Credit card

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( Credit card.png
Name credit card
Appearance credit card
Base price 10 zm
Weight 1
Material plastic
Monster use Will not be used by monsters.

A credit card is a type of tool that appears in NetHack. It is an unlocking tool that is made of plastic.

The credit card is the base item for the artifact The Platinum Yendorian Express Card.

Generation

All Tourists start the game with an uncursed credit card.

Credit cards make up 3⁄200 of all randomly-generated tools, and are always generated uncursed outside of bones levels and trap "bones". General stores and hardware stores can sell credit cards.

Description

Applying a credit card towards a locked door or container will unlock it, with the chance of the hero succeeding dependent on their dexterity and role: there is a (2*Dex)% chance of success for doors and a (Dex)% chance for containers, with a +20 bonus for Rogues unlocking both, and the chance of unlocking a container is halved if the card is cursed.[1][2][3] This chance is calculated and rolled during each action of the occupation until the hero either succeeds, is interrupted or gives up after 50 turns - a completed attempt to use a credit card exercises dexterity regardless of success.[4][5]

A hero applying a credit card to a door in Minetown in view of a watch member has a 1⁄3 chance during each action of being interrupted and warned, causing the door to become trapped as well[6] - immediately attempting to lock or unlock that door again will anger the entire watch.[7] A hero applying a credit card towards a shopkeeper or the Oracle will print YAFM with no other effect.[8]

A hero that applies a credit card on a mimic disguised as a door will uncover the mimic, and the mimic will have a 1⁄2 chance of absorbing the tool and adding it to its inventory, which is reduced to 1⁄10 for artifacts.[9]

Intelligent monsters with hands that are not tiny will pick up a credit card and use it to unlock locked doors, and pets that can use credit cards will hold on to them for this purpose.[10]

The following information pertains to an upcoming version (3.7.0). If this version is now released, please verify that the information below is still accurate, then update the page to incorporate it.

Per commit b12ea03d, intelligent monsters will also use credit cards to unlock containers.

Strategy

Credit cards are the hardest tools to unlock doors and containers with (though Rogues can use them more easily), but are the lightest of all unlocking tools at 1 aum. A hero that finds a couple of skeleton keys or lock picks can usually ditch any credit cards they have safely.

Be careful allowing pets to obtain credit cards, as they will become difficult to keep out of certain rooms (e.g. keeping higher-leveled pets away from shopkeepers and aligned priests).

Messages

"No checks, no credit, no problem."
You attempted to apply a credit card at a shopkeeper or the Oracle.[8]

Variants

Variants based on NetHack 3.4.3 and earlier versions may not add the ability for monsters to unlock doors with credit cards, while variants based on later versions usually retain this feature and allow them to unlock containers as well.

SLASH'EM

In SLASH'EM, non-artifact credit cards that are not blessed have a 1⁄20 chance of breaking when applied, with a 1⁄30 chance of breaking if applied to a door by a Tourist.[11][12] This makes it useful for a hero to keep multiple unlocking tools on hand, which can be safely ditched once they can bless a couple or else obtain an artifact tool. Monsters cannot use credit cards.

Plastic golems drop 2-4 credit cards upon death in place of a corpse if the TOURIST compile-time option is defined.[13]

UnNetHack

In UnNetHack, monsters can pick up and use credit cards and other unlocking tools on doors starting in version 5.1.

SpliceHack

In SpliceHack, Cartomancers know the credit card as a banned card.

Hack'EM

In Hack'EM, plastic golems can drop credit cards among the plastic items they leave behind upon death in place of a corpse.

History

The credit card first appears alongside other unlocking tools in NetHack 3.0.0.

The ability of monsters to unlock doors using credit cards and other tools is introduced in NetHack 3.6.0 via commit c1393e50 and commit 74f08dcb.

Origin

Wikipedia
Wikipedia has an article about:

A credit card is a type of payment card usually issued by a bank that allows its user to purchase goods or services, or withdraw cash, on credit—this accrues debt that has to be repaid later. Credit cards are one of the most widely used forms of payment across the world. The use of credit cards to unlock doors and other containers is based on a popular trope in movies where the card is employed for similar purposes, such as the James Bond films.

Though picking a lock with a credit card is possible to do in real life, it can only be reliably performed with slanted-latch style locks: these locks cannot have a deadbolt or anything that obstructs the space between the door and wall, such as metal plates or molding, and the slant of the latch must be facing towards the side the lock is being picked from. Additionally, any card used to pick locks this way will endure a significant amount of bending, which credit cards are too thick and stiff for to be effective—less valuable and more flexible cards such as gift cards and old hotel keycards are preferred. Regardless, the popularity of the credit card as an improvised lock pick is enough that some lock-picking kits are sold in the form of "cards" that can fit inside a wallet.

Encyclopedia entry

"We are not worried about the expiration date," repeated the
barman, satisfied that he now had Ford Prefect's full attention;
"we are worried about the entire piece of plastic."
"What?" said Ford. He seemed a little taken aback.
"This," said the barman, holding out the card as if it were a
small fish whose soul had three weeks earlier winged its way to
the Land Where Fish Are Eternally Blessed. "We don't accept it."
[...]
"But you don't understand," said Ford, his expression slowly
ripening from a little taken abackness into rank incredulity,
"this is the American Express card. It is the finest way of
settling bills known to man. Haven't you read their junk mail?"

[ So Long, and Thanks For All The Fish, by Douglas Adams ]

References

  1. ↑ src/lock.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 422: credit cards and containers
  2. ↑ src/lock.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 434: cursed unlocking tools
  3. ↑ src/lock.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 504: credit cards and doors
  4. ↑ src/lock.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 104
  5. ↑ src/lock.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 164
  6. ↑ src/monmove.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 87: watch_on_duty function
  7. ↑ src/monmove.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 92: angers watch if already warned
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 src/lock.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 459
  9. ↑ src/lock.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 465: unlocking tools and mimics imitating doors
  10. ↑ src/monmove.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 47
  11. ↑ lock.c in SLASH'EM 0.0.7E7F2, line 392: credit cards and containers
  12. ↑ lock.c in SLASH'EM 0.0.7E7F2, line 495: credit cards and doors
  13. ↑ mon.c in SLASH'EM 0.0.7E7F2, line 378

This page is based on a spoiler by Dylan O'Donnell. The original license is:

Redistribution, copying, and editing of these spoilers, with or without modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:

  1. The original contributors to any spoiler must continue to be credited.
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