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Walkthrough - Printer Friendly

The 11th Hour Walkthrough by Scorpia

This was one of the more tedious (not to mention, ridiculous) games I've played in awhile. Most of each hour is devoted to figuring out the silly clues and then running around the house looking for the right objects to touch. There are many more "treasure hunts" than puzzles, and several of the puzzles are tiresome rather than interesting. Perhaps it's a good thing, in that case, there are only 13 real puzzles in the game. The other six are actually head-to-head encounters with Stauf in various strategy games.

The treasure hunt clues are in the style of those for British crosswords, which rely heavily on anagrams, homonyms, synonyms and other tricky things. If you're familiar with that, most of the hunts will give you little trouble, except perhaps in finding the room with the item.

On the other hand, if such plays-on-words drive you up the wall, you have this file to help you along and get things done quickly. Even if you can figure out the clues, you may still want to check for the room to cut down the search time.

It isn't possible to provide solutions for all 13 puzzles. Some of them start with random setups each time you play, so giving precise moves is out of the question. One puzzle, moving the piano, requires something like 90 or so moves, and just getting through that was enough for me; I didn't write down the steps to pushing the piano out of the room.

Likewise, the strategy encounters vs. Stauf are quite variable, and there is no way to present a surefire winning method for any of them. In all such cases, I give my best "guess" based on my own experiences.

The treasure hunts, at least, are "static", and for those, I can provide the answers, as well as where in the house you can find the item.

This file is divided up by hours, and within that, separated by puzzles and treasure hunts. To find a solution, go to the appropriate hour and then check either the Puzzles or the Treasure Hunt section to find what you need. Since the treasure hunts lead to the strategy games, you will find them under the Treasure Hunt headings, rather than Puzzles.

You do have to do all the puzzles, find all the items, and beat Stauf at the strategy games to advance to the next hour.

After 11 PM, you must be careful; there is a point after which you won't be able to save the game. I was able to save after completing the Bishops, but the save feature was disabled when I reached the Dollhouse.

This is related to the end game, where you have to choose one of the three women. If you want to see all the endings, or if you make the wrong choice, the only thing you can do is go back and play against Stauf all over again. Unless that really appeals to you, I suggest making the right choice first time around (see End Game).

Seven O'Clock

Puzzles

1) FOUR KNIGHTS (Foyer) - Yes, you have to exchange the positions of the black and white knights. It may remind you of the Bishops puzzle in 7th Guest. And guess what, later on you'll find a Bishops puzzle, too, but at least that one requires fewer moves. In the meantime, let's take care of the horses.

The easiest way to do this is to transcribe the diagram to graph paper, labeling it down the left-hand (vertical) side A-D and across the top, left to right, 1-5. Use actual chessmen if you have them, or any small objects to represent the knights. Move your piece on the paper, then in the game. It will help you keep track of things.

2) BOOKS (Library) - This is a simple puzzle, where you rearrange the volumes so that all the red books are on one end and all the green ones are on the other. It can be done in four moves as follows (the "|" indicates which books to move):

3) CASH REGISTER (Dutton's Room) - The goal is to have both the left and right sides of the display show the same number, which happens to be 81. In addition, the arrangement of keys on the top and bottom have to be the same. There are several solutions to this puzzle, of which the fastest is the following:

Push down the top two rightmost keys (both 10's)

Push down the bottom two rightmost keys (1 & 10)

Push down the two center 25's (one upper, one lower).

Treasure Hunts

Winter Coat... - The item is "tonic water" (an anagram of winter coat). You can find it in the library.

Rolling rock, bottle cap - The item is a cork. This is in the champagne bottle in Dutton's Room (rock is an anagram of cork).

Artsy, excited lecher - The item is a satyr (anagram of artsy). It's in a painting in the Gallery.

A heart attack... - The item is a globe (Earth is an anagram of heart). You'll find it in the library.

Battleground - The item is a tablet (anagram of battle). It's in the lab.

Bars deter cuckoo bird - The item is a robin (suggested by "bars deter", an anagram of redbreast). It's in the painting across from the clock on the ground floor.

Modern art... - This is the painting puzzle in the gallery. There is a picture on the wall just above this painting that shows a sunflower.

Mouse Maze - This is a strategy game vs. Stauf. You want to get the mouse to the exit in the upper right corner, while he's trying to get it to the lower left corner. The starting arrangement is random, so there is no "perfect set of moves" to winning this one.

The first thing you want to try for is getting a connection piece (one that is curved towards the right and points down) next to your exit square (left of the square). I found this to be essential to winning.

Now you can concentrate on building a path to it, while hoping that Stauf won't mess with that column and wreck your plans.

Keep an eye on the piece that sticks out from the left bottom of the maze. When you click on a column or row, that piece is put where you click, the others move down (or across), and the bottom (or last) one becomes the new "stick out" piece. It took me a long time to catch on to this, but when I finally did, my play increased tremendously.

(One reason for this was that it just happened the pieces in the first few games had a right-pointing edge on my turn and a left-pointing one on his. So I thought they were just indicators for whose turn it was, and didn't pay much attention to them for awhile)

You also have to watch what Stauf is doing. Several times, I had progressed well towards my goal, only to lose because I hadn't been paying attention to him. Before you move, always look to see what move he is likely to make, and how close he is to finishing his path. You may need to forgo building another link in your own path to break up his route.

In addition, any time you have a partial path built towards your side (or in any direction away from Stauf's corner), move your mouse to the end of it. This will often reduce the number of moves he can make without breaking the path (since he wants to get the mouse back to his side). Do be careful, however, that you aren't inadvertently setting him up for a win.

If you don't seem to be getting anywhere, start over. There's no penalty for giving up and trying again for a better configuration. I did it myself several times.

Painting Puzzle - This is also a strategy game vs. Stauf. Here you want to be the person with the last move. Looking ahead doesn't help much here, as you can't predict where Stauf will move next; this one isn't quite so clear-cut as the mouse maze. While the puzzle is always the same (no random configuration), that doesn't help a whole lot, either. I managed to get through this one, finally, by starting with the extreme right-hand narrow rectangle. You may have luck with that too, although likely several tries will be necessary.

Eight O'Clock

Puzzles

4) POOL BALLS (Game Room) - This one is simple, and you can actually get the answer with a little trial and error, as it's the same all the time (no random arrangements here). However, if you don't want to spend the time, here is the solution.

5) SLIDING MIRROR (Knox's Room) - This is a nasty puzzle. The arrangement of the panels is always random, as is the missing panel. A lot of the time, you may end up with an unwinnable arrangement, and you won't know that until you've done a lot of moving around.

The best way to approach this one is to start at the left and work right, getting an upper and lower panel together in one column before proceeding to the next. If the missing panel happens to be on the extreme right, your work will be a little easier (although no guarantee of a win), but more likely, it will be one of the interior panels, and that adds difficulty.

First, though, you should reset the puzzle a few times, to see what the mirror looks like completed. Try to keep that image in your mind as you work on moving the panels around.

If the missing panel is somewhere other than the end, you will have to work one ahead. For example, say the missing piece is the third from the top left. You would complete the first two columns normally. In the third column, you would have the proper bottom piece, but the top would actually be the fourth panel. You continue building that way, until the end, then shift the top pieces to their proper positions.

When all panels are correctly placed, the missing piece appears to complete the mirror.

6) SPIDERS (Bathroom) - Another "exchange the places" workout, where you switch the starting positions of the four spiders. The trick to this one is to remember that a move ends only when you choose a new spider. You could move the same spider back and forth ten times in a row; it still counts as one move.

Starting at the top, label the points A - H, moving clockwise. The moves are then:

Treasure Hunts

SkedAddled - The item is a desk (anagram of sked). You'll find it in the library.

Part of the body... - The item is "torso" (hidden in "docTOR'S Office"). It's the piece of statue on the floor of the Gallery.

Libation for... - The item is the champagne bottle in Dutton's room again (a libation is usually an alcoholic beverage).

Animal sullied street - The item is a setter (dog; anagram of street). You'll find it in the picture on the wall of the Game Room.

Strange Code #1 - This is a simple cryptogram, where letters of the alphabet replace each other. It begins, "Read my face, but do not watch", and refers to the grandfather clock on the ground floor. Touch the face.

Strange Code # 2 - Another cryptogram, based on the Gamebook's keyboard. It begins, "My first is not bent", and refers to the straight razor on the tub in the bathroom.

Fruit Loop On Stove - The item is an orange (Loop is an O, and range is another word for stove). It's in the painting on the dining room wall.

Dreams abound... - The item is a nightmare (nocturnal horse). You'll find it in the painting in Knox's room (not a literal horse; this refers to an unpleasant dream).

A distant, ancient Castle keep... - The item is a great dane. This is referred to by both "famous prince" (Hamlet, who was Danish) and "teagarden", an anagram of great dane. It's in a painting in the library, behind the telescope.

A man-horse on the fly... - The item is the winged statue in the chapel. This is a strategy game you play against Stauf.

Triangle - The goal is to build an unbroken path that touches all three sides of the triangle. You may be tempted to start in a corner, as that touches two sides to begin with, but that's actually not a great move. Your future moves will be limited and Stauf will be able to block you more easily.

You are much better off starting in the center, with plenty of moves. This, of all the strategy games, was the easiest for me (beginning in the center). I beat Stauf on only my second try! I'm really not sure how that happened, but having lots of room sure helped ;)

Nine O'Clock

Puzzles

7) PLATES (Dining Room) - A simple puzzle, where you stack the plates so you have two on each point of the pentagram. Number the diagram 1 - 10, starting from the top and going around clockwise.

(You'll note this works wherever you start!)

8) RAILROAD (Attic) - This is a tedious exercise where you have to switch the letters around from "Faust" to "Stauf".

The first set of moves involves getting the F over to the extreme right side. Leave it where it is for now. Using the side loop, pull the A, U, and S down, over to the left, and next to the F. The T won't fit there, so pull it down to the loop. Then go back up and pull down to the loop the A, U, and S. This leaves a clear field on the straight track to move the F over to the end.

Now pull the A back around and push it next to the F. Put the U in the center by the water tank. Pull the S and T up to the U. Pull the A into the loop, then the T and S to the loop. Push the U next to the F.

Push the S & T to the U, and pull the A to the center. Pull the T next to the A and the S into the loop. Now pull the T to the loop, and push the A next to the U. All that's left is to pull the T and S up to the A and you're done.

9) DICE CUBE (Temple's Room) - The object, of course, is to get from one arrow to the other. This one, I have to say, I got mainly by accident, since I was never quite sure what I was doing here. However, you should start with the four just to the right of the starting position (I could never win beginning anywhere else).

10) HEXAGONS (Heine's Room) - Surprisingly, this turned out to be an easy one. The arrangement is fixed, not random, and the puzzle can be solved in only a few moves. Number the hexagon 1 - 6, starting at the top and moving clockwise.

11) WORD SEARCH (Burden's Room) - Another puzzle that isn't too difficult. The two words are "unintentionally" and "straightforward".

Treasure Hunts

Put an olive... - The item is a TV set (olive+stein is the anagram, plus the London subway is sometimes referred to as the "Tube"). It's in Dutton's room.

A vital, instrumental part - The item is an organ (no anagram here; just a reference to something that is both a body part and a musical instrument). You'll find it in the Chapel.

The number in New York... - This is a simple cipher, where the numbers refer to the letters on a telephone. It says, "Academics are said to live in one". That's an "ivory tower", so the item is a white rook (chess piece). This is in the Attic.

Light piece from... - The item is a torch (this is like "torso"; the word is contained in "greatT ORCHestra" and is clued by "light piece"). This is also in the Chapel.

Cheesy gadget... - The item is a (cheese) grater. This clue is a synonym/homonym pair, rather than an anagram, as "greater" is a synonym for "larger", as well as a homonym for "grater". It's in the kitchen, of course.

500 = 100 = 0 - The item is a CD-ROM disk. This is a tricky play with Roman numerals: D (500) = C (100) or, D is C, which spells Disc (which is round like the zero). What gave me trouble here was finding the disk; neither the boxes in the library nor the one on the lab table worked. I had missed (for some time) the single CD jewel case not far from the 7th Guest box in the lab. It's the case you want here.

Blend a teapot... - This is a simple one, and the item is toothpaste, an anagram of "teapot shot". Naturally, it's in the bathroom.

Slyness holding... - Now we get a tougher one. The item is a guillotine (referred to by "slyness" or "guile", plus the strangely-spelled "choppe"). This is in Temple's room.

Poor drainage could... - The item is a gardenia (anagram of drainage). It's in the picture on the wall at the head of the stairs.

Sounds like it got... - The item is a rose (play on words here; rose (with an accent on the "e") is a type of wine, plus something that "got higher" rose up). This is in Burden's room.

What kind of jewelry... - The item is an earring (anagram of angrier). You'll find it in Heine's room.

You might hear a... - The item is a beehive (Cockney pronunciation of "behave", which is "well-mannered"). It's in the Room At The Top, and is a game vs. Stauf.

Beehive - If you look at this and find yourself remembering a certain microscope in 7th Guest, you're right: this is essentially the same game, a variant of Othello. Fortunately (very fortunately!), the AI seems to have been toned down quite a bit, as I was able (finally) to win this one on my own (as opposed to using the library book in the previous game).

There are sixty cells, and you have to occupy at least 31 of them to win. You have the honey (yellow) and Stauf has the blood (red). Moving one cell over divides the piece into two; moving two cells is actually a jump and the piece doesn't divide. Landing next to pieces of the opposite color changes them to your color.

The first couple of games didn't go too well for me, and I was resetting often. The strategy that won for me eventually was to ignore Stauf most of the time and concentrate on gaining territory from open cells. After a few opening exchanges, we both settled down to that, and it was some time before the fighting really began, mainly because open cells were becoming scarce.

Then it got tricky, since you have to watch the jumps and color-turning carefully. Always look to see what Stauf might do on his turn before moving. More than once, I pulled a neat move (so I thought), only to watch Stauf grab even more pieces from me.

Ten O'Clock

Puzzles

12) PIANO - This is the only puzzle for Ten O'Clock, and will take you some time to complete. The best I can tell you here is to work carefully on moving the piano down towards the exit first (I had no luck at all with trying to work on the table first). You want to get it so it's near the exit, on the northeast corner side of the board. When you've done it right, there will just be room to move the table out of the way.

Treasure Hunts

Instrument is sharp... - The item is harp (sharp minus the s, or head). Of course, it's in the Music Room.

A defective truck... - The item is a nutcracker (anagram of truck + crane). This is the little toy soldier on the landing just outside the Game Room.

Look at key missing... - The item is an eyeball. Tricky one, as "key missing first" means "ey", followed by rearranging "label" to get the full word. It's on the pool table in the Game Room.

Disabled cutting edge - The item is a blade (anagram of "abled" minus the "dis"). With a number of sharp things around the house, it isn't easy to find the right one, but you can turn it up as the dagger stuck in Temple's bed.

Unreasonable reason - The item is a locomotive. Not an easy one to figure out, as it's based on synonyms: "unreasonable" is loco, and reason is "motive". As you might expect, this is the railroad in the Attic.

Paper used... - The item is a sheet (anagram of theses). In fact, it's the bloody sheet on the bed in Burden's Room.

Adroit holding a sharp instrument - The item is a cleaver (Clever is a synonym for adroit; adding "a" produces the word). Yes, it's the cleaver in the kitchen.

A desserted Arthropod - The item is the cake in the dining room (arthropods are insects, and of course it's a "dessert"). This is a game vs. Stauf.

Columns - The object here is to drop your colored pieces onto the columns to form an unbroken line of four, horizontally, diagonally, or vertically, before Stauf can do the same with his pieces.

He is especially good at forming diagonals, as I discovered more than once. Here you really have to watch every move he makes with great care. You also need to keep an eye out for "doubles", where he's building a line in two directions at once. If you let him get too far with that, you'll block one and lose to the other.

There didn't seem to be any "best place" to start, although the end columns were obviously bad choices as beginners. There also didn't seem to be any special strategy to use here, just placing your pieces where they'll do the most good, and blocking Stauf as the need arises.

Eleven O'Clock

Puzzles

13) FOUR BISHOPS - This is the only puzzle for 11 O'Clock. It's another exchange the places time-waster, but fortunately, you don't have to make many moves to solve it. Number the diagram 1 - 10 starting at the bottom left and continuing left to right each row.

Treasure Hunts

Number message - Yet another code based on the telephone. The item is a lion, which is part of "million" (the full message reads, "one animal in a million"). This is the lion statue in the hallway on the second floor.

Drink left at sea - The item is a glass of port ("port" is the nautical term for "left" on a ship). It's in Knox's Room.

Snake, baby, trap - The item is a rattle (this is an association puzzle, where the word rattle can be combined with the others). The item is in the Nursery, which is reached via the Dollhouse. Run the cursor over the walls until you see it change to the "onward" movement.

A letter from Greece... - The item is the Roman numeral XI. This one is obscure, to say the least (it helps to have a dictionary that shows several alphabets, including the Greek one). XI is also a Greek letter. So, you should touch the XI on the face of the grandfather clock.

The eight-letter word... - The item is an inkstand. This is a very old riddle, that's been around for longer than Stauf, even ;). You'll find it on the desk in the library. This leads you to the Dollhouse, and the final game vs. Stauf.

Pente - This is similar to the Columns game, in that you have to make a line of pieces, horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. The differences are that you have to get five in line, you have a much larger space to work in, and you can capture enemy pieces in pairs. You do that by positioning your own men at the ends of two (together) of Stauf's pieces. He, of course, can do the same to yours.

I found this to be one of the hardest against Stauf, and reset the game many times. You have to watch his moves carefully, and any time he has three in a row, put a piece of yours at one end as a block. If you don't, his next move will be four in line, and then you've lost.

He's very tricky with those threes, too, as they aren't always together; often, he will make threes with two together and the third one space away. If you don't catch that, he'll win, and it's easy to overlook (as I know!).

At the same time, Stauf does seem to overlook things himself once in awhile, which is how I managed to win. I had three in a row, but he seemed so busy capturing my pieces, he just didn't notice, and I made it four, which was all for Stauf.

The End Game

Here you must choose among the three women, and you don't have much time to make the choice. The one to pick is Samantha, for the "correct" ending, which includes an end to Stauf and his little "funhouse". Choosing either of the other two will bring Carl to a sorry end.