Where once the tiny cottage stood
A mighty palace dwarfs the wood

And there within the highest tower
The witch queen wields her mighty power.

A rule of evil 'cross the land
With ghosts and gargoyles close at hand.

Her enemies destroyed this night -
Yet one remains to set things right -

A pumpkin warrior brave and good,
The last survivor from the wood.

So go now swiftly, climb the stair
And cut a lock of witch's hair.

Seek out then the cauldron black
And brew a spell to change things back.

Then the hag will know defeat
And thy revenge will be complete.

This is a nice sequel of an arcade platform game Cauldron. Its well-known flaw was in complicated controls. Although an error does not mean life loss as often as in the first game.
But long maneuvers are required even for the simple moves betweeen the floors. This resembles the chess knight moves - just to do a slight shift for a right jump might require long preparations and strategic bumping into the walls.
All this instead of fighting the monsters, especially since most of them do not chase your pumpkin, and almost any of them can be shot from any direction.
It is the controls what makes the game difficult so much, it is a conundrum even with invulnerability.

Now the game has skill level selection, with average level allowing the pumpkin to magically push himself in mid-air. It significantly simplifies the movement and jump aiming.
But if the pumpkin grows weak, he would lose this ability. So the magic power should be conserved even more and replenished often to evade backdropping to the basic jumps.

There are several other predefined levels, including original classic, or you could customize the difficulty details.
- Massacre reduces the number of pumpkins in your squad. There are no extras to be found. Setting at minimum gives you a whole horde.
- Weakness requires more magic for melee fights. Accurate shots cost less power than ramming your opponents. Magic springs can be found in many corners of the palace, but each can be used only once. During the castle exploration, not only plan the routes from one spring to another, but avoid the big falls. Otherwise the next climb would require searching the farthest magic springs, or could prove impossible. Setting at minimum makes the pumpkin able to shoot at no cost and endure the high falls.
- Clumsiness causes the magic losses to deprive you of the magic push ability sooner. If the pumpkin is not so clumsy, he can change the jump direction more than once per jump. The controls are quite easy then and resemble the Bumpy game style. With average clumsiness, magic push does not work automatically, the player has to use shoot button. The main safe techniques in that case are stopping the pumpkin mid-air to fall down right on the spot, or jumping up near a ledge then arching right on it. This can cost more magic due to the spontaneous shooting. The caution is also needed when shooting, especially mid-air, for the pumpkin may unintently lose the valuable magic push.
- Challenge is the sum of these, and the skill level. The award would be due to it. Adjust it for the predefined level setup. The classic game setup is just above average - extremely clumsy, almost maximal weakness, but quite low massacre, so there are 7 pumpkins in the squad. And if the challenge is Pumpkin at least ("Go Pumpkin"), you may watch the final cut after its completion.

Intro is controlled by cursor. Cursor is controlled by mouse or joystick or keys QAOP and space. Besides:
- key T switches the tune and soundfx (can be switched anywhere in the game),
- key J toggles the Kempston joystick in intro,
- key M toggles the Kempston mouse in intro,
- key G starts the game.

Game objectives:
- Look around the palace, find the way up.
- Collect the 7 magic items on the way.
- Locate the cauldron to prepare the spell.

Game lost regrets:
    Thou hast amassed a meagre score.
    Why not press Fire and try once more.

    Dare to face the witch again
    and try to end her evil reign.

General tips:
- Study the starting places by restarting the game several times. Those which are near the magic items can make the palace navigation easier.
- Going down is much easier than climbing the towers. At the easy weakness levels the pumpkin is not even hindered by the high falls.
- The magic springs are one-timers - may count at 2 ascensions at most if using the same road, until you learn to conserve the magic power.
- The same reason may justify jumping off the walls right away, so as not to deplete the magic resources by the time of the second ascension. If only there are no useful objects nearby.
- Avoid the nasties to conserve the magic power, but always shoot if those seem to cross your path and hinder your advancement. 
- You can shoot diagonally. Shot nastie costs less magic than rammed one.
- Those hit baddies would reappear again soon. Do not dally, but proceed forward, or at least go back a little.
- Some of the adversaries can not be stopped by the ordinary magic. Beware, these would most surely overcome you in melee also.
- For example, a single candle on the table can be extinguished, but the big lanterns with multiple candles prove to be most dangerous.
- Blinking objects should be collected. The order does not matter and can depend on the starting point, but those ones below can be used to reach the ones found at the higher floors.
- The scissors are needed to cut the lock of witch's hair.
- The axe helps at doors. It is necessary to enter the throne rooms and the bedroom, and to go down into the cellar (or exit it).
- The golden goblet prevents the evil hand from affecting the hero. Or else the directions would be temporarily distorted. The moment of directions change is fatal when jumping across the chasms.
- The crown us needed to prove your rights for the kingdom. In the other case the magic guard would not let you near the witch.
- The lock of witch's hair is vital to direct your great curse on the adversary.
- The shield is necessary to fend off the huge skeletons - one of them guarding the witch cauldron.
- The book of spells holds the one needed to defeat the witch.
- All the magic items except goblet, can be found along the main ascension road (ranging one or two screens away from it).
- There is no time limit. In general, do not hurry when entering the new room. Just a limited number of places (like a respawn) would not allow the pumpkin to dally and plan the maneuvers.
- If you are low at magic, do not despair. Replaying the game at different skill levels would allow you to master the basic jumps, enough at least to reach the next magic spring.
- Obstacles on the walls, like shields or torches, not only can be jumped over, but squeezed under, if you approach them from the right point.
- Beware the gargoyles below the windows and at balconies. Their sharp spikes are most often fatal for the pumpkin.
- On the plates, which the argoyles are holding, there is always something useful. But the plates themselves are wobbly traps. The pumpkin may be pushed down if he dallies there.
- Study or chart the screen edges. Some require jumping as far as possible (even a bit after crossing the screen edge), some suppose a back off before jump, or a walk-off-edge.
- The balconies on the right require special accuracy, at least until you find the axe. Otherwise it would be almost impossible to return from the backdoor rooms.

Strategy:
- When starting in the upper chambers of the palace, quickly leave the bedroom before the guard comes. Try to get the shield on one of the balcony plates. Then it is simpler to jump off the walls.
- When starting in the right towers of the castle, grab the goblet then immediately go back left for the axe. After that you can choose to jump over the walls in any direction.
- When starting in the middle of the palace, ignore the crown for now. Try to get to the shield farther above. Or just jump off the left wall.
- When starting in the woods beneath the palace, the way is quite straight - start by taking the scissors. The very object requiring you to jump all the way down in the other cases.
- While ascending the main way inside, stick to the big stairs mostly. These stairways and halls are usually inhabited by huge spiders.
- If the first door blocks the way - go back a little for an axe, it should be nearby.
- Make sure you miss not the way to the right small tower so as to get the goblet there. Seek the balconies above this tower right after the first opened door.
- The throne room is roughly half way upwards. It is well guarded (if the pumpkin does not have the shield yet).
- Wrong move in the throne room can send the pumpkin straight to the lanterns. Try to skillfully use the throne armrests.
- The left of the high towers presents the main difficulty, consisting of very small platforms. It allows the access to the highest central tower where the witch's bedroom is.
- The bedroom guard can be stopped by the crown, just do not approach it. The witch is sound asleep, so getting the lock of hair should not be a problem.
- The book can be found at he highest attic.
- The way back can be made through the right side rooms, or by jumping off the wall.
- The cauldron is hidden far underground. You can find it out by accidentally falling in one of the deep wells. Careful jump into the well can even be a shortcut.
- The safe way to the cauldron lies through the cellar, to the leftmost narrow passage, then again through the tunnels to the right.