hintline

From hint +‎ line.

hintline (plural hintlines)

1. A telephone service that provides, usually for a fee, hints on how to proceed if one is stuck in a specific online game.
   • 1996, Marc A. Saltzman, Sean McFadden, Internet Games Directory, Emeryville, Calif.: Lycos Press, Macmillan Computer Publishing USA, →ISBN, page 99, column 1:

     Virgin Interactive hosts this Lands of Lore cache. Download a playable demo that promises challenges that will take more than a day to get through. Check out the hint file for game tips not available on the company’s call-in hintline.

   • 1998, Nick Iuppa, Designing Interactive Digital Media, Focal Press, →ISBN, page 148:

     So reads the instruction to one of the greatest of the CD-ROM adventure games, 9, from Tribeca Interactive. If you call the 9 hotline-hintline, you will hear that it was your late uncle Thurston’s muse machine that provided art and inspiration for all the inhabitants of the Last Resort.

   • 2000, Icewind Dale Instruction Manual, Interplay Entertainment, page 151:

     Stumped?!?! Frustrated?? Stuck?? Or do you just want to know the latest codes and tricks for this and many other Interplay titles?? Well, look no further because the solution for all these problems is just a phone call away. Pick up the phone and call the Interplay Hintline at […]. Remember, you must be over 18 or have your parent’s permission to call the hintline.

   • 2003, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield (manual), Ubi Soft, page 49:

     Ubi Soft Hintline: […]

   • 2008, Valerie Estelle Frankel, Henry Potty and the Deathly Paper Shortage, Livermore, Calif.: WingSpan Press, →ISBN, page 18:

     You have to solve all the clues and let Henry take the credit, or the world’s doomed. Good luck. PS: The hintline is open 24 hours a day at a rate of $29.95 for the first minute and $30.00 for each additional minute.