Guild of Thieves Header

Why buy this game when you can steal it?

Except you can't. Not yet. An amateur like you? Come off it! Now, if you were a fully paid-up member of the notorious Guild of Thieves, things would be different...

Mind you, it's not easy. You might find yourself ditched on a remote jetty by the Guildmaster. You might find that the Guild expects you to ransack a well guarded mansion. To go grave-robbering. Potholing. Or maybe - if they're really doubtful of your abilities - everything at once!

No problem, really, in a country full of helpful natives and friendly wildlife. Trouble is, you´re not in a country like that ! You´re in Kerovnia. Except that the place seems to have gone downhill since then...But you´ll find that out for yourself soon enough. And just one final hint; don't try any funny stuff. The Guildmaster has seen it all before. So has the Gatekeeper. So has he...But why should we give you any hints?

Guild of Thieves, from Magnetic Scrolls, the people who wrote The Pawn, winners of numerous major awards. Graphic illustrations to blow your socks off. Puzzles to blow your brains out. Frankly, we doubt that you're up to it...

The Guild of Thieves is now officially available again in the 2017 Restored edition from Strand Games.

Game facts
Released:
1987
Distributor:
Rainbird (Europe) / Firebird (US)
Story:
Rob Steggles
Graphics:
Geoff Quilley, Tristan Humpries, Title picture: Duncan McLean
Programming:
unknown
Goodies:
Michael Bywater
Platforms:
Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Amstrad PCW, Apple 2, Archimedes, Atari ST, Atari XL/XE, Commodore 64/128, IBM PC, Macintosh, Spectrum +3
Game box contents:
Bank of Kerovnia account card, Die, Magazine "What Burglar", Kerovnia Guild of Discret Entry And Removal Operatives contract, Adventure Guide, Disk
Game box:
Standard Rainbird/Firebird blue box ( 15.2 cm x 21.4 cm - 6" x 8.5" )
Known game versions
1.0
Atari XL, C64, Amstrad CPC, Amstrad PCW, Apple 2
1. 0
Amiga, Atari ST, Macintosh
1.1
IBM PC
1.3
Archimedes, Spectrum +3 and Collection Vol. 1
Game box contents

Amiga

Atari ST

C64

Apple II

Atari XL/XE

Spectrum +3

IBM PC

IBM PC

Amstrad PCW

Macintosh

Archimedes

Amstrad CPC
Trivia
  • The Guild of Thieves was voted "Best Adventure Game" in the 1987/1988 Golden Joystick Award
  • Unlike other MS games The Guild of Thieves had no title music. Some ports, however, displayed the message "Music stolen from John Cage" while loading the game. This was actually meant to be a joke, though many people didn't get it. John Cage was an experimental musician (died several years ago), and the message is a hint on his notorious piece 4'33" which is silence for that length of time.
  • On page 19 of What Burglar finds an advert:
    BABY ELEPHANT SKIN JACKET, soft, supple, surplus to ideological requirements. Also for sale: New York appartement, Islington flat, Porsche, Saab, computers, synthesizers etc. Owner retiring to Madagascar. Apply D. Adams, Box 57848

    The "advert" is a poke at Douglas Adams, the author of "The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy" (books, radio series, TV series, Infocom adventure, etc!) who went on a worldwide trip looking for endangered species for a BBC radio show. He wrote a book about his trip, called "Last Chance to See" (Really worth reading !!!).

    Small anecdote from Michael Bywater (author of What Burglar):
    "[...] It is indeed about Douglas Adams. He's an old friend of mine. At the time of What Burglar/Guild of Thieves (I was going out with Anita Sinclair, which is how I got involved in GoT and Jinxter etc) I'd just got back from New York, where I hd been staying in Douglas's apartment. It had been colder than I expected, but fortunately there was a warm, rather luxuriously soft leather jacket there which I borrowed. When I got back to London, I mentioned it to Douglas. "It's the softest leather I've ever seen," I said. "What is it exactly?" "Ah," he said, "Actually, it's a bit embarrassing. It's... well, it's baby elephant-skin, and I don't think I'm going to be able to wear it much any more."

    Hence the advertisment.
  • The game box shows an image of a winged lizard. During the devlopment of The Guild of Thieves at some stage a flying Pterodactyl was included, but it was removed from the game later. However since then, the box artwork was already finalised and not altered anymore.
  • Here is a little curiosity found in one package...
  • The game box sold in Germany contained an additional 8 page booklet "Ergänzung zur Gilde der Diebe" which explains how to interact with the game.
Downloads - Walkthroughs, Solutions, and more...

Second issue of WhatBurglar, which could be ordered from Magnetic Scrolls (PDF)

Official Secrets Solution book (PDF)

Solution

Walkthrough

Password list

Password list

Ami Cheat's Page Solve

Map (unknown author)

Articles & reviews