The primary objective of the game is to retrieve the Emperor's Stolen Lamp. This is an heirloom handed down since the days of Alaa Eldeen. In order to do this, you must survive many dangers and solve many problems. As a secondary objective, you must return with as much treasure as you can, and this will require as much cunning as the main quest.

The current state of the game may be saved at any point. You should place a blank tape in the cassette recorder and type SAVE. Then switch the recorder into record mode and follow the instructions on the screen. To restore a previously saved game situation, type RESTORE at any point in the game and position the tape to the start of the saved data. Follow the instructions on the screen to restore the previous position. The saved game is stored in a file called LAMPSAV.

The game is set in a magic kingdom in the Middle East which you must explore carefully in order to find the Stolen Lamp and all the treasure.

The computer will ask you "What now?" and you must reply with a simple one or two word command.

One word commands may be directions eg. NORTH, SOUTH, etc (this is your way of moving about inside the kingdom) or simple requests eg. HELP, SCORE, QUIT etc.

Two word commands always consist of a verb followed by an object eg. GET CARPET or KILL PICKPOCKET. The computer will tell you if it cannot understand your command, or if it is incapable of carrying it out. One of the puzzles in the Adventure is to work out what can be done with the various objects.

Finally, bear in mind that not all objects are there to aid your quest. Some may hinder you and more than one is a red herring. Some objects must be made to kill two birds with one stone.