a cheering one

• This is a travel board with no objects.

Edge Exits

• North: 70: "Nope!" (two-way, dead-end)
• South: None.
• East: None.
• West: 60: "Dignity" (two-way)

Passage Exits

• None.

2: to contemplate. Vacuum decay is the

• Boulders prevent travel from the north unless they have been moved out of the way from the south (which, in turn, has another set of boulders in the same layout.)

Edge Exits

• North: 33: "I Am X" (two-way)
• South: 26: "The greatest danger" (two-way)
• East: 66: "$Double take" (two-way, through a hidden path)
• West: 22: "Copy of Board 99" (one-way, kill screen)

Passage Exits

• None.

3: ultimate ecological catastrophe; in the

• This board is dark, though nothing will stop you from invoking the -DARK cheat to turn on the lights, and the area is safe to explore. The north and south edges loop around.
• The purple Yen item (The "XR7 power drill" -- no flag is set) at 54,10 cannot be reached without cheating, and seems to be a comment on using the ZAP cheat.
• Interesting cave-in effect in the center of the board that's activated by proximity.
• Not sure why, but forest is placed and removed as you walk in the upper-left corner. Maybe it helps give the appearance that you've traveled onto a different board. The sensors are at 8,2 and 4,7.

Edge Exits

• North: 3: "ultimate ecological catastrophe; in the" (two-way)
• South: 3: "ultimate ecological catastrophe; in the" (two-way)
• East: 74: "ADHADH" (two-way)
• West: 66: "$Double take" (two-way, dead-end from this side)

Passage Exits

• None.

4: new vacuum there are new constants of

5: nature; after vacuum decay, not only is

• Exits to the north, south and east are all one-way links to 22: "Copy of Board 99" (kill screen).

6: life as we know it impossible, so is

• This board features a neat imposter effect. A player clone is hidden in the smiley crowd at 31,5. Four objects surrounding the clone receive :touch messages when the user moves. These messages signal an imposter object at 60,10 to match the real player's movement symmetrically. As the imposter object moves around, it lays down blue doors, which are changed to fakes, to create a dark-blue background to walk on. The imposter briefly leaves behind a white fake that is cleaned up on the following tick, but this is nonetheless very effective at startling the user. You can circumvent the imposter player by shooting it, or pausing the game and taking a step, which won't register with the sensors surrounding the clone at 31,5.

Edge Exits

• North: None.
• south: None.
• East: 33: "I Am X" (one-way, eventually leads to 34: "Yellow1")
• West: 27: Introduction screen

Passage Exits

• None.

7: chemistry as we know it. However, one

• The south path along the bottom-right leads to a line of hidden passages on the edge of the following board, unexpectedly teleporting the player to 61: "Stripes".

Edge Exits

• North: 18: "HARUUOO" (two-way)
• South: 58: "Board 6" (two-way -- hidden one-way passage trap in the lower left!)

Passage Exits

• None.

8: could always draw stoic comfort from the

• Very cool animation of a musical note falling to the ground at 54,9. (TODO check if from Shades of Gray or just similar.)

Edge Exits

Passage Exits

9: possibility that perhaps in the course of

10: time the new vacuum would sustain, if not

This is a dead-end when accessed from the East (87: "Bobbi").

Edge Exits

• North: None.
• South: 83: "Oooooooooooooooo" (two-way)
• East: 87: "Bobbi" (two-way)
• West: 9: "possibility that perhaps in the course of" (two-way)

Passage Exits

• None.

11: life as we know it, at least some

• Only one object here: a grey null in the lower-right that shoots you twice upon touching it.

Exits

• North: None
• South: None
• East: 12: "structures capable of knowing joy. This"
• West: 64: "Copy of Title screen"

12: structures capable of knowing joy. This

• A modified version of 69 ("Room One") that links back to it by three different edges.

Edge Exits

• North: 69:"Room One"
• South: 69: "Room One"
• East: 69: "Room One"
• West: 11: "life as we know it, at least some"

Passage Exits

• 15,14 White-on-green Armory passage: 88: "HOORAY" (two-way, dead end)
• 40,15 Light Cyan-on-black Bank of ZZT passage: This passage points back to itself.

13: possibility has now been eliminated.

14: >>>>>)>U>>>>>

15: T50-175 (5.175)

16: $ADHADHADH

• (Not to be confused with 74: "ADHADH"
• This screen is heavily based on Satan's lair in the Caves of ZZT.
• The gate in the upper-left has a #bind conflict that causes the middle-bottom mimic-sliderns object to disappear under certain circumstances. It binds to "b" and there is more than one object named "b" on the board.
• The yellow "O" at 53,15 has a hidden blue object one step east which represents a wind-up toy that you find in 87 ("Bobbi"). If you come in contact with this object initially, it is quietly destroyed. However, if you approach from the west with the item, you can see a small animation where the player places the toy through the "O" to collect dynamite (it doesn't work).
• The yellow "X" at 51,15 coughs up blood (red water), however if it makes water to its east, it turns it into a breakable so that you can shoot it out of the way.
• Warning: The yellow door at 55,14 moves south quickly and can easily trap you.
• The yellow object at 50, 16 turns invisible (char 32) upon touching it, and seems to continue moving around (behaviour unclear). If the player touches the object again, it shows char 1 and plays a very high-pitched note that doesn't stop until you mute ZZT.
• The red "o" at 2,5 turns cyan after you have talked to Rumsfeld. If you touch it in this state, it will follow you at #cycle 1 perpetually.
• The Mayor at 55,4 does not do anything upon being bribed with 100 gems.

Edge Exits

• North: 78: "Board 7" (Two-way)
• south: None.
• East: 58: "Board 6" (Two-way)
• West: 40: "Queue and Drop" (Two-way)

Passage Exits

• White-on-red at 31,12: 63: "Objects" (Two-way, seems to be a dead-end)

17: SGADH

18: HARUUOO

19: SNORK

20: ZZZZZZZ

21: Board 3

• Blinky star object: additional text in the scroll if you press down a few more times.

• Bullet Redirection Chamber: uses objects to make it appear that your bullets are veering off or shooting back at you.

22: Copy of Board 99

This appears to be a kill screen with no way out.

• This seems to be a trap, or some kind of anti-cheat. Various boards throughout the game have one-way links to this screen, often accessible only if you used the ZAP cheat to pass through obstacles. There is no exit for this area, and an erratically-moving object chases down the player and ends the game upon contact without any exposition.

Edge Exits

• None.

Passage Exits

• None.

23: Memorable

24: Leftover

• Shoot the blue object, it will become a scroll. When you touch the scroll, an object monitoring for scrolls on the board will trigger and show text accompanied by the scroll sound effect. (ZZT-OOP-generated scrolls are not able to display text.)

25: $Copy (3) of Title Screen

• The blue square, upper-center, seems to be a modified snippet of 3 ("ultimate ecological catastrophe; in the").
• Upon first entering this board, without explanation, an object at 33,2 attempts to take 256 Gems.
• The white-on-purple passage at 13,17 can be reached without zapping, if the player entered this board for the first time from 29: "Copy (3) of Introduction Screen" (28,22 white-on-brown passage).
• There are some individual board edge tiles in an isolated chamber in the bottom-left, but no edge links are set up on this board.

Edge Exits

• None

Passage Exits

• 35,5 Black-on-black: This passage points back to itself.
• 40,5 white-on-red: 40: "Queue and Drop" (one-way)
• 13,17 white-on-purple: 26: "The greatest danger" (one-way, no matching passage)

26: The greatest danger

27: Introduction screen

28: Copy of Introduction Screen

29: Copy (3) of Introduction Screen

30: Copy (20-

31: Ii , i i

32: &

33: I Am X

34: Yellow1

35: Copy of one

36: later, later

37: Sick Bay

38: Rocket pad

39: Copy of soda

40: Queue and Drop

41: Path to castle

• This is a travel board with no custom objects. It's a recolored version of a board from Town of ZZT with no other apparent changes.

Edge Exits

• North: 44: "The red hallway" (two-way)
• South: 19: "SNORK" (two-way)
• East: None.
• West: 22: "Copy of Board 99" (one-way, Kill screen)

Passage Exits

• None.

42: Outside Castle

• This is based on a board from Flimsy's ZZT contest game DRIP. It also appears in Flimsy's Castle of ZZT.

• Hidden objects with strange behavior: 52,13 (when shot, fills the entire board with slime) and 16,23.
• Some hidden non-stat items at 16,20 (black ammo), 33,20 (black door), 33,21 (black key), and 33;23 (black sliderns).
• Exits to the west, south and east are all mirage effects that don't take you anywhere.

Edge Exits

• North: 51: "Mr. Octopus Wieners" (two-way)
• South: 5: "nature; after vacuum decay, not only is" (non-functioning, mirage trick)
• East: 13: "possibility has now been eliminated." (non-functioning, mirage trick)
• West: 72: "Maximum Security" (non-functioning, mirage trick)

Passage Exits

• 33,22 Black-on-black: 87: "Bobbi" (One-way)

43: The Rube Board

44: The red hallway

45: Copy (2) of soda

Edge Exits

• North:
• South:
• East:
• West:

Passage Exits

• None.

46: House of Purples

47: I forgot my line

48: Therefore, he waits behind

49: MY BLOODY HAND!

50: Darker crazy board

51: Mr. Octopus Wieners

• 31,2 is some sort of ZZT-OOP Turing machine.

52: Crashed<----- Rocket

53: O7BBig7a+X0,1YouAASADHHadTooShahSewSoda199

54: AsadMeReSmdaSpiFaiGIaxiRezztnoindc

• It is not possible to get through this gate without zapping. The eastern board is a dead-end. (This is referenced in the game-within-a-game in 67: "$Wake Up".)

55: Slice bible yellow double kudzu marina

56: Board 1

• This is a dark room (nothing checks for the -DARK cheat)
• Clever object inventory change with a flourescent tube object. If you picked up a golden "L" on a different board, you can place it down here in exchange for the tube. The object changes all white objects to yellow objects and rearranges its position to look like you dropped the L. Similar to inventory swapping in the Dizzy games.
• Transporter in the upper-left will not work because of an invisible wall placed to its left. The board to the west would have no walkable tiles to enter from that passage in any case.

Edge Exits

• South: 22: "Copy of Board 99" (one-way, Kill screen)

57: Board 5

58: Board 6

• This appears to be a dead end when entered from the west (16: "$ADHADHADH").
• Travel to 75: "Duunudududun" appears to be blocked until movable objects in the lower-right are pushed out of the way from the other side.

Edge Exits

• North: 7: "chemistry as we know it. However, one" (Two-way)
• South: 75: "Duunudududun" (Two-way)
• East: 76: "AHHH!" (Two-way)
• West: 16: "$ADHADHADH" (Two-way)

59: Board 99

• (Not to be confused with 22: Copy of Board 99)

60: Dignity

61: Stripes

62: Toilets

63: Objects

This seems to be a dead-end when accessed from the red-on-white passage in 16 ("$ADHADHADH").

Edge Exits

• TODO

Passage Exits

• 33,14 white-on-red: 16: "$ADHADHADH" (Two-way)

64: Copy of Title screen

• Poop object kills the player, then gives them 1 Health point to cause the game to move at the fastest setting with sound muted.

• Egg objects are being duplicated and piling up in the middle chamber.

65: Copy (2) of Title screen

66: $Double take

This appears to be a dead end when entering from the east (3: "ultimate ecological catastrophe; in the").

• Passages along the bottom edge are used as part of a mirage effect when attempting to travel north from the right-hand side of 72: "Maximum Security".

Edge Exits

• North: 22: "Copy of Board 99" (one-way, Kill screen)
• South: 72: "Maximum Security" (two-way)
• East: 3: "ultimate ecological catastrophe; in the" (two-way)
• West: 2: "to contemplate. Vacuum decay is the" (two-way, takes you to a fake wall path on the other side)

Passage Exits

• Line of hidden red-on-red passages, bottom row, right hand side: 66: "$Double take" (used as part of a mirage effect)

67: $Wake Up

68: Copy of two

69: Room One

• This is the starting point. It's nearly identical to the starting board in Town of ZZT.

• A hidden Object (28,2) wanders the screen until certain conditions are met (unclear from a quick look at the OOP, but seems to be related to positioning and having a certain number of gems). When active, the NPC shows #char 2, explains that they are there to help you escape, and then they die, turning into a red water cell.

Edge Exits

• North: 12: "structures capable of knowing joy. This" (two-way)
• South: 12: "structures capable of knowing joy. This" (two-way)
• East: 61: "Stripes" (two-way)
• West: 12: "structures capable of knowing joy. This" (two-way)

Passage Exits

• 15,10 Red-on-white Armory passage: 87: "Bobbi" (One-way)
• 40,10 White-on-green Bank passage: 81: "$Copyright 1991" (one-way, kill screen)

70: Nope!

71: Over And Over

This appears to be a dead end when entered from either possible edge.

72: Maximum Security

73: KILL HARRY POTTER

74: ADHADH

• In the bottom-right corner, there is a black-on-black passage just before the white-on-red passage.
• The white-on-red passage can only be accessed from the board to the east (85: "Board 2"), and it's used as part of a mirage effect to show a different board's visuals.
• The multi-colored objects center-left are floppy disks and set flag "pile" upon taking them.

Edge Exits

• North: None
• South: None
• East: 85: "Board 2" (two-way)
• West: 3: "ultimate ecological catastrophe; in the" (two-way)

Passage Exits

• 59, 23 Black-on-Black passage: 25: $Copy (3) of Title Screen (one-way)
• 60, 23 White-on-Red passage: 40: "Queue and Drop". This passage is otherwise inaccessible without cheats. (However, the black-on-black passage sends you to a board with another passage that goes to the same destination.)

75: Duunudududun

76: AHHH!

Edge Exits

• North: None.
• South: None.
• East: None
• West: 58: "Board 6" (Two-way)

77: Board 4

78: Board 7

• The Cyan half-block at 23,16, and the White half-block at 37,7, play sounds when touched.
• The statless Player clones along the top of the board affect where the player appears when entering from the north. It is possible to destroy them with bullets, allowing you to get around the other side of the maze structure in 87: "Bobbi", and to also visit the west-linked board.

Edge Exits

• North: 87: "Bobbi" (Two-way, returning is affected by the player clone edge trick)
• South: 16: "$ADHADHADH" (Two-way)
• East: 56: "Board 1" (Two-way)
• West: 8: "could always draw stoic comfort from the"

79: Slice3

• The object at 26,13 monitors for the flag "aim" to be set. When this happens, it destroys the white-on-red passage above it at 26,12. The "aim" flag is set later down this path on the board 67: $Wake Up.

80: Dot trade target should would could *clap*

81: $Copyright 1991

This appears to be a kill screen with no way out.

• (TODO expand on this) This board has a corrupted message box drawn into the terrain. A single white Ruffian enemy is present near the bottom of the message box. When the ruffian is destroyed, an object monitoring for any ruffians on the screen uses an unending loop to make a message box of corrupted text appear with some menu choices. Upon choosing a menu choice, more choices with seemingly random text appear. When selecting this choice, an undocumented ZZT command to read in files is invoked on the DOS reserved device name CON, which appears to softlock the game. If the player types some input, then presses ctrl+z to send an EOF escape code, then presses Enter, ZZT will continue to operate. However, the game will still be stuck in an unending loop of making a message box appear. Hitting ESC repeatedly may eventually allow the user to quit the game.

Exits

• None

82: 1

83: Oooooooooooooooo

84: DROD

85: Board 2

• There is a passage illusion / mirage effect if you attempt to travel west at the lower-left board edge. The screen for 40: "Queue and Drop" is overlaid onto the display, but you are still in 85: "Board 2". Saving and restoring, or invoking the -DARK cheat will refresh the screen.

• This block of text is also found in Sixteen Easy Pieces.

86: Board 8

87: Bobbi

• When entering from the Armory passage in 69: "Room One", the player is placed in the purple enclosure above. This enclosure expands and allows the player to walk west.
• Immediately after entering, a hidden object at 7,6 overwrites a black-on-black passage one cell north with a white-on-red one back to the Armory, providing a two-way link, but only after the first time you've entered this board.
• The blue 'æ' object at 13,12 can be reached by moving sliders and a bomb out of the way. It sets flag "dingdong", giving you a wind-up toy which seems to be usable on the big yellow "O" in 16: "$ADHADHADH".
• 59,17, a motherboard made of gingerbread. No flags are set if you take it.
• The white smiley object at 49,23 checks continuously for player contact. When the player walks by, it sends "all:c", pinning you into a small space where objects randomly throw stars until you die. Another object hiding at 45,25 approaches to watch this, monitoring your health until it reaches 0, then walks away, slowly, after the game over state is reached. There is additional code in this object, and also in an object to the left at 44,25, whose behavior is unclear at this time. The left object attempts to #put colored objects on the bottom row of the board, which shouldn't work due to an off-by-one error in ZZT.
• The player can be teleported from a hidden black passage in 42: "Outside Castle" (33,22) to a black passage here at 29,13. When the player steps off of this passage, the object at 27,13 detects contact with the player, and signals a hidden object at 29,14 to destroy the passage, which points to 73: "KILL HARRY POTTER". The flag "haha" is set, and never checked anywhere again in the rest of the game. It's possible to use the pause exploit to quickly step off of, and back onto the passage before it's destroyed. It's unclear if there is any other way to reach this passage without zapping. The destination board is reachable through other routes.
• Visually resembles the mini-board design of Sixteen Easy Pieces. Contains miniature versions of 41: "Path to castle", 52: "Crashed<----- Rocket", 34: "Yellow1", and more.

Edge Exits

• North: None.
• South: 78: "Board 7" (two-way, you will appear on the right-hand side due to a player clone edge trick)
• East: None.
• West: 10: "time the new vacuum would sustain, if not" (two-way, affected by player clone edge trick)

Passage Exits

• 7,5 Black-on-black, becomes white-on-red upon initialization: 69: "Room One" (Two-way after first enter)
• 29,13 Black-on-black: 73: "KILL HARRY POTTER"

88: HOORAY

This board is a dead-end when entered from the green Armory in 12: "structures capable of knowing joy. This".

• A board filled with gems, slimes, and edge links to itself.

Edge Exits

• None.

Passage Exits

• White on Dark-Green Passage: 12: "structures capable of knowing joy. This"

89: $Title screen

This is part of a grey, self-contained, three-by-three board maze area with unusual edge links.

• There are no objects on this board.
• The west board exit is blocked by objects along the edge if you have not already unlocked the gate on the other side.

Edge Exits

• North: 84: "DROD" (one-way)
• South: 24: "Leftover" (two-way)
• East: 90: "Fun pie12 (lower right corner)" (one-way)
• West: 82: "1" (two-way)

Passage Exits

• None.

90: Fun pie12 (lower right corner)

This is part of a grey, self-contained, three-by-three board maze area with unusual edge links.

• There are no objects on this board.

Edge Exits

• North: 54: "AsadMeReSmdaSpiFaiGIaxiRezztnoindc" (two-way)
• South: None.
• East: [#90|90: "Fun pie12 (lower right corner)"]] (one-way, not reachable without zapping)
• West: 86: "Board 8" (two-way)

Passage Exits

• None.

91: New demon

This is part of a grey, self-contained, three-by-three board maze area with unusual edge links.

• There are no objects on this board.

Edge Exits

• North: 91: "New demon" (one-way)
• South: 86: "Board 8" (two-way)
• East: 54: "AsadMeReSmdaSpiFaiGIaxiRezztnoindc" (two-way)
• West: 84: "DROD" (one-way)

Passage Exits

• None.

92: Fun pie11

This is part of a grey, self-contained, three-by-three board maze area with unusual edge links.

• There are no objects on this board.

Edge Exits

• North: None.
• South: 54: "AsadMeReSmdaSpiFaiGIaxiRezztnoindc" (two-way)
• East: None.
• West: 94: "EffffffffffffPSP~!@#$%^&*(" (two-way)

Passage Exits

• None.

93: Board to the East

This board is a dead-end and can only be reached by zapping from the west.

• There are no stat objects on this board.

Edge Exits

• North: None.
• South: None.
• East: None.
• West: 54: "AsadMeReSmdaSpiFaiGIaxiRezztnoindc"

Passage Exits

• None.

94: EffffffffffffPSP~!@#$%^&*(

This is part of a grey, self-contained, three-by-three board maze area with unusual edge links.

• There are no objects on this board.

Edge Exits

• North: None.
• South: 86: "Board 8" (one-way)
• East: 92: "Fun pie11" (two-way)
• West: 53: "O7BBig7a+X0,1YouAASADHHadTooShahSewSoda199" (one-way)

Passage Exits

• None.