Dictionary

hintline en · NOUN

Etymology

From hint + line.

Meanings

1. A telephone service that provides, usually for a fee, hints on how to proceed if one is stuck in a specific online game.
   • 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. 1996, Marc A. Saltzman, Sean McFadden, Internet Games Directory, Emeryville, Calif.: Lycos Press, Macmillan Computer Publishing USA, →ISBN, page 99, column 1:
   • 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. 1998, Nick Iuppa, Designing Interactive Digital Media, Focal Press, →ISBN, page 148:
   • 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. 2008, Valerie Estelle Frankel, Henry Potty and the Deathly Paper Shortage, Livermore, Calif.: WingSpan Press, →ISBN, page 18:
   • Ubi Soft Hintline: […] 2003, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield (manual), Ubi Soft, page 49:
   • 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. 2000, Icewind Dale Instruction Manual, Interplay Entertainment, page 151:

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