Thanks to...

Thanks to...

Level set	Chip's Challenge 1
Level number	145
Designer	Unknown
Password	TONY
Password notes
Hint	Special thanks also to the WEP 4 test team!
Chips	0 required / 0 available
Chips notes
Time limit	0
MS (Scores)
Melinda time	[991]
Bold time	[991]
Public time	[991]
Casual difficulty	*****
Bold execution difficulty	*****
Bold routing difficulty	*****
Bold luck difficulty	*****
Mouse Required	Note: This level's bold route requires use of the mouse.
Lynx (Scores)
Melinda time	[]
Bold time	[]
Public time	[]
Casual difficulty	*****
Bold execution difficulty	*****
Bold routing difficulty	*****
Bold luck difficulty	*****
Steam (Scores)
Bold time	0
Bold time	0
Public time	0
Public time	0
Casual difficulty	*****
Bold execution difficulty	*****
Bold routing difficulty	*****
Bold luck difficulty	*****
Bold score
Public score
Casual difficulty	*****
Bold execution difficulty	*****
Bold routing difficulty	*****
Bold luck difficulty	*****

Thanks to... is the 145th level in Chip's Challenge 1. In the Microsoft version, it is the first of five secret levels, as well as a credits level; fortunately, it requires absolutely no effort to complete. The significance is that the level is a commemorative, thanking the people who converted the game from the original Lynx version to the popular MS version.

Doug T. was a playtester for the Microsoft version, and Ed H. is probably the artist Ed Halley. Robert Donner created WinMine, which later became Microsoft Minesweeper, though his and Lisa F.'s involvement with the actual game are not known. The TONY mentioned in the password could be surnamed Garcia or Krueger, and is generally assumed to be the former. Tony Krueger was the MS version's author, which is mentioned along with Ed Halley's name in the About Chip's Challenge popup accessible from the Help menu.

To complete the level, slide on the ice and play between the DOUG and T. to reach fire boots and then down to the exit at (31, 31). Alternatively, using the public TWS solution shown below, the level is able to be completed in only 8 seconds, but risks Chip's life.

The player has a few different options allowing progression through the random force floor section on 991 pace by simply holding down. All methods listed below will achieve the bold time of 991. An override is denoted with an X and represents the 3/4 chance of the force floor being whichever direction Chip is not going (in this case, anything but down) and D is used for a downwards push.

With 0 overrides, the player makes it through and is still on pace (DDDDD, 1/1024). With only 1 override, the player can afford to be pushed up once by the force floors to start the sequence (example: UDDDXD, 3/2048) or make it through without being pushed up at all (example: DXDDD, 3/512). With 2 overrides, the player can be pushed up twice to start (UUDXDXD, 9/16384), once to start (UDXDXD 9/4096), or no times at all (perfect run leading to the optimal decimal: DXDXD, 9/1024). With 3 overrides, the player can be pushed up once anywhere along the force floor sequence that isn’t the start (example: DXUXDXD 27/8192). Combining all of these gives a total probability of 379/16384 or about a 2.31% success rate for achieving the bold time. The odds will get slightly higher if the player is able to react to the sequence given, but the exact number is still unknown; a rough estimate would put the odds somewhere around 3%.

Trivia

• Thanks to... is the only level in CC1 with a title containing lowercase letters. This is most likely due to the fact that the Atari Lynx version's font contains only capital letters, whereas the Microsoft version simply uses a generic font and can therefore handle both capital and lowercase letters.

• If the player looks in a level editor, a map reveals that there are five ice spaces under other ice spaces, which is illegal in Lynx mode; however, in the Atari Lynx version, this level does not exist. These buried squares can be found on the grid at coordinates (0, 25), (5, 26), (10, 27), (19, 28) and (27, 29):

• As mentioned, in the Lynx version, this level does not exist; level 145 is simply a dummy that triggers the ending sequence after completing Fireflies. The entry in the password table for level 145 is YBLI, and as expected, entering this displays the victory sequence.

• There is also another "hidden" password, MAND, which is an intended easter egg that displays a Mandelbrot fractal set. The player can then interact with the generator in many different ways, such as modifying the palette or zooming in and out. The only way out of this "level" is to reset the console.

The fractal in the original Lynx

Full level map

Walkthrough

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References

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