Steamworks Island

You know what they say, one man's trash is another man's treasure...

Steamworks Island is the 14th island on Poptropica. It involves a huge island full of puzzles, and that is what makes it hard. It is said to be among the hardest islands.

Main Street
First, land on Main Street in Steamworks Island. Then, walk over to the Clockwork Cantina and complete the gear puzzle near the broken robot. Place the two brown gears on the ends and the three blue gears go in the middle. Turn the crank when they’re all in place. Now pick up the Multi-Tool that just appeared on the ground. Now walk to the right and you’ll see a garbage bin. Jump up on it to get the Steam Battery. Walk to the right again and go inside the Museum. Run to the right and you’ll see a big yellow bulldozer-like machine. Click on the blue lever to raise the arm. Then jump up on the platforms and make your way to the upper-right corner. Watch out for the darker, smaller platforms which will crumble and fall when you step on them. Grab the dirty beaker out of the broken display case on the top right. Then exit the museum. Go back to the Clockwork Cantina. Jump up and click on the blue lever here. A mechanical ramp will extend. Run up it and then jump onto the steam chutes to fly up and over the tower. You should land on top of a glass dome. Use your multi-tool to open it and then go down inside. You’re now inside the Mayor’s office. Check out the painting and the note on the typewriter, which give you an important number to remember for later: 0516. Leave the office, jump back down to the street and run to the left to enter the next zone.

Gear Alley
Pass by Sully’s shop and go to the blue building in the middle. This is the living quarters. Jump up the platforms on the left side and then run past the door. You’ll see a robot crab here. Jump up and land on top of him to make him bounce and flip over. When he does, he’ll drop Sully’s key. Pick up both the key and the robot crab. Drop down to the street and go to the next building on the left. Jump up onto the steam chute and leap up to the roof. You’ll find an old vine here. Pick it up. Run to the right until you get in front of Sully’s Steam Powered Paraphernalia store. There’s a Steam Terminal here. Use the steam battery in your backpack. You’ll get a puzzle here where you have to regulate the steam pressure in the terminal. The starting pressure is 10 and the ending pressure needs to be 5. You need to adjust the valves so that the pressure will lose five points as it travels to the end.

Sully’s Shop
Once you get inside Sully’s you’ll find a robot in the right corner. It’s Sprocket! Ring the bell on the desk next to him to wake him up, click on him to talk to him, (he isn't very talkative right now but don't worry, he will be later) then he'll follow you. Go pick up the rubber mallet from the junk box in the left corner. Leave Sully’s and Sprocket will follow you. Head to the right to return to Main Street. Run all the way to the right side and then proceed onto the next zone, known as the Hub.

The Hub
When you arrive in the Hub, run along the ramp until you get to a metal hatch that is glowing red-hot. If you try to click it, you’ll see it’s much too hot to touch. Walk up to it and use the robot crab in your backpack. Sprocket the robot will take it from you and then drop the poor crab on top of the hatch. The water from the robot will cool down the hatch so that you can open it up. Go down the hatch. When you get to the bottom of the ladder, Sprocket will look pretty scared. Make your way down the pipes until you run into a plant monster living inside them. Use the old vine from your backpack underneath the sign that says, Caution: Hot Steam. This will spray steam onto the plant monster and kill it. Move along to the bottom left of the room and you’ll find the bottom of an elevator. Click on the round hatch above. Now you’ll need to solve three levels of a ball tilt maze game that’s a lot like the classic wooden box Labyrinth game. Spin the wheel either clockwise or counter-clockwise with your cursor to get the ball to the center. After you complete all three levels, the elevator will power up. Go back up out of this area to the street. Go a few steps to the right and jump up onto the spring. After three jumps, you should land up next to another blue lever. Click the lever and the giant Hub wheel will start to move. Go back down onto the street and run to the left. Jump up and grab the vines and climb up to a platform. Wait for the moving platform on the Hub wheel to come around and then jump onto it. Then jump off at the upper right corner (aim for the yellow pipe). Walk to the right and use the steam valve to jump up and to the left. Continue moving until you get to the elevator entrance to the Captain’s Cabin. Then go inside. As soon as you enter, Sprocket will be captured by some plant vines. Go down and click on the metal window shutters to snap the vines and free him. When you do, he’ll speak to you for the first time and say, “Thank you.” Now you can talk to him and ask him questions and hear his story. Run to the right and use the moving platforms to get up to the large painting. It’s a copy of the painting you saw in the mayor’s office. Click on the dial at the bottom of the picture. This is a combination lock. The combination is the number from the mayor’s office: 0516. Starting with the innermost ring, click on each triangle to get the wheel to spin. Then click on it again when it’s pointing to the right number. The rings get faster so this can be tricky. When you get the combination right, a secret door will open. Go inside and you’ll be in Captain Ziggs’ room. Go to the left and pick up the bridge key (on the floor) and the Weed Whacker (up on the wall). Then leave the room. Go down and to the right and jump off the patio to return to the Hub zone. Go right until you get to the Steam Terminal at the end. Use the steam battery and then solve the puzzle. It’s just like the first one, but now you need to adjust the pressure from 10 to 16 (+6). Once you’re successful, the bridge will lower and you can run across.

Production Zone
Take a few steps to the right and jump on the spring to get to the platform above. Avoid the cracked area on the ground. There’s a control panel here with three red levers and a green button. Move all the levers to the down position and then press the green button. The giant wrecking ball will drop and hit the ground, creating a hole.

Factory
Jump down and go through the hole. Make your way down and to the right and you’ll enter a mechanical room. First, press the three red pressure pads on each side of the machine. Then you’ll need to press the two remaining pads (the ones on the machine) at the same time. Sprocket will offer to hold down one while you get the other. The machine will turn on and the moving platforms above will start turning. Use this to get up to the top of the room. There’s a lever on the left wall. Click it to get another platform to move up and down. Then jump up to the right and use the platforms and vines to get to a moving conveyer belt. Here you’ll need to avoid acid blobs that drop from a plant monster. Continue across the vines and soon you’ll find the Mech Steam Motor, one of two parts you’ll need to repair the Mech in Sully’s shop garage. Continue up on the vines and go up to the Greenhouse.

Greenhouse
Walk to the left and you’ll find an area for mixing Herbicide. Pay attention to the chart on the wall. Use the dirty beaker from your backpack and then fill it with three parts blue, two parts green and four parts red. When you’re done, you’ll have some Herbicide Mixture. Go to the right and then up to the platform above. Use the herbicide on the plant monster. It will shrink and disappear, revealing a maintenance closet. Go inside. There’s an old custodian robot here. He’s holding onto the Living Quarters Access Key. Take it from him and then he’ll wake up and the alarm system will go off. You can’t leave the way you came because the security system has a pressure hose that knocks you back. Go back out of the maintenance closet and then climb the vines above. Go to the left and you’ll see that the glass dome has some tiny white cracks here. Use the rubber mallet from your backpack to smash a hole in the dome and escape. Now run all the way back to Gear Alley, which is on the left of Main Street.

Gear Alley Redux
When you arrive, go to the bottom of the living quarters building (blue) and jump on the right platform of the lever on the gear. This will raise the one on the left. Take a few steps to the left, then jump up the platforms to arrive at the doorway to the living quarters. Use your steam battery on the terminal and then solve the steam valve puzzle again. This time, you need to adjust the steam by -3 to get it from 10 to 7. The door will open. Go inside.

Living Quarters
Go click on the blue lever on the left to make the platform rise. Use it to get up to the next level and continue making your way up. Jump on the blue button on the floor to make the ladder rise. You’ll need to quickly jump up the ladder because it falls back down in a few seconds. When you get to the top left, there’s another door leading to Zack’s room. Go through it.

Zack's Room
Go up to the top left corner and click on the wall to solve the next puzzle, which is a timed game where you have to get the steam to move safely from one corner to the other. You must click on the squares to reveal pipes underneath and then swap the pipes around to create a clear path. There are three levels to get through. Go outside and then cross over the vine that acts as a tightrope all the way to the left, where you’ll find the Mech Crank which is the second piece you need to repair the Mech in Sully’s Garage. Jump down to the street below and then go to Sully’s Garage.

Sully's Garage
Use both the Mech Crank and the Steam Motor from your backpack on the Mech. It will be repaired and now you can walk around in the Mech. You’ll also get a teleporter device that you can use to instantly travel back to the Mech from anywhere you go on Steamworks.

Walking in the Mech, head out of the garage and over to the left. There’s a big doorway covered by vines. Attach the weed whacker from your backpack to the Mech and then use the spacebar to smash all the vines. Go through the door when it’s clear.

Storage Room
Now you’re inside a storage area. Make your way through, using the space bar to smash Plant Monsters that attack. At one point, you’ll need to leave your Mech and power up one of the lifts. Then get back in the Mech and ride it up to the next platform. Continue through this zone, killing Plant Monsters as you go until you get to the final plant monster in the room and get rid of him. Go through the doorway to the next zone.

Wind Zone
Go down the ramp to the left and you’ll find a giant windmill. Walk all the way up to the blades and then punch the blade with your weed wacker andSprocket will offer to help. Exit the Mech and stand on the blades as they spin to ride almost to the top. Then jump onto the platform above. Use your multi-tool to stop the blades. Sprocket will open the door. Get back in the Mech and go through the doorway.

Hibernation Center
And now we finally learn the secret of what happened to all the inhabitants of Steamworks Island. First, exit the Mech and go to the machine. Use the multi-tool on it and the room will light up. Zack will emerge from hid hibernation chamber and he and Sprocket will be re-united. How sweet! The mayor will also appear and you'll finally learn the story of what's going on: the locals were working on plant mutation experiments when they suddenly went horribly wrong and became giant monsters. To save themselves, they froze themselves in refuge and stayed there for 200 years. Then you’ll see and hear bumps from below. Uh-oh. We still need to take out the monsters! Jump up to the platforms on the right and get the Toxic Blaster. Then get back in your Mech and attach it. Take the elevator down to the next zone.

Tunnel System
Move through the room and shoot the attacking plants by aiming with the mouse and using the spacebar to fire.You do not need to kill all the plants. You want to end up on the platform just above the floor. If you miss it, you’ll need to stand on the bolt/screw thing and spin it to raise yourself up. There’s a moving platform here. Wait for it and then ride it across to the doorway and prepare for the final battle…

Plant Hive
You’re now in the final boss battle. There are three boss monsters to kill and to make things even tougher, acid starts to fill the room from below. If you touch the acid, you lose and have to start over. You only have a short time to defeat each boss monster. The basic technique for all three monsters is to get up close enough so that they try to strike you with their heads. It’s kind of like the Hydra from Mythology Island. When they do, you can shoot them, causing a splat. Each monster needs to be splatted three times and then it will disappear and you can move on. There are some basic moves for each monster: Move into position so that he starts to attack, then duck and wait for his head to snap back, then shoot. For the second and third monsters, you need to avoid the seed pods and bombs they hurl at you. After you defeat the final plant monster, you’ll re-appear next to the mayor, who will present you with the Island Medallion.

Congratulations! You've now completed the Island!

Common Room
The Common Room on Steamworks is the Gear Shop.

Reviews

 * 9Spaceking: This island is very hard indeed--the puzzles are very mind bogging, and the final bosses require lots of patience, reflect and fastness.
 * Ecn9: This island is a little hard but the robot legs and the Zack's Robot are awesome
 * Shaky Noodle: I kinda liked it, 6 out of 10.
 * Fearless Tornado: Very weird Island. 5 out of 10.
 * Rough Fang: This island was really puzzling because there was no one to tell you what to do. Still, the sheer epicness of the Mech made up for it! 7 out of 10
 * Super Hawk: AWESOME! I really liked the island because of cute little Sprocket and the monsters! 8 out of 10!
 * Icy Fox: This island took me more than a week and I kept taking breaks from it, but it was pretty fun to figure out and defeating the plant monsters! It does include too many puzzles, though. I'll give it a 7.5/10.

Trivia

 * Steamworks Island's theme is steampunk. Steampunk is a subgenre of science-fiction which primarily involves Victorian era steam powered machinery.