ADVENTURES IN NMR 1 by Douglas Burum

            A text adventure on SynTax disk 234

                    Review by Bev Truter

According to the author NMR1 is an example of how one might use an
adventure game format to explain or describe something like a
complex product, or how to diagnose a problem with equipment etc.
In NMR1 the object is to purchase an NMR spectrometer and then
measure a spectrum without killing yourself in the process. Along
the way you will encounter problems to solve, dangers to avoid and
goals to achieve. NMR1 was written originally as a "gift" for
potential customers who were interested in learning more about the
Bruker NMR spectrometer, and being able to compare its features to
those of similar pieces of equipment from other instrument
manufacturers. NMR1 was created purely as a piece of fun, to
provide a challenging puzzle and to poke fun at many aspects of
the NMR world without offending anyone in the process.

Well, this sounded quite a fun idea, particularly if you happen to
be one of those people who enjoy fiddling about with bits of
exotic scientific equipment. But it wasn't fun, and I'm not one of
those people. Although NMR1 is quite competently written (using
AGT), there were enough spelling errors and poor grammar to turn
the game from faintly intriguing to irritating after a few
locations; and getting the NMR spectrometer of the title to work
was a real pain, involving many weird and technical inputs.
However, for any mechanically-minded text adventure fans out
there, here's the basic gist of the plot in NMR1.

You are a junior assistant professor at Forgotten State
University, fighting for tenure. So far you have no students and
you have done no research, so it seems pretty hopeless. But don't
despair, for today you may be given one last chance to prove
yourself! That's if you can purchase an NMR spectrometer and
measure a spectrum without killing yourself in the process. Along
the way you will have to deal with a recalcitrant secretary, a
grumpy dean and a succession of annoying salesmen. The few puzzles
sprinkled about NMR1 were mostly simple (except for dealing with
the NMR spectrometer, but more of that later). You'll have to look
up numbers in a rolodex and make a few phone calls, find a key to
open a cupboard, show and give an assortment of objects to various
people, and finally give a spectrum to the dean to win the game.

Now, this NMR spectrometer. It's not that I'm totally ignorant re
things mechanical - I can peer into a car's innards with genuine
interest, I know exactly how an air-conditioning unit works, and I
have a (very) rough working knowledge of most electrical household
goodies. So can bits of equipment like spectrometers really be
this mystifying to deal with in real life, I wonder? You will have
to find a "line" to put in the spectrometer, find a dewar(?) and
fill the spectrometer, and finally, defying all feminine
reasoning, you must SHIM SPECTROMETER. Huh??? Although the author
claims there is help available in the game by typing HELP or HINT,
I don't recall finding anything on this mysterious verb "shim".

NMR1 was a small game - I've forgotten how many locations it
contained, but under twenty at a rough guess. Up until the point
where I had to get my spectrometer working I found this game quite
enjoyable, in a short and simple kind of way; and listening to the
various salesmen and figuring out how to get rid of some of them
was fairly amusing. But, that dratted spectrometer ....
Aaaarrrggghhh!!!















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