SpurguX

SpurguX is a Finnish humorous roguelike video game developed by Petri Niska in 1987. It was originally developed for MS-DOS and has later been ported to Unix.

According to the manual, SpurguX is an "adventure game based on real life, where the anti-hero progresses through city districts looking for a bottle of brandy, which is rumoured to be located on stage 50, accompanied only by a great thirst". The player advances among the roguelike tradition from one stage to the next accumulating equipment, killing "monsters" and trying to survive. One of the most common causes of death is hangover, which occurs when the player's blood alcohol level drops too low. Because of this, the player must constantly maintain the character's alcohol intoxication level by acquiring and drinking alcoholic beverages. Most stages have points that have to be collected before advancing to the next stage, as well as a random collection of non-player characters, items and buildings.

Characters

• @: The player.
• C: A policeman. The police start to chase the player if he/she does something illegal.
• M: A grandmother. Grandmothers can be killed fairly easily, but this causes the police to attack the player. Killing a grandmother yields money, which can be used for example to buy alcohol.
• B: A point fairy. Bounces randomly around the stage eating the points needed for completion of the stage. Hitting the point fairy causes a point to be recreated in a random place.
• N: A negro.
• T: A University of Technology student. Forcibly sells a copy of Äpy magazine to the player.
• P: A punk. Punks appear in gangs, and killing the gang leader (Ñ) awards a set of chains. The chains are among the most powerful weapons in the game.
• K: Kake. Asks the player to give him beer.
• V: A pickpocket.
• H: A gay man.
• h: A prostitute, who offers herself for the price of 50 markka.
• O: A skinhead.
• Q: A liquor smuggler.
• I: A hippie. Hits the player with a drug-infused needle, which causes the player to reappear at a random stage and hallucinate. While hallucinating, the player character cannot attack gay men, but instead sees them as "nice boys".
• A: Sven-Olof, an AIDS carrier. Infects the player character with AIDS.
• J: A yuppie.
• Ω: A bouncer. Sometimes appears at the gate leading to the next stage, asking for a tip, which usually amounts to whatever amount the player is currently carrying.
• R: A priest. Preaches about the dangers of alcohol.
• E: A prison escapee.
• G: A gorilla.
• U: A country yokel.
• D: A dog.
• L: A social security worker.
• S: A snake.
• X: A politician.
• Y: A gypsy.
• : A ghost. Cannot be seen.
• Z: An army recruit.

Buildings

• Alko sells liquor, if the player happens to have money.
• The antiquarian can buy used things from the player.
• The police station sends new policemen after the player, if he/she happens to be in trouble with the police. The player can also pay his/her fines at the police station should there be a search warrant for him/her.
• The metro station is infested with skinheads.
• The graveyard has a priest walking along it, preaching about the dangers of alcohol.
• The pharmacy sells a drug that cures AIDS.

Items

• Overalls
• Camel boots
• A nightstick
• A stiletto knife
• Chains
• Äpy magazine
• A sausage
• An apple
• A bar of chocolate
• A can of long drink
• A can of beer
• A bottle of brandy

See also

• Nethack

External links

• A freely downloadable version of the game
• Review in Pelikapseli online magazine