Gold Rush! is set in the year 1848, where the California gold rush occurs. You play Jerrod Wilson. A series of events in the past has resulted in you living by your own in a shabby bungalow in Brooklyn Heights, New York. Once the gold rush has been announced, you are to travel to California by taking one of three routes and strike it rich. This announcement occurs exactly 14 minutes after the game is started. When this happens, your possessions drop in value and prices skyrocket. Therefore, you must buy everything you need before then.


You start in the middle of the bridge. Cross the bridge and go east. Your bungalow is here. Go to the front gate and SELL HOUSE. UNLOCK GATE, walk up to the front door, UNLOCK DOOR and go inside. Now go over to the rolltop desk, CLOSE DESK and GET BANK STATEMENT. READ STATEMENT and note down your account number. Next, go over to the table and LOOK ALBUM, and GET PHOTO of your family. Leave the house and the property. A buyer will come by and offer you $850 for the bungalow. (If he doesn't, come back later.) When he asks if this is all right, say YES to take the cash. Now walk west.

Walk near the gazebo (Make sure not to walk on the grass, or you'll get busted.) and GET FLOWERS. Enter the gazebo. Move around the floor and LOOK CRACK until you notice something shiny. GET COIN and walk west (x2) to arrive at the Daily Star. Enter the building and walk north, past the receptionist, to go upstairs. Enter your office (at the bottom right) and go up to the desk. LOOK UNDER BLOTTER and READ CLIPPINGS. Go back downstairs and enter the office first on the left. This is your boss's office. QUIT JOB and leave the building. Go east and enter the post office.

Approach the desk and RING BELL. When the postmaster comes out, GET MAIL. GET LETTER from the desk. LOOK LETTER, LOOK POSTMARK, and LOOK STAMP Now OPEN LETTER and READ LETTER. Leave the office and go north to the bank.

Go inside and approach the counter. When you are served, GET MONEY and enter your account number when asked. Leave the bank and go north again. Enter the warehouse and LOOK POSTER to find out where to get tickets. Leave the warehouse.

You must now decide which route you want to take. Each route requires you to buy the necessary food and equipment in order to survive. The solutions to them are split up into three sections.

The PANAMA Route
You have exactly 18 minutes after the game begins before the steamship leaves Brooklyn. Go to the house next door to you and wait at the front gate. When your neighbor comes, BUY TICKET. When asked which of the two routes that you wish to take, type PANAMA. Next, head to Rand's Hardware Store and enter. Go up to the counter and BUY MOSQUITO NET. You're ready to leave. Get on the steamship and SHOW TICKET when the guy comes past. All you need to do is wait until your arrival at the jungle.

Shortly, you will come across a tribe. Give them all the possessions to be allowed to continue. When you get to the screen with a man reading under a tree, go up to him and TALK MAN to be given a bible. Walk east. As soon as the killer ant start to appear, walk up to the hanging vine and JUMP VINE. DROP DOWN when the coast is clear and continue east. You will come across four different paths leading east.

Save your game and walk down one of the paths. If you die, restore the game. Go east and save again. Walk through the water to the other side. If you drown or get eaten by a crocodile, restore and try again. Continue east. You will eventually arrive at Sacramento. Once there, get off the ship and go into the stagecoach office. LOOK SCHEDULE. If you have just missed the coach, restore the game to an earlier point. Otherwise, climb abroad the coach. You will be taken to Sutter's Fort.

The CAPE HORN Route
In Brooklyn, look around town until you find the fruit store. Go inside and buy some fruit. You are now ready to leave, so hop on board the steamship and SHOW TICKET to the man who passes you. When you are at sea, look around the ship and TALK MAN at the right end of the ship to be given a bible. Purely at random, you may die of Cholera. If you do, you will have to restore back to Brooklyn. (Restoring to a point later than Brooklyn won't help.)

You will not die of scurvy if you have the fruit. You will eventually get hungry. During or after the storm, GET STRING from the bunk room, GET PAPER CLIP from the captain's office, and GET BAIT from the cook's table. Now GET METAL SCRAPS from the boiler room, and GET POLE from the bottom floor (where the engine is being stoked). Go to the back of the ship and FISH until you have caught a fish.

At Sacramento, get off the ship and go into the stagecoach office. LOOK SCHEDULE. If you have just missed the coach, restore the game to an earlier point. Otherwise, climb abroad the coach. You will be taken to Sutter's Fort.

Traveling with the Joint Mining Stock Company
In Brooklyn, head for the stagecoach office and go inside. BUY TICKET from the counter. Once you have it, go right to the stable and SHOW TICKET to the little dude in white walking around. You will be escorted to the coach, climb abroad.

At Independence, go over and TALK CAPTAIN and GIVE MONEY when he asks you to. Your first assignment is to obtain animals for the journey ahead. Go south and approach the man. BUY OXEN. When asked between mature or young, say MATURE. He says that they will be ready when you leave. Sounds good. Now go back and TALK CAPTAIN who gives you another assignment.

He wants you to tell him when it's time to leave. Go east. TALK MAN sitting under the tree. You will get his bible. Now go up and LOOK GRASS until the game says that the grass is getting greener and the mud is drying up. Go back and TALK CAPTAIN. You will leave for California. If you did everything right, you should arrive at Sutter's Fort safely.


Go inside the fort and walk right until you find the blacksmith. TALK MAN. He will ask you for your name and your brother's name. (Don't lie to him.) He will give you your broother's branding iron. Go west until you find the entrance to the graveyard. Go north and read each grave until you find your parent's. There is a picture of a cannon up the top. READ PSALM 23. Next, USE LETTER and move it around until the game tells you that it is in the right place. Enter the trading store and BUY PAN and GIVE GOLD to the owner.

Go outside the fort and walk east to the woods. Walk at least ten miles east from the fort. Go into the stream and PAN in different areas until you find gold. Do this as well for different screens. If you pan near someone else, you'll get hanged. Once you have fifty pieces of gold, go back to the fort. Avoid the thieves along the way.

Go east until you reach a dead end, then go south to reach the corral. Go up to the manager and BUY MULE. When he takes one out, TAKE MULE. Now go back to the blacksmith. Approach the burning hot fire and HEAT IRON. Go back outside and BRAND MULE. Go to the front entrance of the fort and enter the stable on the right. Go to one of the areas and leave the mule for now. Go back into the fort and return to the trading store. BUY SHOVEL and GIVE GOLD to the owner. Also, BUY LANTERN and GIVE GOLD. Return to the stable and LOOK BRAND of different mules until you find the one with your brand on it. If it says it's a quiet, tame animal, you don't want it. Your brother has left his mule for you. Get his instead. With your mule in tow, leave the stable, and go outside the fort.

Continue east until you reach a town. Find the Green Pastures Hotel, and HITCH MULE to the post there. Go inside and walk upstairs. Look at Rooms 12 and 21. Go back downstairs and go up to the desk. ASK FOR MESSAGE to be told that you don't have any because you are not staying here, but the dude asks you if you can deliver a message to Room 11. Say YES. TAKE MESSAGE and KNOCK on the door to Room 11. Give the man the message. When he leaves, quickly walk into the room. So you're in his room. Before you get busted, go to the right wall and LOOK FIREPLACE. TURN WHEEL to make it open up and CLIMB INTO FIREPLACE to get inside Room 12.

Look around Room 12 and GET STRING from the floor. GET MAGNET and GET NOTE from the table. READ NOTE. Next, go over to the window and UNLATCH WINDOW. OPEN WINDOW and a pigeon will fly into the cage. LOOK PIGEON. READ NOTE IN CAPSULE and PLACE PHOTO IN CAPSULE. The bird flies off and returns with something. LOOK INSIDE CAPSULE, GET AEROGRAM, and READ AEROGRAM. Go back through the fireplace and head outside (providing the resident is not there). Go outside of the hotel and UNHITCH MULE. With him in tow, go as far out of town as you can and FOLLOW MULE. Follow the mule but be careful of thieves.

You end up outside Jake's cabin. Go inside and GET MATCHES from the table. Go outside and enter the outpost on the right. CLIMB HOLE to arrive in a cave. LIGHT LANTERN and continue along the path until you get to the big door. TIE STRING TO MAGNET and PUT MAGNET IN HOLE. You should hear something "cling" onto the magnet. PULL MAGNET. You have found a key. OPEN DOOR.

Continue left. Go down the ladder to the bottom and take the left path. Continue along the path until you reach another ladder. Climb down this ladder to the very bottom and GET PICK from the ground. PICK for gold. (You can only use the pick with cracks in the walls.) Once you have a few pieces of gold, go up the ladder to the top and GET NUGGETS. Move down the ladder a bit and enter the mine shaft on the left. Continue along path (being careful not to fall in the crevice) and climb down the ladder to the bottom. Go left until you find a room with your brother Jake. Make sure that you pick for gold along the way.

Go up to him and TALK MAN. You will be told that he's almost made the ultimate gold discovery. Go around the room and PICK until you find gold. Now PICK at that spot until a cavern is revealed. PICK until the entrance is big enough to get through. Enter the cavern.