Welcome to the Trail of the Twister Walkthrough! If it’s your first time to play any Nancy Drew game, then start on Junior Detective because the puzzles are easier. Also, if you want to, consult the “How to be a Detective” book on Nancy’s desk for guidance to become your very own detective. However, if it’s not your first Nancy Drew game, choose whatever difficulty you want. All spoilers that appear in this walkthrough will be in red, italicized, and have the word “spoiler” in front of them.

A Cyclonic Experience

Nancy has been hired by P.G. Krolmeister to find out what’s causing the equipment meltdown that’s happening to a prominent Oklahoma storm research team that he’s sponsored. Since there’s a $100,000,000 grant for the winner of the Green Skies Competition that the team’s in—and is expected to win—Krolmeister suspects something more sinister than meltdowns. Nancy’s going undercover as an intern and is replacing Pete, the former intern, who broke his leg in one of the “accidents” caused by a meltdown.

When Nancy arrives at the farmhouse in Oklahoma, the storm is fierce and a tornado touches down. She needs to get inside. Head over to the farmhouse and take the debris away from the door. Grab the tin box and look inside it. There’s money and a note, which means that it has to belong to someone. Go inside the farmhouse and find a note from Debbie. It has a list of task for Nancy to do. One is to label file inserts in the filing cabinet and then sort stuff and put it in the filing cabinet in the dining room. Head over to the filing cabinet and label the inserts according to the instructions on the front.

Spoiler: Put it in this order according to detective levels and from left to right. Junior Detective: Findings, Grange Theater, Canute, Degree, Budget, Animals. Senior Detective: Degree, Canute, Animals, Budget, Findings, Grange Theater.

When Nancy’s finished, file stuff in the cabinet according to the symbols on each of the files. Then take the Koko Kringle wrapper and throw it away. Grab the receipt for bags of corn in the trash and notice a mouse that’s attracted to the pile of corn on the ground. The second thing that Debbie Kircum, the project manager, wrote was to take the tornado quiz. Head downstairs and take it on the computer that’s on the dryer.

Spoiler: Here are the answers. 1. C 2.C 3. D 4.B 5.A 6.C 7.A 8.D

Siren Charts and Disaster Kits

When Nancy’s done with the quiz, the rest of the team will come back and Debbie will call Nancy and tell her to meet Scott Varnell, the team leader. He’ll give Nancy the low down and tell her to do two more things—make a disaster kit and put the siren chart together. First, talk to everyone else on the team. Head out of the office and back to the dining room. Talk to Debbie about everything Nancy can. Apparently there’s some tension between her and Scott. She also gives Nancy another task to do: to fix the sprinkler system. Then go to the siren chart that’s across the basement stairs. Place the circles in the places where they need to go. In the Junior Detective level, two of the circles are already placed. Here’s what the chart should look like when it’s done for both the Senior and Junior Detective levels:

(Picture from TOT’s hint and tips page on UHS-Hints.com)

Go downstairs and talk to Tobias “Frosty” Harlow, the media guy. Ask him about the scratches on his arms. Then look in the bag on the bottom shelf to the left of Frosty. It’s where Nancy will put the supplies for the disaster kit. Notice that there are some supplies in the bag, so Nancy will only need to put what’s missing. If needed, go back to the computer and look on the quiz at the question about disaster kits to see what’s needed. Then head over to Ma ‘n’ Pa’s store. Pick any car and use the GPS to guide it to the store. Pa will call Nancy over and talk to her. When Nancy’s done talking to Pa, then go through the store and grab stuff that’s needed for the disaster kit. There’s not an unlimited supply of money, so Nancy will have to use the deals throughout the store in order to maximize the budget.

Spoiler: Here’s the list of what’s needed and what tag color to get. Tag color is in parenthesis. Granola (Blue), Salt (No color), Sugar (Green), Can opener (Yellow), Toothpaste (No color), Flashlight (Blue), Bleach (Green), Water (Yellow), Duct tape (Blue), Batteries (Blue).

When Nancy has all of the supplies, go tell Pa. When he’s done, look at the magazines on the rack next to Pa. Read through the “Canute College Ledger” and the “Caddo County Reporter.” Then look through the museum that’s connected to the store. Look at the display on the right and notice that the divining rod’s missing. Pick up the Pa penny next to the holder of the divining rod. Then look at the Land Rush game on the right. Nancy will note that she needs a special kind of token to play it. Look at the game on the other side of the room. Nancy can play the game and earn more Pa pennies, but she’ll need to insert five pennies in order to play. Talk to Pa and tell him that the divining rod is missing. Then head back to the farmhouse and put the supplies in the bag in the basement.

Fixing the Sprinklers and LED Display

Go outside and to the crop to the right of the house. Open the box on the ground and pick up the Pa pennies. Nancy can’t have any open valves on the same line, either diagonally, vertically or horizontally. When Nancy’s done with the valves, the sprinkler system will work again. It should look like this when it’s done:

Junior Detective:

(Picture from TOT’s walkthrough on Nancydrewmania.com)

Senior Detective:

(Picture from TOT’s walkthrough on Nancydrewmania.com)

After Nancy’s done, enter the red barn that’s near the cars. Chase Releford, the team’s handyman, will ask Nancy for assistance in fixing the LED display. None of the consecutive numbers can be connected to

each other vertically, horizontally, or diagonally. I.E. 1 can’t touch 2 and 2 can’t touch 1 or 3, etc. Chase won’t talk to Nancy until it’s fixed. Here’s what it should look like when it’s done.

(Photo from TOT’s walkthrough on Nancydrewmania.com)

Spoiler: the 4/6 combination and the 3/5 combination can be switch sides with each other. This is the other solution: 7 3 1 4 5 8 6 2

When it’s fixed, talk to Chase. Ask him about Pete, the last intern. Supposedly the mice chewed through the coolant hose, which made the car fail at time when the accident occurred. Finish talking to Chase and then look at the newspaper clip in the red tool chest. Then go look at the coolant hose and notice the cut. Go to the farmhouse, then head upstairs, and get some sleep. Nancy won’t be able to get anything else done until the next day.

Cloud Photos and Cornfield Sensors

For day 2, Debbie asks Nancy to take cloud photos with Frosty and to fix the cornfield sensors. Apparently the farmhouse is also used by the college’s agriculture team. The weather research team gets to use the farmhouse during the ag team’s off time, but with the condition that the research team has to take care of the equipment. The sensor’s part of the ag team’s equipment and it’s broken.

Go back outside and to the place where the sprinklers are. The sensors are the antennas, so click on them. To fix the sprinklers, Nancy needs to adjust the mirrors to get the light from one side to another. Nancy also needs to do this for two types of light: a read one and a blue one. Start with the red one and then do the blue one. Here’s what it should look like when it’s done:

(Photo taken from TOT’s hint and tips page on UHS-Hints.com)

When Nancy’s done with the sensors, Nancy will overhear Debbie and Frosty talking about Scott. It sounds like Debbie’s staying to help push Scott off the edge. Debbie’s not going with it. While they’re talking, P.G. Krolmeister will call Nancy. He wants an update on what’s going on. Talk to Krolmeister and then go to the cars, pick one, and Frosty will join Nancy. Go to the windmill using the GPS. When Nancy and Frosty get to the windmill, Frosty will hand Nancy a handbook about different types of clouds. Look through the file and then take a picture of the clouds near the windmill. Take a few more pictures of different clouds. Nancy can either go to different places to take them. Or just get in the car, leave the windmill, and then return to it and take more pictures.

Go back to the farmhouse and to the basement. Connect the phone to the computer and go to the gallery. Then click on “camera” and download the cloud pictures. While Nancy’s in the basement, talk to Frosty. He’ll give Nancy a USB stick. It’s Chase’s and Frosty wants Nancy to return it. Go upstairs and talk to Debbie and Scott. Head out to the barn and talk to Chase. When Nancy approaches the barn, she’ll hear Chase say something about his best boots. Go in the barn and talk to Chase. Give him his USB stick back and ask him about how Nancy can earn some pa pennies. He’ll tell Nancy that if she wire some circuit boards, he’ll pay her in pa pennies. Go get some sleep. However, Nancy will wake up to the sound of a storm. When she goes down the stairs, she’ll see someone messing with stuff on the coffee table. Nancy will have to check that out later, so go to the basement and wait out the storm.

Prairie dogs and Mice

When Nancy gets up, she’ll be briefed by Debbie on the day’s chores. Nancy needs to save the Prairie Dogs and transport them to a new home. Chase is working on a contraption that’ll get the Prairie dogs transported safely. She also tells Nancy that Scott needs to talk to her. Head over to Scott’s office and talk to him. He wants Nancy to get rid of the mice in his office. Nancy needs to get a mouse trap and

some cheese. When he’s done talking to Nancy, head over to the coffee table to see what was placed there. Look at the papers and notice that Debbie’s had multiple job offers. Head to the barn and talk to Chase about the prairie dog contraption. He says that a bigger hose is needed. The hose he has now is too small to get the prairie dogs. He gives Nancy the smaller hose.

Go to Ma ‘n’ Pa’s and talk to Pa about the hose and the mouse trap. He’ll give Nancy the mouse trap if she fixes the fajita scale in the museum and he’ll give her the hose if she organizes the candy display. Head to the candy display and organize it. All of the candy has to fit into the display without any spaces remaining. Start with filing the top—the area with the introduction to the various characters represented on the candy boxes. Then go to the fajita scale in the museum. It’s at the back of the room next to the game. If Nancy needs help, there’s places where she can find which set of numbers and pictures go with which scale. The quiz on the computer in the farmhouse has some of the F scales and some mental pictures. There’s also a complete EF scale rundown on the map on the wall in Scott’s office. Here’s what it should look like when it’s done:

(Picture from TOT’s Hints and tips page on UHS-Hints.com)

When Nancy’s done, she’ll hear someone come in and talk to Pa. Her name’s Brooke Tavanah, the rival team leader. She’s really interested in the activities of Scott’s team. When Brooke and Pa are finished, go talk to Pa. Ask him about Brooke and tell him that Nancy’s completed the tasks. He’ll give Nancy the bigger hose. The mouse trap is in the museum, across the game and behind the dust bowl display. Now Nancy needs to find some bait. Head to the candy display and get some cheese. Get several of them; it might come in handy later. If Nancy doesn’t have enough money, either play the game in the museum for more or wire some circuit boards for Chase. Head back to the farmhouse and go under the radio in

Scott’s office. Set the cage next to the pile of corn and put a package of cheese in the hole. Mice will immediately come to the hole. A top down view of the cage will appear and mice will start coming in. The goal is to fill every single slot with mice. Here’s what it should look like at the end:

(Picture from TOT’s walkthrough on Nancydrewmania.com)

When Nancy’s done, she’ll tell Scott and he’ll tell Nancy to release them at the old spring house. Go to the spring house and release the mice. Then go back to Chase and give him the bigger tube. He’ll give Nancy the vacuum. Go to the prairie dog’s home, which is to the left of the sprinkler. Use the vacuum on the holes when a prairie dog appears in one of them. When Nancy has all fifteen prairie dogs, go to the side of the barn that’s farthest from the farmhouse. Release the prairie dogs in the place that looks almost exactly like the place they left. Then look in the flower bed. Pick up the tin box that looks identical to the tin box Nancy picked up at the beginning of the game. Look inside and read the note. Then go back to Chase and give him the vacuum. He’ll give Nancy 100 pa pennies for giving it back.

Tornado Alert: This is Not a Drill

Head back inside and talk to Debbie. She’ll tell Nancy that a storm’s coming and that Nancy’s riding with Frosty. Pick one of the cars and ride to the viewpoint. Frosty and Nancy will get there just in time for a tornado to hit. But Frosty’s camera stops working and he makes Nancy fix it. In order to fix it, Nancy has to connect each number. One has to connect with two, which needs to connect with three, and so on. Connect the numbers and when Nancy’s done, she’ll give it back to Frosty. Here’s what it should look like when it’s done:

Junior Detective:

(Photo from TOT’s Walkthrough on Nancydrewmania.com)

Senior Detective:

(Photo from TOT’s Walkthrough on Nancydrewmania.com)

After the tornado leaves and Frosty receive the camera, he’ll claim that the camera Nancy fixed doesn’t work. Frosty and Nancy will arrive back to the farmhouse. Nancy goes and talks to Scott who blames Nancy for the camera situation, even though she did fix it. Then go get some sleep.

Antennas, Transmission, and More Mice

Debbie will brief Nancy on the day’s chores: to fix the antennas and then report to Chase. Get into one of the cars and go to the antennas. Fix the right antenna and use the left antenna as an example of what the left one should look like. When Nancy’s done, pick up the key on the ground. Then head back to the farmhouse because a storm is setting in. However, the GPS will give Nancy faulty directions. Nancy needs to go an alternate direction to get to the farmhouse. She also needs to avoid clouds so she won’t be pelted by hail. When Nancy gets back to the farmhouse, talk to Chase. Talk to him about the faulty GPS. He’ll say that he’s sorry for what happened, and that he doesn’t know how it happened. He made sure that it wouldn’t happen again. He’ll also make Nancy fix the transmission to the car. Nancy has to put the gears in place on the rods. She needs to have them touch, but not overlap, and place the smaller gears first or the large gears will be blocked from where they need to be.

Spoiler: Here’s the order they go in. Top row: Yellow - Blue - Teal - Purple – Red. Middle row: Purple - Green - Blue – Green. Bottom row: Brown - Teal - Silver - Blue – Brown.

If Nancy’s stuck on assembly: Label each spot like this:A1 - A2 - A3 - A4 - A5

B1 - B2 - B3 - B4

C1 - C2 - C3 - C4 - C5

Then assemble the gears in this order: Junior Detective: C3:silver, C4:blue, C5:brown, B3:blue, B2:green, A4:purple, A3:teal, B1:purple, A2:blue, A1:yellow. Senior Detective: C1:brown, A5:red, C2:teal, C3:silver, C4:blue, C5:brown, B4:green, B3:blue, B2:green, A4:purple, A3:teal, B1:purple, A2:blue, A1:yellow.

When Nancy’s done, push the gear button and all of the gears should work. Chase will give Nancy an estimate of the car repair costs so she can give it to Scott. Go to the farmhouse and talk to Scott. Give him the envelope. During the conversation, Frosty will scream. The mice are getting to him. Go downstairs and talk to Frosty. He wants Nancy to get rid of the mice, which he’s horrified of. If Nancy has anymore of the Moon Chunk candy, then she’s ready to go. If she doesn’t, then go back to Ma ‘n’ Pa’s and get some. If Nancy doesn’t have enough money, then Nancy needs to either earn it through Chase or by playing the game in the museum. Then set the trap to the right of the computer and place the cheese in the trap. The mice will come immediately to it and, like before, Nancy has to fill the trap up. When she’s done, take the trap to the old spring house and release the mice. Then head back to the farmhouse and talk to Frosty about the supposedly busted camera. He says that Nancy didn’t fix it and that she can look at it herself because he left it upstairs on the coffee table. Head upstairs and look at the camera. Press play and Nancy will hear sound, but there’s no footage. She did fix it, so what happened?

Talk to Debbie and she’ll ask Nancy to catch the mice she’s been seeing in the dinning room. If Nancy needs bait, then get some. If she has some then head towards the trashcan in the corner and put the trap down. Put some of the cheese into the trap and, like the two times before, fill the trap with mice. Go back to the spring house and release the mice. Then head back to the farmhouse and get some sleep.

More Mice and TV and Jack Repair

The next morning Debbie is briefing Nancy on what she’ll be doing during the storm, until Scott’s phone jack breaks. Nancy’s now in charge of fixing it. Head to Scott’s office and look at the hole in the wall. In order for Nancy to repair the jack, she’ll have to make all of the lines red. The red circle is what Nancy can move. Nancy can press the white buttons again if necessary. If Nancy needs to reset and start the puzzle over, the red circle will put itself in another position, so there are multiple solutions. Here’s one of them:

(Photo from TOT’s hints and tips page on UHS-Hints.com)

When Nancy’s finished, she’ll put the cover back on. As Nancy gets up, she hears a muffled conversation. Go to Scott’s desk and listen to the conversation through the headset on it. Sounds like Scott and Brooke have a deal. Listen until they finish and then notice something sticking up out of the first drawer, which is locked. Use the key that Nancy found near the antennas to open the drawer. Read the letter that says that Scott has been rejected for tenure at Canute College, where he works. Look at the calendar on the wall and notice the letters written on the days. Then go to his radio and look closely at the spools of wire. Move one away to reveal a knife. Pick up the knife and Nancy will sniff it. There’s coolant on it, which means that Pete’s “accident” wasn’t caused by mice, but by Scott.

Head out to the barn and take another look at the coolant pipe. Then go around the car and where Chase usually works. Look at the oil on his shoes and then open up the gate to reveal some pa pennies. Take the pennies and leave the barn. Pa will call Nancy and wants her to hurry over to the store. Take the only available car and go to the store. He wants Nancy to catch the mice that he’s been seeing. He couldn’t do it since Nancy has the trap, but he does give Nancy some bait. Head into the museum and turn to the display where the divining rod is missing from. Click to the right and then put the trap down. Put the bait in the trap and then fill it up with the mice. When Nancy’s finished, take the trap to the spring house and release the mice. Look at the puddle of oil and take the divining rod (AKA the stick) that’s leaning against the spring house. Then head back to Pa and tell him that Nancy found the divining rod. Put the rod back in the display and then head back to the farmhouse. Head over to the barn and talk to Chase about the oil and the rod. He’ll confess that he’s been trying to find oil in his spare time, but denies the fact that he sabotages the equipment to do so. He also blames Scott for the accidents and shows the lightning rod to Nancy and tells her that it was hooked to Scott’s phone.

Go inside the farmhouse and talk to Debbie. She’ll ask Nancy to fix the TV, which is broken. Head over to the TV and open the panel that’s on it. Press the yellow button and a screen will show up. The screen will help Nancy fix the TV. The goal is to match the colors to the circles on the side of the main one using the knobs in the control panel. Each of the knobs are assigned to different rings in the main circle. There are also more colored squares than Nancy needs, so don’t worry about how many there are. The patterns on the side will turn grey when they’ve been completed.

Spoiler: Junior Detective: Label the circles A to D—A being the outer ring and D being the most inner ring. Red: Turn circle A 7 times clockwise, then turn circle B 9 times counterclockwise, then turn circle C 1 time clockwise, and finally turn circle D 1 time clockwise. Green: Turn circle A 9 times clockwise, then turn circle B 1 time counterclockwise. Don’t turn C because it’s right in the right place. Finally, turn circle D 1 time clockwise. Blue: Don’t turn A because it’s in the right place. Turn circle B 3 times clockwise, then turn circle C 9 times clockwise, and finally turn circle D 5 times counterclockwise.Senior Detective: Label the circles A to E—A being the outer ring and E being the most inner ring. Red: Turn circle A 7 times clockwise, then turn circle B 9 times counterclockwise, then turn circle C 1 time clockwise, then turn circle D 1 time clockwise, and finally turn circle E 1 time clockwise. Green: Turn circle A 9 times clockwise, then turn circle B 1 time counterclockwise. Don’t turn C because it’s in the right place. Then turn circle D 1 time clockwise, and finally turn circle E 1 time clockwise. Blue: Don’t turn A, it’s in the right place. Turn circle B 8 times counterclockwise, then turn circle C 8 times counterclockwise, then turn circle D 5 times counterclockwise, and finally turn circle E 7 times counterclockwise.

When Nancy’s done, she’ll only see static. But then the news shows for a little bit, showing Frosty’s footage that he said that he didn’t capture. It’s credited to someone else. Go talk to Frosty and he’ll admit that he’s been selling footage to a friend of his for money. When Nancy’s finished with Frosty, head upstairs and get some sleep.

Storm Chasing

The next morning, Debbie wants Nancy to drive her and Scott to track the current storm. Get into the doppler truck, the white one, and head towards the viewpoint. Turn off when Debbie tells Nancy to (it’ll be at the end of Bluebird Lane). When they get to the place, Scott tells Nancy to fix the doppler system. The goal of the puzzle is to switch all the levers until the only light on is the blue one. Nancy has to do this three levers at a time, one from each group, and hitting the green button after each pair.

Spoiler: Number the levers from 1 to 11 (left to right). 1-6 are the top levers and 7-11 are the bottom ones. Then press them in this order: 1, 4, 5, green button. 2, 9, 11, green button. 7, 9, 10, green button. 8, 9, 10, green button

When Nancy has that done, the doppler machine works briefly and then stops. Scott says that there might be something wrong with the cables. In order to put the cables where they really belong, she needs to rewire the system. To rewire the system, Nancy needs to discern which one is on top of the other wires. When Nancy knows which wire is on top of which, take the corresponding colored top and

put it into the jack. The first one will go into the top left jack, the second in the top right jack, the third underneath the first, and so on.

Spoiler: Put them in this order. Junior Detective: Fuchsia/dark pink, dark blue, yellow, light green, orange, light blue, purple, light pink, navy/black/dark purple. Senior Detective: Fuchsia/dark pink, dark blue, yellow, light green, orange, light blue, purple, light pink, navy/black/dark purple, blue, pinkish-purple, green, red.

When Nancy has all of the colors arranged, press the button at the bottom. All of them will light up if Nancy has gotten them correctly. If she doesn’t, try again. Debbie will suggest that everybody should go back to the farmhouse.

Confronting Scott

Head back to the farmhouse and talk to Debbie. She tells Nancy that Scott hasn’t been seen. Go into Scott’s office and to his desk. Notice that something’s sticking out of the locked drawer. Open it and look at the note and find out that Brooke’s been paying Scott off. Nancy needs to find out where they’re going to meet up. Look at the weather conditions Scott wrote and notice the words “review surface charts” and “find dates.” Head downstairs and look at the white binder near Frosty. Notice that the stuff in the “weather” column are written in the binder are in symbols, not words. The symbols need to be translated. There’s a piece of paper under the sink in the basement that translates the symbols. According to the weather conditions that Scott wrote, Nancy’s looking for either 1) 3 dots or 2) Two triangles with no line or a 3 bend jagged line with a triangle at the top. Go back to the binder and write down every date that has one of those corresponding symbols for the past three months.

Spoiler: Here are the dates. March 3, 8, 18, 21, 26; April 3, 6, 10, 23, 29; May 6, 12.

Go back upstairs and look at Scott’s calendar. Write down each letter and number written in the spaces next to each of the date. When Nancy’s done, head downstairs and look at the pictures in the gallery on the computer.

Spoiler: Here are the numbers. WM9A, GV2C, SH4A.

The pictures all have numbers on them, like what Nancy came up with when she was using Scott’s calendar and the surface charts. Go through the pictures and look at the ones with the numbers Nancy needs. All of the pictures are of the windmill. Head upstairs and tell Debbie where Nancy’s going and then take the available car and head out to the windmill. Scott’s waiting for Brooke at the windmill, so confront him about what he’s doing. After Scott has had enough, he’ll leave. That’s when Nancy will hear Debbie on the radio. Get into the car and talk to Debbie. She tells Nancy to get to Grange Theater because there’s another storm coming. Head over to Grange Theater and unlock the first set of doors. However, there’s another set of doors that are locked. Nancy’s keys won’t work on these doors, but there’s a panel next to them. Open it up to find eight keys. Pick one up and try it in the lock. If that key doesn’t work, then try another one until Nancy gets the correct one in. When Nancy has gotten the right key, the doors will open and everyone will get into the shelter.

Culprit Chasing

When the worst of the storm is over, Nancy will say something. Go out of the shelter and to the car. The GPS will point Nancy in the general direction of the culprit by showing an arrow in the right, lower corner of the screen. After Nancy finds the white truck, follow it as closely as possible. Make sure to miss debris, like trees, telephone lines, and clouds. It will eventually stop itself at the spring house. Stop there to catch the culprit, but Nancy will find herself in the middle of a storm that just got worse. Nancy will have to figure something out. Look around and find a crowbar. Use it on the spring house door and pull the culprit inside. At the end, the culprit gets caught (as usual) and the rest of the team works stuff out.

Spoiler: at the end of the credits, there’s some outtakes.

The End… or possibly the beginning?

Congratulations on completing Trail of the Twister! If this is your first time playing, I hope you found this walkthrough helpful and the game super fun. If it is or isn’t your first game, hopefully it’ll lead you to play the other, fun Nancy Drew games done by HerInteractive. Thanks for playing! NDFan.