E.T. has been stranded on Earth, and is now hiding in the home of his new-found friend, Elliot. Far from helpless, E.T. has a plan: build a "telephone" capable of calling his home planet, ask them to come get him, and then hop aboard when his ship returns. E.T. can't carry out this plan by himself. The government has been tipped off, and they know there is an alien in town. Men are crawling all over Elliot's neighborhood, trying to find this visitor from space. E.T. therefore stays hidden, and it is up to Elliot to find all the pieces E.T. needs to build his phone!
You begin the game as Elliot. At your house, E.T. shows you pictures of the parts he needs for his phone. Then, you must explore the neighborhood and the surrounding forest, looking for those parts. E.T. has linked with you telepathically, and will use his powers to help you find the parts more quickly. When you are near a piece that might be useful, you will hear a tone. The closer you are, the louder the tone gets, until you can see actually see the part. You can only carry one part at a time, so if you find a part E.T. wants, grab it and then bring it back to your house. If at any point you can't remember what parts E.T. wants, just use your telepathic link to ask him for the list again.
You must work quickly to collect the necessary pieces. E.T.'s energy is limited, and steadily draining. You can track how much energy he has left with the flower pots and energy bar shown at the top of the screen. If both run out, E.T. is a goner. Asking for the parts list through his telepathy makes him lose energy even more quickly, so don't use this lifeline too often!
Government agents and scientists are also walking about, looking for E.T. They also know he has a friend helping him on Earth. If one of the men sees you he may chase you, and he may steal any phone piece you are carrying! But even if he doesn't chase you, he may still lurk nearby, tracking you to see what you are up to. It isn't safe to bring E.T. new phone pieces when you are being watched, so be sure to lose any tails before going back to the house.
When E.T. has all the pieces he needs, he will build his telephone and then he will phone home! With that accomplished, you continue the game as E.T. Your mission now is to make it to the landing site, a green square in the middle of the forest, before the last of your energy runs out. Those government people are still everywhere, however, and if they see you, they will try to stop you from reaching the forest. Getting touched by one of them means losing even more energy, so move quickly but carefully!
If you successfully reach the landing site, you win the game! E.T. continues on his journey home, while your score is tallied up. Once you have mastered the game at one difficulty level, try a higher one. Higher levels mean E.T. requires more pieces for his phone. At the highest difficulty levels, the parts must also be the right color. Good luck!