Elroy Goes Bugzerk

By Jen

Preliminary note: This game has "save points." You can save at almost any point in the game, but you will have to restart at the "save point." You can tell when you hit one because you get a title screen announcing the next scene. It's a good idea to save every time you see one of those because there is a lot of retrying in this game.

Now, let's cut to the chase.

Watch the lengthy opening sequence. Eventually Elroy will be given the choice to look for the bug or look for the egg. Choose the egg. If you choose the bug, you will hit a dead end.

Elroy meets up with the farmer, then he gets a choice to go left or right. Choose right. You will end up in the barn.

Click on the cow, then click on the chicken, then click on the radio. More chicken-chasing, then you wind up outside the barn and have to listen to another radio. Then you end up inside the Bug Club clubhouse.

Look at exhibits (leave the chicken alone) until you see the bone hat on the floor, then click on it. Then click on the bag-looking hat thingie. When Elroy puts it on, he can see a lot of bugs on the floor and three eggs, one in the rafters, one in the hay, and one that looks like it's in wood. Click the one that looks like it's in the wood to see the Members Only entrance and a riddle machine.

Pull the lever on the riddle machine to get a riddle. The questions and answers are:

Which bug has the most in common with the farmer? Ants.
Do beetles suck their food into their mouths...? No
Most effective at covering the earth with excrement? Locusts.
Most dangerous to people? The fly.
Rubbing together of body parts to make a sound? Stridulation.
Why do moths fly around flames? They think it's the sun.

You will get in the secret room and get the egg.

To make the cake, first click on the cookbook to get the recipe. Follow the recipe. The secret ingredient is the liquefied emulsifier. Make sure to use the flour, not the flower.

Now it's time to pursue the bug. Elroy winds up in the toolshed. Look at the bottom of the desk, then look in the keyhole. The bug is in there. You need a key. Click to turn left, then click on the hornet's nest. Click to turn left again and then click on the bottles on the shelf. Click on the worm in a jar. You open the drawer and the bug escapes, but uh oh, here comes the farmer. Click on the trap door.

You are in a tunnel with three choices for direction. Exploring these tunnels and clicking on the things that you see will teach you about bugs. To exit the tunnels, from the beginning, go left, right, left, right, left, and then you will be faced with another riddle machine. Turn it on. You must answer two questions correctly to get out. The answers are as follows (the questions come up in random order):

Some termites build nests that are as deep as a football field is long. False.
Which bug is the most likely bowler? Dung beetle.
Which insect is the speediest flier? Hawk moth.
The massive arthropod flexed his mighty what? Thorax.
Which part of the diagram is incorrect? Mandible.

Time to negotiate with the technoloptera. If given the choice to tell the truth or lie, always tell the truth. The technoloptera will say yes to the following: the dung, the massage, the targets, getting rid of the chickens, the hearing aid, the camouflage, the brussels sprouts, the hole, the dance classics, and the pupae sitting.

You have to get through a maze pretty quick. Now is a good time to save. Just click forward until you come across a map, then follow the map, then click forward a couple more screens to get out. After you escape, you will be on an island in the middle of the farmer's pond.

Just click on everything until eventually you find the radio. Then you will be able to cross the plank across the pond, only to narrowly escape being beaned by a meteor shower. The technoloptera is not so lucky, though. Find her under the biggest meteorite.

Time to answer some more questions. Is this educational or what? The answers are: airspeed—horsefly; germ warfare—housefly; flight distance—monarch butterfly; architecture—termite; and slurpee—no. The questions come up in random order.

That's it. Win the bug contest. Game over.