# "Useless" items in the inventory **URL:** \ **Category:** General\ **Created:** [May 7, 2017, 7:25pm UTC](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/t/useless-items-in-the-inventory/268 "2017-05-07T19:25:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![LowLevel](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forums.thimbleweedpark.com/lowlevel/32/48_2.png) [@LowLevel](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/u/LowLevel)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2017, 5:23pm UTC](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/t/useless-items-in-the-inventory/268/21 "2017-05-08T17:23:28Z")
> [@ne0n](#): > > Is it actually possible to collect all specks of dust in one playthrough? Yes on “hard”, no on “casual”. But even on “hard”… it’s a bit hard. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![PiecesOfKate](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forums.thimbleweedpark.com/piecesofkate/32/93_2.png) [@PiecesOfKate](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/u/PiecesOfKate)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2017, 5:29pm UTC](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/t/useless-items-in-the-inventory/268/22 "2017-05-08T17:29:36Z")
I think my OCD helped me through that one 😉 ---
**Author:** ![ne0n](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f1d935/32.png) [@ne0n](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/u/ne0n)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2017, 6:02pm UTC](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/t/useless-items-in-the-inventory/268/23 "2017-05-08T18:02:27Z")
OKAY, thanks, will give it another try. Haven´t touched easy mode yet, maybe for steam achievements at some later point. ---
**Author:** ![DZ-Jay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a6a055/32.png) [@DZ-Jay](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/u/DZ-Jay)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2017, 9:40pm UTC](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/t/useless-items-in-the-inventory/268/24 "2017-05-08T21:40:41Z")
> [@ne0n](#): > > Is it actually possible to collect all specks of dust in one playthrough? I would guess so. > > I played the game a second / third time and collected all I could find. All the locations, all the characters. And I just began when the game showed the specks on the do to list (which isn´t the case at the beginning of the game for some odd reason). > > I ended up missing 3 or 4 specks to complete the task. Frustrating! (OK, not really ;)) I collected all specks of dust on my first play-through, so yes. ---
**Author:** ![RonGilbert](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forums.thimbleweedpark.com/rongilbert/32/7_2.png) [@RonGilbert](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/u/RonGilbert)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2017, 11:49pm UTC](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/t/useless-items-in-the-inventory/268/25 "2017-05-08T23:49:49Z")
There are 84 specs of dust you can get on a single play-through. We made the achievement 75, to give some room for error. ---
**Author:** ![a.ammo](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forums.thimbleweedpark.com/a.ammo/32/263_2.png) [@a.ammo](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/u/a.ammo)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2017, 2:31am UTC](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/t/useless-items-in-the-inventory/268/26 "2017-05-09T02:31:37Z")
I collected all of them. I played on GOG though, so there wasn’t even an achievement! Just a thing I did ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Nor\_Treblig](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forums.thimbleweedpark.com/nor_treblig/32/216_2.png) [@Nor\_Treblig](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/u/Nor_Treblig)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2017, 5:51am UTC](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/t/useless-items-in-the-inventory/268/27 "2017-05-09T05:51:55Z")
> [@PiecesOfKate](#): > > One of the times when I got really stuck, I had so much in my inventory that I used the dumpster to try and narrow down the important items. It worked well – the useless ones went happily in there while the important ones were met with ‘Throw it away?!’ :delores: There is just one thing: You can throw away the bottle, making you think it’s a useless red herring. Now that’s evil! But it’s called hard mode for a reason. Oh, and there are also those items from the refrigerator which are mostly useless (but they were meant as Easter eggs anyway). ---
**Author:** ![schala](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forums.thimbleweedpark.com/schala/32/108_2.png) [@schala](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/u/schala)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2017, 5:59am UTC](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/t/useless-items-in-the-inventory/268/28 "2017-05-09T05:59:30Z")
> [@Nor\_Treblig](#): > > There is just one thing: You can throw away the bottle, making you think it’s a useless red herring. YES! I did this! That was why the copy machine puzzle confounded me, because I didn’t think about that soda bottle after I threw it away. ---
**Author:** ![Nor\_Treblig](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forums.thimbleweedpark.com/nor_treblig/32/216_2.png) [@Nor\_Treblig](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/u/Nor_Treblig)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2017, 6:05am UTC](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/t/useless-items-in-the-inventory/268/29 "2017-05-09T06:05:06Z")
> [@LowLevel](#): > > I wondered if specks of dust had also an “in-game purpose or usage”, because I found it suspicious that the developers put in the to-do lists only this achievement-motivated task. I think they’ve added it to the notebooks only so you can easily keep track of their count. In case someone wants to know the origin of those specks of dust: Some guy on Twitter wanted to pay Ron money to get an in-game item, no matter how insignificant it is. Sadly he deleted his account so this conversation is lost. [https://twitter.com/grumpygamer/status/754341458614693889](https://twitter.com/grumpygamer/status/754341458614693889) [https://twitter.com/grumpygamer/status/754356443294359552](https://twitter.com/grumpygamer/status/754356443294359552) [https://twitter.com/grumpygamer/status/754376317768900609](https://twitter.com/grumpygamer/status/754376317768900609) ---
**Author:** ![N\_N](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forums.thimbleweedpark.com/n_n/32/792_2.png) [@N\_N](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/u/N_N)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2017, 6:05am UTC](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/t/useless-items-in-the-inventory/268/30 "2017-05-09T06:05:07Z")
Chuck tells us that the specks were created and added those in the upper world (the game developers) to prey on the compulsive of the upper world (meaning us players). Beyond that, I have no idea. What Chuck says mimics more or less what I stated on the other Thimbleweed board but that time I didn’t even pay real attention to the whole specks of dust narrative and only noticed that explanation by Chuck about an hour ago. Chuck tries to teach us a lot near the end of the game. We need a thread about what Chuck teaches us and what it all means. In essence, that is the in-game purpose (to prey on us compulsive gamers for whatever reasons: control, fun, subterfuge, philosophical experiment). ---
**Author:** ![Donkeyshot](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forums.thimbleweedpark.com/donkeyshot/32/273_2.png) [@Donkeyshot](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/u/Donkeyshot)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2017, 6:20am UTC](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/t/useless-items-in-the-inventory/268/31 "2017-05-09T06:20:32Z")
The Betamax tape also refers to the DAT in Zak McKracken. At that time the hottest shit, but in retrospect only another looser in format war. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![PiecesOfKate](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forums.thimbleweedpark.com/piecesofkate/32/93_2.png) [@PiecesOfKate](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/u/PiecesOfKate)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2017, 6:59am UTC](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/t/useless-items-in-the-inventory/268/32 "2017-05-09T06:59:43Z")
Oh right, didn’t realise you could throw the bottle away - luckily I think I’d done that bit already! That is evil. ---
**Author:** ![N\_N](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forums.thimbleweedpark.com/n_n/32/792_2.png) [@N\_N](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/u/N_N)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2017, 7:11am UTC](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/t/useless-items-in-the-inventory/268/33 "2017-05-09T07:11:14Z")
I have a different take. When I realised I could throw items away it was convenient because all irrelevant items could be removed from the game, so when the bottle turned up, and I threw it away and it turned up again on the main road, it alerted me that I MUST use this item. Really cruel would have been to still make that bottle a red herring afterwards. ---
**Author:** ![LogicDeLuxe](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forums.thimbleweedpark.com/logicdeluxe/32/15335_2.png) [@LogicDeLuxe](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/u/LogicDeLuxe)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2017, 11:29am UTC](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/t/useless-items-in-the-inventory/268/34 "2017-05-09T11:29:07Z")
[quote=“Donkeyshot, post:31, topic:268”] The Betamax tape also refers to the DAT in Zak McKracken. At that time the hottest shit, but in retrospect only another looser in format war. 😉 [/quote]One difference though. DAT was just out when Zak McKracken was released. You couldn’t possibly know how well it would sell. Batamax on the other hand, was a thing of the past, even in 1987. ---
**Author:** ![DerGraddler](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forums.thimbleweedpark.com/dergraddler/32/301_2.png) [@DerGraddler](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/u/DerGraddler)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2017, 8:00pm UTC](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/t/useless-items-in-the-inventory/268/35 "2017-05-09T20:00:20Z")
The (other) items in the fridge weren’t useles… they got me to play Mania…ehm…Mansion Mansion 1 once more ;-). I was disappointed however, when Chukky shook after the glas of water, but wanted neither my Coca…ehm…Poopsie, nor my radioactive waste. ---
**Author:** ![MAGICLAND](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forums.thimbleweedpark.com/magicland/32/1364_2.png) [@MAGICLAND](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/u/MAGICLAND)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2017, 3:42pm UTC](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/t/useless-items-in-the-inventory/268/36 "2017-07-14T15:42:33Z")
I never even bothered picking up the bear repellent. Would have been nice if a bear had shown up and chased you out of the forest if you didn’t use it. ---
**Author:** ![DZ-Jay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a6a055/32.png) [@DZ-Jay](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/u/DZ-Jay)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2017, 8:18pm UTC](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/t/useless-items-in-the-inventory/268/37 "2017-07-14T20:18:35Z")
Perhaps it’s from a dropped puzzle. Apart from the suppressing the growling sounds, does it do anything at all? ---
**Author:** ![Caven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c68b51/32.png) [@Caven](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/u/Caven)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2017, 8:21pm UTC](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/t/useless-items-in-the-inventory/268/38 "2017-07-14T20:21:16Z")
It keeps bears away. It’s proven to be so effective that it petrified the only bear seen in the game. ---
**Author:** ![DZ-Jay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a6a055/32.png) [@DZ-Jay](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/u/DZ-Jay)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2017, 8:22pm UTC](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/t/useless-items-in-the-inventory/268/39 "2017-07-14T20:22:36Z")
Is there a bear in the game?? ---
**Author:** ![LowLevel](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forums.thimbleweedpark.com/lowlevel/32/48_2.png) [@LowLevel](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/u/LowLevel)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2017, 8:24pm UTC](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/t/useless-items-in-the-inventory/268/40 "2017-07-14T20:24:51Z")
> [@Caven](#): > > It’s proven to be so effective that it petrified the only bear seen in the game. True, but there are also pillow-bears and they are quite fluffy and soft. [Previous page](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/t/useless-items-in-the-inventory/268.md?page=1) [Next page](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/t/useless-items-in-the-inventory/268.md?page=3)