On the surface, getting Laverne to the basement in the future isn't too hard. You get Bernard to the future (Hoagie would do as well), you get both Laverne and Bernard to the lobby, and you quantum-swap the right-handed hammer. Once you click anywhere, Laverne will go to the basement.

After Laverne gets to the basement, you click anywhere, or switch to another character... and the game crashes.

Well, looks like it is going to be hard, after all. In fact, this is arguably the craziest trick in the whole game. Shout-outs to swimfan and mikeSpeedyAdventures for making it work!

Getting the right-handed hammer

The usual way to get the right-handed hammer is to go to Red's basement, get the left-handed hammer, and switch the hammers.

Turns out, you don't need the left-handed hammer. You can go to the sculpture room, and pick up the right-handed hammer. Now, you won't be able to move, and you won't be able to switch to another character either. Whenever you try to do so, Ned (or is it Jed?) will ask you to give him back his hammer. In order to be able to move, you need to give the hammer back.

But, just like we did with the battery ingredients in part 4 and the patent application in part 5, you can give the hammer back and keep it. Use the hammer with the barrel, and immediately press "2" to switch to Bernard. Then press "1" to switch back to Hoagie. You'll have the hammer, but the hammer will also be on the barrel, so you'll be able to move, as shown in the giving back the hammer and keeping it video.

Using the hammer during the battery plans cutscene

Get Laverne to the kennel. With Bernard and Hoagie, quantum swap the plans in the past while triggering the kite sequence, as explained in part 7. When you gain control of your character, immediately switch to Laverne and talk to the tentacle guard. Say you don't feel so good.

After you skip the cutscene, Laverne will be in Dr. Tentacle's office, and you'll get access to the inventory! Get her to the lobby (somewhere between the door and the clock is fine) and switch to Bernard.

Wait for the camera to move to the Chron-O-John landing site in the future, and click on the left side of the screen to get Bernard outside the motel.

Now comes the tricky part. To make this glitch work, you have to make it to Laverne and quantum swap the right-handed hammer before Laverne finishes saying "Drat" and the camera goes back to Dr. Fred in the present basement. If you used normal means, you wouldn't make it.

So you have to delay the cutscene by starting another cutscene. In part 5 we mentioned that looking at the stamp, the "help wanted" sign or the flier behaved like a cutscene. So, click on the former motel and, while Bernard is walking, position the cursor on the stamp and hold Tab. By holding Tab, you make sure Bernard will start looking at the stamp again if he's interrupted (and he will).

Once you make it to the lobby, get to the spot where Laverne is, quantum-swap the hammer, and then click anywhere so Laverne goes to the basement. If you don't do anything after quantum-swapping the hammer, nothing will happen.

Once Laverne is in the basement, don't do anything. If you do, the game will crash (pressing period to skip text is OK, though). The whole reason why we're quantum-swapping the hammer during the cutscene is that now we can avoid the crash... by waiting. Wait till the camera goes first back to Dr. Fred, and then back to Hoagie. Now press "2" to switch to Bernard and click on Harold so Bernard moves there. After a few moments, the camera will go back to Dr. Fred once again. Press "2" once more, and when Bernard stars saying "I once saw him take three-thousand volts", right-click on Harold and hold period.

Sounds harder than it is. You'll definitely have to practice, but in my opinion this is easier than (for instance) the battery ingredients skip. The tricky part was figuring out how to do it consistently. Once again, shout-outs to swimfan and mikeSpeedyAdventures for that.

You can check this crazy glitch in the getting Laverne to the basement video.

Under the hood: the right-handed hammer room scripts

When you pick up the right-handed hammer in the sculpture room, nothing happens at first. The game doesn't execute any room scripts.

Instead, the game sets variable V.32 to 209 and variable V.33 to 203. What this means is that, whenever you click somewhere, or try to switch to another character, the game will run both room script 209 and room script 203. In this room, room script 203 is Ned saying "Please, give me back my hammer!". Once you give the hammer back (or when you switch it with the left-handed hammer), the game sets V.32 and V.33 to different values, and you're free to move.

When you quantum-swap the hammer in the future lobby, the game sets variable V.32 to 209 and variable V.33 to 203. So, when you click anywhere, the game runs room script 209 and room script 203. In the future lobby, room script 209 is Laverne entering the clock.

The problem is, after Laverne goes to the basement, V.32 is still set to 209 and V.33 is still set to 203. So, when you click anywhere, the game will try to run room script 209 and room script 203. But there's no room script 209 in the future basement, so the game will crash.

When you make it to the basement during the battery plans cutscene, the situation is the same. If you click anywhere, the game will crash. But, when the cutscene continues and the camera goes to the present basement, the game will set V.32 and V.33 to different values! After the camera goes back to Hoagie, you'll be able to press "2" to switch to Bernard and continue playing normally. Laverne makes it to the basement, the game doesn't crash, and you've skipped getting the flag, getting the skunk, and winning the beauty contest.

Funny enough, the game calls room script 209 during the cutscene, right after Laverne says "Drat", during the first frame where the camera goes to Dr. Fred. If we could keep the camera on Laverne during that specific frame, she'd make it to the basement without the hammer and with no risk of crashing the game. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be possible, so we still have to do it the hard way.