Orb of Yendor
| “ | This wonderful Orb can only be collected by those who have truly mastered this hyperbolic universe, as you need the right key to unlock it. Luckily, your psychic abilities will let you know where the key is after you touch the Orb. | ” |
The Orbs of Yendor are special types of Orbs found in Hell. Unlike most Orbs, Orbs of Yendor are permanent once collected, and are worth 50 $$$.
When you touch an Orb of Yendor, a Key spawns on some tile 100 steps away from the Orb. The path to the key is marked with an "X" on the edge of the screen; however, once the Key is found, it is up to the player to find the way back to the Orb. Each Key only unlocks the specific Orb of Yendor that it was created for.
If the player manages to return to the Orb of Yendor with the Key in hand, the player will receive several random orb effects, always including Orb of Shielding.
Collecting an Orb of Yendor is one of the main challenges in the game. Once collected, the Yendor Quest is unlocked, a special game mode that showcases many different strategies for finding the Orb, with varying difficulty.
Gallery
Strategies
Because of the nature of hyperbolic geometry, it is almost impossible to return to the Orb of Yendor without marking the trail somehow. The simplest way to do this is to gather at least 15 Dead Orbs along the path, and follow the Dead Orbs backward after collecting the Key. Another method is to lure an Ivy or Tentacle of Cthulhu to follow you; if using the latter, be sure that the Tentacle does not block the Orb, and remember which side of the Tentacle the Orb is on.