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Lost in the Nook: how to play

A very lost tourist, a very dead maze. This is the complete guide to Lost in the Nook: what to do, what the zombies do, and how items, goals and the Hall of Fame work. Play it now or go back to the game page.

The idea

You are a tourist with a camera, lost in a hedge maze and in the catacombs below it. The maze is full of friendly-looking but definitely dead zombies. Your camera flash stuns them. Walk the corridors, flash the zombies, collect diamonds for points and coins for the shop, and stay alive as long as you can. Every level is a new maze.

Controls

• On a phone or tablet: the round pad at the bottom left walks the tourist; the Flash button at the bottom right fires the camera flash. The icons in the middle row are your items and the shop.
• On a computer: the arrow keys or W, A, S, D walk; Space, Enter or X flashes; 1, 2 and 3 use your items; Esc closes a card.
• The tourist walks while you hold the pad or a key and stops when you let go. The openings with arrows on the left and right edges are tunnels: walk through one and you come out on the other side. Zombies use them too.
• The ? button at the top opens a short help card. While it is open, the game waits for you.

Flashing zombies

The flash travels along the corridor in the direction you are facing and stuns the first zombie it meets. A stunned zombie pops and is worth points. Only one flash can be in the maze at a time: you can fire again only when the last one has gone, so aim before you press. Flashes stop at walls, at the edge of the board and at the tunnels.

Energy and the zombies' moans

You have 100% energy at the start of every level. A zombie that sees you down a straight corridor lets out a moan, a shot that travels along the corridor, and a moan that hits you takes some energy. Touching a zombie takes more. After a hit you are safe for a moment, so one zombie cannot drain you at once. When your energy reaches zero the game is over. In early levels a moan takes 10% and a touch 25%; later levels hit harder. A moan from a hidden bush zombie always takes at least 15%.

The zombies

The zombies come out one at a time from their base, the room at the top of the maze, at regular intervals. Zombies bump into each other and turn back. Only one bush zombie is out at a time up to level 10, and two from level 11.

The radar

The phone in the middle of the bottom row is a radar: a small map of the maze that shows you (a yellow dot), the zombies (red dots), and what is left to collect (diamonds, coins and the shield). Hidden bush zombies show up on the radar as a pulsing orange dot even when you cannot see them in the maze, so keep an eye on it from level 6.

Diamonds, coins and shields

• Diamonds are worth 100 points each. They are spread over the maze at the start of the level and are never added later.
• Coins pay for items in the shop. There are four in every level at first, and they are kept between games.
• The shield: every level has one shield lying in the maze. When you pick it up it switches on at once and nothing can hurt you for a while (8 seconds at first), shown by a blue ring around the tourist and a thin bar under your energy bar. A shield found in the maze is not kept in your inventory.

Items and the shop

You can carry up to 3 of each item. They are saved between games. Use one by tapping its icon in the bottom row, or with the keys 1, 2 and 3. An icon is greyed out when the item cannot be used right now. Items cannot be used in bonus levels, where nothing can hurt you anyway.

Open the shop from the shop icon in the bottom row, from the title screen or from the game over card. The game waits while the shop is open, so you can shop in the middle of a level without risk.

Levels and bonus levels

The maze changes every level, and the setting alternates between the hedge maze and the catacombs. Levels 1 to 5 are the plain game: shambler zombies only, three of them in levels 1 and 2 and four in levels 3 to 5, and your energy starts full each level.

Every fifth level (5, 10, 15 and so on) is a bonus level. It lasts 30 seconds and nothing can hurt you: the zombies do not shoot and touching them does nothing. There is nothing to collect on the ground. The zombie base keeps sending zombies out, a new one for every one you stun (up to eight out at once), so run around and stun as many as you can. The bar at the top shows the time left; it stays green to the end.

New challenges

After each bonus level one new challenge is added to the game, and it stays. A card at the start of the level tells you what is new. The first ten, in order:

1. Level 6: hidden bush zombies.
2. Level 11: faster zombies.
3. Level 16: more zombies.
4. Level 21: joggers join in.
5. Level 26: faster moans.
6. Level 31: zombies chase harder.
7. Level 36: zombies moan more often.
8. Level 41: hits hurt more.
9. Level 46: tighter mazes with fewer ways round.
10. Level 51: less help, with shorter shields and fewer coins.

After that the list starts again and each challenge gets stronger. The levels between two bonus levels are all equally hard.

Scores and game over

Points come from stunned zombies (100, 200 or 300) and diamonds (100). When your energy runs out the game is over: the next game starts again from level 1 with a score of 0. Your coins, your items, your best score and your best level are kept. Reset stats on the title screen clears all of them (it asks first) and starts you from scratch; it keeps your Hall of Fame name and your place there.

Daily and weekly goals (web version)

On this website the game gives you three goals a day and two a week, such as "collect 10 coins", "stun 25 zombies" or "reach level 18 in one game". They are the same all day (or all week) for everybody. Reaching a goal pays coins automatically; there is nothing to claim. A goal you have reached stays marked as done, and no new one is offered for the same day or week: the next goals arrive when the day or the week ends (at midnight UTC; weeks start on Monday).

Zombies stunned in bonus levels do not count for any goal. The server checks every game you play by playing your recording again, so progress and coins cannot be faked, and it counts your games even if you did not enter the Hall of Fame. Goals are shown on the Goals screen of the title and, for today, on the help card in the game.

The Hall of Fame (web version)

The web version has a public Hall of Fame with the ten best scores of all time. At the end of a game that started at level 1, the game asks the server whether your score gets into the top ten. If it does, you can enter a nickname of 3 to 8 letters or digits with the on-screen keyboard (your computer's keyboard works too). Nicknames are checked by a filter and reviewed; please do not use your real name. If someone beats you and pushes you off the table, your entry is removed. Scores are checked by playing your recording again on the server, so only genuine games are accepted. See the privacy policy for what is kept.

Where to play

The game runs in your browser on a phone, a tablet or a computer, in English and Italian (picked automatically). The goals and the Hall of Fame exist only in the version on this website. Other versions, such as on YouTube Playables, keep their own saves and leaderboards.

Tips

• Look at the radar before you turn a corner: it shows where the zombies are, hidden ones included.
• Moans only travel along straight corridors. Stay out of a zombie's line and it cannot hit you.
• Use the tunnels to escape: you come out on the other side while the zombies have to find you.
• Keep a recharge for emergencies and a shield for a level with many zombies. The speed boost is great for reaching a diamond across the maze or running away.
• In a bonus level stand near the base and flash the zombies as they come out, then move on before they surround you.

Questions or problems? Contact us.