********* Welcome to Project 64! The goal of Project 64 is to preserve Commodore 64 related documents in electronic text format that might otherwise cease to exist with the rapid advancement of computer technology and declining interest in 8- bit computers on the part of the general population. Extensive efforts were made to preserve the contents of the original document. However, certain portions, such as diagrams, program listings, and indexes may have been either altered or sacrificed due to the limitations of plain vanilla text. Diagrams may have been eliminated where ASCII-art was not feasible. Program listings may be missing display codes where substitutions were not possible. Tables of contents and indexes may have been changed from page number references to section number references. Please accept our apologies for these limitations, alterations, and possible omissions. Document names are limited to the 8.3 file convention of DOS. The first characters of the file name are an abbreviation of the original document name. The version number of the etext follows next. After that a letter may appear to indicate the particular source of the document. Finally, the document is given a .TXT extension. The author(s) of the original document and members of Project 64 make no representations about the accuracy or suitability of this material for any purpose. This etext is provided "as-is". Please refer to the warantee of the original document, if any, that may included in this etext. No other warantees, express or implied, are made to you as to the etext or any medium it may be on. Neither the author(s) nor the members of Project 64 will assume liability for damages either from the direct or indirect use of this etext or from the distribution of or modification to this etext. Therefore if you read this document or use the information herein you do so at your own risk. ********* The Project 64 etext of the ~Letter Scrambler instructions~, converted to etext by Russell Reed . LETSCR10.TXT, August 1997, etext #266# ********* LETTER SCRAMBLER SELECTING A LEVEL OF PLAY Letter Scrambler has four levels of play which vary in difficulty according to the following chart: +------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Letters Cube Arrow Music | | Per Game Speed Speed Duration | |------------------------------------------------------------------| | YOUNGSTERS 120 slow slow long | |------------------------------------------------------------------| | AVERAGE 240 medium medium medium | |------------------------------------------------------------------| | ADVANCED 360 fast fast short | |------------------------------------------------------------------| | EXPERT 360 fast speedy very quick | +------------------------------------------------------------------+ If you are playing with joysticks, press the F7 key until the right level is shown. For paddles, press the F1 key. The game will immediately begin. PLAYING THE GAME Taking A Letter From The Cube The letters on the rotating cube are always changing. Three letters are up for grabs at all times. In order to take a letter, press your paddle or joystick button twice; once to stop the cube and once to grab your letter. The first time you press your button the cube will stop and the word GRABS will light up in your color. This lets everyone know who is grabbing a letter. A colored arrow will begin to move around the cube, pointing at each of the three letters that are available. When the arrow is pointing at the letter you want, press the button for the second time. If two or more players try to take a letter at the same time, the player that presses his or her button first gets the letter. A bell rings when a player is too late, in pressing the button for the second time. Positioning The Letter On Your Playing Area After you have taken a letter, your playing area pointers will light up. To position the letter, use the pointers to select the row and column where you want the letter to go. Turn your paddle or joystick until the ROW pointers point to the desired row. Then press your button. Then turn your paddle or joystick until the COLUMN pointers point to the desired column. Then press your button again. The letter will appear on your playing area. Letters placed in gray squares score double the letter value. You have as much time as you want to decide where you want to put your letters, but remember all the other players are busy grabbing letters and scoring points. Once a letter is in place it cannot be moved. However, you have four opportunities during the game to remove unwanted letters. Removing Letters At the end of each quarter the screen will turn white and the LETTER SCRAMBLER theme song will play. You have until the end of the theme to remove any letters that you no longer want. Any letter that you were positioning when the quarter ended will be lost. To remove a letter, use your ROW and COLUMN pointers as you do when positioning a letter on the playing area: First move the ROW pointer until it points to the desired row, then press the button on your paddle or joystick. Now move the COLUMN pointer until it points to the desired column and press the button again. The letter will be removed. After four quarters a bell will ring, signalling the end of the game. SCORING The score that appears on the game board while playing is the total value of the letters you have on the playing area. It is not the final score. The final score is tallied at the end of the game by adding up the value of the words formed, and subtracting the value of the letters not used in words. Scoring Your Words When the game is over, score your words using the ROW and COLUMN pointers. Point to one end of a word and press the button on the joystick or paddle, then point to the other end and press the button again. When you have pointed to a letter it will change color. Once you have identified the beginning and the end, the word will turn white and be scored. All of the players can be scoring their words at the same time. Or you may choose to have one player score while the other players look on. Final Tally When all players have finished scoring their words, the final tally can be calculated. Player number 1 or 2 (yellow or blue) should press and HOLD their button until the words, "Up For Grabs" turn white on the screen, then release the button. The computer will subtract points for the unused letters that are on each player's area. The final scores are now displayed. Players may challenge their opponents' words at this point. If a player is challenged, the word is looked up in a standard dictionary. If the word is valid, the points stand; and the challenger loses 15 points. If the word is not found, the player is penalized five points for each single score letter, and ten points for each double score letter in the word. To play again, player 1 or 2 should press his or her button down and hold it. LETTER VALUES The less common a letter is, the more points it is worth. The chart gives the maximum point value of the letter when it first appears. The letter values apply to all levels of play. When a letter is used in a word, it scores the value it was worth when you grabbed it. As the letter revolves on the cube, the point value decreases. When the letter is in the center of the cube, it is worth half its maximum value. When the letter is on the left side of the cube, it is worth one third of its maximum value. For example, a D is worth 7 points when it first appears. Once it rotates to the center it is worth 3 points (the scoreboard rounds off the letter value to the lowest whole number). As the D rotates to the left, it is worth 2 points until it disappears. If you place a letter in a gray square on the playing area, it doubles in value. If you use a letter a second time by making a crossword pattern on your playing area, the letter scores double in the second word. Although you do not have to play LETTER SCRAMBLER by making crosswords, you gain extra points by doing so. For example, if you took an uncommon letter like Q as soon as it appears on the cube (for 9 points), and placed it on a gray square, its value becomes 18. If you were to use Q in a crossword, it would score 36 in the second word, making one letter worth 54 points. +-------------------------------------+ | Maximum | Maximum | | Letter Value | Letter Value | |-------------------------------------| | A ....... 3 | N ....... 4 | | B ....... 6 | O ....... 3 | | C ....... 5 | P ....... 6 | | D ....... 7 | Q ....... 9 | | E ....... 3 | R ....... 3 | | F ....... 8 | S ....... 4 | | G ....... 6 | T ....... 4 | | H ....... 6 | U ....... 6 | | I ....... 3 | V ....... 8 | | J ....... 9 | W ....... 8 | | K ....... 8 | X ....... 9 | | L ....... 5 | Y ....... 7 | | M ....... 6 | Z ....... 9 | +-------------------------------------+ ********* End of Project 64 etext Letter Scrambler instructions. *********