1st April 1998You'll find a computerised version of Sir Nathaniel's Saving Game on this issue of EUG. Complementing the "major" instructions, I feel some readers might be interested (especially those overseas) in a little of the game's history and how my computerised version compares with the card game produced by the Natwest bank (and unavailable since 1986).
For a number of years, the Natwest bank ran a very novel type of childrens' bank account called the Natwest "Piggy Bank" and it gave away five pot piggy banks at six month intervals to the account holder. Each piggy had its own name and its own character.
On opening a "Piggy Bank" account with a small deposit, the holder received Woody - the baby of the piggy family - completely free. To get the next piggy, the holder had to add further deposits to give a balance of at least £25 within six months.
The aim of the account was to encourage children to save by rewarding them with a new piggy every six months providing they saved another £25 and the five Natwest piggies were Woody, Annabel (£25), Maxwell (£50), Lady Hilary (£75) and Sir Nathaniel (£100); the head of the piggy family. When all the piggies were collected - generally after two years - the holder became a member of "Sir Nathaniel's 100 Club". This club offered very reasonably-priced piggy merchandise.
The card game of Sir Nathaniel's Saving Game was an example of this merchandise. It was a pack of 55 glossy, colourful cards and could be played by up to four people. It attempted to imitate the saving of money to complete the piggy family. As with the bank account, each player began the game with Woody and had to gain the other four piggies. The winner of the game was the first player who collected Sir Nathaniel and, hence, the whole piggy family.
Of the 55 cards, there were 4 Woody cards, 4 Annabel cards, 4 Maxwell cards, 4 Lady Hilary cards and 1 Sir Nathaniel card which were removed from the pack and set to one side. The remaining cards were 10 £5s, 9 £10s, 8 £20s, 3 £50s and 8 cards of leisure objects - roller skates, computer, radio/cassette player, etc. All these cards were shuffled and each player took a card in turn.
If the card was a money card, it was placed upwards before the player. If the card was an object, it was returned to the pack with any money card(s) the player had.
A player could claim the next piggy as soon as their money cards totalled the amount required for that piggy - as with the account, this was £25 for Annabel to £100 for Sir Nathaniel. The difference between the game and the account was that the new piggy card was swapped for all the money cards before the player. The player then had to begin to save for the next piggy with no money cards.
Although there are differences dealing, shuffling and replacing cards due to the way the computer program is written, this implementation remains faithful to the card game in all the ways described above. An array shuffles and holds the different cards and works through them one by one and each player receives either money or an object which wipes out their savings. A money card is added to the total money the player has.
The only added touch is a message of "No Money" - which results when the player had no money and is 'dealt' an object. (In the card game, the object was merely replaced at the bottom of the pack.) The graphics of the piggies and the objects are identical to the card images. To present the computer game in a more attractive fashion, the objects have become icons highlighted on-screen when received by a player.
On starting a new computer game of Sir Nathaniel's Saving Game, you will be prompted "PLAY AS PLAYER 1/2/3/4 :". You simply select which of the four players (who participate in each game) you wish to play as. This touch was introduced because, as you'll note, no skill at all is required to play the game and who will win (and who will lose) is determined by the luck of the order of the shuffled cards.
You then press RETURN to take cards and "compete" against the virtual players. These are handled by the computer, as is the shuffling and dealing of cards. As soon as any player collects all of the piggy family, you are either congratulated or commiserated depending on if you chose to be that player. A new game of Sir Nathaniel's Saving Game then begins.
On pressing ESCAPE, Sir Nathaniel reports on the number of games played and the number of games the real player won.
Sir Nathaniel's Saving Game is a disk-only game, and works with the BBC B, BBC Master 128 and all Electron disk systems. It uses a Mode 4 screen and very high-quality graphics to give a professional finish. It actually took me a short time to complete it and I acknowledge the help of Datel's Video Digitiser III, Deluxe Paint III, The Art Studio and Orchard Toys Ltd.
I have included full instructions on how to operate the game in a file separate from this letter. I hope it will help pass away a few idle moments of respectable BBC/Elk owners' time, although I might add that I think it's nowhere near as good as Sunday!
Dave E, EUG #37
