Some older games allowed the player to be resurrected after a death, but punished them by distributing his possessions far and wide. Here we emulate that effect.
When play begins: say "There's a bit of a drive over from Anaconda, Montana, and then through a couple or three ghost towns, but finally you find what you're looking for, and strike out on foot..."
Entrance to Devil's Canyon is a room. "You are at the top of a steep road, which proceeds down into the canyon proper." A sign is in Devil's Canyon. It is fixed in place. "An ominous sign has been put up by the local sheriff's office." The description is "PROCEED AT OWN RISK - NO RESCUES!"
Instead of going down when a random chance of 1 in 3 succeeds:
say "Whoooops, your footing is not as secure as you thought...";
end the story.
Dusty Path is below Entrance. "A dusty path, with grey-brown thorny bushes on either side. Immediately to your right is a sheer drop; far below you can see the rusting remains of a Model T that some fool tried to drive by here."
Hairpin is below Dusty Path. "A sharp bend in the road, doubling back down towards the bottom of the canyon. Just north of here there is also a small cavern of some kind[if the stick pin is in the cavern], which attracts your eye with some glittery thing[end if]."
The Cavern is north of Hairpin. "Really not much more than a little hollow in the side of the canyon." In the cavern are a snake and a diamond stick pin. The snake is an animal. The description of the snake is "You're no expert, but it looks like a rattler."
Instead of taking the diamond stick pin in the presence of the snake: say "Turns out the snake is partial to that there pin, and takes exception to your intending to make off with it."; end the story.
Understand "dig" or "dig hole/here" or "dig in ground/dirt/earth" as digging. Digging is an action applying to one thing.
Instead of digging at the spot:
say "You dig and dig, and after a half hour or so, sure enough, you do turn up a big box of gold! You're going to be richer than God and Bill Gates put together.";
Instead of digging at the spot when the player does not carry the shovel:
say "What, without your shovel? That won't work too well."
The player carries a walking stick. The player wears a hat, a whistle, and a daypack. The daypack contains a mylar blanket, a granola bar, a cellular phone, a water bottle, a folding shovel, and a photocopied map. The granola bar is edible. Instead of drinking the water, say "You quench your thirst, for the time being." The description of the map is "The map shows the winding path of Devil's Canyon, with a large X down by the south end. That would be where your uncle Jesse buried the gold from the train robbery."
The maximum score is 5.
When play ends when the story has not ended finally: