Editing Where's an Egg?

{{vgamenav|wheresanegg|50k Racewalker|Duck Guardian One}}

[[Image:wheresanegg.PNG|thumb|A renegade cop with nothing to lose and an egg on his mind.]]
[[Image:Where'sAnEggboxart.png‎|thumb|Where's an Egg? box art.<br /> Где – Яйцо?]]
''"In this hard-bolied <!--sic--> adventure game, you must help the Boise police force find a missing egg. Not in Mancuso's garage? Try Brodermaker's gymbag. Everyone's a suspect when 'Where's an Egg?' is the game that you are playing. And that's this game!!"'' -[[Videlectrix]]

'''Where's an Egg?''' is a game by [[Videlectrix]].

'''Date:''' Monday, July 16, 2007

'''Page Title:''' Where's an Egg?

==Instructions==
The object of the game is to find an egg that one of the suspects is hiding. The task is a variation of the [[Wikipedia:Knights and Knaves|Knights and Knaves]] puzzle, in which suspects either always lie or always tell the truth.  After you think you know who or where an egg is, you go to that location and shoot the suspect, who will give up an egg if you have guessed correctly.

After clicking on the title screen, you are presented with several locations in a city. Clicking on the thumbnails will take you to those locations, at which you will encounter a suspect with an item. From the menu at the bottom of the screen, you can choose one of any of the items or suspects you've encountered. When you choose an item, the suspect will tell you the location where that item can be found or the suspect who has it. When you choose a suspect from your menu, the character on the screen will tell you where that suspect can be found or what item they have. Once again, they may or may not be telling the truth.

There are three other notable replies you may receive. If you ask a suspect about himself or about the items he carries, he will respond with a [[Wikipedia:smiley|smiley face]]. If you ask a suspect about anything after shooting him, he will respond with a red cross. Also, if you ask a suspect about an egg and he replies with a question mark, he does not have any information about the location of an egg.

== Strategy ==
Since a given suspect either always lies or always tells the truth, their reply about the location of an egg can be tested by asking them questions to which you know the answer. For example, if they give you information about an egg, you can ask them about an item and verify that the location or suspect with which they reply indeed corresponds to that item. If the answer they give is correct, then the location of an egg that they give is correct as well.

The above method can be modified by first asking about the first person or item you have seen, then if the suspect answers correctly, ask about an egg. Continue asking all the suspects the same question until you find a person who gives a correct answer and knows about an egg. If none are found, revisit your first person and ask about an egg. Then simply find the culprit and shoot them.

In some cases, a lying suspect may reveal themselves as such by giving the same answer for two different questions (e.g., suggesting that two different characters have a potted plant) or, due to a programming error, even answering with their own face when questioned about a different item.

Another strategy is to ask every suspect the location of an egg until you have two replies that agree. In that case, it is likely, though not certain, that the suspect they incriminate indeed has an egg.

In order to keep accurate track of which person matches which object, just quickly visit all of the locations before asking anyone a question. This will cause each person and their object to appear in the same order at the bottom of the screen. Once you have visited all locations, start asking each person where an egg is. Once you find someone who replies, figure out if they are a truth-teller or a liar by seeing if their responses properly match up people to their object. If they are a truth-teller, move on to asking about an egg. If they tell the truth, you know who has an egg.

However, one haphazard strategy is to simply shoot three random people. This gives a 1 in 3 chance of winning, with no real effort.

== Suspects, locations, and items ==
Suspects, locations, and items are randomly assigned for each game.
===Suspects===
<gallery>
Image:Where's an Egg - Suspects - Blonde Woman.png | <center>Blonde woman</center>
Image:Where's an Egg - Suspects - Blue Hat.png | <center>Blue hat man</center>
Image:Where's an Egg - Suspects - Maid.png | <center>Butcher</center>
Image:Where's an Egg - Suspects - Butler.png | <center>Butler</center>
Image:Where's an Egg - Suspects - John.png | <center>[[John McEnroe]]</center>
Image:Where's an Egg - Suspects - Mechanic.png | <center>Mechanic </center>
Image:Where's an Egg - Suspects - Old Lady.png | <center>Old Woman</center>
Image:Where's an Egg - Suspects - Kid Speedy.png | <center>Red-haired boy</center>
Image:Where's an Egg - Suspects - Red Hat.png | <center>Red hat man</center>
</gallery>

===Locations===
<gallery>
Image:Where's an Egg - Locations - Aquarium.png | <center>Aquarium</center>
Image:Where's an Egg - Locations - Theater.png | <center>[[Art museum]]</center>
Image:Where's an Egg - Locations - Museum.png | <center>Bank</center>
Image:Where's an Egg - Locations - Beach.png | <center>Beach</center>
Image:Where's an Egg - Locations - Pier.png | <center> Bridge</center>
Image:Where's an Egg - Locations - City.png | <center> City</center>
Image:Where's an Egg - Locations - Desert.png | <center> Desert</center>
Image:Where's an Egg - Locations - Siberia.png | <center> Siberia</center>
Image:Where's an Egg - Locations - Forest.png | <center> Park</center>
</gallery>

===Items===
<gallery>
Image:Where's an Egg - Items - Egg.png | <center>An [[egg]]</center>
Image:Where's an Egg - Items - Beer.png | <center>[[Beer]]</center>
Image:Where's an Egg - Items - Bomb.png | <center>Bomb</center>
Image:Where's an Egg - Items - Cat.png | <center>Cat</center>
Image:Where's an Egg - Items - Duffel.png | <center>Gym bag</center>
Image:Where's an Egg - Items - Pencil.png | <center>Pencil</center>
Image:Where's an Egg - Items - Plant.png | <center>Potted plant</center>
Image:Where's an Egg - Items - Slingshot.png | <center>Slingshot</center>
Image:Where's an Egg - Items - Strawberry.png | <center>Strawberry</center>
Image:Where's an Egg - Items - Wrench.png | <center>Wrench</center>
</gallery>

== Endings ==
[[Image:Where's an egg loose screen.PNG|thumb|Lose screen]]
If you run out of time or shoot three characters who do not have an egg, the game ends. The character who did have an egg is shown running with it through the area they were in, and the main character is shown in Siberia wearing prison clothes and a ball-and-chain. He quickly turns into a skeleton.

[[Image:Where's an egg win screen.PNG|thumb|left|Win screen]]
If you successfully reclaim an egg, a uniformed man (probably [[Wikipedia:Joseph Stalin|Stalin]]) awards you with a badge in front of [[Wikipedia:Lenin's Mausoleum|Lenin's Mausoleum]]. The screen pans up to the sky, where fireworks shoot off. If the game was completed with enough time left on the clock, different spaceships fly through the sky:
*901&ndash;940 seconds left &mdash; one spaceship
*941&ndash;970 seconds left &mdash; two spaceships
*971 or more seconds left &mdash; three spaceships, the last of which is exited by a cosmonaut

{{clear}}

== Fun Facts ==
===Trivia===
*This game was released more than two and a half years after its description was featured on the Videlectrix website. The [[main page message]] announcing its release read: '''new' videlectrix game!''
*The language used in the game is [[Russia]]n, and is understandable to a native speaker, although there are various grammatical and stylistic errors (see [[#Translations|Translation section]]).
*After shooting someone who does not have an egg, you can still question them and they will reply with the symbol for the [[Wikipedia:International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement|Red Cross]] (indicating they require medical attention). The Red Cross has recently been [http://www.redcross.ca/article.asp?id=016637&tid=001 trying to stop game creators from using their logo this way].
*In every game, there are either three or four suspects who tell the truth, and either three or four suspects who will give an answer when asked about an egg. Three is more common in both cases, and at least one of the honest suspects will answer about an egg.
<!--About a forty percent chance of getting four-->
*Each suspect has a theme song that plays when you visit them. 
**If a suspect talks about another person, that person's theme plays in the right speaker.
**If you ask about another person, that person's theme plays in the left speaker. 
**If you shoot a suspect, their theme song volume is lowered. 
**The victory music is all of the suspects' themes played on top of each other.
*Where's an Egg? is shown on a [[Floppy Disk Container|floppy disk]] in the introductions for [[strongbad_email.exe]] Discs [[strongbad_email.exe Disc Three|Three]] and [[strongbad_email.exe Disc Five|Five]].

===Remarks===
[[Image:Eggpage2.jpg|thumb|Page 13 of the instruction manual]]
*A [[Videlectrix:eggction.html|page of the manual]] was also made available at the same time as the game was released.
*Although the Videlectrix description suggests that an egg may be in "Mancuso's garage", a garage is not one of the locations in the game, although there is a mechanic.

===Goofs===
*For the first second of the game, the timer reads 000, when its true value is 999. One second later, it changes to 998. If you manage to win in that first second, it will read 999 on the victory screen.
*The game has a check to prevent liars from replying with their own picture, item, or location, but a programming error allows them to answer with their own picture when questioned about an item that isn't theirs, or the egg.

===Glitches===
*If you shoot the last bullet at the wrong person right before time is up, when the clock runs to 000, you will be presented with a win screen with the perpetrator sliding across the screen and the lose screen in Siberia. Then you are presented with a medal.

===Inside References===
*This is another mention of [[eggs]] and [[alcohol]].
*The main character wields a [[gun]].
*All of the suspects [[Lack of Visible Arms|lack visible arms]].
*[[Some Type of Online Auction]] was previously used to sell a half-eaten breakfast burrito in [[english paper]].
*The red-haired boy shares several features with both [[Kid Speedy]] and [[Ron Cumberdale]] from [[Peasant's Quest]].
*[[Mancuso]] is mentioned again.

===Real-World References===
*[[Wikipedia:Boise, Idaho|Boise]] is the capital city of the US state [[Wikipedia:Idaho|Idaho]].  Idaho is likely referenced because one of its northern cities is named Moscow, like the capital of the former USSR/Russia (where this game really seems to take place).
*Brodermaker is a reference to video game company [[Wikipedia:Brøderbund|Brøderbund]], makers of the [[Wikipedia:Carmen Sandiego|Carmen Sandiego]] games.
**This game is also very similar, in some aspects, to the early Carmen Sandiego games.
*The music at the beginning of the game accompanying the Videlectrix logo is from the traditional Russian [[Wikipedia:The Volga Boatmen's Song|Song of the Volga Boatmen]].
*The three spacecraft that fly across the screen in the ending sequence are [[Wikipedia:Sputnik 1|Sputnik 1]], [[Wikipedia:Vostok 1|Vostok 1]], and [[Wikipedia:Voskhod 2|Voskhod 2]], commemorating three "firsts" of the Russian space program: the first artificial satellite, the [[Wikipedia:Yuri Gagarin|first man in space]], and the [[Wikipedia:Aleksei Leonov|first spacewalk]], respectively.
**The congratulation scene is reminiscent of the [[Wikipedia:Game Boy|Game Boy]] and [[Wikipedia:NES|NES]] versions of [[Wikipedia:Tetris|Tetris]] (a game that is famous for having come out of Russia), in which the player was shown rocket and shuttle launches of spacecraft at the end of a game depending on how well the player did.
*Gameplay bears certain superficial similarities to the board game [[Wikipedia:Cluedo|Clue]], being a [[Wikipedia:Whodunit|whodunit]] wherein a specific accusation must be formulated from a set of distinct suspects, items and locations.
*The scene where the main character is stuck in icy mountains with a ball and chain is a reference to the old Russian practice of [[Wikipedia:Gulag|exiling criminals]] to [[Wikipedia:Siberia|Siberia]], which is a cold, mountainous region of Russia.

===Fast Forward===
*The [[Compé]] [[Strong Bad's Wallpapers|wallpaper]] for [[dictionary]] advertises a sequel to this game.
*As revealed in ''[[Poker Night at the Inventory]]'', ''Where's an Egg?'' is the favorite game of ''[[wikipedia:Team Fortress 2|Team Fortress 2]]''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s Heavy Weapons Guy; in his version of Russia, it is as big as ''[[wikipedia:Tetris|Tetris]]''.

===Translations===
{| border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=5 style="border-collapse:collapse"
|- bgcolor=#eeeeee
! Location !! Message !! Transliteration !! Translation !! Notes
|-
| Loading screen || телевизионный электрический || televizzionniy elektricheskii || Videlectrix || ''Literally:'' "televisual electric". Electric video would be "Электрическое Видео" (Elektricheskoe Video). In fact, it's a mistranslation of "Electronic Videogame", thus the correct title in Russian would be "Электронная видеоигра" (Elektronnaya videoigra).
|-
| Title || Где – Яйцо? || Gde Yaitso? || Where's an egg? || Russian has no article, so it is impossible to make a distinction between "the egg" and "an egg" and the title could refer to either. The dash in the title is incorrect; such a dash is only used to separate a predicate from a noun phrase (an action from an object) instead of the present tense of the verb "to be", which is most always dropped in Russian.
|-
| Inscription above the columns of the gray building || Берег || Bereg || Bank || The word has the sense of "riverbank", as opposed to a financial service institution, which would be "банк" (Bank).  Furthermore, the game mistakenly uses a capital "R" instead of the Cyrillic "г", which resembles a lowercase "r".
|-
| When you discover who had an egg || виновник || vinovnik || criminal ''or'' guilty person || Criminal is actually Преступник (Prestupnik).
|-
| rowspan="2" | When you win the game || поздравление || pozdravlenie || congratulations || Although English speakers often use the noun "Congratulations," a Russian would just use "Победа" (Pobeda), translated as "Victory". The verb "I congratulate you with your victory." is very unlikely to be used in the real Russian video game.
|-
| ЛЕНИН || LENIN || [[Wikipedia:Vladimir Lenin|Lenin]] || An entrance to [[Wikipedia:Lenin's Mausoleum|Lenin's Mausoleum]]
|-
| rowspan="2" | When you lose || гулаг || gulag || [[Wikipedia:Gulag|Gulag]] || The name given to the Soviet labor camps
|-
| игра законченный || igra zakonchenniy || game over || This phrase is incorrect due to misuse of gender (nouns have genders in Russian). A grammatically correct version would read "игра закончена" (igra zakonchena), although in real games the "Конец игры" (Konecz igry) (End of the game) and "Игра окончена" (Igra okonchena) (the game is over) are more likely to be used.
|}

==External Links==
*[[Videlectrix:wheresanegg.html|play Where's an Egg?]]
*[[Videlectrix:egg7.swf|play Where's an Egg? (Flash file)]]
*[[Videlectrix:eggction.html|view the auction for the instructions]]
*[[Forum:11947|forum thread re: "Where's An Egg?"]]
{{subtitlesLinks|wheresanegg}}
{{VidelectrixGames}}
[[Category:Videlectrix Games]]