if you do something out of order, do you have to start over from beginning? [NO]

[thereza]

in the prison level, i went right in the sewer first, and some rodent stole my broom-key.  i didn't get the plunger first.  do i have to start over? any way to restart a level without having to restart the game?  

also, in the crawl-space, i keep getting stuck where I can't move any more - i have to quit and restart the game. does this happen to other people?

[Alex]

It would help if we knew what platform you are playing Machinarium on. ( there are different quirks to each one of them )

But, no matter what platform you play on, there is a walkthrough available in the upper right hand corner of your screen ( click on the book and kill the dangling spiders to unlock the guide).  Look and you'll see that you get the plunger AFTER you crawl out of the sewer in to the guard room.

Oh, and if the rodent has stolen your "broom-key" before you opened the next sewer cap then, yes, you'll have to restart that level.  (hopefully you saved BEFORE you went down the sewer!)

[thereza]

I'm running it on windows.  Is there some way to restart the level without starting the game over?  I didn't know that there was any need to save levels (I didn't know you could do things that ruin the current game).

Thanks

[Lamkin]

Is there some way to restart the level without starting the game over?

Yes. Start the game, and once you're on the main screen, if you type the word 'rebol' (without the quotes, of course), a hidden test menu will appear allowing access to each of the levels. Click on 06.