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The Longest Journey Hints

How do I get the key?

  • 1 of 15: Your arms aren't long enough to reach that far.  Find something longer.
  • 2 of 15: Have you found a rope?  (It's really a clothesline, to be precise.)
  • 3 of 15: The rope can be used like a fishing pole if something else is added to it.
  • 4 of 15: What could be used as your hook?
  • 5 of 15: Attach the clamp to the clothesline.
  • 6 of 15: The clamp is closed tight.  It needs to be expanded just long enough to grab the key and then close around it.
  • 7 of 15: Look for something that you can put in the clamp that might be able to change size.
  • 8 of 15: Find the inflatable rubber ducky.
  • 9 of 15: Blow up the duck.
  • 10 of 15: Then look at it for a close-up view and remove the Band-Aid before attaching it to the clamp-clothesline combo.
  • 11 of 15: Use your new contraption on the key before the duck runs out of air.
  • 12 of 15: If you goof, look at the contraption for a close-up view, remove the duck, re-inflate it, and try again.
  • 13 of 15: If that fails, there are only a few things I can suggest.  First, make sure that you've looked at the sparks with the eye cursor -- the key should be called "key" and not "sparks." If the key is still called "sparks," click on it with your cursor, and it will now be called "key." Then, try again.
  • 14 of 15: Also, make sure that you're doing everything described in the hints above.  You should have a single object in your inventory that combines the clamp, clothesline, and ducky, and you should be able to hear the sound of air leaking from the duck.  Use that object on the key before the duck deflates.  If you don't hear air coming out of the duck, you need to remove the duck, re-inflate it, and remove the Band-Aid (if you haven't done that already) before combining the objects again.
  • 15 of 15: If that still doesn't work, the developers have acknowledged that a bug in the game sometimes causes problems here, and as of this writing, they have no patch for the problem.  They recommend that you restore to an earlier saved game and try again.  If even that doesn't help and you want the latest word, the game's official site is at http://www.longestjourney.com/.  Please read their FAQ and then write the publishers using the links there if you have any further problems with this puzzle -- while I try to help people as much as I can, I have nothing to do with the game's developers or with fixing bugs in the game.