Castle of Dr. Brain: A Puzzling Adventure through Time and Logic

As I gazed upon the VGA version of Castle of Dr. Brain, released in 1991 by Sierra On-Line, I couldn't help but feel a sense of excitement and trepidation. This game promised to be an adventure like no other, where logic, reasoning, and time management would be put to the test. With its intricate puzzle-solving mechanics, this game is sure to appeal to fans of brain teasers and puzzle enthusiasts alike.

Upon entering the game, I was greeted by a cryptic message that set the tone for the journey ahead. "You now have 60 seconds!" echoed through the speakers, as I found myself in a frantic race against time. The goal was to silence the cacophony of sound effects by finding a way to shut them off, and then solving a couple of puzzles involving time. The hourglass puzzle was the first test, where two hourglasses needed to be flipped over correctly so that exactly 40 seconds had passed. Next came the punch card puzzle, which required me to enter the punch cards at exact times by manipulating the time clock to match the next time of the punch card sequence.

As I progressed through the game, I encountered another elevator maze, this one more irksome than the last due to its sheer complexity. The elevators seemed to exist solely for the purpose of padding out the gameplay with confusing pseudo-3D mazes. But, I pressed on, determined to unlock the secrets of Castle Dr. Brain.

The next floor was dedicated to computer logic and programming, where I completed a circuit using a diode, capacitor, coil, battery, and a switch. The binary code for the supplied numbers needed to be figured out by entering it using the switches on the front panel of an Altair 8800. This puzzle required some thought and dedication, but the satisfaction of solving it was immense.

One of the most enjoyable puzzles on this floor was the robot maze, where I manipulated dots to make the robot either continue straight or turn right. The ultimate goal was to unlock the door at the end of the hall by matching punchlines with jokes. This puzzle was a clever way to incorporate Corey Cole's love of robot puns into the gameplay.

The final bit on this floor was the robotics room, where I could program robots using punch cards. Learning binary logic and entering basic code line by line was a valuable skill, even in 1991. The puzzle required some tasty logical deduction, as I had to figure out how to navigate three robot heads with three attachments to retrieve three objects.

The next floor consisted of word-related puzzles, starting with a straight-up word search. I found that using saved-up hint coins helped me along the way, as I wasn't provided with a list of the words themselves. The theme was traditional games and sports, which made it easier to solve. Next up was an acrostic puzzle, where I took those words from the word search and placed them horizontally so that they spelled out a message.

As I progressed through Castle Dr. Brain, I encountered many more challenges and puzzles. Each floor offered a unique set of problems to solve, from logic and programming to wordplay and time management. The game was designed to test my skills and patience, pushing me to think outside the box and use my problem-solving abilities in creative ways.

Throughout my journey, I couldn't help but appreciate the attention to detail that had gone into creating this game. From the intricately designed puzzles to the clever use of robot puns, every aspect of Castle Dr. Brain was designed to engage and challenge me. As I finally emerged victorious after solving the final puzzle, I felt a sense of accomplishment and pride in having overcome such an impressive array of challenges.

In conclusion, Castle of Dr. Brain is a game that will appeal to fans of brain teasers, puzzle enthusiasts, and anyone looking for a challenging adventure. With its intricate puzzle-solving mechanics, this game is sure to provide hours of entertainment and mental stimulation. So, if you're ready to put your logic and reasoning skills to the test, then Castle of Dr. Brain is the perfect game for you.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enFeels weird to let another Edutainment Month pass by without covering this one,so let’s get to it!This is Castle of Dr. Brain, released in 1991by Sierra On-Line for multiple home computerplatforms of varying popularity.The one we’ll be looking at today thoughis the highly successful VGA version for MS-DOSPCs, here courtesy of a generous LGR viewernamed Shawn.And man if that isn’t the zaniest, brainiestcastle I’ve ever seen!Shame it’s covered up by so many stickersand logos, but I suppose that was a requiredsacrifice to the gods of marketing.After all, this was during Sierra’s early90s push for multimedia PC gaming dominance,with the majority of their new releases boasting256-color graphics and impressive sound capabilities.They were all about makin’ those third partydeals, like this shiny Media Vision promoadvertising a $20 rebate with the purchaseof one of their Pro Audio Spectrum sound cards.Then inside the box there’s this, quote,“Fantastic Book of Logic Puzzles,”whatever that was.Seriously, couldn’t tell ya cuz inside thebox I found precisely zero books of puzzling logic.However, I did find this note from Shawn,along with the original receipt from 1992!Someone had a field day at Electronics Boutique,spending $95.53 on Castle of Dr. Brain, theMay 1992 issue of Nintendo Power Magazine,along with what I’m assuming are the NESversions of The Little Mermaidand Darkwing Duck.Nice.There’s a bunch more in here though, includingthe original 5.25” floppy disks for thegame, along with a trio of 3.5” backups,always a wise move.There are also these yellow cards for registeringthe game and letting you know there’s a16-color EGA version available in case youneed to downgrade.Then you get this pair of ads, both for theaforementioned Pro Audio Spectrum card andalso for the classic Prodigy dial-up service.Followed by another set of ads in the formof a 1991 Sierra product catalog featuringtons of games, teasers, order forms, and ofcourse, Ken Williams’s mustache.And finally there’s the manual, or manuals,following the Sierra practice of the timewhere they included a generic technical manualalongside a booklet tailor-made to the game itself.I really like these funky edges cut into thepages on this one too,not something I’ve seen very often.Certainly helps make sure that it stands outfrom other documentation, which is good beingthat this is one of those Sierra titles thatrequires you to check this page during gameplayto decipher random codes.Some say copy protection, others say fun mixed-mediapuzzle, I say let’s just get on with itand play the dang game!Castle of Dr. Brain suitably enough beginswith the castle of Doctor Brain.It’s a uniquely-equipped fortification sittingatop a giant stone head, adorned with allmanner of moving parts and haphazard weirdness.After the intro animations do their thing,you cross the bridge and arrive at the frontdoor, where the pointing, clicking, and puzzle-solvingbegins immediately.You play a nameless, faceless individual,who after seeing a job offer in the localnewspaper, is here to apply for the positionof assistant to the famous Dr. Brain.But first, you’ll need to make your wayinside by matching the sequence of colorsand tones emanating from this stone arch doorway.Matchthe pattern and step inside the castle, withthis first room existing almost entirely toproduce puns.This is a game designed by Corey Cole, afterall, co-designer of the pun-tastic Quest For Glory.So Dr. Brain is not only built on the sameSCI engine foundation as the Quest For Gloryseries, but it’s built on the same foundationof never-ending puns as well.Not to mention jokes like this one referencingSierra’s Mixed Up Fairy Tales.Anyway, your goal is to make it to throughthe castle by solving all of the puzzles amongthe categories of mathematics, pattern recognition,language, logic, timeliness, programming,and “cosmic consciousness,” aka astronomy.There are three main difficulty levels onoffer, but no matter what, the underlyingpuzzles remain the same.First is the math marvel puzzle, requiringyou to come up with five solutions from ascrambled set of numbers and a mathematicaloperator in order to form true statements.Next is the magic square puzzle, a 4x4 gridthat needs the correct numbers dropped inplace to create a formation where the sumof each row, column, and diagonal add up tothe same number.And the third puzzle is a sliding tile puzzle,where you slide tiles around in a puzzle.And on this easier difficulty setting, thatmeans putting the numbers in proper orderfrom one to eight, beginning at the top left.Oh and it’s worth mentioning that the betteryou do at each puzzle, the more coins you’llearn, which can be spent on future puzzlesto either solve one section or to receivea hint as to how to complete it.After you’ve solved this initial trifectaof tantalizing intelligence testers, it’stime to decipher the exit door code usingthe numbers you received and that all-importantpage in the manual.And now it’s time for a test of timelinesswith the clock room here, where you’re immediatelyhit with a 60 second timer and a bunch ofawful noise.-”You now have 60 seconds!”First you’ll need to finda way to shut off all the obnoxious soundeffects, then you’ll have to solve a coupleof puzzles involving time.The hourglass puzzle is the first one, whereyou’ve got two hourglasses that need tobe flipped over correctly so that exactly40 seconds have passed.Then you have a punch card puzzle that makesyou enter the punch cards at exact times,accomplished by manipulating the time clockto match the next time of the punch card sequence.Finally you're ready to move to the next floorso it’s onto the first elevator, and youknow what, screw these things.Not like, elevators in general.Real life elevators are nice, and I make mydaily offerings to Elisha Otis just like everyone else.But no, screw these elevators in particular,because they simply exist to pad out the gamewith confusing pseudo-3D mazes.Because those.Are everyone’s.Favorite thing.Yeah, no.Once you’ve made your way through that nonsense,it’s onto the next floor containing the hall of logic.And really, you get the idea by now.Just like the first floor, this one requiresyou to solve three puzzles before moving ontothe next room.Except here they’re all focused on computerlogic and programming.Like here where you complete a circuit usinga diode, capacitor, coil, battery, and a switch.And here where you’ve gotta figure out thebinary code for the supplied numbers, a processthat works just like entering binary usingthe switches on the front panel of an Altair 8800.And there’s also a robot maze that’s awhole lot more interesting than the elevatormazes, thank goodness.The robot moves forward on its own and theonly way to interact with it is to manipulatethese dots to make the robot either continuestraight or turn right.Then you can unlock the door at the end ofthe hall,this time by matching punchlines with jokes.Yep, this entire puzzle basically exists tojustify Corey Cole’s collection of robot puns.Respect.The final bit on this floor is the roboticsroom, with a maze encased in glass and a computerwhere you can program robots using punch cards.I really appreciate how old Dr. Brain’scomputer systems are, even for 1991.Learning binary logic and entering basic codeline by line is not exactly the most relevantknowledge these days, but I can see it helping kidsunderstand lower level programming a little better.And this puzzle in particular requires sometasty logical deduction indeed, being a roboticevolution of the old three guards riddle.You know, in order to proceed there are threedoors and three guards.One always lies, one always tells the truth,and one is unreliable.But here you’ve got three robot heads withthree attachments, and each head can be programmedto navigate the maze in order to retrievethree objects.It’s tricky stuff, and rather cumbersomewith the going back and forth programmingpunch cards, but so long as you follow thelogic of the robot heads it’s not too bad.Especially compared to what you get afterthis: another elevator maze, this one moreirksome than the last because of course.Oh well, onto the next floor and another hallwaythat looks pretty much like the last two,except here you’ve got a rubber tree toclick on.Heh, Secret of Monkey Island much?So yeah this floor consists of word-relatedpuzzles,like this one where it’s a straight-up word search.I definitely used a number of my saved-uphint coins here since you’re not provideda list of the words themselves.They do at least stick to a clear theme oftraditional games and sports, so that helps too.Next up is an acrostic puzzle, where you takethose words from the word search and placethem horizontally so that it spells out \"Parlor Games\"in the blue squares straight down the middle.And then you’ve got a classic tangram puzzle,which I’ve always rather enjoyed for some reason.The word “enter” is chopped up and scatteredamong these red pieces, and all you’ve gottado is put it back together again by rotatingthe pieces and dragging them into place.After this is another simple puzzle room,this time being a good ol’ jigsaw puzzle.Click the chest in the middle of the roomand you’ll get a piece, with each correctly-placedpiece signaled through sound effects.Good clean fun.Unlike the dungeonYeah the deeper you go into the castle, themore you start to wonder if Dr. Brain is reallythe best choice for your boss.Someone was using his head as a dartboard,after all.There’s a gallows ready for hangin’ folksover there.Not to mention a human skull being used aflower pot, but let's just ignore all that.Cuz we've got a hangman to address, preciselyhow one would expect.Try to guess the word or phrase letter byletter before the hangman is hung.Oh what in the world, the hangman was alive?!Jeez Dr. Brain, that’s a bit much!Anyway, next is a cryptogram puzzle on theTV on the wall, which is yet another familiarpuzzle if you’ve played any number of otherpuzzle game compilations.The mastermind game is also available, anotherstaple of puzzle game collections like this.You know how it is, figure out the combinationof symbols using logic logic logic.Intriguingly though, I believe this is theonly puzzle in the game that is technicallyoptional, you don't need to finish it at all.But you are rewarded with two handy itemsif you do, so I did.Right, another room cleared, and I bet you’llnever guess what’s next.-“Another maze?”Yep!-“I knew it!”And this one is even larger, more complex,and bothersome to navigate.I don’t know if I’m adequately gettingacross how much I dislike these, here, justlook at this list of commands to navigatethis one.Yeah, what in the--why, how was this a goodidea.Thank you to whoever invented walkthroughs.So with that, we’ve reached the final puzzleroom, the planetarium.And yeah, this is barely a puzzle, it’smore of, an activity room, I guess.First you’ll have to point out four constellationsamong the stars, and all you do is click themuntil the lines form together and it tellsyou you’ve found them.There’s also the alien homeworld game, astraightforward memory matching game withthe slight twist of having to match alienswith their planet.Not the uh, most factually educational partof the game, that’s for sure.The solar system puzzle at least representsreality a bit more, though again it’s notso much of a puzzle as it is a simple activity.Click the name of each planet and match itto the planet itself in orbit, that’s it.If anything it’s fun to see Pluto as a planetagain.Aw look at the little guy.And then you finally reach Dr. Brain’s office,at long last.But not too long of a last because it onlytakesabout an hour and forty-five minutes to get here.So yeah, at this point you’d think you’dbe meeting Dr. Brain and signing employmentpaperwork, but nope!There’s no one in sight, the place is kindof a dump, and the phone is ringing off thehook with debt collectors.Again, all the red flags and warning signs,an astute individual would get out while you can.But that’s not you, so you continue to solvethe final puzzles.There’s a list of job skills that you needto complete, accomplished by match the skillwith the picture representing the skill.And then the very last thing to do is finda way through the bookshelf, and this is whereyou’ll be glad you collected those itemsfrom the mastermind game.Follow the directions and there ya go!Dr. Brain speaks from off-screen and tellsyou that you’ve got the job as his new lab assistant.You’re granted a very quick peek at theman himself before he enters some kind ofmonstrous contraption and appears on-screen,letting you know your total score and proceedingto rattle off all the names of the developersbehind the game.And yep, that’s it!Other than a short teaser for the next game,Island of Dr. Brain, this is all you get.Heh, to be honest, it kinda feels like theyran out of ideas towards the end of the game,padding it out with things like jigsaw puzzles,simplistic word games, areas where you don’treally solve any puzzles at all, and of course,needlessly annoying mazes.Still, for a kids edutainment puzzle compilationfrom 1991, this is pretty enjoyable stuff.And a good number of its puzzles are stillmentally taxing as an adult, especially ifyou crank up the difficulty setting.I can see why it did so well with criticsand fans alike back in ‘91, and it seemsto hold a special place in the hearts of thosethat played it as a kid.Lovely graphics, great music, lots of puns,it’s classic Sierra, and if that’s yourpreferred flavor of retro PC gaming edutainmentthen you can’t really go wrong here.And that’s another LGR Edutainment Monthcomplete.Though the videos themselves never stop, withnew videos each week on LGR all year round.Stick around for those or check out theseexisting videos, but either way, thank youvery much for watching!\n"