Introduction

In the wild West, the tin star is the symbol of law and order. The men who wear the tin star are respected by the community, as they face violent and cunning criminals nearly every day.

After a group of criminals kidnapped your wife and daughter and almost took your own life, you decided to join the ranks of these brave lawmen and became a sheriff in the town of Tucson, Arizona. For a few months, your life passed quietly and your duties as sheriff were limited to short missions, like escorting outlaws to prison.

One day, the tranquility of Tucson was shattered by the arrival of a group of dangerous bandits whose faces had long decorated WANTED posters in many Western Union Telegraph offices. The bank was their target and your absence, due to a disturbance at the nearby silver mines of San Xavier, was their opportunity to strike. They arrived shooting and shouting, spreading fear everywhere, and robbed the bank of the savings of the hard-working people of Tucson. Some citizens and bank employees were even killed by the bandits. The family and friends of the deceased demanded justice.

When you arrived back in Tucson the following day, you were sickened by the stories you heard about the atrocities carried out by these ruthless bandits. You quickly collected food, water, guns and ammunition, saddled your horse, and set off in pursuit of the bandits. They only had one day's head start, so you should be able to catch them.

Unfortunately for you, the bandits had anticipated your move and set an ambush in a narrow canyon on the edge of the desert. You were taken by surprise, knocked out, tied up and left to die in the desert sun. When you woke up, you found yourself in the shadow of the canyon. Your horse was nearby, but most of your other belongings, including your guns, were gone. An ordinary man would have slowly died of thirst under the hot summer sun, but you were no ordinary man and you were determined to prove it.

Note: This is the second game in the Kenneth Johnson trilogy. The games are self-contained, but it is recommended that you play them in order. The trilogy consists of:

• Kenneth Johnson trilogy #1: Wild West
• Kenneth Johnson trilogy #2: Tin Star (this game)
• Kenneth Johnson trilogy #3: Desperados

Background

This is an enhanced version of the semi-graphic Italian adventure 'Kenneth Johnson: Tin Star' by Bonaventura Di Bello. It was originally written with The Quill and Illustrator and published by Edizioni Hobby S.r.l. on the cover tape of Viking, no. 5, May 1987 for the ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64.

This version has been translated to English and rewritten for a modern audience with the original author's permission. The new version includes many enhancements that weren't in the original. The coding was done using Inform 6 and the PunyInform library.

Instructions

This is a traditional text adventure. A text adventure is a form of computer game that presents you with a story. You take on the role of the main character in the story and control that character's actions. The story has a goal and you will need to solve puzzles to achieve that goal. The computer tells you where you are, what you can see and what's happening around you. You can then move around, examine the things you find and manipulate those things by telling the computer what to do using simple English commands.

Commands consist of a verb phrase, optionally followed by a noun phrase. Most commands can be abbreviated to a verb followed by a noun. For example, OPEN THE FRONT DOOR can be abbreviated to OPEN DOOR.

If the verb is followed by a preposition, this may alter its meaning. For example, GET BED will attempt to pick up the bed, but GET ON BED will attempt to climb onto it.

In some cases, the verb phrase and the first noun phrase may be followed by a second noun phrase. The two noun phrases are usually separated by a preposition. For example, HIT MAN will attempt to hit the man with your hands (as you didn't specify a second noun phrase), but HIT MAN WITH ROCK will attempt to hit the man with the rock. If you only use a verb and a noun, the game will generally tell you if it needs an extra phrase or implicitly try to deduce what is needed for the second phrase.

Don't panic! It's not as complicated as it sounds. Just use simple English sentences starting with a verb and it will all feel quite natural.

Movement

To move around, use commands like GO NORTH and GO SOUTH. You can move in any of the four cardinal compass directions. To save typing, movement commands can be abbreviated to N, S, E and W. You can sometimes use other movement commands such as IN, OUT, ENTER, EXIT, GET IN or GET OUT. These will be reasonably obvious when the time comes.

This game takes place in an open range, so traversing the game world will kill you by exhaustion if you try to do it on foot. Make good use of your horse. Once you MOUNT your HORSE, you can move from one location to another using the directional commands like usual, providing the horse can enter that location.

Examining things

Make sure you EXAMINE everything you come across, even insignificant things like scenery and objects mentioned in room descriptions, as subtle hints and clues are scattered everywhere. To save typing, EXAMINE can be abbreviated to X. For example, EXAMINE HORSE can be abbreviated to X HORSE.

You can also try your other senses when it seems appropriate, e.g. SMELL, TOUCH or LISTEN. Unlike EXAMINE, these actions aren't necessary to solve any puzzles but may prove useful at some point in the game.

Manipulating objects

Apart from examining things, most of your time will be spent manipulating objects. Use commands like GET or TAKE to pick up an object, e.g. GET PISTOL. Use commands like DROP or DISCARD to drop an object, e.g. DROP PISTOL.

To see what you're currently carrying and wearing, use INVENTORY (or I). As you're not a pack horse, you can only carry ten items at a time.

There are many other verbs that can be used to manipulate objects. These will be fairly obvious when the time comes. Common verbs include OPEN, CLOSE, EAT, DRINK, READ and so on. Use PUT, PLACE or INSERT to put objects into containers or on supporters, e.g. PUT NOTEPAD IN POCKET.

Mapping the maze

This game starts near a desert, which is set out like a maze. Mazes were very common in the days when the original game was written. Mazes are hard to traverse as each location in the maze has the same description and the connections between locations may twist and turn or even loop back on themselves. If you have sufficient items in your inventory, then you can try dropping one item in each location to make it unique. Mapping the maze will then be much easier.

Communicating with characters

You will encounter a few characters in this game. When you first meet new characters, in addition to examining them, you should try talking to them, e.g. TALK TO INDIAN. To get further information from them, try asking them about something relevant, e.g. ASK INDIAN ABOUT BANDITS. This game is partially about gathering information, so you will need to ask characters about various things.

Advanced features

You can use IT or THEM to refer to the noun used in the previous command, e.g. EXAMINE BAG, OPEN IT (for a singular object) or TAKE BEANS FROM BAG, DROP THEM (for plural objects). You can also use HIM and HER to refer to male and female characters used in the previous command, e.g. TALK TO INDIAN, ASK HIM ABOUT BANDITS, or EXAMINE MAN, TALK TO HIM.

You can refer to multiple objects by separating the objects with AND, e.g. GET BOW AND ARROW. Using IT and THEM in the next command will only refer to the last of those objects, e.g. EXAMINE IT will refer to the arrow.

You can use ALL to refer to all the appropriate objects with GET and DROP, e.g. GET ALL to get everything in the current location, GET ALL FROM TABLE to get everything on the table, DROP ALL to drop everything you're holding, but not wearing.

When using ALL, you can use EXCEPT or BUT to exclude some objects, e.g. DROP ALL EXCEPT RIFLE.

Finally, you can enter multiple commands on the same line by separating them with a period, e.g. EXAMINE BOX. OPEN IT.

Scoring

There is no score in this game. Your objective is to... Well, that's for you to find out.

Other commands

Use LOOK (or L) to refresh the display.

Use VERSION to get the game version. Use ABOUT or INFO to get background information and credits for the game. Use CREDITS to get the credits only.

Use SAVE to save your progress. Use RESTORE to restore a saved game.

Use UNDO to undo the last move. This is handy if you change your mind or make a mistake. You can get killed in this game, but you shouldn't be able to get into an unwinnable situation.

Use AGAIN (or G) to repeat the last command.

Use WAIT (or Z) to do nothing apart from passing the time.

Use HELP to get a brief reminder of how to play the game or HINT to get a context-sensitive hint related to the current location.

Use RESTART to restart the game from the beginning. Use QUIT (or Q) to quit without restarting. (Don't use QUIT with the online version of the game, as the game will appear to be locked up. If this happens, press the Back button in your browser.)

Most importantly, have fun and enjoy the game.

Keyboard shortcuts

Some interpreters have keyboard shortcuts. If you are using an interpreter on a computer with a conventional keyboard, most will allow you to press the up and down arrow keys to cycle through your past commands. This is handy if you want to repeat the previous command or correct a typo.

Playing the game

There are two ways to play the game:

• Download the z5 file and play the game using a z-code interpreter (see below). This will allow you to play on Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS and Android. The z5 file can also be used directly on a Spectrum Next (see the "Install Instructions" further down).
• Download the appropriate disk image to play using an emulator (VICE, C64Forever etc.) or to play on real hardware.

Please read the "Install Instructions" for further details.

Finding a z-code interpreter

There are a variety of z-code interpreters for all the major platforms, as well as many minor and retro platforms. There are far too many to list here. The best source of downloads is probably the Interactive Fiction Archive. Navigate to infocom/interpreters for z-code interpreters and interpreters-multi for interpreters that interpret both z-code games and other formats.

Common z-code interpreters

Android: I recommend Hunky Punk from Google Play. (There are others, as well.)

iOS: I recommend Frotz from the Apple App Store. (There are others, as well.)

Linux: See the links above.

Mac: See the links above.

Windows: I recommend Windows Frotz from the infocom/interpreters link above. (There are others, as well.)

Credits

Inform 6 compiler, language and library originally written by Graham Nelson and now maintained by David Griffith, David Kinder, Andrew Plotkin et al.

PunyInform library written by Johan Berntsson and Fredrik Ramsberg based on the Inform 6 library.

Original concept, game design and coding © 1987 Bonaventura Di Bello.

English translation by Gianluca Girelli.

Inform 6 game redesign and coding © 2025 Gianluca Girelli, with assistance from Garry Francis.

Play testing by Charles Moore Jr, Garry Francis, Jade, Piergiorgio D'Errico, RJ Kowalski and Robert Eggleston.

Cover image © 2025 Gianluca Girelli, created by editing assets freely available on the Internet.

Page layout and text adapted from Garry Francis's pages, with permission.