The Gaming Den

I was assuming that it'd be an Invisible Man, and the first part just got garbled, and was thinking up a bad joke about a Visible Man. But, that's not bad.

I guess we're supposed to go to the Third Floor?

Third floor.

And I say hold on to the items for now. If either is going to get us killed later, I'm more interested in finding out how having those item might kill us.

You decide not to mess with this guy. He's way too creepy!
You crash against the doors to the third floor, bursting in to another level of the Hall of Incredible Science.
The squishy sound of the Visible Man's feet is right behind you. You wrap your belt around the door handles to keep him from coming through.
The Visible Man bangs his slimy fists against the doors. They shudder, but your belt holds.
Wiping your sweaty brow, you peer around.
You've got to find something that will help you fight him!
Fortunately, there's a map right in front of you.

This map shows the third floor.

You quickly sketch it into your notebook for later use. If you ever need to refer to it again, turn back to #205.

Write down "MAP OF 3rd FLOOR AT #205." But when you come here to glance at the map, make sure to remember where you came from. (This is our first time here.)

There are five places you can get to from here.
One is the elevator, which you aren't sure you can trust.
There's also the fire stairs. They lead down to the rest of the Hall of Incredible Science. And to the Visible Man...
There's a room called the Wonder of Life. Hmmm.
And another room called Waves and Motion.
There's also a gift shop. Maybe you'll find some useful stuff there. If you can get in there, that is.
Where do you want to go?

Try the fire stairs?
Try the elevator?
The Wonder of Life Room?
The Waves and Motion Room?
The gift shop?

Inventory List:
Boomerang
Fire Extinguisher
Space Glove
Map of 4th floor at 220
Map of 3rd floor at 205
Running Total of Deaths: 8 (2 by robot arm, 1 by simulated crash, 1 by real crash, 2 by giant mosquito, 1 by electric door, 1 by hungry aliens running the place.)

Gift shop

Second the gift shop. Why is the gift shop on the third floor, though?

Thaluikhain wrote:Why is the gift shop on the third floor, though?

No clue. My best guess is that the aliens running the place don't know where gift shops normally go. Personally I'm more concerned about the lack of bathrooms.

You decide to try the gift shop. That's always your favorite part of any museum.
But when you reach the gift shop, you find that a grate has been pulled over it. It's locked up tight!
Unless you have the key (we don't), you're not getting in.

(Here's a hint: The key is somewhere on this floor.)

So that brings us back to the previous section.

Try the fire stairs?
Try the elevator?
The Wonder of Life Room?
The Waves and Motion Room?

Seek the Wonder of Life

Yeah, why not.

You decide to go to the Wonder of Life Room. Maybe there's something in there that will help you fight the Visible Man.
As you enter, you gulp.
Right next to the door is a big display labeled THE VISIBLE MAN. But, of course, the man himself is missing.
There are two sections in the room. Microscopic Life and something called "Biomes."
Where should you go?

Check out Microscopic Life?
Or Biomes—whatever those are?

Microscopic life.

Yeah, why not again.

Thirded

You decide to check out the microscopic life.
You figure anything that small can't hurt you.
There are some cool movies and viruses and germs showing on screeens all along the wall. And a row of microscopes.
You bend down to peer into one of the microscopes. It's labeled COMMON COLD.
Wow! There's a real cold germ on the slide. It has long, slimy, armlike things and a bright blue dot in the middle.
Then the microscope gives off a funny glow for a second.
And the germ does something that makes you gasp.

The germ doubles in size.
There it goes again! Now it's four times as big.
You pull away from the microscope. Lucky that germ is so tiny. Otherwise it could be dangerous.
But then you remember something a math teacher once told you. If you started with a penny and doubled it every day, in four weeks you'd have more than a million dollars!
You swallow nervously and peer into the microscope again.
That's funny...

You can't see the germ at all! Maybe it changed size again, becoming too small to see, you think.
Or maybe not...
You lean back from the eyepiece.
Help! There it is! it's about an inch across. And it's crawling up the telescope toward you!
Ewwww!
And now it's two inches across!
What should you do?

Run?
Squash it?

Squash it

I don't think running has worked well thus far in this book. Squash!

You reach out to squash the germ.
SMACK!
You stare at its squished remains on the microscope. They seem to be moving...Wait! There's two of them now—and they're both doubling in size!
Now they're growing together to form one big germ!

I haven't been posting numbers of sections but this sends us right back to the same one running would have taken us to (#56 if you're curious.)

You turn to run from the room. But unfortunately the germ is between you and the door. And now it's as big as you.
Make that twice as big as you!
You try to spot a hiding place. But you don't see anything but the horrible germ.
And now it's eight times as big as you!
What can you do?

If you have a bomb on your inventory list, and you think it might help you against the germ...
No bomb? ?

You watch in horror as the giant germ doubles in size again and again. It fills the entire Wonder of Life Room. It reaches a long, slimy tentacle out toward you.
You're trapped. And you know the germ will just keep getting bigger and bigger until it fills up the whole floor. Maybe even the whole Hall of Incredible Science.
You gulp. What if it never stops growing?
Until the whole world has a bad case of the common cold.
This is one ending with no —AAACHOOO!—cure!

(Here's a hint: The best way to stay well is to stay away from germs!)

Where to now?
Fire stairs?
Elevator?
Biomes?
Waves and Motion Room?

Inventory List:
Boomerang
Fire Extinguisher
Space Glove
Map of 4th floor at 220
Map of 3rd floor at 205
Running Total of Deaths: 9 (2 by robot arm, 1 by simulated crash, 1 by real crash, 2 by giant mosquito, 1 by electric door, 1 by giant germ, 1 by hungry aliens running the place.)

Biomes, I guess.

Agreed

You decide to investigate the Biomes, whatever they are.
You find yourself surrounded by glass cases, sort of like huge aquariums. Some are filled with water. But most are filled with plants, soil, and real animals.
You spot a mini-jungle with birds and monkeys. A cold tank with snow and an Arctic hare. A saltwater tank with—gulp!—a huge shark swimming around in it.
But when you peer into the desert case, full of sand and lit with bright, hot lights, you get a sinking feeling...
The sand has a lot of weird marks on it, as if a snake was sliding around inside. Only now—there's no snake.
Just a big hole in the glass.
You gulp as you read the label: EGYPTIAN ADDER: POISONOUS.
Just what you need.
You peer down at the floor. But you don't see anything.
Glancing nervously around, you spot another case.
One that contains something you can use!

It's a tall, thin case full of sand. And ants.
A giant ant farm! Its sign reads FIRE ANTS.
And in one of the little tunnels that the ants have built, you spot a key!
You know that key will come in handy. If you can get it out!
Should you smash the case open? Those fire ants look nasty. You have a feeling they bite.
Maybe you should explore some more.

Smash the case and grab the key?
Go check out the microscopic life? (we've done all we can there)
Leave the Wonder of Life Room?

Smash and grab and find out what item we need to not die here.

Go for the key.

You decide to go for the key. You give the case a hard kick.
CRASH! Sand and ants tumble out onto the floor.
"Sorry, ants!" you apologize. They don't look happy.
In fact, as you sift through the sand for the key, the angry little creatures swarm all over you!
"Ouch!" you shout. One bit you!
You'd better do something about these ants.

(We have the fire extinguisher.)

You aim the fire extinguisher at the sand.
WHOOOOOOOSH!
Cold gas leaps from its nozzle, spraying the ants like a sudden blizzard. The insects slow down more and more.
When the extinguisher sputters out, the ants have all stopped moving. The cold made them go to sleep.
It looks as if fire extinguishers can put out fire ants!

If you don't think you'll need the fire extinguisher again, cross it off your list.

Quickly, you search the sand for the key.
There it is! You slip it into your pocket. Write Key on your inventory list.
"All right," you say. "What's next?"
Should you check out another part of this floor or explore the rest of the Wonder of Life Room?
Whatever you do, don't forget to watch out for that missing snake!

Do we want to drop the fire extinguisher? Also, where to next?

Try the fire stairs?
Try the elevator?
The Wonder of Life Room?
The Waves and Motion Room?
The gift shop?

Inventory List:
Boomerang
Fire Extinguisher
Key
Space Glove
Map of 4th floor at 220
Map of 3rd floor at 205
Running Total of Deaths: 9 (2 by robot arm, 1 by simulated crash, 1 by real crash, 2 by giant mosquito, 1 by electric door, 1 by giant germ, 1 by hungry aliens running the place.)

Fire stairs.

Do we gain anything by dropping the fire extinguisher?

I think we should check the Waves and Motion Room first.

And my vote is to keep everything by default at least until we reach a point where possessing an item actually gets us killed.

I'm with SGamerz.