Cube Escape: Birthday

Cube Escape: Birthday is the seventh game in Rusty Lake’s Cube Escape series. Riding the lift up from the bottom of the lake after the events of Cube Escape: The Cave, detective Dale Vandermeer sets about correcting his bad memories. The first is his ninth birthday, in 1939, the day his parents were brutally murdered. Now Dale intends to put that day right.

How the game plays

• Controls: mouse only.
• Menu: the gear icon in the top right corner.
• Inventory: down the right-hand side of the screen.
• Saving: automatic. The save folder location differs by operating system and game version.

1939, my birthday

Open the lift door and press the black cube.

Click the letter slot in the front door three times, then turn around and pick up the letter. Peel off the STAMP, open the envelope, take the LETTER and read the message from Mr. Owl.

Zoom in on the present on the side table and unwrap it. Zoom out and click the balloon; it floats away. Zoom in on the bunting.

The bunting

Arrange the flags by the number of objects on them, from fewest to most. Take the FLAG 1 that comes loose. Zoom out and look left.

Talk to grandfather; he asks for a drink. Zoom out and turn to the bunting.

Arrange the flags to form the expression 12 = 4 × 3.

• Achievement 6/8.

Take the FLAG 2 that comes loose. Zoom out and zoom in on the wall cabinet. Open the door and take the GIN. Zoom out and look left.

Around the room

Zoom in on the chest of drawers in the corner. Take the SCREWDRIVER from the bottom drawer and the KNIFE from the second drawer down. Zoom out and go to the light switch to the left of the door.

Try to turn it; it does not work. Unscrew the screws with the screwdriver and take the CABLE. Zoom out and look left.

Zoom in on the window and click the silhouette of Mr. Rabbit.

• Achievement 7/8.

Zoom out and pick up the BALLOON from the floor. Zoom in on the sink, part the curtains of the cabinet beneath it and take the MATCHES.

Turn the tap and fill the balloon with WATER. Take the BALLOON OF WATER, zoom out and turn to the refrigerator. Open the door, put the water balloon inside and click it, then take the ICE CUBES. Zoom out and turn around.

Zoom in on grandfather. Pour gin into the glass and add the ice cubes; he asks you to put some music on.

The record

Zoom out and look left. Zoom in on the poster to the right of the door and play the tetris-style mini-game, in which you have to clear cubes ten times; three cubes with the same pattern clear together.

Afterwards press the poster and pick up the RECORD that falls out. Turn to the gramophone and take the CHEWING GUM. Put the record on the gramophone; there is no needle.

Zoom out and look at the bunting. Arrange the flags so that neighbouring flags form a continuous picture. Take the FLAG 3 that comes loose. Zoom out and turn around.

The cake

Zoom in on the birthday cake on the side table. Cut the cake with the knife so that each candle ends up on a separate slice; the number of cuts is limited. Take the CAKE and zoom out.

Give the cake to father and take the NEEDLE. Talk to father. Zoom out and turn around.

Zoom in on the gramophone and fit the needle. Put the pickup on the record and turn the handle. Quickly zoom out and look right: while grandfather dances, take the STAMP from the chair. If you miss it you will have to start the music again. Zoom out and turn around.

Zoom in on the bunting and add the flags you collected to it. Click the bunting and take the BOLT. Zoom out and look left.

Go to mother and give her the chewing gum. When she blows a bubble, cut it with the knife.

• Achievement 1/8.

Take the CHEWING GUM from her mouth, zoom out and look left.

Go to the ringing telephone and lift the receiver. Listen to the message, zoom out and look right.

Your parents sing the birthday song, interrupted by the doorbell. Talk to father and mother, then turn to the front door. Look through the peephole and see Mr. Rabbit. Zoom out.

Mr. Rabbit breaks the door down, bursts into the room and opens fire with a machine gun.

What happened?

Go to father’s body and click his jacket; a note falls out of the pocket. Zoom out and pick up the CARD. Turn it over and read the greeting from Harvey the parrot. Peel off two STAMPS and zoom out.

Turn to the painting on the wall and attach the stamps in their proper places, lining up the lines of the objects on the stamp with those in the painting. Zoom out and look left.

Zoom in on the broken pot and take the BATTERY. Turn to the broken vase on the wall cabinet and take the KEY. Turn to grandfather and take the GIN AND TONIC RECIPE from his breast pocket. That recipe is needed in the Collection’s Theatre.

• Achievement 5/8.

The fly

Turn around and zoom in on the oven. Turn the red knob and light the gas with the matches. Take the GAS PIPE. Shut the gas off and turn to the cabinets on the right.

Unlock the upper cabinet with your key and take the KETTLE; a fly flies out of the drawer.

Fill the kettle from the tap and put it on the stove. Light the burner and take the BOILING WATER; the steam drives the fly off the window and it lands on the corner of the sink.

Drive the fly off and it returns to the window. Stick the chewing gum on the corner of the sink, then drive the fly off the window again and take the FLY, now stuck to the gum. Zoom out and look left.

Examine the child’s drawing on the wall, which shows the view out of the window. Zoom out and look right. Draw a tree on the centre pane; the dark entity of Mr. Rabbit smashes the glass. Take the SHARD OF GLASS, zoom out and look right.

Look through the broken door at the snow and see footprints. Pour the boiling water from the kettle onto the snow to melt it. Move the mat that appears from under the snow and take the BATTERY. Zoom out and look right.

Zoom in on the mousetrap and put the fly in it. Zoom out, make a full turn and come back to the mousetrap, then take the FISH from it.

• Achievement 2/8.

Feed the fish to the cat, look at its excrement and take the KEY. Zoom out and turn around.

The snow globe

Unlock the lower cabinet with that key and zoom in on the globe. Enter the code 1894, which can be found in Rusty Lake Hotel, and shake the globe.

• Achievement 8/8.

Now enter the code 1966 and shake the globe.

Rusty Lake, 1966

Talk to Mr. Owl and receive the WATCH. Zoom out and look left.

Zoom in on the open casket on the corner table and take the LETTER from Mr. Rabbit. Close the casket and take the COIN. Zoom out and turn to the present, the device on the side table.

Place all the items you have collected in it: the batteries, the shard, the cables, the watch, the bolt and the coin. Click the display and a white beam comes out of it. Open the display and take the BLUE CUBE. Zoom out and look left.

Zoom in on the wall clock and fit the blue cube into it.

• Achievement 3/8.

Zoom out and click the clock; time runs backwards.

Talk to grandfather; he asks you to open the casket. Zoom out and look right. Zoom in on the device and take the COIN back, then return it to the casket lid. Open the casket and take the REVOLVER, then take it to grandfather.

Talk to grandfather; he says he is ready. Turn to your parents, whose birthday song is again interrupted by the doorbell. Turn around and look through the peephole to see Mr. Rabbit. Zoom out.

The scene repeats, with Mr. Rabbit breaking down the door and bursting in, but this time grandfather manages to shoot and wound him.

What happened??

Talk to father, who asks “How did you know?” Turn to grandfather and speak to him.

• Achievement 4/8.

Turn around, go outside and follow the trail of blood. You find Mr. Rabbit dying. Click him three times, then click the BLACK CUBE that appears and you are back in the lift car.

Click the black cube and it turns white: the bad memory is corrected. Close the door and ride on.

The seventh game in the Collection is complete.