How do I declare Global Variables correctly in Python 3.3 so they can work in multiple functions?

Question

Right now I'm trying to make a little game for my friends for fun in Python 3.3. It was all going well until I forgot how to get certain variables (in my case gold, damage and XP) to carry over through different functions (Menu, Hills).

If someone could help me fix this code so the three aforementioned variables can carry over unchanged between my functions, that would b amazing. Here's my code.

import os
import random
import time

def Menu():
    global damage
    global xp
    global gold
    damage = 1
    xp = 0
    gold = 0
    print("\nyour attack value is", damage,"\nyour xp level is", xp,"\nand you have", gold,"gold.\n")
    sword = input("Old Joe Smith: Do you need a sword? ")
    sword = sword.lower()
    if sword == "yes":
        damage = damage + 9
        print("Old Joe Smith: *Gives you a sharp steel sword* Good luck on your travels!\n\nYour new attack value is",damage,"\n")
        time.sleep(2)
        Hills()
    if sword == "yeah":
        damage = damage + 9
        print("Old Joe Smith: *Gives you a sharp steel sword* Good luck on your travels!\n\nYour new attack value is",damage,"\n")
        time.sleep(2)
        Hills()
    elif sword == "no":
        print("Old Joe Smith: Well, if you say so... ...good luck anyway!\n")
        Hills()
    else:
        print("Old Joe Smith: I'm sorry, what?")
        time.sleep(1)
        Menu()

def Hills():
    print("*You walk through the forest, when out of nowhere a minotaur appears!*")
    fight = input("What will you do, run or fight? ")
    fight = fight.lower()
    if fight == "run":
        print("You escape, barely.")
        Cave()
    if fight == "fight":
        input("Press enter")
        if damage > 5:
            print("You win! you looted 10 gold and got 5 xp.")
            gold = gold + 10
            xp = xp + 5
            Cave()
        elif damage < 5:
            print("You died. Game over.")
            Menu()
        else:
            print("How the hell did you get exactly 5 damage?")
            Menu()
    else:
        print("Your lack of a proper response makes the minotaur charge. It kills you instantly.")
        Menu()

def Cave():
    print("You stumble into a cave. there are two routes in the cave. which way do you want to go, left or right?")

print("Welcome to 'RPG Game', a role-playing game developed in Python 3.3.\nThis game was developed by bamf_mccree.\n")
print("Old Joe Smith: Hello, adventurer, and welcome to Dankhill, in the centre of Whitewood forest. \nThis was once a peaceful place, but the evil Lord Draktha has enslaved most of the civilians of our realm.")
time.sleep(4)
Menu()

Answer 1

In this case I imagine you only need to declare those variables outside the local method scope and when you modify them use the global keyword. Something like this:

import os
import random
import time

damage = None
xp = None
gold = None

def Menu():
    damage = 1
    print("\nyour attack value is", damage,"\nyour xp level is", xp,"\nand you have", gold,"gold.\n")
    sword = input("Old Joe Smith: Do you need a sword? ")
    sword = sword.lower()
    if sword == "yes":
        damage = damage + 9
        print("Old Joe Smith: *Gives you a sharp steel sword* Good luck on your travels!\n\nYour new attack value is",damage,"\n")
        time.sleep(2)
        Hills()
    if sword == "yeah":
        damage = damage + 9
        print("Old Joe Smith: *Gives you a sharp steel sword* Good luck on your travels!\n\nYour new attack value is",damage,"\n")
        time.sleep(2)
        Hills()
    elif sword == "no":
        print("Old Joe Smith: Well, if you say so... ...good luck anyway!\n")
        Hills()
    else:
        print("Old Joe Smith: I'm sorry, what?")
        time.sleep(1)
        Menu()

def Hills():
    print("*You walk through the forest, when out of nowhere a minotaur appears!*")
    fight = input("What will you do, run or fight? ")
    fight = fight.lower()
    if fight == "run":
        print("You escape, barely.")
        Cave()
    if fight == "fight":
        input("Press enter")
        if damage > 5:
            print("You win! you looted 10 gold and got 5 xp.")
            global gold
            gold = gold + 10
            global xp
            xp = xp + 5
            Cave()
        elif damage < 5:
            print("You died. Game over.")
            Menu()
        else:
            print("How the hell did you get exactly 5 damage?")
            Menu()
    else:
        print("Your lack of a proper response makes the minotaur charge. It kills you instantly.")
        Menu()

def Cave():
    print("You stumble into a cave. there are two routes in the cave. which way do you want to go, left or right?")

print("Welcome to 'RPG Game', a role-playing game developed in Python 3.3.\nThis game was developed by bamf_mccree.\n")
print("Old Joe Smith: Hello, adventurer, and welcome to Dankhill, in the centre of Whitewood forest. \nThis was once a peaceful place, but the evil Lord Draktha has enslaved most of the civilians of our realm.")
time.sleep(4)
Menu()