The Big Sainsbury's
Example 377
★Implicit takes are a convenience to players; in general, we would like to avoid asking players to type any more obvious commands than strictly necessary, while allowing the computer to guess as much as it safely can.
Occasionally, though, we have designed a timed puzzle in which the player has a limited number of moves in which to accomplish his objectives. In that case, the implicit take complicates matters, because it means that a player who types
>EAT GATEAU
(first taking the gateau...)
gets away with a spare move compared to the precise but naïf dupe who types
>TAKE GATEAU
>EAT GATEAU
…and really, that doesn't seem quite fair. The way to fix this problem is to fill in the extra minute on the clock during the implicit take; and that is indeed what we do in the following example.
"The Big Sainsbury's"
Sainsbury's is a room.
The crispy duck and the Guinness steak pie are edible things in Sainsbury's.
Rule for implicitly taking something:
follow the advance time rule;
continue the activity.
When play begins:
now the right hand status line is "[time of day]".
Test me with "take crispy duck / eat crispy duck / eat steak pie".
Test me with "take crispy duck / eat crispy duck / eat steak pie".
Sainsbury's
You can see a crispy duck and a Guinness steak pie here.
>(Testing.)
>[1] take crispy duck
Taken.
>[2] eat crispy duck
You eat the crispy duck. Not bad.
>[3] eat steak pie
(first taking the Guinness steak pie)
You eat the Guinness steak pie. Not bad.
You can see a crispy duck and a Guinness steak pie here.
>(Testing.)
>[1] take crispy duck
Taken.
>[2] eat crispy duck
You eat the crispy duck. Not bad.
>[3] eat steak pie
(first taking the Guinness steak pie)
You eat the Guinness steak pie. Not bad.