We don't provide a default top-level hint menu because we want to give the game maximum flexibility in defining this object exactly as it wants. For convenience, an object of class TopHintMenu will automatically register itself during pre-initialization - but note that there should be only one such object in the entire game, since if there are more than one, only one will be arbitrarily chosen as the registered object.

Some users don't like on-line hint systems because they find them to be too much of a temptation. To address this concern, we provide this HINTS OFF command. Players who want to ensure that their will-power won't crumble later on in the face of a difficult puzzle can type HINTS OFF early on, before the going gets rough; this will disable hints for the rest of the session. It's kind of like giving your credit card to a friend before going to the mall, making the friend promise that they won't let you spend more than such and such an amount, no matter how much you beg and plead.