vim-adventures

solutions to puzzles in Vim Adventures

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Readme

Vim Adventures is an excellent educational game by Doron Linder. It focuses on teaching many popular commands and motions used in the Vim text editor. Here are a few disclaimers:

• My solutions may not be the only way, and may not even be the optimal way to solve the puzzles.
• I strongly suggest you attempt all levels on your own before turning to the following spoilers.

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Levels

Level 8

• last puzzle:
  • start on first twin brother, j # E # n n ^ k $ * j j, end on second brother

Level 9

• puzzle to the right:
  • start on 'N' $ j j j end on 'd', get key
  • to go back, start on 'd' gg
• use key to enter house and get ability to use all numbers
• puzzle below the house (with 11 key presses):
  • start on 'n', which is numbered with a red '1'
  • you should visit the blocks in numerical order
  • 4j → b → 2k → 3w → 4$ → Tu, you are now at the space on the other side
  • the key has appeared at the beginning of this puzzle, lets go back to get it
  • starting at the space, 5G → to → 4k
  • now we have the key and can go back again to the bottom side of this puzzle, using the original way we came
• puzzle down and to the right of the last puzzle (with 8 key presses):
  • start on the 'f', which is numbered with a red '1', and we will again go in numerical order
  • fi → 3* → Fu → 2*
  • we are now at the other side on the 's' of 'sum', follow the path down to the '.' on the morse code looking puzzle
• morse code puzzle (spells out 'VIM ADVENTURES' in morse code):
  • 3e gets directly to the other side
  • go down to lolcat sounding puzzle
• lolcat puzzle (16 key presses)
  • starting on 'W', 3x ~ j 5~ 5j d4j fC 2rG
  • the key appears at the beginning of the puzzle, 6k to go back up to get it
  • go back up through the morse code puzzle, 3e k 5f.
  • starting on 's' of 'sum', go back through this puzzle, 2G
  • go left to '.' of next puzzle
• puzzle left of pink haired girl in bush (4 key presses)
  • starting on '.', 16b (probably not the best answer to this puzzle)
  • go up to puzzle with a whole lot of numbers (actually just one number, Pi, to a whole lot of decimal places)
• Pi number puzzle (7 key presses)
  • start on '8', 9G 2f8 4k, end on broken '5' tile
  • key appears on last '8', get there with 11G 6l 4j 3l, we now have 3 keys
  • and back to the start of the puzzle with 3h
  • go down to previous puzzle on 'k'
• puzzle below Pi puzzle (4 key presses)
  • start on 'k' of 'keep', 3$ to get to '.' on right side
  • l h to exit and re-enter puzzle from right side
  • b Fa to end on the 'a' above the locked gate
  • go down, unlock gate, and go to next puzzle
• deleting puzzle
  • go to start of 'not so ' → d2w
  • go to start of 'e22' → 3x
  • go to start of '(C) Writes serverd ''s' → d3W x
  • go to start of 'XOOOO XOOOOO O' → d2fX
  • go to start of 'word1 w2 word1 w2 ''1' → d4W x
  • go to start of bye bye → d2fe
  • grab the new key (have 3 keys again)
  • go down and use all keys to open three locked gates to end of level

Level 10

• paste puzzle
  • go down and grab the 'p' command
  • delete a word with the red box around it, starting with cursor on first letter of that word
    • 'you' → dw
    • 'delet' → 5x
    • 'real' → 4x
  • paste those deleted words from the buffer, to where the corresponding purple bubbles show
    • 'P' for pasting before cursor, 'p' for pasting after cursor
  • grab the key after you pasted the correct word for each purple bubble
  • move to the 't' and use x to save it to the register for the next puzzle
  • go down and open locked gate
  • go to the right
• t puzzle
  • paste that 't' using p in all the spots that it indicates
  • go left and down to the line delete puzzle below the house
• line delete puzzle below house (7 key presses)
  • start on 'd' of 'round', j dj k P G p
  • grab the '"' register specification
  • go up to the house and save the 't' character into another register (such as "a) "ax
  • go down, right, and up to the 't and x puzzle' above the 't puzzle'
• t and x puzzle (7 key presses)
  • start and red boxed 'x'
  • "x gg $ "ap (the "ap pastes from the "a register, if that is where you saved 't' to)
  • a key has appeared, 3j 2Fl to get it
  • go down, right, and down to the 'tweedle beetle puzzle'
• tweedle beetle puzzle (98 key presses)
  • start on 3rd 'e' of 'beetles' → G 3j b "bdw b "adw b "Bde j "Adw "Ade k "aP G "bP
  • a small brown key appears, grab it
  • go back to the house at the beginning and use the small brown key on the chest
  • the chest gives you the 'y' yank operator
  • go back to the 'tweedle beetle puzzle' and head down to the 'one ring puzzle'
• one ring puzzle
  • go to start of 'One ring to ' → 3yw to yank the text
  • paste where the two purple bubbles tell you to, using 'p' or 'P'
  • key appears, grab it (now you have 2)
  • go down to 'Hip, Hip, Hooray! puzzle'
• Hip, Hip, Hooray! puzzle
  • delete the two red boxed lines using dd on each
  • move to the 'Hip, Hip, Hooray!' line and yank it using yy
  • paste it where the purple bubbles are → 2P 3j 3p
  • key appears, grab it (you now have 3)
  • go all the way back to the house at the beginning, and go down to the 'Delete me! puzzle'
• Delete me! puzzle (7 key presses)
  • start on 't' of 'Delete' → G dd dd dd
  • go down to '99 bottles puzzle'
• 99 bottles puzzle (15 key presses)
  • check :reg to see which registers you will need to use for pasting the text from
  • start on 'h' of 'the' → "0P j "0p j p j "2p
  • go down to next, and last puzzle
• last puzzle
  • check :reg to see which text you have saved to registers
  • you need the following lines of text saved to registers:
    • 'Betty rules'
    • 'tweedle beetle'
    • 'on the wall'
    • 'One Ring'
  • go back to the previous puzzles and save each to a different register using yank
    • I saved each, in order, from registers a-d, starting on the first character of each phrase:
      • 'Betty rules' → "ayw for 'Betty ' + "Aye for 'rule' + "Ay$ for 's' (on the last 's' of 'darkness', because it was the last character on the line)
      • 'tweedle beetle' → "b2ye for 'tweedle beetle'
      • 'on the wall' → "c3ye for 'on the wall'
      • 'One Ring' → "d2ye for 'One Ring'
  • go back to this puzzle and past the phrases in the right spot, using the right registers
    • for me, starting on the first space → "aP 6l "bP l "cp $ "dp
  • a new island appears, follow the path left and up and unlock the 3 gates to the end of the level

Level 11

• go down to miracle puzzle
• miracle puzzle (15 key presses)
  • yank 'you' with ye
  • leave puzzle and re-enter on 'r' of 'rush' → P b ~ 3w yw j w P rs
  • grab 'c' change operator
  • go down to change puzzle
• change puzzle (44 key presses)
  • start on 'C' of 'Ctrl+1,' → 3CEsc<Esc> j CInsert mode<Esc> G w cwreturn to<Esc> 2w c2wmode<Esc>
  • go down to second change puzzle
• second change puzzle
  • edit each of the following red boxes, starting on the first letter of each box:
    • 'terrible ' → dw
    • 'deleting' → cwediting<Esc>
    • '!' → r?
    • 'ctrl' → cwBackspace<Esc>
    • 'Shift' → cwDelete<Esc>
    • last line → ccto fix it.<Esc>
  • grab the 's' substitute command
  • go back to the start of the level (at the top) and go right to the Gandalf puzzle
• Gandalf puzzle (8 key presses)
  • start on 'G' of 'Grey.' → * CWhite<Esc>
  • go right to another editing puzzle
• editing puzzle
  • edit each of the following red boxes, starting on the first letter of each box:
    • 'i' → x
    • 'it' → 2x
    • 'vegetarian dinosaurs,' → Slocal fisherman,<Esc>
    • 'fl' → 2sn<Esc>
    • 'volcanic lava!' → Swaters...<Esc>
  • :ls to view buffers, we are going to the ground → :b1
  • go up to first ground puzzle
• first ground puzzle
  • edit each of the following red boxes, starting on the first letter of each box:
    • 'hat' → 3x
    • 'p' → rs
    • 'i' → swa<Esc>
    • 'cookies' → cwchocolates<Esc>
    • 'always' → cwnever
    • 't' → rw
    • 'o nuts' → c2wet<Esc>
  • grab the blue key
  • go right, and down to second ground puzzle
• second ground puzzle (20 key presses)
  • start on the '8' → w s15<Esc> w cw16<Esc> 3l x w 4C42<Esc>
  • grab the small brown key
  • :ls to view buffers, we are going to the sky → :b2
  • use blue key to open the blue door
  • use the small brown key to open the chest, get the 'i' insert command
  • go left to beginning of level, and then all the way down to the 'Watson puzzle'
• Watson puzzle (6 key presses)
  • IElem<Esc>
  • go right to next sky insert puzzle
• sky insert puzzle (33 key presses)
  • start on 'Y' of 'You've' → W igot<space><Esc> j Iyourself<space><Esc> G iWell<Esc> k l iI<space><Esc>
  • grab the 'a' append command
  • :ls to view buffers, we are going to the ground → :b1
  • go up to the Hakuna Matata puzzle
• Hakuna Matata puzzle
  • start on 'H' of 'Hakuna' → `Y gg P j p 6l k awonderful Ta 2j ino h 2j ano 0 iIt h 2j iIt $ aphilosophy
  • grab the blue key
  • :ls to view buffers, we are going to the sky → :b2
  • open blue door
  • grab the 'o' open command
  • go back all the way left and up a bit and left to the 'D'oh' puzzle
• D'oh puzzle (4 key presses)
  • 5A!<Esc>
  • go right to the big edit puzzle
• big edit puzzle
  • edit each of the following red boxes, starting on the first letter of each box:
    • 'mally' → ce instance,<Esc>
    • 'e' → ~
    • 'was far less smart' → Swas more intelligent<Esc>
    • 'lousy' → cwgood<Esc>
  • fill in what the purple bubbles tell you to, using a and i and o
  • :ls to view buffers, we are going to the ground → :b1
  • go up to 'beat it puzzle'
• beat it puzzle (20 key presses)
  • start on 'N' of 'No' → 4OBeat it<Esc> gg ~ IJust <Esc>
  • go down to puzzle below arrow island
• puzzle below arrow island (33 key presses)
  • start on first line → OYou mean<Esc> j oall I had<Esc> G Oclick my<Esc>
  • go across the bridge to arrow island
• arrow island
  • start at 'O' of 'Open' → cw:e<Esc> w cWundeground<Esc>
  • grab the red key
  • type :e underground
  • open red gate, go down to underground puzzle
• underground puzzle (20 key presses)
  • start on 'o' of 'You' → w cwSHALL<Esc> l p 4l cw!<Esc> 3h p
  • talk to the princess to finish the level

Level 12

• puzzle with d, j, and 5W bugs
  • kill the three bugs
    • d → dd when it is in the same line as you
    • j → yj when it is below you
    • 5W → d5W when you are within 5 WORDS away
  • get '( )' motions for navigating sentences
• puzzle with gg, G, (, ), *, and # bugs
  • kill the 6 bugs
    • gg → dgg when it is anywhere above you
    • G → dG when it is anywhere below you
    • ( → d( when it is within the previous sentence
    • ) → d) when it is within the next sentence
    • • → d* when it is anywhere above you

    • → d# when it is anywhere above you

  • get the '[{, [(, ]), and ]}' motions for finding unmatched braces and parenthesis
• puzzle with t and ^ bugs
  • kill the 2 bugs
    • t → dt! when it is to the right of you on the bottom line of it's puzzle
    • ^ → d^ when it is to the left of you on same line
  • get '{ }' motions for navigating paragraphs
• puzzle with {, }, T, F, and $ bugs
  • kill the 5 bugs
    • } → d} when it is forward within the same paragraph as you, you move to end of paragraph
    • { → d{ when it is backward within the same paragraph as you
    • T → dTT when you are on the top line of it's puzzle, and it is to your left
    • F → get to right side of puzzle, and dF<character bug is on>
    • $ → d$ when it is to the right of the cursor, on the same line
  • get small brown key
  • go right and down to paragraph puzzle
• paragraph puzzle
  • start on '*' → } to jump paragraph to the space, and } again to kill the bug
  • 2$ ]} to kill the ']}' bug
  • kill 3 and F bugs → dFp and d3B work nicely if you are on the end of the top line
  • kill the k and l bugs → dk works if you are on the last '}', and d<some number>l
  • chest appears, open it to get 'ia' text objects
  • back to beginning and down and to the left to numbered puzzle
• numbered puzzle (8 key presses)
  • ) → 2) → ( → 2) → )
  • go down to '7' → ])
  • go down to next bug puzzle
• bug puzzle
  • kill bugs:
    • 2[ → d2[{
    • 3] → d3]}
  • grab key
  • go way back, up and right, and open door with new key
  • go left to text object puzzle
• text object puzzle
  • kill bugs:
    • a( → da( within a () block
    • i( → di( within a () block
    • a[ → da[ within it's [] block
    • ap → dap
    • 2a} → d2a}
    • a{ → da{
  • change text, start at first character:
    • '[0,1,2,3]' → ca[endl<Esc>
    • '(i+3)/(j-23)' → c2i(i+1)*(j+1)<Esc>
  • grab the red key
  • go up and to the right to the hello world puzzle
• hello word puzzle
  • kill bugs:
    • a → from top d3ap will delete the bug because it is within the next three paragraphs
    • ) → from top d4)
    • i( → G to get to the bottom, then 4k to get within the '( )' pair, then di(
    • % → d%
  • go back to top with gg, time to edit
  • W 2j ci<head<Esc> j c2a[<script><Esc> 4j ci{<Space><Space>alert('Hello World!');<Esc>
  • G to get the blue key
  • go back to near the beginning, and open blue door
  • go up to yoda puzzle
• yoda puzzle
  • kill bugs:
    • three a" bugs → gg to top of text, da" on each line that a bug is on
    • i" → di" on same line as bug
  • edit text → gg ci"No!<Esc> 4G ci'do not.<Esc>
  • grab the second red key
  • go open the first red key gate on the right
  • go down to right red gate puzzle
• right red key puzzle
  • use i and a to add in the words requested by the purple bubbles
    • starting on 'I' of 'In' → fh 3j "ayl 3k "Ayw 2j P k p b j b j P 3w j "cy2aw 5j yiw 5w P 3h 6j "cp 3e "cp
    • grab the '.' repeat command
    • go back and open the left red door, and head down to the left red key puzzle
• left red key puzzle
  • kill bugs while standing at start of puzzle on 'r' of 'her':
    • s → das
    • i → dis
  • edit text → dap while on 'r' of 'her'
  • go down to function puzzle
• function puzzle (23 key presses)
  • start on 'u' of 'function' → % di( B 2j ciwisOver<Esc> 2j . 3j .
  • grab the blue key
  • move down to the fizz buzz puzzle
• fizz buzz puzzle (42 key presses)
  • $ cwBuzz<Esc> 6w . 2b cwFizz<Esc> 7b . 4w . 7w . 3w cwFizzBuzz<Esc>
  • go left to little indians puzzle
• little indians puzzle (53 key presses)
  • 6B * ciwIndians<Esc> n . 2n . n 3. n . 2n . n c5iwIndian boy<Esc> n . as<Esc>
  • go down, open blue gate
  • talk to princess to finish level, and move on to level 14 (not 13)

Level 14

• all motions are gone!
• yip to get 'H' high motion
• H and use zb to get the 'L' low motion
• L and use zt repeatedly to scroll down and get the '1-9' counts back
• :47<Enter> 6L to get the 'nu' and 'nonu' boolean options
• :set nu to turn line numbers on
• use a count + H, with the help of line numbers, to go up and get the 'M' middle motion
• :reg to view the registers, and find out that the next directions are in the ground buffer
  • :ls to view buffers → :b1 to go to ground to view hints for the lorem buffer
  • :ls to view buffers → :b4 to go back to the lorem buffer
• hints from ground buffer, for lorem buffer, lead to:
  1. :41<Enter> to uncover the '|' pipe motion in the bush
  2. :33<Enter> 39| to get the '/ ?' search motion
  3. :11<Enter> 47| to get the '`' mark motion
  4. :52<Enter> 4?pro which leads to the 'pro' on line 37, 68| is the space right before the 'pro', which has a portal (we'll return to this later)
• :43<Enter> 10| to get to the blinking white cursor (Mr. White)
  • talk to Mr. White to learn about marks
  • learn that we had a plan to kill Big Bug, before we lost our memory
• :4<Enter> 55| to get to Mr. Blue
  • learn how to teleport to global marks (`<global mark name>, eg: `L)
  • learn Mr. Pink couldn't control himself and almost changed colour (interesting), and that's why the plan to kill Big Bug failed
• :50<Enter> 64| to get to Mr. Pink
  • learn how to list marks (:marks) and how to delete them (:delm)
  • continue to not forgive Mr. Pink, until he loses his temper and turns into Mr. Red
  • talk to Mr. Red to learn about Big Bug and how to destroy him (text in the sky tells where to place marks in the underground)
• :ls to view buffers → :b2 to go to sky buffer
• `W to go to the W mark puzzle
• W mark puzzle
  • :4<Enter> 13| d18aw → :1<Enter> 9| d/clever<Enter>
  • :2<Enter> 5| to grab 'CTRL-R' redo command
  • go to H mark puzzle
• H mark puzzle (13 key presses)
  • :delm! :4<Enter> 30|
  • ?' to grab the single quote jump to mark line motion
  • go to the A mark puzzle by using 'A (that is the single quote, not backtick)
• A mark puzzle (7 key presses)
  • d'A to kill bugs on top line, and . to repeat command → kill all bugs
  • 2/m<Enter> to get the 'm' set mark command
  • go to the D mark puzzle
• D mark puzzle (29 key presses)
  • :delm<Space>Dthe<Enter> 2| mo ?<Space>o<Enter> mM ?<Enter> my ?<Enter> me
  • :7 7| to grab the yellow star
  • lets take that star to the yellow star portal that we found in the Lorem buffer:
    • :b4 to get to the Lorem buffer
    • :37 68| to get to the star portal
    • it teleports us to the B mark puzzle
• B mark puzzle
  • mB 16| mg :2 mi 14| mu
  • a chest appears on the x, but we don't have the key yet
  • :reg<Enter> and notice the message on the "y register:
    • go to `W and then go to `Y, but don't skip the scrolling
    • we can see the hint 'Toadstool (Peach is also interesting...)'
    • go to the P mark puzzle
• P mark puzzle
  • :marks to view the marks and their associated text
  • remember our hint from the WY mark scrolling → Toadstool, Peach → lets view these words as marks:
    • :marks Toadstool<Enter> → this shows the marks in alphabetical order, and reveals a message → The power of undo will beat Big Bug
    • the brown key is also revealed, get it with :5<Enter>
    • :marks Peach<Enter> → also reveals a message → The cursors are NOT friends!
    • lets go back to the B mark and open the brown chest → `B 9| to get the 'u' command
    • all previous motions and commands are now restored!
    • go to the U mark puzzle
• U mark puzzle
  • CTRL-R → the words 'Uganda', 'Bram', and 'Charity' are to remember
  • :ls to view buffers → :b3 to go to underground buffer and start the underground mark puzzle
• underground mark puzzle
  • :9<Enter> mB to set B mark, 31| mg to set g mark
  • :2 mi to set i mark
  • :17 mu to set u mark
  • time to fight Big Bug and his three minions (formerly cursors)!
• Big Bug fight
  • search for 'Uganda', 'Bram', and 'Charity' to kill the smaller bugs (those are their hidden names)
    • eg: ?Uganda<Enter> or /Uganda<Enter>
    • you can repeat searches in the underground buffer with /<Enter> and ?<Enter>
    • big bug moves fast so using repeated searches is very helpful
    • moving between the corners with gg and G$ will give you the most time to run the search commands before big bug gets to you
    • when you kill one, it won't come back, so keep going back to the underground buffer until you kill all three, then focus on Big Bug
  • to hurt Big Bug you must use undo (u) and redo (CTRL-R), which will cause a lightning strike where edits were made
    • type 99u and 99<CTRL-R> to do lots of damage at once
    • if you die, Big Bug regains health, so you must be quick and use motions like gg, G, 0, and $ to dodge around
    • you can spam { and } to go from corner to corner
    • this will force him to cross edited text when he scrapes along the top and bottom of the screen for easy damage
    • take Big Bug's health to zero, and he will die
  • Congratulations! <CTRL-R> repeatedly to redo all the changes, and then the final cutscene will happen
• THE END!