You probably encountered one of the worst game design decisions in the history of games - ever - in Space quest 3. Called AstroChicken, it will make you scream in rage.

It may be a problem with Dosbox or newer machines, but the game's controls stink. One tap appears to use a lot of seed, making it impossible to control the chicken.

So, how to beat the game?

The trick is simple. You need to reach a certain score, which adds up irrespective how how often you play. So simply keep putting in coins and wait for the chicken to drop over the pad. Don;t bother if it doesn't - just let it crash and die. If this happens three times in a row, just put in another coin. Trying to control the stupid bird will just damage your heart.

When the chicken is falling from above towards the pad, wait for it to reach the 3rd/4th starts from the bottom (see pic for reference). Tap the up key once. Just once. This will slow it down enough to land on the pad. Anything more and it will fly up again.

Keep doing this until you get the coded message. It won't decode itself, even with the ring, and the message doesn't tell you anything useful - such as where to go - but I think you have to have it appear for the game to continue. If you have problems with timing, press CTRL+S and slow the game to 8 or 10.

Good luck!

The game is easy once you figure out what you need to do...

Plus set the game speed down to as slow you you can, in the interface it makes it much easier.

The actual game is basically the old Lunar Lander game. You gotta watch your fuel, and you change the chicken's direction, and make it flutter to slow down. But you gotta watch the fuel guage, and be careful as you land.

Now I have the music in my head...

You DON'T have to make the message to continue the game. You can still beat the game without even playing Astro-chicken. The only difference besides points is that you'll get a different message when you look through the telescope on Ortega (Roger will not know what he's looking at)

I'm with blahsum, this game's control stink, it's nothing like "lunar lander". I guess it's intentional. Thankfully you don't have to land him 10 times in a row and not even 10 times with one credit. Just put in credits and you'll see the message after 10 landings.