How to play Chip's Challenge
This is a tile game that came with Microsoft Windows Entertainment Pack #4 and Best of Windows Entertainment Pack.
There are 149 levels. Each level is played on a 32x32 grid of tiles. Different types of tiles have different effects on you (You control the motions of a nerdy guy named Chip who is trying to impress Melinda the Mental Marvel). Melinda is the top scorer in Chip's Challenge (yes, even higher than David Stolp).
The object of the game is to find the blue exit square in the shortest time possible (some levels are not timed, so your goal for those levels is just to get to the exit square alive). There is a timer running just to the right of the game area. When the timer shows 0, you lose.
You get level bonus for each level you complete. It is 500x the level number if you do it on your first try, and you are penalized if you take several tries to solve a level.
You get time bonus based on the amount showing on the timer when you finish the level. It is 10x your seconds remaining. The entpack.ini file only remembers your best time.
Your level score is the sum of your time bonus and your level bonus. The entpack.ini file only remembers your best level score. Do not manually edit your entpack.ini file if you fail a level. The mistake will be forgotten by the game if you get it right the next time around.
Some objects will kill you, some will help you, and some will just prevent passage. Here is a summary of what the different tiles will do. Maybe later I will add pictures of them.
1. Floor tile. Chip, monsters, and blocks can always go over these.
2. Wall. Blocks Chip, monsters, and blocks from moving there.
3. Partial walls. These allow passage in some directions, but not others.
4. Red key. Opens a red door.
5. Red door. Use a red key to open it.
6. Blue key. Opens a blue door (this is more of a bluish green colour in the MS version, but it is blue in the Lynx version).
7. Blue door. Use a blue key to open it.
8. Yellow key. Opens a yellow door.
9. Yellow door. Use a yellow key to open it.
10. Green key. Opens green doors. Can be used more than once, unlike the other keys.
11. Green door. Opened by a green key.
12. You (Chip). You just control the motions of this man using the mouse or the arrow keys (I would suggest that it's easier with the arrow keys). If more than one of these is placed on the board, only one of them will be movable, but you die if a monster runs into any of them.
13. Chip. Collect enough of these to open the chip socket. Look under "CHIPS" on the right side of the board to see how many you still need to get. Some levels don't require you to pick up chips.
14. Chip socket. This can only be opened if you have collected enough chips. If there is more than one chip socket in a level, they can all be opened once you have enough chips.
15. Hint. Step on this question mark object to show a hint on the right side of the board. The clock still runs while you're reading the hint (while the hint is displayed, you cannot see how many chips you need to get or which tools you have).
16. Exit. This is the most important square in any level. The idea is to get to it as soon as possible. Some levels are untimed, so then the idea is just to get to it.
17. Blocks. These can be pushed over floor tiles, gravel, fire, keys, boots, buttons, hints (only in the MS version), and the exit (only in the MS version). If you push a block into water, it becomes dirt. Blocks cannot be pushed over dirt. Blocks that are being moved by objects other than you (such as clone machines, ice, or force floors) can kill you if they land on you. Sometimes objects are hidden under blocks (sometimes it's good stuff like chips or boots, sometimes it's bad stuff like fire or a thief)
18. Water. You die if you fall in the water, unless you have flippers. Some levels require you to build bridges with blocks to get by the water.
19. Dirt. If you step on dirt, it becomes a floor tile. Monsters cannot step on dirt.
20. Monsters. These will kill you if you come in contact with them (it is safe to be on a tile adjacent to a monster, but you die if you're on the same tile as a monster). There are 9 types of monsters. Here is how they move:
20a. Bug. Follows the left wall. If there is no left wall to follow, it turns left. Bugs avoid fire.
20b. Paramecium. Follows the right wall. If there is no right wall to follow, it turns right.
20c. Fireball. Goes straight ahead until it reaches an obstacle. Then it turns right. If it can't turn right, it turns left. If it can't turn left either, it comes back the way it came. Fireballs are not killed by fire.
20d. Glider. Goes straight ahead until it reaches an obstacle. Then it turns left. If it can't turn left, it turns right. If it can't turn right either, it comes back the way it came. Gliders are not killed by water.
20e. Ping Pong Ball. Goes straight ahead until it hits an obstacle. Then it turns around and comes back the way it came.
20f. Walker. Walkers move like fireballs, gliders, and ping pong balls, but they turn in a random direction when they reach an obstacle. In the MS version, they will turn right away. In the Lynx version, they might not, depending which direction they attempt to go first. Walkers avoid fire.
20g. Blobs. They move at half the regular speed. They move randomly, so you never know where they'll be next.
20h. Teeth. They move at half the regular speed. They chase you, but don't have the good sense to go around walls. When its horizontal distance from you is equal to its vertical distance, it will always take the vertical direction (this knowledge is important for getting past level 73).
20i. Tanks. These move straight ahead until either they reach an obstacle or a blue button is pushed. If a tank reaches an obstacle, it stops moving. If a blue button is pushed, the tank will reverse its direction and start moving until it hits an obstacle again.
21. Flippers. You need these to get past the water.
22. Ice. If you step on ice without skates, you will lose control of Chip until he is off the ice. You will just keep moving straight ahead while on ice. If you enter an ice corner, you will turn the corner. Blocks and monsters are affected the same way. You move at 10 steps per second while on ice.
23. Skates. If you have these, you can walk on ice as though it were ordinary floor. If you have skates, you can walk out of, but not into the blocked sides of ice corners (MS version only; you can't do this in Lynx).
24. Fire. You die if you step in the fire, unless you have fire boots.
25. Fire boots. You need these to get past the fire.
26. Force floors. These make you (as well as monster and blocks) move in the indicated direction, unless you have suction boots.
27. Random force floors. Monsters avoid these, but you can push blocks on them (with sometimes deadly consequences). These will send you in a random direction unless you have suction boots.
28. Suction boots. You can walk on force floors as if they were regular floor tiles.
29. Thief. A thief will take your fire boots, flippers, suction boots, and skates, but he will not take your chips or keys.
30. Toggle walls. These change from floor to wall and back again when a green button is pushed.
31. Green button. This makes all toggle walls in the level change state.
32. Blue button. This makes all tanks in the level change direction.
33. Trap. These will trap you, monsters, and blocks in that square until a brown button is pushed. If a block enters a trap by way of force floors, it will leave the trap in that direction when a brown button is pushed.
34. Brown button. Releases whatever is in its associated trap. If there are several traps in a level, a brown button will not release more than one of them.
35. Clone machine. Makes a copy of whatever is on it. Usually the only things to be cloned are monsters and blocks.
36. Block cloners. If there is a cloning machine under one of these, a block will be produced in the direction specified by the level designer.
37. Red button. Pushing this button activates a clone machine. If there are several clone machines in a level, the red button will not activate more than one of them.
38. Bombs. If you step on a bomb, you die. Bombs can be detonated by either monsters or blocks, in which case both the bomb and the monster or block will disappear.
39. Invisible walls. These can be a pain. It looks like floor tile, but it's not.
40. Invisible walls that appear when you hit them. You still lose a fifth of a second of your time if you hit one of these.
41. Blue walls. Some will turn into floor tiles when you step on them. Others will turn into walls, and you can't get by them. Monsters and blocks avoid these, whether they really are walls or not.
42. Teleports. If there is another teleport in the level, you will go out the other teleport in the same direction as you came into it. The game scans the board in reverse reading order (i.e. right to left, bottom to top) until it finds a teleport that is clear in the indicated direction. If it doesn't find one, you will say "oof" and come back out the same teleport you entered. You can block teleports to reroute them.
43. Gravel. You can step on gravel and you can push blocks over gravel, but monsters will avoid gravel.
44. Wall makers. You can step on these once, but they become wall, so you can't go there again. Monsters and blocks avoid wall makers.
Hint: Press Ctrl-D, Ctrl-K, or Ctrl-T to disable password checking.